I am so impressed with my students right now I can't even tell you. They have been so focused and motivated since we started NaNoWriMo. My 6th hour yesterday, which has been my most challenging class all semester, actually made me cry because they have been the most enthusiastic and hard-working of all my classes so far. I had a student come up to me at the end of class, a student who has barely said two words to me since the beginning of the school year and who has shown little enthusiasm in his work, proudly inform me how many words he has written so far. It took my entire being not to just openly weep in front of him. These are the things you cannot evaluate with a standardized test score.
Students CAN write. When you believe it, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. We just need to give them the right conditions to make it so.
While students were typing their own stories, I was inspired to write this poem:
A NaNoWriMo Poem
The room is silent
except for
the hypnotizing click of keyboards
as stories begin to emerge
from grey matter.
The classroom is rife
with possibilities.
The motivation is palpable
as students rise to the occasion
and bear their souls
to a blank screen.
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