“If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.”
—Elmore Leonard
This week, instead of reading a new poem or introducing a new concept we discussed the importance of revision and editing in poetry. It was time for students to look at all the work they have created over the last 11 weeks. I brought in some online resources for them to use, such as online dictionaries, rhyming dictionaries, one of my favorites, a visual thesaurus, and even an online version of magnetic poetry. Then they selected a poem from their folder for rewrites and edits. The task was to use at least one of the tools and make three changes to their pieces. It was great to watch how they deep-dived into this process and were working so hard on their pieces.I was so impressed with how seriously they took the work and all of the interesting and deliberate choices they made with their writing. Bravo to both Ms. Murray’s and Ms. Caplan’s 6th grade classes for all your hard work. I’m so excited to say you are now thinking like a writer! Stay tuned for new poems in our next blog installment.
