Writing for Enjoyment (or to scare the pants off of a classmate)

            I have been spending time in a 6^th grade literacy intervention class this semester. The students are nearly always pleasant and willing to interact with the content. One of the ways the CT is required to measure and improve their literacy skills is through the use of a computer program. Twice a week, this group of students goes to the computer room for time with the reading program. They seem to enjoy the program for the most part as they are frequently calling to me for verbal affirmation after completing a step or lesson. My belief is that they are buying into a sense of self-management. However as someone who is less than technologically confident, when they have computer problems I am quick to call for help from either the CT or the building tech guru.

            Recently two new students were moved into the class while two others (my unofficial favorites) were moved to a different class. The two new students were males, one had just come to Kansas after beginning the school year in Minnesota, the other has an ethnic first and last name that imply Asian or Middle Eastern descent. Neither of them knew each other before their first day in our Literacy Intervention class. Doubling their discomfort, it was a computer day. Because they were new, they did not yet have the proper information to log on to the computers and access the materials. They had panic written on their faces, the CT with her hands already full of dealing with the other students had a similar expression upon her countenance. I offered to take the two new guys and work with them at a nearby table for the period. The CT and the boys were both happy with that option.

            I led the boys just outside the classroom to the foot of a staircase leading from the second floor to the third floor. The third floor at my placement middle school is a place of mystery. Never used (anymore) for daily classes, it is now perpetually dark and presumably empty. I have feigned fear of the “haunted third floor” with other students in the past. These new students accepted my assertion of the third floor as creepy with no resistance. I pointed to the dark doors at the third floor landing and told the boys, “This is your writing prompt; a student went to the third floor and disappeared. No one knows what happened to that student. Go!”

            They nearly tore my hand off as I handed them each a piece of paper and pencils. Immediately they had a few questions. “Can it be about you? Can we make it about a ghost? Can we write about other students?” I answered (perhaps recklessly) in the affirmative to all of their questions. I just wanted them to write. And write they did. For over fifteen minutes straight (that’s like two years in middle school time) their pencils scratched away at their papers. Once a student asked me for help spelling a word, but other than that they were silent, writing, working, and dare I say learning. I joined them and wrote my own story.

            It was clear that they were enjoying the activity as smiles covered their faces. When one student finished he handed me his paper with a proud grin. I read it and some parts of it were good and spooky. His build up to the climax was in place, he used descriptive words and imaginative dialogue. I read the second student’s work when he had finished. Similarly it had several of the important elements a reader looks for in a scary story. Thankfully, neither had abused the privilege of using me or other students in their story, though I did get abducted by ghosts in both stories. Their finished stories would have needed a lot of polish to be perfect. One student used no capital letters or punctuation. The other misspelled several words and made some conventional mistakes, but I did not correct a thing on either paper. We shared our stories and enjoyed creating them. Days later, both students asked to read their stories to the class, something for which I am willing to bet that neither has ever requested permission.

            These students would have probably been discouraged if I had corrected all of the errors on their papers. I did not tell them in so many words but I wanted to communicate “an expectation that students will write well, but not necessarily that the teacher is going to read the writing exclusively for mechanics and require that the student revise on the basis of teacher feedback” (Principal leadership p. 60) rendering it as interesting exercise rather than work. They both seemed aware that their work was not perfect when I pointed out a mistake here or there. I also think that the guarantee of an audience for their work played a part in their strong efforts. I believe that with some work, I could get these students to write more and integrate proper conventions into the prompts. I hope that they will continue to write on their own and seek out interesting prompts like the haunted 3^rd floor. I am already investigating other useful writing prompts within the school building.        

Fisher, D., & Frey, N. (2012, March 1). Writing, Not Just in English Class. Principal Leadership, 58-60.