A Reflection

Today as my students participated in Greenbelt Writing, I watched them.

I watched individuals work independently and collaboratively.

I watched stories being crafted, books being made, and projects being started.

I watched my reluctant writers happily work on a piece that had no directions.

I watched two girls that don't tend to work together, create a comic.

I even watched as apostrophes were used correctly.

And as I watched, I started to reflect on my year as a writing teacher. This is the first year that I have taught writing to all four sections of 5th grade. And it has been an honor.

There are a few things that I would keep if I am able to do this again.

1. My Read Aloud-I found that doing a read aloud as the students enter the room has made it easier to transition into our time together. There are minimal disruptions, and it helps calm the students.

2. Writing Folders-I have crates for each classroom where students keep their writing folders.  The writing folders hold everything they need for my class. That way I don't have to wait on students who need to go to their locker or homeroom to get their belongings.

3. Patterns of Power-My students love this take on grammar by Jeff Anderson and Whitney La Rocca. It is the first time they understand why grammar plays an important role in their writing.

4. Sacred Writing Time- In the beginning of the year, this is a key component in helping students to build writing stamina. The students love to have time to just write, and I secretly have a hidden agenda. It is a win-win situation. As the year goes on, our Sacred Writing Time is not as frequent but still loved by all.

5. Writing Marathons-These are one of my favorite things to do. Each month we set one class period to just write. We have done writing sentence starters by visiting different classrooms and taking notice of what is happening around us, Harris Burdick stories, figurative language posters, and Halloween writing to name a few.

6. Greenbelt Writing- This is probably my students' favorite. Each Friday students just write and create. We have a Greenbelt bulletin board where students share what they have done. Their creativity is endless.

The funny thing about all of this is years ago I told myself I would never be a writing teacher. Too much grading. Too many papers. Grading writing is A LOT of work. Especially when you have 90 students. But I love it. As long as they don't mind that it takes me forever to get to it all, I don't mind doing it.