On Friday, Amber Yuen and I were taking our regular walk around Grizzell during the end of our planning period (see last blog post). We were reflecting on the first three periods and were so happy with what our students had accomplished. For the last two weeks, the eighth graders have worked on writing literary analysis essays on theme. Each day we talked about aspects of argument writing: claim, counterclaim, analysis, text evidence, author's craft, organization, hooks, conclusions, and sentence fluency. Using the CCSS and Lucy Calkins' Units of Study in Argument, Information, and Narrative Writing, Grade 8, students worked through mini-lessons, multiple drafts, revising and editing.
By the end of each period, as students' fingers hovered over the "Turn In" button in Google Classroom, the look of relief and apprehension showed in their faces. I praised each class; the students worked so hard over the two week time period. I am sure that as I write this blog post, the students are checking ProgressBook to see if the grades are posted. (Unfortunately, this is the world we live in.)
I am proud of their effort and the countless times the students read their work and the improvement from draft one to draft ten or twenty. The dedication of my 8th graders is inspiring!
By the end of each period, as students' fingers hovered over the "Turn In" button in Google Classroom, the look of relief and apprehension showed in their faces. I praised each class; the students worked so hard over the two week time period. I am sure that as I write this blog post, the students are checking ProgressBook to see if the grades are posted. (Unfortunately, this is the world we live in.)
I am proud of their effort and the countless times the students read their work and the improvement from draft one to draft ten or twenty. The dedication of my 8th graders is inspiring!