Mirror, Mirror on the Wall...Is my Memoir the Best of All?

This week was an exciting one in Writers' Workshop.  We experienced our first deadline and were introduced to the process of self reflection!  How did it go for you?  Were you on track and able to meet the deadline?  If not, what is your plan to stay on track for the next writing project?  Plan ahead and learn from what happened in writing your memoir.  It will get easier to stay on track with practice.

After turning in our memoirs, we busily completed self assessments, using the rubric that was provided at the beginning of the writing unit.  Students thoughtfully considered how they did in each area, before recording their opinion of their work.  Not surprisingly, many students scored themselves with all smiley faces.

It is the beginning of the year, so we are still learning how to be more critical of our work.  Again, it takes practice.  In an attempt to work on this, we also got feedback from our peers in a peer assessment.  We will continue to work on self and peer assessments of our work, for the remainder of the year.  It is important that students learn to offer honest, yet polite, feedback to bring about true improvements and change in their writing.

Students then did a final self reflection and recorded something about the piece that they were proud of, as well as a goal they need to work on in their future writing.  What's your goal?  Jack was proud of the way he used details to describe making his pie.  His first draft did not include these details, and he worked to incorporate all five of his senses into describing how the pie came to be.  His goal is to improve his use of quotation marks and paragraph form when characters are talking.  This can be tricky, and the idea of forming a new paragraph each time a new character talks was challenging to him.  Luckily, he can consult the posters in the classroom for all the information he needs to improve these skills.  How will you work to improve?  What resources will you use to get better?

 

After finishing all of that, we engaged in a friendly competition:  a dictionary scavenger hunt!  This helped us review the skills we learned during the editing phase of this project.  It also gave us an opportunity to award lots of candy prizes!  We're getting better and better at locating words, using the guide words provided at the top of each page.  If any parents are reading this, test your child's knowledge when you get the chance.  We know you'll be impressed!