Do More Shared Writing

Shared writing has been very scary to me in the past. After reading the last 5 pages of this 40 page chapter, I feel a little better about shared writing at the 5th grade level. Most of what she talks about seems very early elementary, and I was unsure of how I could implement it in my classroom. Her outline of a fifth grade shared writing experience was very helpful. I took what I had learned about shared writing and did free verse poetry with my class today. They didn't really let me just demonstrate it. They wanted to be a part of it, so we did two poems together; one that I initiated and one that they collaboratively created. It was great! Most of them (with the exception of 2) were very eager to write, and the majority of them did a great job. It was interesting that some began to write narratives within their poetry, but I focused only on the good aspects of their writing and refused to dishearten them. Even a kid who is usually in the resource room for writing did a great job. I probably didn't teach free verse poetry the way it should be taught, but here is my morning class's poem:

Peanut Butter

Thick and creamy,
Stuck to the roof of my mouth,
It's astonishing, salty, nougaty sweetness,
Jiffy is the only kind I crave.

My afternoon class's:

Kansas

The Golden Wheat State are we.
Wheat, wheat, wheat,
And the bright orange-yellow sunflowers
Swaying in the cool gentle breeze of Autumn.
A prairie is our home sweet home.