Writing

Friday's Friend writing

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During Friday Friends' writing, students can choose a partner to sit and write with, and any other form of communication is restricted.

Each student starts with a piece of blank paper, and begins their conversation. Then, students follow teacher's instruction to exchange paper to continue. The teacher usually gives students about three minutes to take their turn to write. When three minutes are up, the teacher gives a signal for partners to switch. This activity usually lasts 20 minutes. At the very end, I usually give students about 2-3 minutes just to talk about or finish up their conversation orally.

I usually don't collect these so that students have some privacy and trust. Students seem to enjoy this activity a lot! And I believe this is a great way to show students that writing can be fun, too.

Writing appears to be one of the least favorite subjects for students in school. For that reason, I have come up with interesting writing activities and topics for students that they seem to enjoy.

Also, it is important for students to realize that writing is an unavoidable skill that people must have to be successful.

During my guided lead teaching, I had my students utilize a "learning goals journal." Daily, students were required to decide on their own learning goal, whether the goal was achieved, and what they had learned.

I used a variety of writing forms and topics to interest my students. Below are some examples of what my students did.

I think it is very important to get people to like writing because it is an essencial and interesting way to communicate and convey thoughts. Therefore, I try to make writing come alive and seem more meaningful than just to fill up the "writing" hour or finish worksheets. And here are some examples:

1. I ask students to write Learning Goals Journal to set goals, monitor, and reflect their goals, and I write back with comments or suggestions.

2. In Learning Goals Journal, students write about what they learned today to reflect and think about the time spent in school, and I write back with comments or suggestions.

3. When a more seious bahavior or conflict issue occurs, I ask the students to write to the other persons involved and reflect.

4. I have also asked the students to write an improvement plan, and I would reply back to their writing.