Some Great Writing

Recently, our fifth grade writers collaborated on pair-and-share stories during our computer classes. Our task was to learn Google Docs together. We decided to work in pairs to create original stories. The way we did it was very simple. Each student picked a partner. One member of each pair began the story, then shared the writing document with the other. "Partner A" wrote the first sentence, "Partner B" then wrote the second; "Partner A" wrote sentence #3, and so on through the writing process. The second partner also shared the writing document with me so I could follow along on their progress.

I began this project with some fear and worry. Would the back and forth writing really work? Would the partners really come up with anything worthwhile? They wrote a few back and forth sentences in class the first day, then were given the assignment of writing a few more during the intervening days until our next class. 

What happened next took me by surprise! The following morning, students reported to me, "We wrote several paragraphs last night!" They took this assignment way beyond the required few sentences I had hoped to squeeze out of them. When we came to our final class and the students were told to wrap up their stories, several asked, "Can we keep working on these stories on our own?" I was shocked and pleasantly surprised. The students were really engaged in this process!

What follows are some samples of this work. Some students are still editing their stories, so their contributions will come later. I hope you'll take the time to comment on each of the students' stories. Real, positive, feedback from online readers is powerful in its ability to motivate young writers to write some more. There's nothing more thrilling than having someone read your work and say something nice about it.

You'll find plenty of small mistakes in this writing. It represents the work of 10-year-olds in the first quarter of their fifth grade year. However, I am very proud of this work and amazed at how well the teams worked together to create original stories in this way. This is hard enough to do on your own, but to write in pairs and create a coherent, smooth-flowing story is amazing. Please, add your positive feedback at the end of every story you read. These comments are "moderated", so they'll appear as soon as I read and approve them. Please, keep me busy approving your comments!

Our Pair-and-Share Writing

Sailing

by McKenna and Riley

My First Magic Trick

by Brogan and Nicky

Africa Run

by Sean and Michael

The Dumbest Spies

by Rachel and Samantha

Chloe the Singer

by Kaylee and Olivia

The Lazy Town

by Beth and Madison

The Spazzing Fourth Graders

by Analise and Carly 

Jaws Returns

by David and Matthew

The Story of the Girls and their Pets

by Jesse and Hannah

From Country to Country

by Adam and Michael

Lost
by Erin and Austin