Final Noticing Blog

This week I noticed how important it is to allow students to celebrate in their own successes and those of their peers. It is so easy to lose sight of the "little" moments when standards and pacing guides seem to dictate our every move in the classroom. My students finished their final pieces of writing on Friday and over the weekend I assembled them into a book. On Tuesday, students had the chance to gather on the floor (which is a special treat) and participate in Author's Chair. They were so excited to be able to share their finished products with their peers and to compliment each other, since they all know just how hard each of them worked during this expository writing process.

As I introduced each child to share their piece, their peers clapped and cheered for the author until he or she was seated in the Author's Chair. With their peers gathered at their feet, the authors' faces lit up and their eyes twinkled.  They beamed with pride as I handed the book to them and their peers listened intensely as the author shared his/her animal essay. At the conclusion of each reading, audience members clapped furiously and shouted out compliments and remarked about the interesting facts they had learned.

This activity was multipurpose; it allowed students to complete the writing process by sharing a published piece of writing with an authentic audience, as well as practice oral presentation skills. However, most importantly, this activity united students and provided them with the opportunity to share in the accomplishments of one another. Each student completed the same writing assignment and no two were the same. Instead of seeing this as students not achieving at the same level, it was seen as a celebration of the uniqueness of each student and the writing process itself. It allowed students to take pride in their work and receive the admiration and validation from their peers in the form of applause and praise, not just from teachers in the form of grades.

Our Author's Chair might have been the most rewarding and most powerful 25 minutes I've had in Room 203 thus far...