SOL #18 By George, I Think She's Got It

Today some of my writers were working on #DWHabit, some were working on research for a project and some were working on their independent writing.  I sat with Lillian today and we looked through her quick writes.  I noted that she wrote some really nice summaries of some nice moments that could become stories.  I referred to the post by Beth Moore to help me help Lillian figure out what her next steps were.  Lillian decided that she would like to add more dialogue and inner monologue after she looked at some of my posts.  After she read my Follow that Weiner post she said "Oh. I can make the characters talk." We tied her writing back to the reading strategies that we have been studying.  We know that readers learn about characters by what they say and think.  As writers, we need to give our readers that same opportunity. We later shared with the class what she was working on.  When she shared she was using my story Follow That Weiner as her mentor text. Alex said, "That one is my favorite too."   Holy cow!!  I'm a mentor author!!
Other students shared some of their notebooks. After all these years of teaching, I now see the importance of the notebook.  Yes, it is a place for gathering ideas and for writing daily. More importantly, it was something to bring to your writing community.  Students shared their entries but then they needed to tell us what next.  Where did they think this idea could go?  What project do they think they can make?  Classmates offered suggestions about what it needed.  One student is easily able to write clearly, creatively and lengthy notebook entries.  When he shared his entry, the class enjoyed his humor and format.  When we posed the, "What next?" question, he realized that this writing wasn't finished, it was just the beginning.
Being part of this challenge has been such a powerful learning experience for me. I see the power of the notebook, the beauty of writing daily and wonder of a writing community.  Thank you Slice of Life!!!