Fresh ears for young writers

I remember thinking, I’ve been writing most of my life, this should be a piece of cake. But when the dozens of fifth-graders in Mr. Buzzell’s class at Edgerton Elementary swiveled around to check us out, I got butterflies.

We three writing coaches introduced ourselves that mid-February morning, then set up shop in a conference room, where we each reviewed pieces of informational writing individually with students. Their subjects ranged from football to natural disasters, and donkeys to a “vapor mutant venom”-meets-vampire fantasy. 

After the students read their writing to me, I listened to their ideas and asked questions. Their faces lit up talking about their topics; a few excitedly remembered a bit of research to add and scrambled for the keyboard. Others asked about grammar and organization.