Good is not Enough

A long, long, long time ago, I too was in Middle School.  Around 7th and 8th grade, I was inspired to write poetry.  This became what I would do in class when I was supposed to take notes, what I would do at home when I was supposed to do homework and, well, what I would do.  I have several journals filled with poems from then until now. 

Those journals are rarely cracked open.  I use them to introduce myself to the kids at the beginning of the year, but I do not let students read them.  I guess you would say I am a bit guarded.  Well, the kids asked why, and I couldn't answer this.  I've thought about it and thought about it.  Recently, the answer hit me~ I've never revised my poems.  As I was planning for our revision lesson, I was wishing I had some student work that hadn't been revised, so I began to look for some poems in my journals that we could use.

I have to admit I was a bit sick as I pulled that first poem up this morning.  Twenty plus 12-13 year olds were not only about to read my work, but they were going to critique it.  I could only imagine how similar each student must feel each time they share a piece of their writing.

I did not tell them that the writing was mine, but they figured it out when I did not tell them who the author was.  They liked the poems and had a hard time at first looking at them critically.  Once I reassured them that my feelings would not be hurt (and made the first change myself) the kids took off.   You can check out their work by clicking here.  The kids want to have a little contest, so please take the poll on our blog that will help us measure which block you think revised best.

After all of their hard work, the poems are no longer mine.  It is now OUR poem and it is a hundred times better.  I am proud of this writing now.  Today we all learned.  I learned to put myself out there a little, just like I ask the kids to and the kids learned to revise.  They saw the value in their changes and discovered the fun in playing with words, organization, verb tense, repetition and rhythm.  Now, they need to use these skills in all of their writing. 

Our literary history paper guidelines will be finalized tomorrow and an official due date assigned.  I expect that students will spend time with their writing, practicing their new revision skills.  We will take class time on Monday to work on this, so they can get some help, but I still expect time on task at home.  It took us an hour to revise one poem, and there were many of us working on it.  Tuesday will be Tungsten and Wednesday is the field trip to the History Museum. 

We hope to see you later next week for conferences.  Please call the 7th grade office to set up your appointment time if you haven't already.  The number is 953-7532.