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I pulled this one because I think it can relate to our classrooms and profession as a whole. But I also think it connects to Muhammad's concept of Joy and being 'seen', the genius is there we just have to have the mindset to see it and then allow it to be used and expanded for all.

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This was written for elementary, and I teach middle school students, so I am still looking to see how I can expand the idea for a limited class period within a stricter curriculum, but I love the concept. I wonder if it could be added to the idea of a service-learning project with writing, or maybe our 5th day enrichment program?

I think this is a good example of student-centered curriculum, as well as reflection, as they were able to change the project for the next year but still get the overall genius from it and excitement for the students. The second group may have learned more in some ways with the additions of the sales and donations, which shows empathy. I like how it gives the organic feel to the project and living process that can continue to grow.

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I really like the addition of qualifying this writing as a genre and helping the students to bring this art back for multiple life skill reasons. I think this also shows that it can be academic as well as personal.

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I was writing down classroom ideas from the first paragraph to the last. There are multiple lessons and ideas that this can be used for, and differentiations. I love that it works for dialogue, maybe scaffolding a connection for the students to speaking and writing and reading. I also love that the author gave a list of what to look for in critiquing the novels in your letters. I have wanted to do pen pals with my students but hadn't thought of starting as simple as between classes or in our own school.

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I love this idea for our journals and creating the writing families for openers.

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Two things stood out for me that I am excited to introduce and reflect upon in the classroom.

First, when she was talking about the sharing portion of their lists to help them get to know each other, instead of staying with the same group she had them share one thing and then find someone new and share something else from their list. This helped them to get to know more of their classmates, practice sharing and communicating, and keep active moving around the room. I also like the it could be adapted for other activities in that manner.

Second, when they came back the second day to work on revision she showed them a non-example and as a class had them analyze it on why it did or didn't look like an imitation of the author's. I hadn't thought of this method for help them with revision and I needed a new one.

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This focused on the medical profession and helping doctors and nurses feel empathy for patients who make poor health choices, sometimes possibly knowing the consequences of their actions. I think it could transfer to the classroom because it talks of how reflective writing is used to help on focus on themselves, but that narrative/creative writing is used to help you see the reasons behind other's thoughts and feelings and to focus on someone else, an external character.

I think the biggest struggle is for our pre-teens and teenagers to see outside of their own bubble, so if I can help them with different forms of writing, as well as focus on application of literacy skills I think it would be a win/win.

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I think for me it was the focus on even at the doctoral level teaching the students how to revise each other in a professional and respectful manner. This is something that really needs to be focused on at the middle school level as the students need accountable talk, but I connected with it being restated at the adult level. I think that could be an application connection to point out to our students.

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I use these for book club, but they could be adapted for writing families/communities.

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WBT writing movement ideas: students use this during planning and enjoy mirroring each others drafts with the actions from WBT

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WBT writing movement ideas: students use this during planning and enjoy mirroring each others drafts with the actions from WBT

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Set list of questions that are good for routine, low-stakes writing that can be shared within writing communities/families.

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In the PDF is a Letter writing paper that is super fun to make - think Scraps KC :)

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In the PDF is a Letter writing paper that is super fun to make - think Scraps KC :)

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"Hey Little Ant" book empathy writing quick activity

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"Hey Little Ant" book empathy writing quick activity

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This text offers students a reading that includes imagery and detail which speaks to the titular character's life at home, outside his body, and within. I've used this for annotation with sophomores, but it would work well with middle-level students.

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This year you will be members of a classroom writing community. In the community, you will write about things that interest you, share and talk about your writing, and learn about what professional authors do. You will also become stronger writers.
What are some things you have written?
When do you write in school? Outside of school? What are some reasons you write, in or out of school?
Writers constantly read examples of good writing to help them get ideas for their own writing and to give them a sense of the way good writing looks and sounds.
This year you will have many opportunities to hear, read, and discuss good writing.

Writing about your reading gives you the opportunity to write opinions about and make connections to texts.
Some discussion questions from the text:
Let's look at pages 24-28 of the book, Wizzil.
1. Why does DeWitt rescue Wizzil? What in the story makes you think so?
2. What feelings might DeWitt be having during this episode? What in the story makes you think so?
3. How does Wizzil respond? What in the story makes you think so?
4. When is a time you felt gratitude to someone, the way Wizzil feels gratitude to DeWitt?

You will write about how the story from Wizzil reminds you of your own life. When you write or talk about how a story reminds you of your own life, you are making a connection to the story. Making connections to stories helps us enjoy and remember them.
I want to write about how DeWitt's generosity reminds me of a time when someone has been generous to me. Here is my example:In Wizzil by William Steig, DeWitt saves Wizzil even though she is a mean witch, and she responds to his kindness by becoming happy and loving.
Notice that I included the name and author of the book in the first sentence. Now I want to compare the book to my own life. I'll write:
I too have been transformed through other people's kindness.
Now I want to give an example. I'll write:
For instance, last week I came home from work feeling tired and grouchy. I growled as my husband when he asked me how my day was. Instead of growling back, my husband offered to make dinner. He set the table and did the dishes too!
I want to include a final sentence that wraps up the piece. I'll write:
My husband's kindness washed away my bad feelings just like DeWitt's kindness helped to wash away Wizzil's witchiness.

​NOW YOU TRY

This is a scored writing prompt. Please turn it in when you are finished writing.

Poetry is another type of writing that can spark writing ideas. As we read some stories aloud, think about whether you might like to try writing poems yourself.

Remember: This is a safe space! There will be no put-downs, teasing, or rude comments about anyone's hard work.
Sharing is voluntary~ I will never require you to share with the whole class.
Some questions to ask yourself after sharing:
If you shared your writing with the class today, how did that feel?
​What did you do to listen responsibly to others when they shared their writing?

What did you like about ____________Piece?
What questions can we ask __________ about what they wrote?
Why is it important that we show interest and appreciation for one another's writing?

Last week we heard Sylvester and the Magic Pebble and Wizzil, both fantasy stories by William Steig. Today we will read a different kind of story~ one based on the author's own life. This story takes place many years ago in Japan, at a time when it was unusual to see foreigners or non-Japanese people, especially away from the cities.

You will map your heart in this exercise.
Draw a large heart on a blank piece of paper in your "Writing Ideas" section of your notebook.
What feels closest to your heart? Write a word in the center.
Think for a moment about some of the places that are important. As you think of them, you can jot them down.
Write the names of topics, or sketch pictures to remind you of topics that are close to your heart. You can think of people, places, things, etc.
You can sketch it, or you can write a word to remind you.
See if there are some smaller topics within that topic you can list.

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This year you will be members of a classroom writing community. In the community, you will write about things that interest you, share and talk about your writing, and learn about what professional...

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Beginning of the Year "Friend Interview" writing Project

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Beginning of the Year "Friend Interview" writing Project

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I wonder about the purpose of your writing families. If they are creating collaborative writing frequently, then clearly defined roles make sense. If they serve as peer editors and feedback partners for each other's writing, the roles can be much less defined.

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Part 2 of cool letter writing template book

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Part 2 of cool letter writing template book

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Since we've been talking about student choice, I wonder if you could let the students choose the title of their writing family/community/cohort. You could have them take sides advocating for a label of their choice, then vote as a class on which side presented the best argument.

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This is a good template for students that need compliment sentence stems: the pre-filled in ones are not good but as a class we fill out the blank template & it worked well for writing feedback. 

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This is a good template for students that need compliment sentence stems: the pre-filled in ones are not good but as a class we fill out the blank template & it worked well for writing feedback. 

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How about "Circles?" There are some very cool poems about the significance of circles

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How about "Circles?" There are some very cool poems about the significance of circles

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This summer, I read the amazing book, Comprehension and Collaboration, 2nd Edition by Stephanie Harvey and Smokey Daniels as I knew I wanted to focus more on building true inquiry into our classroom.

One of the ideas mentioned in the book briefly was the idea of using writing circles, think lit circles but for writing, with students in order for them to gain a more long-term writing community, as well as a more developed relationship to their own role as writers. I loved the idea immediately and wanted to make it work for our kids., as having my own writing circle of trusted peers has helped me tremendously whenever I write books.

To start us off for the year, we discussed positive and negative aspects of writing by brainstorming. The question was based off of the work we have done with reading and followed the same format, rather than post-its, though, they did it in their writer's notebook on a t-chart and then created a group response at their table. We then discussed as a class and created our writing rights together. These now hang in our room as a reminder of the type of writing experiences we would like to have.

This year's writing rights, the yellow post-its are my notes from their group discussion.

Then I wanted to introduce the concept of writing circles to students using something I knew they were familiar with; lit cirlces. How are writing circles like literature circles? I showed my students this side-by-side comparison to help them get thinking about the potential process and benefits waiting for them.

So first, what are the components of our writing circles?

Students choose peers to be in their writing circle - 3 to 4 people through an interview.

They write together, physically, as well as at times, actually in the same project.

They can write on the same topic but in different formats.

They share their work, discuss and encourage each other.

They serve as editors for each other providing critical and constructive feedback.

They serve as long-term writing partners and will, hopefully, develop further skills from each other, as well as develop a more natural writing relationship.

They build accountability toward the group and the group is an immediate circle to turn to for help.

The first step toward establishing their writing circles was to reflect on their own writing identity once more - see the screenshot below. This was a continuation of the discussions we have had where they have reflected on how writing intersect with them as human beings, that started with their writing survey for the year.

After they had reflected, they then interviewed seven other people in order to hear more about their writing identity. This was on the same sheet and looked like this - very similar on purpose. To see the full survey, go here.

Why seven? I wanted them go beyond their friend zone and knew that for some that would take a few people. Once they had interviewed seven people, I then asked them to reflect on the following questions.

Looking at other people's habits, who may strengthen your skills as a writer? Note, these are people who have DIFFERENT strengths than you.

Looking at other people's habits, who may not be a good fit for you because you share the same areas of growth or skills.

Looking at other people's habits, who may you help grow as a writer? Compare your marked areas of strength to theirs.

Choose only three peers who you think may be a good fit and who will help you grow as a writer. Go outside of your comfort zone if it will help you grow.

If you want, you can add peers who you do not think will be a good fit, this is only for strong reasons, not to list all of the people you don't want to be with.

Once they had reflected, they handed the surveys in to me and the puzzle began. I told them I would try my best to have at least one "wished for" peer in their group but also knew that some kids may benefit from other peers than the ones they selected.

The following day, their writing circles were revealed. We told them it would be a test run to see how they did with each other and that we would reassess as needed. While almost all groups worked out beautifully right away, a few needed minor tweaks which we handled within a day or two.

After the reveal, we asked them to find a designated spot that would always be their meeting spot. While many chose great spots, a few didn't, and after a few days we did create new spots for some groups that allowed them to work better together. The main culprit was having space to speak to one another and space to have their materials and with 29 sudents it can get a bit tricky. Then inspired by Tricia Ebarvia's Jenga games to start off the year, we had them play Jenga with each other in order to get to know each other. Here are her original questions, here are t he questions we ended up using, some new, many of them hers. I had bought 5 Jenga games and split them into 9 games with 30 tiles each and it worked out perfectly. not only did it allow us to see how the circles would function as a group, but they also got a chance to get to know each other more. Thank you so much, Tricia for sharing all of your work around this!

Then, it was time to actually write something. And so we have been. We have been doing small prompts that they have shared with each other, they have read personal essays and memoirs and discussed them, they have written 6 word memoir, and most importantly they have shared their beginning writing with each other. As the students just submitted their first draft of a memoir or a personal essay, upcoming usage of their writing circle will be:

Navigate the feedback we have left - what does it really mean? Where do they need to start?

Be peer editors - we will be working on specific revision skills in order to help them edit each other's work better as this is not a skill they are ready to just take on. As I model my own revisions, they will be doing the revision work on each other's.

Search for "simple" mistakes such as conventions of writing that their own eyes may miss because it is too familiar with the writing.

Challenge them in their writing, hold them accountable to create better writing than what they started with.

Assess each other's writing using the rubric and comparing it to their own self-assessment.

On Monday, as we start a wonky week where the only academic day we have together is Monday, they will write a group story as we have been discussing components of great stories. They will then act it out. So far, having this built in writing community has benefitted us in a few way:

They already know who to be with when they are writing and since they are mostly peers they have chosen there is a more natural collaboration happening.

They have each other to ask when they are stuck, when they are fleshing out ideas, as well as when they think they are done but need someone else to look at it.

They don't have to wait for the teachers to look at their writing, they can go to each other first and then when their time is for a conference with me, they can come right up rather than waste time.

The students really seem to like it, no groans or moans when we ask them to get with their writing circles.

There is a lot more talk surrounding their writing, which was the main goal. We wanted to work on the social aspect of writing and to offer the kids a way to know that they are not alone when they feel burdened by writing.

I will continue to share the work of these writing circles as they will be a year-long endeavor, but wanted to share this for now. If you have any questions, please ask, I am just learning myself.
If you like what you read here, consider reading my newest book, Passionate Readers - The Art of Reaching and Engaging Every Child. This book focuses on the five keys we can implement into any reading community to strengthen student reading experiences, even within the 45 minute English block. If you are looking for solutions and ideas for how to re-engage all of your students consider reading my very first book Passionate Learners - How to Engage and Empower Your Students. Also, if you are wondering where I will be in the coming year or would like to have me speak, please see this page.

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Setting Up Writing Circles in Middle School

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This summer, I read the amazing book, Comprehension and Collaboration, 2nd Edition by Stephanie Harvey and Smokey Daniels as I knew I wanted to focus more on building true inquiry into our classroom. One of the ideas mentioned in the book briefly was the idea of using writing circles, think lit circles but for writing,...

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This is also a good intro activity

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Modeling is key for our students, but so is vulnerability and the shared respect of that feeling. We must keep it professional, but true both sided relationship building is vital at all levels.