The scene: A classroom. Seven and eight year olds are sitting at their desks, and writing and drawing in their journals. Their teacher circulates around the room.
Teacher (looking at one student's work): Can you think of a more exciting word than "go" here?
Seconder grader: Went!
HA! It's better than "Get off my back!" Which is probably more like what the student was thinking. :)
Posted by: adrienne | January 19, 2009 at 06:35 AM
When my daughter was in first grade, I described something she had done as "nice." She asked me, "Don't you think nice is a kind of tired word. Mom?" I knew her teacher was doing something right!
Posted by: Christine | January 19, 2009 at 10:45 AM
Adrienne, I almost laughed out loud in the classroom; I was dropping off stuff from the school library.
Christine, what you describe is definitely the way writing is taught these days. At the risk of getting tomatoes thrown at me, I'll say that I'm not sure what to make of it. I've seen student writing that hums along talking like a kid would talk and then some big fat juicy adult word bounds up in the middle of it. The effect can be kinda weird. But, that's just me.
Posted by: Susan (Chicken Spaghetti) | January 22, 2009 at 01:28 PM