How it all begins...

This has been an exciting week.  Challenging, but exciting.  We have partnered with Ms. Heineman's Social Studies class since the students are writing essays in both classes to explore and attempt a variety of introductions.  Yesterday, while my classes hosted Ms. Holland, the counselor, for one of her lessons, I taught with Ms. Heineman.  Today, our classes went to the library together and had a combined seminar-like class.  Both days we explored the value of essay beginnings, looked at several examples and then attempted several different kinds of beginnings on our own. 

If you talk to your student about their essay beginning, I bet they will tell you it was hard to write.  They should also be able to tell you why essay beginnings are so important.  We discussed how some employers will ask applicants to write an essay as part of the interview process and as students apply for scholarships and to colleges, writing strong essays will be important too.  Students seemed to know all of these facts, however the realization that their writing didn't just have to be good to be accepted did not appear to come as easily.  We explained to the classes how their essays would have to stand out as exemplar so they would be accepted over the numerous other candidates applying for the same positions or scholarships.

Once this was realized, students understood why the development of their introduction paragraph was so important.  In groups, we explored numerous examples of essays to study how the authors developed their beginnings.  Students chose three or four of their favorite beginnings and modeled their essay beginnings after these.  Once students had several different beginnings, they chose the one they liked the best, the one that made them want to write more. 

I watched as students went from confused, to trying, to frustrated and ready to quit and then to persistence.  With a little encouragement and feedback, students kept writing and rewriting until...THEY GOT IT!  They were so happy and proud of themselves.  It truly has been two days of repeated confirmation of why my job is so amazing. 

I realize that some students may still be struggling with the concept or exactly how to write a strong and interesting beginning.  I will continue to work with them on the essay for my class as we revise and edit.  I fully expect that one to be much easier because the writing piece is about themselves.  Please ask your child about the essay beginning they have for Social Studies.  I am sure they would love to talk about the experience they had today.

I wanted to give a few shout outs:  Calah S., I know you were frustrated and ready to give up.  I am so proud of your effort.  I think you came up with some good writing today.  Nakayla, I was very impressed and could tell just how hard you worked when you asked me to read your introduction and told me, "I'm kinda loving it."  Jordan D., your intro was so strong that I want a copy of it for an example for next year.  There are so many more of you who impressed me with your efforts and hard work today.  Hold your heads high...you guys did something great today.