Writing

On Tuesday I introduced Slice of Life to the students.

Here is a slice from the lesson:

We start our writing workshop not on a carpet in a circle but at our desks. I stand in front of a white board. The students look at me expectantly.
“We have talked about different purposes of writing, about different types of writing writers do and about some different ways of getting started.  Today I would like to share one especial kind of writing. It’s called Slice of Life. Some people collect these little slices to look back at and remember them later. If in a diary people sometimes write ‘Today I did this. Today I went there’ then slice of life writing doesn’t capture everything that happened during a day but rather focuses on one moment and the feelings in detail. Sometimes it can be with a strong emotion as we read in “When Sophie Gets Angry” or sometimes it can be an ordinary moment. I will share on of my slices with you.”
I read one of my slices. It is about a morning two years ago about how I woke up my daughter Mirjam and about the little conversation we had.
The students listen and look at me with quiet attention.
“I wrote this two years ago. If I hadn’t written it down, I would have forgotten. I am glad I did, because when I read it, it takes me straight back to this morning and I can still see Mirjam’s hair, feel her warmth and hear her speaking. It was a very small moment from the morning, not even the whole morning before school. You heard how I included what was said, what I did, what Mirjam did, and what I thought. You will have an opportunity to try your hand at writing a slice of life.”

The students don't have their journals yet, so I hand out papers with the bright orange SOL logo on them.

We use some of what we know about getting started, jotting and sketching some ideas on the back of the paper, then sharing the ideas with each other. Then we rehearse the writing in our heads, walking around or lying down or closing eyes. When I see zombie walk and wind up rabbit twirling, I have to remind them to stay with their story.
When the kids sit down to write, they write and write.