The Big Fresh October 4, 2014 Duct Tape Magic

One day late last fall, I received an order of classroom supplies. The students were excited to see what all the boxes contained.

“Open them now!” they clamored.

Without a teaching point in mind, I began to open the boxes. What was in those boxes belonged to this community of readers, writers, and thinkers.  Post-it notes, chart paper, colored pens, and highlighters were just a few of the treasures that emerged. I was methodical when ordering these supplies, knowing they would be tools to help us think.  I was still surprised at what caught the students’ attention.

“Duct tape!!  Oh my gosh!  Angry Birds!  Mickey Mouse!  Owls!  Tie-Dye!  Penguins!  Flower Power!  Peace signs!  Paint splatter!  This is the best duct tape ever!”

Everyone seemed mesmerized by the choices of duct tape.  More important, their next question really changed our writing workshop and publishing for the rest of the year.

“Can we use this tape to make our books?”

At the time, that seemed like a silly question to me. Of course, they could use the duct tape to publish their books and stories. That is why I had spent my budget that way; I wanted resources for them to be independent publishers.

But, after reflection, the question made more sense to me. Looking back at the ways I had encouraged students to publish previously that year, the choices were almost entirely digital. We live in a digital world and I wanted students to be comfortable making their writing and stories public that way.

What I hadn’t taken into account was the magic of creating a book, and in this case, the missing piece of that magic was the duct tape found in these boxes. The publishing in our classroom after that order came in grew exponentially.  It turns out that students love to make books; it gives them a feeling of pride and ownership. Unlike digital publishing, creating a physical book yields a tangible product.

The display bookcase in our classroom became jammed with all the books and stories that were being published. It got so bad at one point that books were three and four deep, and we couldn’t even see everyone’s wonderful work.  I devoted a writing minilesson to deciding together what books could stay and what books needed to be taken home to share and enjoy.

The learning for me in all this? A container of quirky duct tape options, a whole lot of choice in what students write and publish, and voila – books are born and students feel empowered.

This week we look at word work in the early grades. Plus more as always — enjoy!