Mistakes

(photo courtesy of Chelsea)

Last week as I was modeling how writers reread their writing ( I was demonstrating some editing I needed in my book that I wrote during our pattern book study) and notice when they need to fix punctuation. In my own book I purposely left out end punctuation, inserted an exclamation point in the middle of a sentence and drew a super large period at the end of a sentence all because this is what I am noticing kids doing in their writing. In the midst of kids noticing my crazy use of punctuation as they turned and talked to a neighbor, one student said in a louder voice than normal (I could see the light bulb turning on in her mind), "MISTAKES HELP YOU LEARN!!" Kids constantly surprise me. From this simple moment, this basic mini lesson, one little girl experienced a global idea. I am hoping she keeps taking risks and maybe I can find ways for her to connect this premise to other areas of her learning. Happy creating from your mistakes!

"Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new." Albert Einstein