We are in the middle of writing boot camp, that back to basics training that my 5th graders all need. They have these incredible ideas just bursting onto their blogs, their journals and anywhere else they write, but they lack the basics. The organization, capitalization, and other things that make readers stumble and lose interest.
So as we go through another lesson on paragraphs and the students correctly put all of the pieces together, I ask them, “Do you all know this?” A resounding “Yes!” greets me. “Well, then why don’t you use it in your writing?” Silence and then this answer, “Well, we just forget because we get so excited…” I smile and move on.
I wonder how many times students don’t show their best work because they are so excited…
Pernille Ripp 