Sharing Matters

Yesterday we partnered with a first grade class to learn about descriptive writing. They had all drawn crazy monsters, and we used their drawings to find out how important it is to include details in our writing.

First, every student grabbed a partner and one of the monster pictures. One student described the monster while the other (without looking) tried to recreate the same monster drawing. Each partner got a turn drawing a monster from verbal descriptions only.

The results were actually pretty good, or in the very least, comical. And we all learned an important lesson about accurate details.

Next, each student took one of the drawings and wrote a description of their monster. These descriptions were going to another class to see if they could match up the correct monster with the written description. The kids were eager to see if they could write something detailed enough for a second grade student to match the drawing to the description.

Well, most of them were. Burt was a little hesitant to get started. He had done a fabulous job verbally describing his monster to his partner earlier, and I reminded him of that. He nodded, uncertain. He said very matter-of-factly, "I just don't know where to start."

We looked at the picture together and I asked him what feature stood out to him the most.

"Well, I guess there are about 5 million spikes on his head."

Progress! I told him to start there and just talk aloud like he was telling a friend.

I moved away, checking on some other students. Typically, I try to check in on him often, but this project required more time for other students as well. Before I knew it, time was up and I hadn't checked in on him again. I was upset with myself -- he rarely completes a task without frequent reminders to keep going.

Suddenly, he was at my side.

"You're not going to believe it," he said, holding his paper tightly to his chest.

He flipped the paper around, revealing a page full of writing.

But that wasn't it. The back page was full also. And the words were fabulous. Completely on his own, Burt had described his monster with vivid detail! I let out a whoop and gave him a big hug. I had to share his succes -- he had to share his success! We went to his previous teacher and shared. We went to the reading specialist and shared. We shared with our class. Kids cheered, teachers hugged, he floated a little bit off the ground for a brief while.

I love the happy moments. They make everything worth it.