I had a super time working with four classes of grade 3/4 students this week. The first two days I was able to have extended sessions with each class to go into depth on story planning, using the try/fail cycle, and the third day I was able to help the students deepen and add detail their own story plans–along with trouble-shooting story ideas that missed the mark or didn’t have enough conflict. The kids worked hard and created really detailed plans and seemed to enjoy the process. The best part, for me, though, was when one of the teachers told me that after I left her class, the kids dove into their planning and “you could hear a pin drop.” One of her students who sometimes has difficulty staying on task asked at a later point to go back an add more ideas to his!