Small Groups: Process

Below is an email I wrote to several teachers during a time when

I served at their school as a Writer-in-Residence.   - Joan Tornow

~~Dear Paul, Jenny, and Jane,

The third grade “authors” have surprised and delighted me. Here are some highlights:

Magic Moment I: In Jenny’s class on Monday, one boy was reading about how his friend had taught him how to play soccer. Another boy at the table said, “And now you’re teaching me how to play soccer!” This was one of those great moments. We talked about the first boy (sorry I can’t remember his name!) adding this to his piece, and he did want to add it. We talked about how his piece already had a turning point. It began with his not knowing how to play soccer, moved on to his friend teaching him, and then gave examples of what he can now do. (I wove in a brief minilesson on turning points)

Magic Moment II: One of Jane’s students, Shah, had written a very long (six pages?) piece about his family’s trip to Omaha to meet some of his relatives for the first time. All the students listened with rapt attention, and when he finished, another boy said, “You must be the smartest kid in the third grade!” All the other children agreed. I said, “Yes, he might be the smartest kid in the third grade! And it’s great to have someone smart like that in your class because you can learn things from him.” The other boy said, “I already am!” I added, “That proves that you’re smart, too!” That was such a neat moment. And ALL the children were beaming and celebrating Shah’s achievement.

Magic Moment III: One of Paul’s students was writing a piece about he and his father putting furniture in his “tree-house.” The question arose: “Was it hard getting furniture up the ladder?” He responded, “Well, it’s not actually a tree-house. It’s really on the ground.” We brainstormed possible other names for it. One child suggested “club-house,” another “hangout.” And then one little girl, with impeccable logic, said, “Isn’t it a ground-house?” That was what Lucy Calkins would call a “writerly” moment. I said they were doing what authors do – thinking hard about the exact words they use. I added that it was clever and original to call it a “tree-house” as long as you help the audience to get the right picture in their mind. I’ll just always remember that little girl piping up, “A ground-house!”

I sometimes think of teaching like spinning jacks. As a child, I used to try to get all ten jacks spinning at the same time. Some would wind down, tip over, and stop, while others were still spinning. When I had the opportunity to observe your reading classes, I noticed that the “jacks” would get up and spin themselves. In a writing workshop approach, the same thing happens with writing. Children take more and more ownership for the process. It was fun to celebrate all these “magic moments.” (And as I drove home each week, I reveled in remembering these moments.)

As you know, I’m kind of a fanatic about having an extended process of generating and choosing topics. I just think it’s so important! Nancie Atwell, a middle school writing workshop ‘guru,’ once said something like this: “Having an occasional assigned topic is like having a blind date. Having all topics assigned is like having an arranged marriage.” Kind of an overstatement, but she makes her point! So, these are some of this week’s highlights. I wish I had had time to write down all the highlights, because each week I drove home with many similar highlights dancing in my head… the child who wrote about a scary dream, the child who wrote about his grandmother’s pets in Korea, the child who wrote about her artist aunt in Arizona, the child who wrote about capturing a frog, the child who described one of her family’s cats as “cuddly but feisty,” and so many other wonderful windows into their worlds. And they were so interested in each other’s real-life stories.

You’ve clearly produced confident and competent young writers, so my small part was easy -- a flavorful piece of cake! My focus before, and during, graduate school was elementary-school language arts, and it has been a true joy to return to these “roots.” Thank you for your hospitality and for letting me meet your third-grade authors!

~   Joan