Teddy Bears

This project reminds me of the one my daughter's kindertgarten teacher initiated more than 10 years ago to get her students excited about writing. Every weekend, the class bear and journal would travel home with a different student. The student was expected to record the bear's activities in the journal through the use of illustrations, photos, and/or words. Then, on Monday morning, the student would share his or her entries with the whole class. When my daughter brought the bear home, I was surprised to see that only the first few entries had been completed entirely by the students. Six weeks into the project, parents had completely taken over the storytelling and recording. While I think the Teddy Bear blog is a great way to get students excited about writing, I would think twice before giving them access at home if I planned to use it as an assessment tool since parents have a tendency to take over projects completed at home.