Memories

Students began pre-writing their This I Believe essay today in class--it's their first big writing assignment for the year. Over the past week and a half, we've listened to between six and eight this I Believe essays that were published on the Bob Edwards (internet) radio show and NPR. (Here's a link to the site--choose 'explore' and 'featured essays'.) We've also focused on our guiding question for the marking period: "How can stories shape our lives?" I provided students with a series of "memory prompts" to help them get started (link) and then the drafting began.

Juniors tend to have busy lives--work, varsity sports, etc.--so I try to provide class time for them to work. (This assignment is actually part of their project based learning assessment for the marking period.) Some kids will inevitably goof off during work time and my policy is to have them make up that work time with me after school--just a head's up!