Day 29 ~ March SOLSC

This week was a doozy.  That’s the first word that came to mind while thinking about the week.  A second word would be exhausting.  But now that I’m home, in my bed, writing on my laptop, I’m thinking about what brought me joy today.

Every Friday we do “Free Write Friday” in my class.  It’s basically just a break from whatever our unit of study is for the day.  It’s a chance for my kids to just write whatever they want, in whatever genre they would like to.  They write poems, comic books, and joke books.  They write how-to books, stories (personal narrative and fiction), all about books, and even songs.  Sometimes I do confer (I can’t help it) and sometimes I write alongside of them.  I’ll write in my notebook, or even write on their writing paper just like they do.  But today, I just sat back and watched.  There’s was an immediate change in my room when I said it was free write Friday.  It’s hard to describe, but there was a different kind of excitement in the air.  They were chatting about ideas while writing/drawing, smiling while writing/drawing, laughing while writing/drawing.  A boy who doesn’t always enjoy writing, chose to start on a booklet.  I think he was writing about foods he likes to eat.  He told me it was a nonfiction book but had his opinion too.  Another boy who loves reading the “Who Would Win” series and “Ricky Ricotta and The Might Robot” series decided to start writing his own book that combined both of his favorite series.  The conversations about ideas and the excitement about writing was simply amazing.

And then I rang the chime to end writing.  The room filled with groans.  I apologized and told them we had to stop because it was recess and lunch.  One boy asked “Can we keep doing our writing during indoor recess?”  Well, how could I say no to that?

Writing Workshop was pure joy today.  To quote Ralph Fletcher in Joy Write, I cut ’em loose and let ’em write and it was amazing.

Thank you to the team of writers at Two Writing Teachers for this wonderful writing community.  A place for us to grow together as writers.  Join us for SOL Tuesdays and the March SOL challenge!