Wordless Wednesday–Let the Pens Do the Talking

Today was the first day back in my own classroom for almost a week!  I spent last Friday and yesterday with an amazing group of teachers discussing the reading and writing workshop with our TCRWP staff developer.  It’s that kind of professional development that makes you want to hop, skip, and jump right back into your classroom to immediately try out ALL of the strategies that you’ve been exposed to.  That’s what this Wordless Wednesday hosted by Miss DeCarbo is all about.  Let me introduce to you… “Pen Talk.”

(Here partner 1 said, “I learned that there’s holes in the moon, did you?” Then partner 2 responded with I learned about space suits.  What did you learn?  Yes I did.”)


One of our focuses this week in reading is ask and answer questions.  After reading an informational text about the moon, I asked partners to sit next to each other with a folded piece of paper and a different color pen.  Just like we talk with our mouths, I explained, we can also talk with our pens!  Lots of oohhhhhhs and aaaahhhhhs came out after my co-teacher and I modeled an entire conversation on paper that we had about our reactions to the text.   I asked my students to choose one partner to go first.  They had to pick their favorite fact they learned in the text, write it down, and ask their partner a question in return.  Then, WITHOUT TALKING (oh music to my ears sometimes) the partner had to respond to the comment.  THEN, they had to ask another question.  

(“My favorite part was when they used the lunar rover. Did you like that part too?”  “Yes!!!  Do you like the part when they found rocks?”  “No I didn’t like it.”)

(This little cutie is a hesitant writer and brand new to my class so I let him draw his favorite fact and add labels.  It says craters if you can’t see the light green ink)