Getting Out of the Way

This week has been particularly fun for me with my classes. First, my students shared book talks about their independent reading books. One of my favorite things to do is to listen to kids talk about the books they are reading.

One of the fun things about this experience is that the kids (without any prompting from me) pulled out iPhones/iPod Touch devices and used the clock/timer to help each other know how much time they had left. The book talks were to last between 1-3 minutes.

Earlier in the week, the class listed the criteria that made up a quality book talk. That list created the target that everyone worked toward in their book talks. The kids really stepped up and I thoroughly enjoyed all of the quality book talks. As we began students said, "Is it ok if we take notes while people are sharing? We might hear about a book we'd like to read." "Of course!" was my response. What a joy for a teacher!

Today, the students began working on collaborative creative writing stories. They are working in groups: planning a plot, characters, and theme. All students were on task, engaged and enjoying the work. Again, extremely enjoyable for me. All I had to do was get out of the way! I am wondering why I don't do that more often.