Student Contributions by Allie
What We Did In Class
Today in class, we wrote out a detailed description on how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. After we reviewed our answers, we learned that most things of our steps aren’t specific enough. For example, the ingredients. How are we supposed to get the ingredients if we don’t have them? How are we going to get the the grocery store.? What brand peanut butter and jelly should we get? All these questions come into play when giving a in depth description about something. The audience we had to write to was someone who has never made a pb and J sandwich before. We had to be specific to the point they can follow every single step and be successful.
This is going to help us by practicing our writing skills and making sure we are adding as much information as we can in responses. I have grown by taking the extra time to add more information to enhance my essays and responses.
I took the peanut butter and jelly exercise from John Warner. As the day progressed, the students got into it more and more. I thought it went really well. I was impressed by it. I even told my colleague about how it went and said he should do it, too. As a class, the students summarized the point of the experience to knowing why they need an audience, point of view, and tone when they write. Again, I though it went well.
Until I read the feedback for the lesson.
That the activity was fun and didn’t have to do with world history.
As teachers, this is a common experience. We have a great feeling about what we did in class. The students vibes in class confirms our feelings. Yet, we don’t really know. Sometimes we never know. We don’t elicit feedback from the students. I could have gone on my merry way thinking the students understood the point and made changes to their writing. But, now that I’m asking everyday, I know the truth.
While fun, the writing exercise didn’t change them. I didn’t impact them. It didn’t engender them to learn more. Allie didn’t even see the connection to history. So, back to the drawing board; back to pushing their writing so they have a purpose behind each word they select to put on the paper. I’ll keep trying.