I spent the weekend grading literary essays based on short
stories the students had read during our short story reading unit. Over the
course of the previous three weeks, the students were guided through the
writing process: they chose a story or two they felt strongly about, identified
a thesis and topic sentences, found evidence to paraphrase or quote, drafted in
essay form, revised for ideas and grammar, edited for punctuation and spelling,
and published on our grade 8 writing gallery site. As I read and evaluated
their final essays, I felt quite joyous. Here’s why:
Through conferring, I already
knew pretty much what every essay was about, and the work the students did to
grow as writers. However, leaving a student after a conference or after a
minilesson is a moment of trust that s/he will actually try the strategy or
follow the suggestion. It really isn’t
until the moment of grading that I give myself the time to truly see whether
the student followed through or not. Here is where the joy comes in: they did
it!
OK, not everyone did everything
well, of course. But I saw so much that I could point to and say, “There’s the
minilesson on quoting dialogue” or “There’s the conference we had about
embedding your thesis in your topic sentences to stay focused on the main idea”
or “There’s the small group work on adding an insight into the conclusion.” I
can see the evidence of my teaching in front of me, and that’s a joyous
feeling.
I wonder if the students know how
much they have grown? I think I will give them back the literary essay they
wrote on the first week of school and let them read it again (I can hear the
groans already). Then I’ll give them back this essay and have them reflect on
their learning using three stars and a wish: List 3 things you learned during
the unit (the stars) and 1 thing you wish had been different (the wish).
Finally, I’ll give them their graded Six Traits rubric and ask that they read
my “love note” (I always write a “wow” and a “next time” comment on rubrics).
I hope the students can feel
joyous after reflecting too. They earned it!
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