so i have had several requests to post the fabulous newsletter that my beloved children write. we typically have newsletter meetings twice a month and the kids come up with things they want to write about. with some prodding from me and my lovely assistant. then i begrudgingly type the entire thing up and correct as much grammar as i can without compromising the integrity of their work. oh, and typically i add some accidental typos. look, i'm not perfect, ok. i know i appear to be, but it is merely a facade.now, there was much discussion about how i would upload these. would i save them as a pdf? or a .ps file? would i scan them? then i had to sadly admit that i do not know how to use my scanner. i've tried. the damned thing doesn't work. part of the problem is that it is no longer hooked up.
but i swear, if this thing was hooked up it probably still wouldn't work.but i digress. we had our final newsletter meeting this week. during this meeting instead of writing i had the kids assemble the freshly printed pages of the newsletter, teaching them what it means to be in an "assembly line." there was some collective groaning about the tediousness of an assembly line and my assistant helpfully pointed out that if the kids didn't do well in school they
could end up working on an assembly line as their full time job. that's right. we're scaring 'em straight. and then i did something unprecedented and oh so clever. i made the kids READ the newsletter. wow, it was so amazing. all of a sudden they were reading the entire newsletter (as opposed to only looking at the part they wrote) and discussing which parts they like and what they don't like and which poems are well-written and what advice is good advice. so when we start up the newsletter again in the fall i think i will add reading the newsletter to our newsletter meeting activities.reading. whodathunkit?
Posts
3 comments:
For someone who is "not a kid person" (me), these stories really warm my heart. I think it's a GREAT idea to get them to help the process, and then have them read and discuss it. No child left behind has nothing on you, Ms Dewey Decimal!
I really liked the advice column. Would you consider letting your young writers offer advice to older persons such as myself?
currently there is no age limit for our advice seekers. typical advice seeking protocol is to write your problem on a slip of paper and put it in the advice box. this of course is annonymous. but if you would like to email me your problem i would happily put it in the advice box. please remember though that the newsletter won't have another issue until after the summer. if this is an emergency you might want to seek advice elsewhere.
Post a Comment