A Visit to Academy ISD

I think the first thing that struck me upon entrance to Mrs. Jahns' classroom was the amount of "doing" on the part of her students. Now, keep in mind I am here the Friday before the last (all early release) 4 days of school.  Students were anxious to get ONE MORE THING published before the end of their third grade year. Unfortunately my camera does not want to cooperate with the upload so this is an image free posting session. Sorry Monica!


This a classroom full of tools for writers. A well stocked publishing center with fancy scissors, sharp crayons, several choices of paper, alphabet stencils, shape book patterns, staplers, drawing books, etc.  Students were coming and going, getting the supplies needed so that they could publish their writing properly. 

I watched the work for a bit and then I pulled in close to a few writers.

One writer was telling about her field trip to Pearson- yes- the place that makes the TAKS test! She had a detailed paper telling all about what they did and what they saw there. However, there were several places where I was confused.  After she read her story to me, I told her about how I had never been to Pearson and how it had been a long time since I went on a field trip. 
I asked her, "Do you think there are any parts in your story where you think I might get confused about what happened on the field trip?" She nodded her head yeah. I made her read it again to me and I told her I was going to stop her if I got confused. So we did just that.
I stopped her three times. Each time I asked her- "Why am I confused there?" She had great things to say- "You don't know who Rachel is!" or "You don't know where Pearson is!" or "You don't know who they are".
She of course then clarified those parts and I reminded her to always think about the people who will read what you've written, and ask yourself, "Will they know what I am saying or will they be confused?" 
It was a great conference.

Next I moved over to a gentleman writing a CHAPTER BOOK! Oh yes.. you heard right. He was on Chapter 5.  I didn't read all five chapters, I just started to talk with him about his book.
"Tell me about your book."
"It's about an octopus who gets lost from him mom and looks to find her."
"Wow, that sounds interesting. What has happened so far?"
He gave me a good synopsis.
"What is going to happen next?"
He shrugged his shoulders. "I kind of figure it out at I write it."
Oh??!!! Oh no....no.. that is not how writers work is the thought that came through my head! I of course did not say it that way. Instead, I grabbed a chapter book (Romona and Beezus) from the (very well stocked I might add) Classroom Library. I showed him the chapters listed in that book.
I asked him, "Do you think Beverly Cleary just figured this book out as she wrote it?"
He shook his head no. I said, "How do you think she did it?"
"She had a plan for it."
"Maybe we need a plan for your book too. A plan can always change, but I do think writers like you and writers like Beverly Cleary have 'an idea' of a plan before and while they write." So together we made the plan and I left him the plan for his future chapters on a post-it note. Kids KNOW how writers work, sometimes they just need us to hold them accountable for doing what writers do!

This again was a classroom full of doing which is why I'm so sad that none of my pictures seem to want to upload. "Server rejected" is the message I am given.... well fooey!

It was a great day and a great visit with writers in 3rd grade at Academy. I also got to go give a hug to a former Kinder student now in 4th grade!  She had been in Mrs. Jahns' Classroom the year before! 
Thanks for inviting me to your classroom Monica. 

Everyone... have a GREAT SUMMER!