This November I was honored to work with my sixth group of students for the Young Writers Program of National Novel Writing Month. I truly enjoyed encouraging these students to embrace their creativity and to write freely without worrying about correct spelling/capitalization/punctuation.
Never fear – the editing part of the project will begin in January.
Quite a few of the 43 students wrote beyond the 2,000 word count goal! Their collective word count was 104,762 words.
These 5th grade students are amazing young writers! I couldn’t be more proud of them!
what i think will be very cool is to check in with these kids down the road and see where their creativity takes them, or better yet, see how their writing impacts them!!
Having a creative mind will definitely impact their future lives in a positive way!
Congratulations to you all! What an amazing opportunity you have to be poured into by one of the most encouraging women I know. Thank you Melony Brown for giving so generously of yourself.
It wasn’t too long ago that someone told me I would never amount to anything. Mrs. Brown made an enormous impact on my life and I am now in my second year of college studying for a master’s degree in Sociology. My scholarship recommendation came from my Comprehension and Rhetoric Professor for an essay I wrote. Mrs. Brown was my editor!
Just remember that you can only fail at what you do not try!
Thanks for the encouraging words, Stacy! You have written some amazing papers since beginning your degree. I hope you will write your story – it is such an unbelievable story of overcoming!
Love to see the creative juices flowing! As their computer teacher, I know what they’re capable of when they use their God-given talents. Good thing we’re practicing our typing skills to help with future writing! This is a great group of 5th graders that I’m proud to teach : )
This is a great group of 5th graders! I hope they will let you see their finished books sometime in the spring.
i cannot wait to see the final results of all that each of you accomplished. Learning to write well starts by making the effort to accomplish and you have completed that task. You accomplished one of your goals – to write!!!
As you head into writes and rewrites, be encouraged seeing your creation blossom. We all have thoughts to share. Seek what God has for you — you are God’s unique creation and he has gifted each of you differently. Reach for God’s direction.
Thanks Nancy for encouraging these young writers! I will share your comments with them when we begin working on editing their novels.
As their Reading and Language Arts teacher, I could not be more proud or more thrilled by the results of this National Novel Writing Month. It was amazing to come to school each day and have students beg me for “Nano time” during class. The students truly thrived during this month, carrying their writing journals and pencils everywhere they went, bouncing ideas off of each other, and worrying more about the story they were writing than about what grade they would get. I loved seeing their creativity blossom over the course of that month. What an incredible opportunity to be a part of! Thank you, Melony, for your continual encouragement and teaching this to the kids! This is something I am already looking forward to for next year!!
Christin,
It was a privilege to work with your students! You’re right – they were so excited to share their story ideas with me as I passed them in the hall. I am excited to see their finished projects after we teach them editing.
I’m looking forward to next year’s group, too! Those students will have big shoes to fill!