Perseverance

Since the beginning of the school year, the students and I have been examining the world through new "lenses".  They are finding that they are having a lot of fun (and , by the way, learning as well!) as we continue our journey together.   I must credit my enthusiasm and pedagogical approach to my summer fellowship experience with the Western New York Young Writer's Studio!  Please click on the link and check out the vision Angela has for growing writers in the Western New York area! Each of the traits below are traits that writers and readers display as they create their craft .... this inspiration comes from our work with Communities for Learning.

We began the year examining COURAGE:  talking about what courage is, how people can show it, and then looking into our Social Studies curriculum to find examples of courage.  At the time, we were studying the Native Americans and westward expansion ... just the playground to find plenty of examples of courage under difficult conditions.  Students discussed these examples with one another and wrote collaborative poetry that expressed their admiration for the courage the Native Americans showed as the US government denied them basic human rights.

The next trait we played with was UNDERSTANDING, but more specifically how authors help their readers to understand their topic and genre.  See the December archive for the questions we surveyed others about using SurveyMonkey.  We were all excited to know that responses came annonymously from around the world!  After reading other's opinions, the kids developed their own thesis statement about helping those who live in poverty.  Astounded describes how I felt when I realized the diversity of their thinking!  PLease read their comments - I am sure they will renew your faith in the youth we work with everyday!

Our next venture is PERSEVERANCE!  Ask my students about perseverance and their experiences editting their collaborative novel extension to Every Soul A Star by Wendy Mass and they will tell you that they have already learned about this trait!  Every time they thought they were done, more "stuff" was found to be edited, revised, changed, re-worded, etc .....

The tools available to us on the web have truly enhanced our learning experiences!  Please return to visit us often and see what crazy and unusual projects we have concocted in the name of "learning" (well, and a lot of fun, to boot!)!