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Hidden Gems Book Talk

Celebrate

I wanted to start this blog post with a quote from Hidden Gems. I could not settle on one.

“An acceptance of all students’ attempts at writing must be build into the process from the very start, or else learning how to write feels sterile, scary, and without purpose other than because it’s at school.”—164

 “…when you write; you don’t know where you’re going until you get there; that the process is messy and recursive and as Donald Murry reminds us, that you write to find out what you didn’t know you knew.”—164

“It’s like when you’re working on a thousand-piece puzzle or building a model car, boat, or airplane—you need the completed picture on the top of the box to envision what this pile of little pieces and parts will ultimately become.”—164

“Besides the party-time accoutrements, a celebration provides a formalized, ritualized way to lift up an individual and respond to his or her accomplishments.”—165

          If you did not read chapter 10 of Hidden Gems, you are missing out. This chapter, along with The Columbia University Writing Project changed my teaching career, maybe even my life (That’s dramatic, I know, but I teach in a middle school).

            I feel like so many people, so many of our kids, go through life without these kinds of celebrations, where adults and friends look them direct in the eye and say, “this is good.” And so this year one of my goals became to celebrate a little more, sometimes this came in the form of blog posts, other times e-mails, texts, notes in journals . . . and at other times it was more formal, more direct; a Gallery Walk or a classroom family reflection.

            These formal and informal celebrations have become part of the ebb and flow of my teaching life this year. It’s changed what I look for and in turn made me happier to be at work on rainy Monday mornings; happier to revise a story that looks like it’s going nowhere; just happier? Because in the end, the smile on that persons face, the confidence in their heart, is worth way more than any grade I ever put in the book.

            If you haven’t thought about attending my class’s last formal celebration of the year, check it out; we’d love to share our work with you. Click on our invite for more details. Gallery Invite

One reply on “Celebrate”

Kelly and I read chapter 10. I found it informative, it enforced the fact that students need to write for a purpose- a celebration of sorts! Rachel is doing that- the gallery!!!

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