It’s May…teach yourself. -Jen Hatmaker

Image by Jen Hatmaker

People, truer words have never been spoken. The countdown is on here and we are doing a serious blitzkrieg to the finish line with 10 days of school remaining. Correction, 8 full days and 2 half days. There is no kind of tired like end of the school year tired, but with active, wiggly, excited, over the top five year olds, I must forge on. This tidal wave of crazy is unavoidable so I just get on the wave and ride.

In an effort to maintain some sanity, we are busy with a lot of choice writing. Many students choose to write more about interests from our thematic studies, others gravitate toward journal writing, and some want to capture/savor moments from field trips. During choice time, when students choose to write, they not only choose the topic but they pick the genre and the tools. As students engage in authentic work, they learn more about app functionality and share features with one another. In this sense, they really are teaching themselves. When they next use the app, their work is 100% focused on the learning (the writing, the communicating, etc), not the app itself.  Even the youngest students can learn quickly how to live and think inside of an app as well as move across apps.  Our job as teacher of writers is to focus on the writers and teach writers -not apps.  We need to help them apply and share learning, and grow their skills. So, in our classroom kids often choose between Pic Collage, Drawing Pad, Feltboard, Paper Desk Pro and Book Creator.

Here are a few samples of their work from the last two weeks. None of these were assigned. It was all their choice during their free writing times.

The children are app smashing, creating, and collaborating. Their energies are currently directed toward choice writing and not toward mischief (thank goodness). By using student interests and prior experiences, students are actively and authentically writing. We have a collaboration table in the classroom where students can go and discuss writing ideas with peers. These can turn into lively, rich conversations, which in turn, produce some pretty amazing writing.

For my readers who are nearing the end of your school year, hang on and ride the wave. It’s May…they can teach themselves!

Today we will do exciting new things. Let’s get to it.