At Innovator, our approach to writing is simple. We believe the skill to communicate is best honed by lots of practice, even messy practice. We first put the emphasis on prolific writing and secondly on grammar. 

Our Eagles write a lot. They write, revise, critique, and write some more. It is this process that effectively sharpens their skills as communicators. 

We believe in focusing on communication first and letting the grammar come in through the process. In this way, the Eagles embrace the joy of writing. We always work harder on something that we enjoy. 

If you can create space for a learner to exercise their writing muscles, they will begin to identify themselves as a writer. If they believe they are a writer, they will get better and better with each project. 

In this session, our Middle School Eagles wrote a total of 8, 457 words. They wrote stormy first drafts. Then they worked together to critique each other’s writing, to put it through the refining fire of revision, and let it emerge a new piece. 

Now we have five incredible Greek Myths that they have created. Even more critical than accomplishing the task is the joy with which they did it. 

Learning may be stretching and challenging, and it should be, but it doesn’t need to be dry and dull to be effective. 

Today, more than ever, I convinced  that this approach works and is worth the effort.