Read With Me Cultivating a Literary Community 

First Day Jitters, by Julie Danneberg, is a surprisingly funny story with a twist about being nervous on the first day of school.  A perfect read aloud, of course, for the first day of school.

Today, this book also provided a perfect springboard for our first quick write.  Students were prompted to write about “first day jitters”. The directions, though, were extremely open-ended.  The writing could be completely fictitious, about themselves, about themselves in years past, about themselves in some OTHER first day situation (ex: first day going to dentist, first day at new dance studio, first day of camp, etc.), or even about someone they know!  They also could write their feelings about first day jitters (vs. telling a story) OR even write a response to the book we shared! 

Since one of the main purposes for quick writes is to improve writing fluency (the speed at which the writer can transfer their thoughts to paper while continuing to think ahead and write on), students were instructed to write for 5 minutes, keeping their pencils moving constantly.  Common pitfalls with this process for young writers include things like what to do when you run out of ideas and don’t know what to write or can’t spell a word. 

My tips for students are:

1.  Don’t worry about spelling.

2.  Don’t stress over punctuation or handwriting.

3.  If you run out of ideas, just keep writing.  It is OK to rewrite something you’ve already written.  Your mind is more likely to come up with new ideas when you keep it moving, versus stopping.  Thinking.  Waiting. (…and then getting distracted!) 

Take a look at these samples of student work.  See if you can find evidence that they’ve followed my recommendations to avoid getting stuck! 

When all was done today, I was thrilled to see that for most students, the hardest part was putting your pencil DOWN when the timer buzzed!  I can’t wait to hear what they wrote at home tonight!

On my homepage (I use iGoogle), I subscribe to a National Geographic Photo of the Day. I thought today’s picture was particularly interesting.

This picture was taken in 2000 in Democratic Republic of the Congo, Africa. As a part of our virtual journey of Africa, take a few moments to take in this scene. Look closely at the details. The surrounding buildings. The earth beneath the child. The clothes he’s wearing. Notice how he moves through the village.

A writer finds a story in the smallest places. What do you think this child is doing? Thinking? Feeling? Where do you think he is going? Does this remind you of anything? Does it make you wonder about anything? Try using this as an inspiration for a 5 or 10 minute quick write.

Have fun! Feel free to share your writing by including it in a comment to this post or bringing it to school to share!

Quick Write

• Use a “fast pen”. You don’t want to worry about a pencil getting dull or breaking.
• Keep your pen moving the whole time.
  
• Let your thoughts keep going as fast as they come to your head.
• Do not worry about spelling or punctuation. Just keep going. It’s OK to make mistakes. Don’t make any corrections while you’re writing!
  
• Write what comes to your head, whether you think it is good or not.
• If you want to keep writing at the end of the time, KEEP GOING!
  
• Have fun and enjoy your writing!