Wednesday, February 20
Hopefully, all parents have seen my fabulous Spelling Project (45% assignment.) I have asked students to bring back the yellow cover sheet containing both the students' signatures as well as their parents'.
I have emphasized in class that students should follow the directions and practice, practice and practice spelling the words prior to filling in the blanks. The idea is for them to spell the words enough times so that they can remove those words from their spelling problem "list".
Students should have finished writing their Comparison-Contrast papers (45% assignment) in class today. Any student who has not finished his or her paper today in class must come tomorrow morning at 8:00 to finish.
I have started grading and recording the papers today. As one of our major portfolio pieces, these papers are written only in the classroom. We prepare for the components of each paper prior to and during the writing of the paper. Students receive a great many tools to help them through the process of the paper (graphic organizers, models, written guidelines, smaller scale practice, daily discussions, and any thing that I can create or explain when I see students struggling), but it is up to them to implement each step leading up to the final draft.
As a parent, the greatest assistance that you can offer your child is to model your own writing, whether it is a paper that you have kept over the years, or a piece of writing that you have from work. The more we can personalize writing, all writing, the less abstract writing becomes for young people. Of all learning and creation, writing (and yes, I am biased,) requires the greatest amount of ownership. Those written words are the connections we hope to make between ourselves and others, and to show that we can make meaning out of our lives. And yes, those same things can be done in other mediums, but writing calls upon our most valuable and beautiful tool - language.
