I am sitting here in class while my students write their “daily ramble.” If I have learned anything from teaching it is that kids need the time in class to practice what is preached. As teachers we can’t assign homework and remotely know what is happening at the home where this work is supposed to be completed–which is exactly what I have been guilty of many years. “Just write.” “It will come to you.” “Go find a quiet space and just think, then write.” If there is a platitude, I will say it. I praise the children who do what I ask, and I tell the ones who don’t to just do it, as if it was as simple as taking another breath.
I am inclined to experiment and to just ask them to read for thirty minutes each night and let the “work of the writer” be practiced in class.
Hmmm…
