Talk about an assignment that got the kids excited! They brought in pictures of themselves aged 5 or younger from family albums. After 'ooohing' and 'aaahing' over their own picure for days with each speaking quite verbosely about their inherent cuteness, they all finally got down to the hard brainstorming... of finding convincing reasons that they should be picked as the 'Cutest Kid'.
We set up R.A.F.T.S as we do for each writing assignment. This is the 6+1 Writing Traits language that really helps keep the focus of the assignment. R= role. So, their role was to be a contestant. A=audience. That means knowing who you are writing for. These kids were writing to an audience of anonymous adult judges-teachers. F=format. This format was a letter. T=topic. The topic was "Me"and S=strong verb. The main reason for this assignment-- to learn how to write persuasively.
In complete seriousness, each worked hard to find 3 persuasive reasons, good solid ones. The ooohing and aaahing became "oh!" and "ahaing!" as they figured out the story to tell about themselves.
It was quite the writing process and it took weeks of revision. We made sure to know what persuasion is and set up the criteria list, as usual. Writer's Workshops were created around introductions and transitions, closings, and the importance of order or organization of their reasons. They tried out ideas on each other and really grappled with word choice. They ask questions like."Don't you think that sounds too sympathetic?" and "Do you think that complimenting the judges will help?" Lots of thoughts arouse from the power of particular words and realizing that they were only able to create a picture of themselves to three judges they didn't know with words-- only, no pictures-- no names on the work even. Just them telling why they should be chosen as the cutest kid. Whew, it was hard and their effort was palpable.
When the papers were returned with the scored rubrics and copious comments about all the writers, the results were revealed in a way that focused on the writing process because, after all, that was the point. I was pleased with how each to worked through the process with an idea and refined that idea. Each student received a round of applause and appreciation for the effort and time. Each, I hope, realized, that the power of communication through writing is a great skill that takes time to learn and much, much practice.
Ms. Bonzo's PPSEL 5-6 Crew... Be sure to scroll past the posts to get to all the pictures... This is the blog for the 5th and 6th graders at Palouse Prairie School of Expeditionary Learning. These kids are terrific and these pages and pictures are for their parents and community to know what they are doing and learning with a focus on the 10 Design Principles of Expeditionary Learning.
