The coolest thing happened in my first grade writing class today.
Backstory: I have a young writer (we’ll call him James) who has just become an independent letter creator. He now knows them all and how to (mostly) form them correctly. This progression is, as we all know, huge. Despite the massive skill gaps between this guy and the rest of his classmates, he LOVES to compose stories and books – especially when it’s with a partner.
Front story: (Tee hee!) I was working on the rug with another first grader this morning, helping him brainstorm supporting reasons for why a particular Toolbox Tool was deemed “most useful”. As he talked through the benefits of using The Quiet Safe Place tool, my ears perked up. What on earth was happening across the rug?!
Well, turns out, because I was unavailable, James had found his daily writing support from another source: Liza. (Yeah, let’s call her Liza.)
What I was hearing was incredible. It was like our teaching words just flew out of Liza’s mouth. Either I am a SERIOUS broken record, this gal is a natural born teacher, or it was a little magical mix of all of that because this seven year old writer was fully holding court as she gently coached James through his letters and spacing. Yes, I just said coached! This was no straight up telling of what letters to write next. She acknowledged his letter attempts, gave him honest and direct feedback, and celebrated his accomplishments. She was loving it, HE was loving it, and it was all I could do to not interrupt while I scooted closer to capture some of their partnership. By the end of the page, James had written a whole reason why he thought The Garbage Can Tool was the most useful tool.
If you’ve got a moment (or four and a half), here’s the video. If, for some strange WordPress reason, it doesn’t load, then try this link. You gotta check this out.
I know people often joke about what happens when kids soak up the, uh, more unsavory words we often repeat but I gotta say – when they soak up the heart words? The encouraging words? The open and welcoming words? The words that forge connections and lift others up?
Well.
That’s something extra special. Today was something extra special.
❤️
PS: Liza, as you may have guessed, got zero of her own writing done this morning. All good. We’ll just have to review The Empathy Tool, which reminds us to take care of others AND take care of ourselves! 😂
Writing and Laughing 
Oh, that was a precious video. I love that you are raising a little empathetic teacher in your classroom, probably more than one. I also like that the empathy tool is taking care of others and self. Hooray for your young learners and you!
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