Mrs. Flatau’s first graders were tackling the MIDDLE of a narrative. Her mini-lesson included an example of a story without much detail . . . (I went fishing. I caught a big fish. I went home.) and a story with rich and interesting details added to the middle. She retold a story about ice fishing with her family and catching a big fish. Then she went on to model writing the middle of a story she’d begun the day before, about her youngest son learning to walk during the Christmas blizzard.
I was really struck by two things during her lesson. First, I marveled at how this soft spoken adult used animation, inflection, and dramatic facial expressions to masterfully support her verbal communications and keep her students. Secondly, I was touched by how sharing of details about her “at home family” seemed to heighten the interest and attention of her students.
When it was time for the young writers to go off to their tables to work, she sent them with very explicit directions about how to have conversation with a partner about how to grow and expand the details in the middle of their story. Watching the students talk with each other and thinking again about the mini-lesson, I couldn’t help but marvel at the power of the writing workshop as tool for helping children build relationship and social interaction skills within their classroom.
Writing is such a personal endeavor, requiring us to expose ourselves and take risks. My time in Mrs. Flatau’s classroom today reminded me of the important role that relationships play in the success of the writing workshop.
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