Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Slice of Life - Student March SOLSC Reflections

   I love participating in Slice of Life, started by Two Writing Teachers and writing a story, reflection, or musing at least once a week.
 
 
 

  After my students completed the March SOLSC Classroom Challenge, I asked them to reflect on a few questions.  I was finally able to go through and compile them.  I loved reading the thoughtful responses and thought I'd share a few.

What did you like best about your Slice of Life writing?  

- I liked that the slices helped me look at the good and bad parts of my days. (Alex)
- I liked looking back on my day.  That is something that I usually did not do.  (Ali)
- I liked thinking up topics to write about, and I liked looking back at memories.  I did a good job of writing the slices quickly, but still putting thought into them. (William)
-I liked how each of my slices kind of told a story, and I think people could relate to them.  I think I did well on choosing topics to write about. (Jenna)
- I liked how I was able to express myself as if I was writing in a diary.  I thought I was good at showing significance in the things I wrote about. (Sierra)
- I liked how out of all my homework every night, I looked forward to writing the slices. (Jules)
- I liked paying attention to more things in life. (Blake)
- I liked writing them because it gave me a chance to gather up all my thoughts. (Sammie)
- The writing calmed me down.  It was a stress reliever for me. (Quinn)
- I think when I wrote thoughts came easily. (Amrith)
- I liked that you got to know us better. (Calynn)

What did you learn about yourself as a writer?
- I learned that I can write.  I say this because writing was one of those things that I thought I was never good at. (Ali)
- I learned that I was a much better writer than I thought I was. (William)
- I learned that I can write lots in 10 short minutes (Alex)
- I learned that when I write I kind of have to reach deep down and get some feeling and emotion when I write. (Jenna)
-I learned that I an have a more meaningful life than what I thought I could have. (Sierra)
- I learned that I never really thought that I really liked to write.  I found out that writing slices every day has made me love writing! (Jules)
- If I think hard enough and pay attention to my surroundings, I can write easily. (Blake)
- I learned that it's okay to express myself on paper. (Sammie)
- Writing is hard. (Quinn)
- I learned that you don't have to think hard to get great ideas. (Amrith)

How did writing slices help you in writing your memoir?

- Most of my slices were real memories, so it helped me stir up old and new memories. (Alex)
- It helped me find a topic and a lead. (Ali)
- I remembered to go into good detail in my writing. (William)
- Writing slices helped me with my memoir because I kind of got an idea about how the memoir was supposed to be written. (Jenna)
- I got to practice figurative language. (Sierra)
- Writing slices about memories helped me remember things I forgot. (Jules)
- Writing slices enabled me to pay attention to the small but important details in life. (Blake)
- Writing slices helped me start good leads and include figurative language. (Sammie)
- The slices helped me get into my story. (Quinn)
- Writing slices taught me how to use every day things and events for ideas. (Amrith)

     Now that I've been through a Slice of Life March Challenge myself and have taken my classes on the ride with me, I have things I'd do differently with them next year.  However, I think the kids got a lot out of the experience, and it taught them a lot about writing.

10 comments:

  1. Wow - look at all the ways in which slicing benefitted your kids as writers and as thinkers about writing! Bravo to yo and your class, Holly.

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    1. Thank you, Tara. "Thinkers about writing" - yes! I love that. :-)

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  2. Each part shared seems important, Holly. What a variety of things your students took away from their slicing, paying attention, reflecting about memories, stress relieving, feeling like a writer! You gave them so much by introducing the slicing!

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    1. I was surprised at some of the things they said. So thoughtful and yes, they felt like writers. I felt the same way!

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  3. So much of what they thought echo my thoughts. I love that the writing surprised them. It was a month of self discovery.

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  4. Love your questions and their answers. Wished I had thought to do the same. I do have 5x&s of the nine kids who wrote every day to display at Open House on Thursday night though.

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  5. I always love my students' reflections after doing the SOLC, especially from those who think they aren't going to like writing every day. It's nice that you've included the kids' names. It makes them a little famous being on your blog. :) They are all very insightful thoughts.

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    1. Yes, I thought it was especially neat that kids who thought they weren't good writers felt like they were after the month was over. It goes to show all of us that there isn't necessarily a secret gift that means you're a writer. It can mean that you're a writer if you write!!

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