I am so excited because in English we are creating poems right now, and while there are many requirements to these poems (they have to be quatrains and ballads), students are still able to be creative and play with language. I forgot how much fun it can be to listen to students as they discuss poem generation. Many students are coming in and saying things like "I wrote an awesome stanza last night, Ms. Goedtke!" and when they are talking to their partners, students are actually discussing how to improve rhythm and rhyme in their poems. I love that our fourth quarter in English focuses on creative work. I think it fits nicely with the Spring.
This also makes me wish there was a way to make researching and other writing as interesting and personal to students. We unpacked the research standard as a VT at the last VT meeting and are in the process of shaping our research to be based on a question. I am hoping that questioning will help students find the fun in research. But I wonder if there are other ways to pull that creative part of writing into more formulaic writing styles like essays and research papers.
Thoughts? Do you think that it is possible to adhere to more rigid writing styles (or other required projects or papers that are more rigid) and still have students excited about learning? How have you been able to do that in the classroom?
I feel that sometimes--if the students have more rigid requirements, like with writing a poem--they can be more creative within those requirements. If makes them more focused. Plus, it is a short piece of writing that lets them be creative. I've been having a great time with reading what the students wrote in the poem. There was an especially powerful one from a SPED student. He has low vision plus other disabilities. His poem was amazing because he is influenced by rap music and hip hop. He was a natural at coming up with catchy lines and rhymes. He could be a great resource to other students--he could shine. That was a great thing to see. Thanks for the post, Connie.
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