The young writers in my class spent a good chunk of the last couple of days in a writing workshop-style class. There was dedicated time set aside for them to work on first drafts of their personal narratives, and as they drafted, I met with each student for a 3-5 minute conference.
It felt good to talk to each of them as one writer to another, both from the perspectives of making a personal connection and demonstrating my credibility as a coach. (I'm pretty good at this writing stuff, y'know!) As expected, though, there were kids in every group who raised their hands 10 or 15 minutes into the writing time to ask, "What do I do if I'm finished?" and so I made the declaration that every draft had to be at least 500 words.
Eyes widened throughout the room every time, and I gave a quick tutorial of the word count feature on Google Docs so they could monitor their progress. Soon writers were checking their word counts frequently, but they were also using the guidelines and checklist to add to their writing.
Even so, there was know-it-all in every class who waved a hand when I issued the 500 word challenge. "Don't you mean 500 characters?"
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