Writing Museum

Today was a time of celebration during writing workshop. Students have been working so hard on their writing and using all that they have learned so far this year. In order to congratulate them on their work up until this point, each student chose a piece of writing that they felt was their absolute best one so far to set out in our museum. Once all students had chosen their pieces, we all walked silently around the room to look at all of the stories. Students took time reading each others work, and making a smiley face or star on any stories that they thought were especially well done or that they had a connection to. At the end of the museum, students took a look back at their own pieces of writing, noticing all of the "compliments" it had received. 

This activity was followed by a pretty powerful discussion. I asked students to share some reasons that they DID put a star or smiley face on a classmate's paper. Some answers included, "I could make a picture in my mind of their story" or "They used lots of details in their words". Then, I asked if anyone read any writing that they did NOT put a smiley face on. Without sharing names, students shared some reasons why they decided not to make a mark on some stories. They shared things like... "I noticed in some stories that there were no spaces between the words, so I couldn't read it." or "In one story I read the words and they didn't make sense. The sentences didn't go together." 

This was a good reminder for students to work their hardest during writing to make their work easy to read. I keep reminding students of that during class, but this gave them a way to see that it really is important. It also gave a way to celebrate the parts of their writing that they are already doing well!