The school year has started, and my slicing life is back on track. All are welcome! Join us at Two Writing Teachers!
On the screen in front of me, I watched William start to giggle.
"What?" I asked.
He turned off his mute. "That's not how it happened," he said. "I actually just ate the zucchini, but this is really funny to watch how other people make up the story."
I was working with three fifth-graders who haven't been writing much, so we had brainstormed a quick beginning-middle-end story and each of them were taking a part of it to write. The winner of the brainstorm was when William had tasted zucchini. (I had asked them about a time when they had to eat something they didn't like. Sometimes it's tricky to find a story everyone can relate to for a shared story writing session. Most kids have had to eat something they weren't too sure of!)
"I just counted to ten and ate it," William said. "It wasn't that bad."
I went into the writing piece through the shared Google doc, and I also began adding to the story, finding a place to begin a count. 1-2-3, I wrote. Mom will not let me get up if I don't taste it. When I get to ten, I'll do it, I thought to myself. 4-5-6---- I left off, and William took over, having fun with what he COULD have been thinking.
After ten minutes, the three of them could not believe the story they created. William had written the beginning, but Annabelle and Rashka had taken over the middle and the end, all working on the document simultaneously.
"I didn't know tasting zucchini could be such a good story," William said.
What a great thing to realize!
Happy Slicing,
You know, I've never tried having a group write together like this. Sounds like a blast... and tastes like zucchini? heeheehee Wonder if I could get my self-conscious seniors to try this. We shall see.
ReplyDeleteThere is something freeing about imagining how it could have happened. . . Love this, Melanie!
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