Students Want You to Read What they Write

Why do we write?  If you reflect for a moment, what are some reasons you write?  What form does your writing come in?  Do you write letters, emails, notes, texts, poetry, short stories, novels, or IOU's? If you answered yes to all the above, then you must be really busy. But, I do tip my hat to you.

More often than not, we write for the following reasons: to inform, to entertain, persuade, and to heal. Most of our writing fits into one of these categories.  If your students are writing each, and every single day, then they will more than likely touch on all of these reasons.

Students want you to read what they write.  There is never a day when a student doesn’t ask me to read something he/she wrote.  They want to see your reaction.  They will get excited!  Yes, they will be open to feedback because we have created that safe environment to share, therefore; students are more open to reading a piece, or a portion of their piece, with the class.

Have you experienced this?   I am guessing you have.  I know there aren't enough minutes in a school day to read every single thing students write.  Try to skim just one piece of writing.  If you can't offer feedback on each and every piece, then a smile, or nod, will do wonders.  

If you show excitement in what they write, then they will likely continue to share! 

Alpha Box Reading Strategy

Hello out there,

I picked this idea up years ago either at a workshop or conference and it’s called the Alpha-Box.  We use the Alpha Box all the time in my class.  This organizer is a nice way to foster reading comprehension and class discussion ensues. 

Once you read a story, ask students to fill in as many letter-boxes as they can with words from the story. Words such as the, he, she, it, like, an, a, etc. are not acceptable. Students may think outside the box and add emotions that characters felt in the story.

1. Explanation: Students have read Charlotte’s Web.

2. Pass out Alpha-Boxes.

3. Students fill in as many letters as they can.

4. They may write as many terms in each box as they desire.

5. Once you have given students ample opportunity to fill in boxes, ask for student responses for each letter.

6. In order to avoid hearing the same words over and over, ask students to put thumbs up if they had that term written.

7. Teacher should fill in responses on a blank copy as a sample.

8. This activity presents opportunities to open comprehension discussion at all levels. For example, a student might respond with “spring” and you could ask, “Why did you say spring, Sally?” And the student may say, “In the beginning Wilbur was a spring pig.” Others might write “terrific” because Wilbur was terrific.

Alpha Box- Charlotte’s Web

A award   amaze arable       appeal Avery       angry	B   barn breakfast	C Charlotte courageous chores clever crumble county caring
D daughter   dejected discouraged doze death	E eggs excited	F   friends     Fern     farm fearful food fair
G goose    glutton	H Henry hatch	I intelligent
J joy	K kind	L lonely life lamb Lurvy leftovers listless
M mimic morsel modest	N novel nip	O outstanding
P pry pledge pasture prize	Q quiet quiver	R radiant rambunctious rival runt rummage rodent
S selfish spider sheep stall sow salutations snooze scamper	T terrific    Templeton trough	U Uncle understanding
V vain	W web Wilbur waddle	X, Y, Z yell Zuckerman

I received this worksheet several years ago in a training.  I have included an updated freebie for you below.  Just click on the Alpha Box Freebie link.

Alpha Box Freebie