Well, since I forgot to do this all week and Emily kindly reminded me... here goes nothing!

Day One: Monday
I taught a creative writing lesson on the Powerball (which winner was very previously chosen... lucky ducks)! The kids LOVED the fact that they were able to be completely involved in the conversation, and that many of them got to share what they wrote. I first discussed with them how Powerball tickets can be bought, etc. We then discussed the writing prompt that they wrote on which stated, "If you were to win the Powerball of $550,000,000, how would you use the money to benefit St. Marcus and the city of Milwaukee? Do you think your personality/outlook on life would change after winning so much money?" It was awesome to hear the kid's positive responses to this writing and we had many students share what they wrote. It is amazing to see how far they have come from writing fractured sentences to now writing with complete thoughts and perfect grammar. Overall, today was a great lesson which my student's really enjoyed.

Day Two: Tuesday
Today was also a very good lesson. I focused on the topic of using feeling within the student's writing. I wanted them to dig deep into their emotions and find how they can express these feelings through writing. Some students struggled with finding a topic to write on, but eventually came up with something. I assessed the students on their creativity and writing skills they had been working on the week prior to me teaching the class. I still find it amazing how great of writers some of the students I have are. The way their minds think is incredible. One thing I would like to improve on is reinforcing the expectation that everyone is quiet while they have time to write. I have found that while some students are holding conversations, it is difficult for many students to focus.

Day Three: Wednesday
Today we had an All-School Chapel Service to celebrate the first week of Advent, which also meant my class time was cut down to 20 minutes. Wednesday's always seem to be a crazy day in our room (not sure why), but this Wednesday proved to be no different. Many students were unfocused and would not participate in the writing portion of the class. Due to the fact that it was a shortened class, many students seemed restless. Once the students were given a topic to focus on for the day, the rest of the class ran smoothly. Unfortunately, no students were able to share what they wrote today because of the shortened class periods.

Day Four: Thursday
Today went really well! I taught a lesson that focused on fixing sentences with various things wrong with them. Think uncapitalized letters, bad grammar, wrong word choices, etc. The kids had a BLAST correcting the sentences. This was a very practical lesson as well because it is a lot of the mistakes I see the students use in their homework everyday. The student's took notes on the most common mistakes and corrected various sentences for homework. I also allowed them to come up with their own incorrect sentences for the class to correct. They love getting involved during the lessons and it makes for a fun atmosphere without many disruptions.

Day Five: Friday
On the last day of the week, the classes are shortened because the students have an earlier release time. Friday's are always dedicated to creative writing so I had to come up with an engaging and interesting prompt that the students would enjoy writing about. I allowed the students to find a topic on CNN Student Center that they found interesting and create a unique prompt. The students decided they wanted to write about Heisman trophy and what it takes to be a winner. Overall, the students had a great time and their responses were very clever and well thought out. For a Friday, the students did a great job of keeping focused.