Writing Prompts and "The Wall"

They say the best ideas are stolen and I am not above stealing good ideas. When I see something that a teacher in my PLN posts on Twitter, I'll incorporate it into my classroom. If I find something one of my colleagues in Webster Groves shared, I'll rip that off too. I expect that whatever I do in class is up for grabs too. That's how teachers get better; we share/steal/borrow. We are better when we involve the collective genius of our peers.

Last week I was reading a blog post (http://mskraushaar.blogspot.com/2016/09/here-we-write-carving-out-time-for.html) by a Webster teacher, Katie Kraushaar (@MsKraushaar). She decided to open each class period with ten minutes of writing time. Each day she would put a different prompt on the board but kids were not tied to the prompt. If there was something else they'd like to write about, they could do so. I do a lot of writing in class but have never kicked off each class period with writing time. I thought it was an idea I'd like to try. It also seemed like one of those "good procedure" activities because kids could be working for the first ten minutes of class (I have a 90 minute block) and begin as soon as they walk into the room. We started our ten minutes of writing this week.

There is a learning curve for kids anytime we do something new. During our first day with the writing prompt, kids had the usual questions: How long should this be? What if I don't want to write to the prompt? Is ten minutes over yet? As with anything, once we build this time into our class culture, kids will flourish. Many kiddos took to it like fish to water but some struggled. That's okay. Many kids have never had this experience before and need time to develop the stamina to write for ten minutes. I am not worried; kids continue to amaze me everyday.

The idea of giving kids thought-provoking prompts is exciting to me. I don't think that we give kids enough time to explore their thoughts about things that challenge even us adults. Kids have opinions that are based on their life experiences and reflection. They are every bit as important as our thoughts. Our prompts will challenge kids to think deeper and write more. For instance, I took one of the images that goes around Twitter and Facebook and used it as our first prompt. It allows for great conversation.

Another idea that I stole was "The Wall". In my classroom, I have one wall that has a huge white board on it. We have not used it much so far this year. While I was on Facebook the other day, I saw a post from Chris McGee (@cmcgee200), a former coordinator in my old district and now Assistant Principal in the Rockwood School District. In his new school, kids and teachers created a wall, "What Inspires You?" An accompanying video showed the kids writing all kinds of things on the wall. Kids were inspired by dozens of things and the board took on a life of its own. I thought it was a great idea and, since we have a ton of board space in class, decided that we would replicate the Rockwood board. Now, ours is nowhere near as beautiful as the Rockwood board (I am no artist) but the kids had a great time filling up that board last week.

It was great to see all of the things that inspire our kids, from siblings and parents to graphic design and music. I think that the kids appreciated the opportunity to share with the group. Even the very quiet kids picked up dry erase markers and contributed to the wall. It is a neat idea and we will continue to use our wall. In fact, this week our school is focusing on goal setting. To dovetail with the school, our question this week will be "What is one of your goals this year?" and we'll see how it turns out.