Write For Life

One of our grade 6 teachers, Rick Fawcett, has introduced a program in his grade 6 classroom to help engage kids in the writing process. Called "Write for Life," the program brings parents into the classroom to discuss how writing plays a role in their profession. It's a project that one of our Vice Principals, Dr. Shelley Robinson, has previously done with high school students, and has here been modified for grade 6 students. You can read the overview on Rick's classroom site by clicking here.

The program involves a number of stages:

(1) Rick used Google Forms to create a registration process on his classroom site. Interested parents signed up here.
(2) For each parent who comes in, three students are assigned to do some preliminary research on the profession. The students then craft a number of interview questions. Throughout the year, all students will eventually be assigned to one parent volunteer.
(3) These three students then write an email to the parent, introducing themselves and sharing the interview questions before the parent visits the classroom. There is a sample student email shared below.

(4) During the parent visit, the three assigned students are responsible for hosting the parent and running the interview.

(5) After the interview, the assigned students write a summary of the interview, posting it to the class website.

Here's the handout for the project and a sample student email:

Here's a video from the first parent visit to Rick's class: