Ok so title has little to do with this post other than to date it really.  In terms of my goal, with the senior classes I am making a little progress.  Room 3 have begun blogging - just little articles that I have assigned them to write but the cool/interesting/great thing is that the kids are volunteering to do the writing.  I almost wish I had got the kids to name their surveys as it would be interesting to see if the kids who didn’t like writing were those kids that were volunteering…..perhaps next time.

One piece of writing I read from Room 6’s class blog blew me away.   I thought it was a piece of shared writing, but when I spoke to the teacher it was just the kids work.  The voice and thought in it is amazing - read it here.

I have also got the yr 2 digital classrooms blogging.  The kids seem really excited by it and the reaction from the other class whilst reading it is great.  Room 8 even has a buddy class at Meadowbank School - maybe we can begin to seek classes further afield.

Anyways, I seem to be cracking with this blogging and classes lark - sometime I do wish I had a little more control over what was going on in the classroom.  (Does this mean I want to go back into the classroom when I start questioning that??).  THis may end up being a long term goal that lasts longer than this term……

I gave 2 classes my little writing survey last week (one class is a yr4/5 and one is a yr5/6). Totally anon of course with only a B or a G to distinguish between the genders. Yesterday I was collating the results and came up with some interesting findings - oh my goodness - no wonder our kids don’t like writing!!!

Of the 60 (ish) children surveyed - all of them write for their teacher at school, with the next most common answer was friends with 14 children saying they also sometimes wrote for them.  Parents were the third most common answer.

At home most children answered that they wrote for their parents and extended family.

Sadly, across both catergories (at school/at home) only 15 children answered that they wrote for themselves.  THIS NEEDS TO CHANGE.

Some of the more perceptive children answered that they wrote for portfolios, display and the principal.  Not exactly a real and authentic audience.

If we want our kids to become better writers (who enjoy writing) we need to provide them with an authentic audience where people will read, comment and converse with the kids rather Mr/Mrs So and So at the front of the class…..

Does any of this surprise you????

Download Video: Posted by jessmcculloch at TeacherTube.com.

Download Video: Posted by mrstacey at TeacherTube.com.