Tapped









Happy 9th annual Slice of Life Story Challenge!

Thanks to the team at Two Writing Teachers for cultivating such a

supportive writing community. If you'd like to participate by blogging

everyday during the month of March, head over to TWT to get the details.

 

The coffee is set to brew at o'dark thirty in my house.  I woke to the nutty scent of a dark roast. I love a strong cup of coffee. I made my way to the kitchen stepping over dog toys, the tile cold on my bare feet. I grabbed a glass from a kitchen cabinet and turned to the sink to for water. I held the glass under the goose-neck faucet.  I turned the knob for cold water. Nothing. No water came spilling out of the faucet.

We live out in the country and draw our water from a well. I'd gotten comfortable with the water service person we recently hired. I've been feeling comfortable with the service, so I haven't checked on the well or the pump in a while.

It is easy to take things for granted especially when things seem to be running smoothly. I take things for granted at home and I have known myself to take things for granted in my classroom too.

By this time of year writing routines are humming along in class. Our state writing test is this week. During our last grade-level practice the prompt derailed students, so I built in time to practice taking apart writing prompts this week.

I am confident the kids are ready. They have had a lot of writing practice. Students have been writing with me and for themselves or others since August (and before if you take prior experience into account).

Though they have prior experience writing, many have not had a lot of experience with our new state requirements for argumentive and informative writing. Today, kids reviewed two argument prompts and two informative prompts using editorial cartoons as source material. Working in triads, students did a quick "pass" for each. They talked about purpose, audience, sides and sources (for argument) and sensory detail and sources (for informative). 

 

 

Just when I thought we were finished and could tap out of the prompt practice a  student asked,

"Does an informative essay need a counter argument?"

 

 I sighed inside. Then cleared up the student's misunderstanding.

 

It is easy to assume kids have a firm grip on the differences between argument and informative writing. By February it feels like I've taught and reviewed and touched argument and expository writing a million times. It feels that way to me because to me, argumentative and informative writing are familiar modes. To some of my tenth graders though,  argument is still new territory. 

The test is in three days. I am going to make the most of our final practice and review, so that when kids sit down to write not  the prompts are as clear as the water that will hopefully be running from my taps this afternoon.  I called a contractor and as of lunch time, they were on their way to get the job done.

 

Clean water and effective writing, two things I am not taking for granted today.