Students brainstormed possibilities for a chart of what writing can become and filled out proposals for their projects. Proposals required writers to name the topic and genre of their piece, plan their notebook work (pre-drafting work), choose mentor texts (published texts in the same genre as their project), and choose a tentative due date. Students spent writing workshop on Tuesday and Wednesday beginning to work on their independent projects.
The photo above shows the brainstorming the writers in Room 101 did about possible independent projects. (Click to see a larger, easier to read image:)
The work of independent projects is so valuable because students are able to explore an often new genre they are interested in and take themselves independently through the writing process. Some of the independent projects our writers are undertaking include: comics, plays, sports programs, picture books, fantasy stories, and interviews.
As we enter into this new world of balancing two writing pieces (independent projects and our class genre piece, currently realistic fiction), we will be learning that it's important that we do not rush through our realistic fiction work to get to our independent projects. Instead, we will use independent projects to help fill our writing time with writerly activities. One way students will show that they are balancing their writing work is through their plan box, which shows their own, individual, plan for writing workshop each day. Students may choose to work on independent projects as one of the three activities in their plan box.
In Room 101, the feeling is, indeed, that there is so much writing to be done.
Mrs. Mills,
ReplyDeleteI love the word abuzz! I think it's an onomatopoeia: Just hearing it makes me feel excited!
I think you are, perhaps, the best teacher ever and it seems you have the best students (or shall I say, authors!) ever.
I'd like to hear more about the plan box.
My favorite genres are: interview, commerical, blog post (of course!), and poem (of course!)
Love,
Coreen