Step 3 of Project 3

My unit did not proceed as expected, simply because of the realistic structure of a school schedule.  I had planned for significantly more time to actually write, but when it came down to it, my teacher needed to move on and begin teaching the next unit, and so I had to figure out how to combine my remaining three lessons for my unit into the large block of time that we have on Friday’s specifically for Language Arts.  This was very difficult for me, because I had to figure out how to structure this period of time in a way that did not just have my ten year olds sitting and writing for three hours.  I needed them to write, and I needed them to go through the brainstorming, first draft, proof reading, revising, and second draft pieces of the writing pencil that represents our writing process, but I knew that if I tried to do this all in one day, I would add to the stress and the anxiety of writing that I knew most of my students already felt.  I wanted my unit to celebrate writing, and to allow students to see how enjoyable writing could be, and it was very difficult for me to figure out how to keep this process positive when it neared the end. 

This is the writing pencil that I created for my
students that represents the 9 phases of the writing
process.  It worked great as an motivational tool for
my students, which was interesting to me
because that was not my intention with this tool.

This last day of my unit did end up going over very smoothly, and my students did a beautiful job of writing, and I could tell that most of them really were enjoying what I was asking them to do.  What I did have a very difficult time with was trying not to feel discouraged by the work they ended up turning in to me.  I was thrilled with their actual writing, and I could tell that some students had a thorough understanding of the show don’t tell style of writing.  However, most of my students did not include the specific pieces that were asked of them in their final piece.  I know that they are capable of doing it, because they had already done it for me, but in individual pieces of short writing.  But it was nowhere to be found in their final pieces!  I even specifically chose to have students self assess themselves on a checklist as opposed to a rubric, so that they could tell me if they had included what was asked of them.  All of my students checked yes, that they included all of the pieces.  In the majority of their writing, I was shocked at this, because I could not see it in their work, so I didn’t know if they truly thought they included the pieces, or if they just checked things off of a list just to do it.  This was so frustrating!  I do not want to discourage students from writing, and I truly do want it to be a celebration, because it should be, but sometimes I am just not really sure where to go.  My unit is now over, but I feel as if my students are not ready for that to happen.  The constraints of a school schedule are there, and so I am not able to keep going back to this piece of writing, but I feel like the students are not ready at all to move on.  I am still struggling with this, and am really unsure of what I should do that is best for the students, because that is what is most important to me.