The other day I was doing a writing workshop with fifth graders.
We were on the final day and the students were reading a paragraph of their chapters out loud to the class.
I always like to stand behind them so I can see their papers while they read. (I know it probably annoys the heck out of them, but, hey, I'm the boss, right?)
A rather shy boy was reading a paragraph of a biography of his grandfather.
I could tell this boy struggled a bit with writing, but he had really listened during the workshop and had tried to use some of the techniques we had discussed.
When he was reading a sentence that was a description of his grandfather as a young boy, what he read out loud was that his grandfather had "blue eyes."
What he had written on the paper was that his grandfather had "ocean blue eyes."
I found it fascinating that he had omitted the word "ocean" when he read out loud.
Now, I'm no psychiatrist or anything, but I think that he was embarrassed to read what he might have considered to be "pretty" writing.
(Dare I go out on a limb and say "girly" writing?")
Hmmmm, I wonder.
3 comments:
Dare you should... my kids do it all the time. I let my kids share whatever they want out of their writing. I try to encourage them to look for the thing they are MOST proud of in their writing. Invariably that is not the best part they have written. That often seems to stay hidden as if they think someone will steal it if they share it. (Or I like to think of it that way, more often than not, I think they are just embarrassed)
I think ocean blue eyes is a beautiful description.
If you climb out onto that limb, I'm coming with you.
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