In this clip, Aaron and Brandon had come together to talk about what they had written today. I came along to listen to their discussion and it became clear right away that they both were a little unclear about the idea of significance. Brandon was able to articulate to me that he didn't understand what I was talking about and asking him to do. Aaron was just listening at this point. Once again, it was powerful to have my own sourcebook as an example to refer back to and show. I shared my own brief (which is what we call our first drafts) as well as my writing in response to the question, "Why is this important to me?"
Peer sharing is common and important in my classroom. The children really love to share their work with their peers.
I found myself asking both of them "why" many times. I had to do lots of digging. Brandon hadn't even set up his next blank page in his sourcebook with the question why. He had gone back to his "brief" (or first draft) and added important details and feelings. Aaron had tried to record importance, but he hadn't gotten to the bottom of it. After much questioning, they both were able to tell me why their events were important. Once the boys went to work and recorded their ideas, I recorded on my clipboard - next to their name and selected topic - the significance that we discussed in the conference. I did this just so I would have a record of their ideas of significance. In future conferences or discussions, I will have a cheat sheet I can refer back to to make sure they really are including their significance in their writing.
| TEACHER: | You Brandon have selected when you broke your guitar on stage at rehearsal, right? So where is your page that says, why was this important to you? |
| TEACHER: | So is this written? Did you write about why it was important to you or is this just your story? |
| STUDENT: | This is - I wrote why it's important to me right here. |
| TEACHER: | I know but did you actually write about why it was important or is this just your brief? |
| STUDENT: | Mm, mm. |
| MOD: | This is your brief? |
| STUDENT: | It's the whole story but I don't get what you're saying. |
| MOD: | Okay, what I'm saying, okay. I brought along my trusty little sourse book. Okay. So this is my graduating from the little kid pool to the big kid pool... So this is my brief. It's not the whole story but this is what I started with. Now, I then thought, this is the brief that I want to share with other people. You did that work yesterday. You decided that this was the piece that you wanted other people to know about and to share with other people. Okay. So we're at the same place. Do you understand that so far? All right. So now I went over to my next blank page in my source book and I put this question at the top of that blank page. Why was this important to me? Did you do that? |
| STUDENT: | No. |
| TEACHER: | Okay. So let's do that right now. Let's go to your next blank page. Aaron, did you do this? Did you answer the question of why it was important? |
| TEACHER: | Did you answer the question of why it was important to you? |
| TEACHER: | When you played soccer at the kindergarten playground. Why is this important? So now this is what I shared with you during the mini lesson. So I shared, I said, this was important to me because this was the first time I can remember going to a hospital and getting stitches. So right now you need to be thinking for the first time that you had been onstage and you broke your guitar. So you're thinking about that event, okay. |
| TEACHER: | Is that why it's so important? |
| TEACHER: | What kind of feelings did you have? |
| STUDENT: | Excited that I broke my guitar and so then I got my other guitar. Excited that I got a black one. |
| TEACHER: | When you broke it? |
| STUDENT: | Sad. Because it cost fifty dollars. |
| TEACHER: | Okay. So I think you've got it now. What you need to write down here is one idea that's important. So you would need to say, this event was important to me because it was the first time that I'd ever been on stage with my guitar. My guitar was brand new. I was excited it was black. All of these things that you just told me, that's what you need to put right here. So you're not actually writing the story right now, you are focusing simply on why the event was so important that you write about. Why is it important that other people know? Because this was the first time that you'd ever been on stage with a new guitar. Okay, you got it? Okay. Get that written down before you forget. Does that make more sense for you now too, what you were supposed to do today? So you asked yourself a question, why is it important that you were playing soccer on the kindergarten playground. And what did you come up with? |
| [several voices, unclear] | |
| TEACHER: | Have you ever played soccer? So was this more about then you getting to practice some of those things that you had been trying out with your dad? |
| [several voices, unclear] | |
| TEACHER: | I'm trying to zero in on kind of like thinking on, why this one particular day on the kindergarten playground was so [inaudible]. What happened that particular day that made that event just so important that you would tell someone else that? |
| STUDENT: | [inaudible] |
| TEACHER: | Was that the most goals you ever scored on one day? |
| STUDENT: | Yeah. |
| TEACHER: | So is that why this event was so important, because, Aaron, the super Aaron, scored three goals in a row that day. Is that why it was so important? You learned these skills from your dad and you were now having the chance to play with the other kids on the playground and scored three goals... not one, two... three! |
| STUDENT: | [inaudible] |
| TEACHER: | Wow, you've got a great start right here as to why this is important. But those things that we just talked about right now, about these being things that you learned from dad, and now you have a chance to show off your skills with your friends and you were successful at scoring three goals. |
| STUDENT: | Yeah, and I put like I did not tell what happened. Like I didn't tell like I scored three goals. I just told like who are on your team. |
| TEACHER: | I think it's really important that you shared the fact that you scored three goals that day and that you had never done that before. I think that's really important that you let your audience know that. |
| TEACHER: | We're going to focus. Remember our narrative is just that event. So we're focusing just on that one day. Get those ideas down before you forget. Don't let them escape. |