Weekly writing too advanced for 7th & 8th?

[Adrienne]

I have a question for you guys regarding my 7th and 8th grade English class. I want to do some kind of weekly writing assignment with them - just 10 minutes every Tuesday morning, first thing. I was going to do a weekly quote like I've done with the high schoolers, but I'm not sure if it's too advanced for the middle school class? I can't remember what we did in middle school, but I think it was something like that.

With the quotes we spend about 5 minutes talking about it - what does it mean? Do they agree with it? What are some examples we can think of that have to do with the quote? Then they have to write for 10 full minutes on that quote, answering the questions we just talked about. This week was from Leo Tolstoy - "Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself". The 9th grade class had no problem with it, but the middle schoolers could not do it. I don't know if it was the quote itself or just the idea.

What do you think? Is this too advanced for them or will it just take practice to get them to quiet down and concentrate on something for 10 minutes?

[leithlyon]

As long as the quotation is appropriate for the age of the students, use it.

[Boxcar]

Another thing is using the ABCs. You give them two choices, and the students write on the words. For example, "A" could be Anger and Applesauce. It is fun to see what direction the students take thier word. Some might write about a song, a personal event, or a short mystery. Students can volunteer to read thier paragraph outloud or be picked on a rotating basis.

[SS Rocks!]

I think my middle schoolers could handle something like this, but with adaptations. As was suggested, you might want to give them a choice. Also, you might need to hold their hands a little bit and guide them in the right direction more so than you had to do with your 9th graders. They might need some guidance to decipher the meaning of the quotes.

Keep working with it! It sounds like a cool activity.

[EHE]

I'm in eigth grade, and I could handle that....definitely could handle that, but the question is would I want to handle it? If you do the same things week after week, I wouldn't worry as much about the skill level as I would the boredom issues...they might stop doing it just because they don't want to. If you do do it, just make it interesting :waving: ;)

[wig]

Our 8th graders could handle it. However, how much of your class time are you willing to invest? Ten minutes is probably not enough time IMO. I would have them work in groups of three at first. Choose quotes that are not too abstract and are applicable to them.

As far as not wanting to do it because they might get bored with it, that could apply to anything you do. Once a week is not too much, IMO. I think it is an interesting way to teach students to analyze.

[Boxcar]

You could do quotes from reading assignments they had. It is a good way to slide into the lesson when you're short on time...

[Ebeth]

As with anything new, you need to invest the time and model what it is you expect them to do. I do not think it is too advanced. Most students are given a writing prompt, so quotes may be a little different for them. If you guide them through the activity a couple of times, they will be able to take it and run after that.

[jsfowler]

My students write every day during Writer's Workshop in their Writer's Notebooks for 15-30 minutes...depending on the lesson. The subject is their choice but I offer suggestions and encourage the use of strategies we are learning during our mini-lessons.

I have found that students are more willing to write when they have choices and freedoms. The Writer's Notebook is a record of their ideas, thoughts, feelings, memories, etc. When it is time to write a portfolio piece, we always spend a few moments looking in our notebooks to find that "seed" that will grow into a published piece of writing.

[spaglekp]

I think this is a great way to get students to write, and it is not too much for 7th and 8th graders...mix it up a bit though, give them some choices, or have a prompt one week, a quotation another etc.

Students should write every day!!