Today I had our district's writing coach pop in for a quick hi...one of my students asked if she was also participating in the slice of life challenge (writing thing in his words). I said she was and asked if anyone else wanted to...a few students eagerly raised their hand and I invited them for our special writers' lunch.
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When I entered the classroom, of the eager volunteers were five girls. I ate my lunch as we talked about what a slice of life is and what it is not. I asked if they wanted to hear some of my writings of slices of life that I had submitted. During the first sharing, something must have happened to one of the girls and they were laughing about it. Honestly, it interrupted my reading, so I stopped, let them situate themselves and kept going. I asked if they wanted to hear the poem that I had written. I don't write much poetry and am kind of proud of my one that I wrote for my slice. I began it when I heard the chuckling again. As I looked over, I saw one of the girls (a smart one mind you) making faces and gestures as I was reading. She was distracting two other listeners as well. Seriously, it hurt!!!! I asked her if I did that when she shares and she said no. I asked her not to do it while I was sharing. I finished the poem, but it definitely wasn't what I had imagined. Maybe I should have printed it off and taken to them and read in a small group rather than from my computer...next time I'll try that.
As the students left today, about eight students are going to attempt the slice of life challenge, (and yes I know we're almost half into it) but I figured if they even get 10 slices, I will be happy. And yes, one of the boys, that at the last minute joined, is only doing it for the reward...but they're going to write and hopefully they'll receive another reward themselves.
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