I was sitting on the floor next to some of my third graders during writing workshop, acting as scribe for one of them. There were whispers from students, two other teachers conferring with our writers. Then I heard a voice. “Ms. Bless, can I share my fairy tale?”
This is a magical moment coming from a third grade student in the process of drafting. He wanted to share his work in progress with the class after getting some ideas from them during the mini-lesson about magic.
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The credit for this magical moment goes to Lucy Calkins Units of Study, our fabulous ELL teacher (who taught the mini-lesson), and the amazing third grade writers of 3AB. Here is how it came to be…
We (my co-teacher and I) are lucky enough to have our ELL teacher/Bilingual Interventionist push in for writing workshop. We rotate who teaches the mini-lesson between the three of us. Friday it was her turn. The lesson: Once Upon a Time – Session 17.
After the explicit teaching, she used a student example that already included magic. Then, she asked for a volunteer who needed help with ideas for adding magic to his/her draft.
He ended up using a combination of the ideas and shared this fairy tale draft with the class:
jenniebblog 
Magic, yes. Beauty, too 🙂
I love that he was so receptive to help from peers and then felt comfortable and safe enough to share his draft writing with everyone. I can tell you’ve created a safe community where everyone feels valued!
There is nothing quite like the magic of writing workshop. You never know what will appear!
I love the “Honk, and Hunk, and Smash”…clearly this child knows the story of the Three Little Pigs. So cute!
Writing magic. What a wonderful workshop!
Learning IS magical. I love it! 🙂
It is wonderful when our students apply the mini lessons to their own work. Then, they want to SHARE what they write with others. It was magic. Well done, Teach.