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ASSIGNMENT FOUR: WRITTEN REFLECTION-Section Two- Teaching Essentials Chapters 4-6
Read Writing Essentials, Chapters 4-6 and reflect on the following thoughts written below and any additional comments that you have after reading these chapters. Post your reflection to the course blog.
Chapter 4: Raise Your Expectations
• Why we need to raise expectations – ESPECIALLY for our minority and lower socio-economic students
• How to raise expectations in your classrooms as well as in your grade level and throughout your entire building
• What about handwriting, spelling and editing expectations?
• How to use the Optimal Learning Model to support your students’ needs
“Raising expectations” for our students is a big push in all of our districts. Under “No Child Left Behind” many schools have been identified as “in need of improvement” and have been working furiously yet unsuccessfully for over ten years to “close the gap” for our minority children. But more important than improving performance on high stakes tests is remembering that if we raise our expectations and teach explicitly, then our students will rise to the occasion and astonish us with the high quality work that each of them is capable of.
Regie has some great insight into the need to raise expectations of our students and feeling comfortable and confident with the decision to set high standards for all learners. She raises the question, What are our clearly articulated, rigorous yet reasonable expectations? This is a question that we should reflect on as individual teachers, and one that should be the starting point for a conversation within our grade levels, buildings and across entire districts.
We’d like to know what you think of one of our favorite quotes from the book: “Worksheets aren’t good enough. The students who can do them don’t need them, and the ones who struggle with them feel defeated by the red marks, which only reinforce their feelings of inadequacy. WORKSHEETS FOSTER MEDIOCRITY!” (We personally wanted to shout out when we read that!) Please include your thoughts in your Section Two Reaction.
In this chapter, Regie also sheds some light on several topics that teachers often ask about. “What about handwriting expectations?” and “Conventions, Editing and Publishing?” It’s always helpful to get another professional’s point of view on these pressing issues! Enjoy the chapter!
Chapter 5: Do More Shared Writing
• Where does Shared Writing fit within the Optimal Learning Model?
• For which learners is Shared Writing appropriate?
• How can we link Shared Writing with Shared Reading?
• How can Shared Writing be used to support word work?
• What are some “Tried and True” ideas for Shared Writing?
Regie's idea of Shared Writing is very different than that of many other professionals in the field. So often we use Shared Writing only with the primary grades. As Regie states, “What a great way to teach and engage all students in all aspects of oral and written language.” If we are to consider teaching through all phases of the Optimal Learning Model, we can begin to see how important Shared Writing is for our students. We think that the idea of using Shared Writing in both upper elementary and the middle schools is a new way of thinking for many of us.
One of the reasons Regie encourages teachers to use chart paper and an easel, instead of projecting to a screen with an overhead or document camera, is that the children are seated right with you on the floor, which usually holds the children’s attention a little better. Another idea that has worked great for me is to move the overhead machine to the group area and place it on the floor in the middle of the group in front of the easel. I then project the machine onto the white space of the easel. It’s great because you’re able to be right there in the middle of the group and have the benefit of writing more quickly onto a transparency rather that chart paper. You’ll need to consider which of your Shared Writing activities you’ll want students to be rereading (don’t forget that you can hole punch transparencies and put them in a binder for future reference) and which you may want posted to your walls on charts.
Regie’s list of “Tried and True Ideas for Shared Writing” (page 112) is very extensive. It would be helpful to take a look at Regie’s list as you create your curriculum map for the year. Where would some of her suggestions fit within your science, social studies, math, reading and writing units across the year?
Chapter 6: Capitalize on the Reading-Writing Connection
• How can we become more effective integrating our reading and writing instruction?
• Are we as efficient as possible with our responses to reading?
• The benefit and necessity to integrate our content area teaching with both reading and writing
• The importance of writing (and reading) more nonfiction
We know research shows that reading achievement affects writing achievement and vice-versa, and we also know that it continually gets harder to fit “it all” into our day. Effectively using reading and writing connections throughout the day in all areas of language arts, math, science, social studies, and even specials such as art, music and library, is our only option.
Regie’s suggestion of taking a closer look at how we use written response to reading is a very important one. Careful consideration is needed to decide if what we’re asking the students to do is “worth their time.” For example, if the response we’re looking for will “deepen comprehension, cause the writer to reflect on the content, and/or foster appreciation for the text” then it’s worth it. We whole-heartedly agree with her statement that many of the overly structured assignments such as book reports can alienate our readers! While response journals do have their benefits for us professionally Regie states, “they also take up a lot of our time!” It’s a very organized teacher who can effectively keep up with their responses without feeling overwhelmed and frustrated. Don’t forget the bottom line – “Be sure that students spend more time reading than writing about reading!” (Page 126)
We are so glad that Regie addressed how to effectively teach summary writing. We know that many teachers have a difficult time differentiating between a summary and retelling – I (Jackie) was one of them until several years ago. The snapshots and procedures that Regie shares on how to teach summarizing are invaluable and should be a reference that we all refer back to throughout our teaching year.
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Michelle
ReplyDeleteAssignment Four
Chapter 4: Raise Your Expectations
Our school population is mostly white, middle class students. We really do not have the issues that many school districts encounter in regards to minority or economic status. We do not have any ELL students. Our free and reduced lunch population is about 25%. Some unique things that we have in place in Corbett that help each individual student to progress are a minimal number of worksheets (with the exception of our math program) and we use narrative report cards – no grades are given.
Using the Optimal Learning Models is essential in helping kids to improve their own writing. Providing demonstration, shared demonstration, and then giving children time to practice the craft of writing and make it their own. I often find that having a conversation with a student about their writing can really provide great insight to their thinking. I also believe that when kids hear what other kids have to say about things has a big impact. One thing that I hope to work on next year is to have more of these types of conversations.
Reggie Routman discusses in her book, Conversations that many teachers accept unacceptable work because they don’t want to interfere with the creative process. She makes a good point. I think that is something that I often struggle with. I do believe that any writing piece that is going to be shared needs to be free from errors in punctuation, spelling, capitalization, and grammar and it should also be presented in their best handwriting, but the main focus needs to be on meaningful and interesting writing. As a teacher I need to help each student to see themselves as a writer and to reach their full potential. I need to provide an environment that my students feel safe enough to take risks in their writing. Being in a multi-age classroom often takes away limits that many teachers place on students.
Chapter 5: Do More Shared Writing
I have often done shared writing with my own students. At first I thought that with 4/5/6 students that I would be using shared writing less. I now know that I need to increase the amount that I do. I know that the more comfortable that I become in my own writing the easier it will be for me to share with my students. When we do shared writing I often have the kids sitting on a carpet together and I use large chart paper. I really like using chart paper because I post it up in the classroom for kids to refer to at a later time. I really don’t think that fifth and sixth graders will want to sit on the floor so I need an alternative. I have been thinking about how to best set up the physical space of my classroom to accommodate this. Any suggestions?
Chapter 6: Capitalize on the Reading-Writing Connection
There is no denying the important connection between reading and writing. One of my own goals this year is to improve that connection in a way that has purpose for my students. I know that one area that I need to improve in is my own student’s writing reflections. During the past few years I have moved away from posters, dioramas, and book reports and now rely more on book groups and reflections. I think that this is an area where shared writing will be essential in the beginning of the school year. Helping students activate their prior knowledge, giving them the tools to be able to figure out the most important ideas or themes in the text, and having them ask questions about the text and being able to draw conclusions should be a focus of their writing responses. Modeling and guiding students in these areas will help set the tone for the expectations of their writing responses.
Chapter 4
ReplyDeleteI feel lucky that I teach in a school that chose not to become a Reading First School. The teachers knew that scripted literacy programs were not the answer for our students, 40% of whom are ELL. For the past decade, the staff instead has committed to a professional learning journey—for instance becoming trained in how to teach guided reading groups using real books, and how to facilitate a daily Writing Workshop. As Routman points out, “minority students as a group experience a curriculum of lowered expectations and less rigor.” (p.54) I have had the good fortune to work in a building that is attempting to change this.
I feel fortunate to work in a school culture that would agree with Routman that “worksheets foster mediocrity.” (p.57) This kind of teaching is limiting to students—worksheets do not allow for a full range of responses, approximations, efforts, ideas, attempts, and demonstrations of learning and mastery. It is critical that my students become strong, competent writers because I know that their intelligence will be judged based on the spelling and penmanship in their written communication. I want their writing ability to match their intelligence!
I think that part of the solution for me to learning what “rigorous yet reasonable” expectations are, lies in team collaboration around student writing, and observing other classrooms. In the spring, I observed another K/1 classroom. I was so impressed by the young writers I observed. The children wrote productively and independently for 45 minutes during Writing Workshop! It was important for me to see what is possible, and I wouldn’t have done that isolated in my own classroom.
Chapter 5
I want this to be my mantra: “Do more shared writing!” For all learners, especially struggling readers and writers, and ELL students, it seems like a teaching strategy that gets you the most “bang for your buck!” The other critical piece that I want to take away from this chapter is the importance of rereading. All of the shared writing that I do with my children can become texts to reread together as a class. Last year, I typed the shared writing we did, made a copy for each student, and they glued it into a spiral notebook—their “reading notebook.”
Shared writing ideas that I would like to try include: welcome letters to new students, a school alphabet book, poems, pattern books, and all about books. All about books would fit well into science and math units. For instance, the first grade science units include insects, balls and ramps, and pebbles/sand/silt, and during the units, we could write “all about texts” using our newly acquired schema on these topics. For math, I am imagining doing shared writing in which we create a shape book based on the predictable pattern of “The Important Book” by Margaret Wise Brown. “The important thing about squares is that…”
Chapter 6
One of my colleagues, a veteran Reading Recovery teacher, taught me a great deal about teaching reading and writing. She said that reading and writing are like two sides of the same coin. Often in her guided reading groups with struggling readers, she would do what Routman suggests on page 120: when she could not find texts students could easily read, she and her students would write their own.
“Be sure that students spend more time reading than writing about reading.” I have moved closer to this goal since I began teaching. I used to create elaborate centers for children to do while I was teaching guided reading groups. It was a lot of work for me, and the quality of work I got back from students was not great. So, I decided to have students spend more time reading books of their choice, while I taught reading groups, especially later in the year, as students’ reading stamina grew. A much better use of my time, and the students’ time!
I finally got caught up! (still working on being succinct...)
ReplyDeleteChapter 4: I was struck by the sentence, “If you’re reading everything your students write, they’re not writing enough.” On the one hand I feel like I do expect my students to write a great deal but on the other, I also feel an enormous burden because of this. I have this sense that if it is important enough for me to ask them to write about it, then I should take the time to read and reflect upon their writing.
I think that the only real way to raise expectations for all students is to build classroom community. It first struck me as a paradox that Regie argued for high expectations for such things as proofing errors, spelling and handwriting, but then also wrote about the importance of encouraging students with honest praise. I think that this comes together when I realize that all pieces, when there are genuine and relevant, are meant to be revised. It is important to celebrate the student work, ask them to think through their own writing, and then make the changes needed to have the piece be as good as it can possibly be. This won’t work if they feel like they are simply writing it for me, the teacher. If it is something that they want to write, then it can become a powerful form of self-expression.
This is what is entirely lacking in worksheets. Many of my colleagues take this approach. At my school we have the lip service of high expectations but we don’t actually get together to discuss what this looks like. What I can do is be more explicit about this with myself, my teaching partner (for 9th grade) and with my department if they will hear me out.
Chapter 5: Like all of the chapters thus far, Regie here is focusing on young learners but I can clearly see ways that her ideas can be adapted to work in my high school classrooms. We do so much shared reading in all of my classes (even seniors) that students make fun of me but I let them and then just continue on because it is clear that students gain from this. On a practical level, it is also a way to be sure that they aren’t just flipping pages. Once I know that they have read something and we have discussed it, it would be a great idea to use some of her shared writing strategies to help model for students what I expect and what the possibilities are. I think that of the “tried and true” ideas I can easily focus on: profiles/biographies, obviously research reports, sometimes a fictional story (as appropriate to the content), definitely summaries of nonfiction, “what we have learned about” and even class rubrics. I like that in shared writing (and reading) students who might otherwise struggle, get to learn from their peers as much as from me. They can practice working through ideas this way before feeling the pressure of writing a piece entirely on their own.
Chapter 6: I think that I am not efficient with my responses to writing. There are more possibilities for informal assessment using shared reading and writing but I also need to work on efficiency when it comes to the individual work that I ask of students. I wholeheartedly believe the reading and writing are intrinsically the same process and try to bring this into the classroom but I can certainly be more explicit about this with my students. As Regie writes, however, teaching about reading and writing needs to take second fiddle to the actual work of reading and writing.
Integrating nonfiction and content area pieces, both read and written, is easy for me and very much what I already do. What I need to focus on, however, is increasing the differentiation and accessibility of these piece. Using more explicit strategies like teaching summarizing is still highly relevant at the 9th grade and I will definitely try to use her model in the fall. Before I can expect them to analyze, I certainly need to know that they are understanding what they have read and are able to think about it through their own writing. Making this fun and engaging is the challenge.
Hi all! I agree...realizing that primary, intermediate, and more advanced writers need a significant amount of time spent with shared writing was a real "ah-ha" for me too! One of the most effective ways I found to do this in my classroom when I taught 4th grade (it works great for primary/advanced also), was to continue to pull the class together as a group in my "group area", but instead of writing on chart paper, I would flash my overhead projector up on my easel (from the floor or chair depending on the height of your easel). I would do any shared/modeled writing on a transparency, or project an author's piece of writing photocopies on an overhead to share specific craft with the group.
ReplyDeleteAnnarose, I totally agree with the shock factor of Regie's statement, “If you’re reading everything your students write, they’re not writing enough.” ...and teaching in a content area this may or may not apply. I'm not sure how much time your students really get to spend writing in your class, although it seems as though you have incorporated an amazing amount of literacy into your course. You are probably needed to assign specific types of writing more aligned to curriculum than in another writing course such as creative wrtiing...Please let me know if I can help you transfer Regie's thinking and ideas to your more advanced writing students.
Joelle Beget
ReplyDeleteAssignment #4
Chapters 4-6
Ch. 4
Well, I have to say, that unfortunately, the curriculum at my school is highly worksheet driven. Math, language, spelling, vocabulary…yikes!!!! The good news, however, is that I can do whatever I want, as long as my students are learning. I am seeing now just how important it is that the kids see the whole picture with writing. I liked the example of a puzzle Regie used. If you had a puzzle all in pieces in front of you, you wouldn’t start to put it together until you saw the picture of the puzzle. She says that is how we are if we are teaching skills in isolation, and kids don’t know why they are doing what they are doing or trying to learn what we ask of them. This was a big “aaahhha” for me.
Ch. 5
I am really excited to utilize this tool of shared writing in my class this fall! I love Regie’s ideas from page 112. It is true that our kids will have more opportunities to write when we extend it across the curriculum. For science we study the water cycle, we could do a shared writing experience about that process. At the start of the year, as the children are learning class or school procedures, we could tie that into a whole class shared writing as well. Really, the sky’s the limit.
Ch. 6
I need to really formulate how I am going to tie in my writing workshop with my reading workshop. I have some “tweaking” to do to make it go hand in hand. I know one way I can do this is to use a fun children’s book such as Olivia and use the shared reading experience and tie it into a shared writing time together. I would also like to do practical things like author profiles and writing letters to an author. Summary writing is something that I don’t feel I have taught well in the past, and will be working on for sure this year. What a great way to focus on thinking about the writing and effectively communicating that in written form. Book reviews are something that I have done a lot with, but I will be changing the format of starting this fall.
Chapter 4
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, in my opinion, my school relies too heavily on worksheets. Like Joelle I can do whatever I want, so my students do not do a lot of worksheets. I agree that worksheets do not foster learning and growing as a writer. I think a lot of teachers use them because they are easier in terms of planning and preparation. I took this class primarily to give me some guidance to jumpstart the new school year with a fresh look at writing instruction. After reading this chapter I realize how important it is to get my colleagues onboard. We definitely need to raise our expectations in the primary grades, particularly with the revision process. I think we tend to concentrate on good conventions instead of focusing on the writing process and quality writing. I liked the questions Regie asked when a student was not giving quality she’d expected. I also think my school could benefit from using the Optimal Learning Model, especially the shared demonstration. As I read this chapter, a question kept popping up in my head: How do you get first graders past the block of perfect spelling so that they can be creative and write good content? I know spelling is important, but they can spell so few words at the beginning of the year. I often get several students who do not want to move on until they know exactly how to spell a word. Then it takes them forever to get done and they have lost interest in their writing. I always told them to use “best-guess” spelling and the word wall for sight words. Is this incorrect? Should I have them focus on content for the first draft and then concentrate on conventions during the revision process?
Chapter 5
So far, Regie’s insights on shared writing have been the most beneficial for me. I can’t wait to do more shared writing when school starts! I think it will really improve student writing. I think shared demonstration would have helped me so much when I was in school. I often zoned out during teacher demonstration and lacked confidence during independent work so I see how valuable shared demonstration can be! I also love Regie’s ideas from page 112. We could do an “All about” book for several of our science units. We could also do a class journal at the end of the week. I think first graders would enjoy doing a “what to do if…” book.
Chapter 6
Regie says to “do more writing and reading of whole text and spend little time on ‘stuff’-activities about reading and writing”. This is so important for me to remember! I am guilty of planning centers for my students to work on, which focus on reading skills. I need to give my students more time to just read and write. Regie also said “assign writing that enhances the reading-that requires careful reexamination of the text”, as opposed to having students answer questions about a story. I totally agree with this! I always feel like students search for the answer without even thinking. Next year, I want to have my students do more literature responses and summarizing. At the beginning of the year, we could do this as a shared writing activity until they are able to do one independently.
Chapter 4:
ReplyDelete“Worksheets aren’t good enough. The students who can do them don’t need them,
and the ones who struggle with them feel defeated by the red marks, which only reinforce
their feelings of inadequacy. WORKSHEETS FOSTER MEDIOCRITY!”
I am in complete agreement with the quote.
Highlights for me from Chapter 4 include the dangerous idea to "volunteer to teach a lesson in a colleague's classroom." I might need to do this! Also, I like Ms. Routman's aggressive point of view that "work published for a readers has to be as perfect as we can get it" is great and will make me have higher standards for my students.
Chapter 5: Do More Shared Writing
This is easy for me to do in the library. We can write poetry together (during Poetry Month), create a Reader's Theatre script, author proviles and interview, letter to an author, book blurbs, book reviews and summaries. I love her scripts where the exact language is shared ("watch me write it".) While I won't follow a script - having a good guide will help with "teaching with urgency."
The list of ideas is extensive and useful.
Chapter 6: Capitalize on the Reading-Writing Connection
I love the listing of "what to do to understand nonfiction".
Ms. Routman believes that children are ready to write summaries in fourth grade, not earlier. While I agree they are often writing summaries earlier. Her outline and guide to writing summaries is helpful.
-Elin Kordahl
Thanks for sharing your thinking! I'm wondering how some of you other intermediate teachers are would respond to Michelle's question about room arrangement in a 4/5/6 split...??? In our 5th grade classrooms, students still enjoy joining on a rugged group area (we use SMART boards for almost all of our lessons...) Many of our teachers allow the students who do not want to sit on the floor to just rotate a chair that sits along the rug perimeter. Students move flexibly and are usually required to sit next to their writing partners.
ReplyDeleteMeghan - how lucky you are that your school has chosen the path you are on....even luckier that you had the choice (because, I know many don't have that choice!). We seem to share a very similar professional journey. In my first several years of teaching, I worked closely with the Reading Recovery teacher in my building, and with her support, also came to the conclusion that my students would benefit if my "literacy centers" (and I was the Queen of centers :))were replace with solid reading and writing instruction (minilessons) and and then followed up with independent practice with both conferring and small group support based on students' individual needs.
ReplyDeleteJoelle, Sarah, and Elin - thanks for sharing your thoughts! Joelle & Sarah - you are so lucky to be able to making your own choices in planning your curriculum!. Joelle, I think it is a great goal of trying to tie in the reading/writing workshop, especially if you have large blocks of time that you can designate for literacy! Sarah, in K and 1 classrooms, the environment has to promote the importance of getting their ideas down in both words and pictures the best they can. They should have strategies to promote this such as your "best guess", stretching it out, word walls, word books..., but most importantly they need to know that they are writers independent of you. Otherwise they are reluctant to write without you by there side. Elin, I think it's wonderful the way you support the classroom curriculum in your role....I wish we all had that luxury :)
ReplyDeleteChapter 4:
ReplyDeleteRaising expectations is a huge piece of my teaching philosophy. I love how Regie states this in her book. “Students know when we think they are smart and capable, and with our help, they rise to the occasion.” I have noticed this with my youngest sister who has Down syndrome. As she was growing up she had some amazing teachers and some that honestly didn’t really care to have her in their room. She grew so much when she was with those teachers that truly cared for her. She just had this sense of that. It really made me start to believe that this really matters. We need to have a sense of community in our room where every child knows that we care for them and want them to succeed. From there, I believe, that we are more likely to raise expectations academically. Such as, pushing them to have the best handwriting and spelling, etc. is something they will be better with when they see us saying that’s what we expect from them. I realize I should have pushed my students more in this. I think, I like others, was thinking I would take away their creativity or their stamina if I stopped them too often!! The Optimal Learning Model does support this philosophy as the kids are able to do a lot more through shared demonstrations and practice. It shows them that I trust you and we’ve practiced this together and I know you can succeed. I am starting at a brand new school that’s opening in the fall and it will be important to talk about some of this as a staff and as a 2nd grade team.
Another aspect from this chapter that caught me was reading aloud. It seems like that’s always one thing that gets cut from a busy day. We do try and make time for this though as I’ve known it’s important. I’m seeing how these read alouds then become books the students are familiar with – which can then be used for mentor type texts during writing.
The quote that worksheets aren’t good enough and it fosters mediocrity seems like that’s where we’ve been headed for awhile. I don’t think all teachers see this though, which is partly due to it being easier. I work with teachers who love using worksheets because of the ease of it. I do agree with Regie though in that we’ll raise our students learning by giving them more hands on practice and not just through worksheets.
Chapter 5:
I share stories with my students that I have written and they will help me make changes on them at times. But, I have only a few times done a complete shared writing assignment with them helping. It was interesting to read this chapter and get that perspective. I can really see how this would help low readers and writers benefit by visually seeing the process. Although, would also benefit all writers to be able to gain new ideas from others. The shared piece is an important part that I’m planning on making time for this coming year.
It was interesting to think about this combined with my reading time as well. Using some shared writing stories for cloze stories or even just taking a few sentences from the shared story to have kids practice sentence building with. Possibly even having these stories out for kids to choose for their reading book boxes would help tie in reading and writing. Regie even offered a lot of Word Work ideas which I tagged to incorporate into my Daily 5. This would mean a lot more as the kids actually helped put this story together.
We’ve used writing for other subject areas that we teach such as our units on Birds and National Symbols. Each child chooses one to research and write about. It would be neat to incorporate some shared writing during this time even on fictional type stories which we never seem to do enough of.
Chapter 6:
ReplyDeleteI like the short quote that “Writing makes us think harder.” Reading comprehension is always something I’m trying to find better ways to model and teach. I never thought of the link between writing and this being so powerful. I’m excited to realize that. When writing is integrated into other areas; students have higher test scores. I want kids to reflect on things they have read and I have a hard time incorporating that into my Daily 5 without it taking up more reading time. It is important to give them time to offer feedback and reflection. I definitely want them to enjoy reading and not think they have to respond to everything they read, but as well as learning to comprehend text. Noticing that shared writing responses could be a good way to do this as a whole group for summaries. Something I will change this coming year is discussing summaries outloud a lot more than I have in the past. This goes back to Regie’s Optimal Learning Model and giving students that shared demonstration before expecting them to succeed.
We last year used a math journal, too, to add this piece to math time. I wasn’t very good at using it, but I do understand the importance of adding the writing and communication piece to other subject areas now. Non-fiction writing was used a lot last year as we wrote about the GLAD units that we did: Birds, National Symbols, Rocks, etc.
Michelle,
ReplyDeleteI teach 2nd grade so I don't know if this is an idea or not as far as seating goes. I was reading on the Daily 5 website awhile ago and someone asked a question about that. Someone else responded with an idea of benches that they had built. They built them so they fit around the rug area, but students sat in them and it sounded like they loved it. I was trying to find the link for that to send you. I'll still keep looking. Good luck@
Chapter 4
ReplyDeleteRegie’s quote about raising expectations and the question she asks “What are our clearly articulated, rigorous yet reasonable expectations?” seems like a great place to start if your school, grade level team or just your classroom is trying to raise writing expectations. It is like setting any type of goal, one step is to write it down. At the beginning of the school year, I believe my 5th graders could contribute in this process (an authentic writing experience) I would certainly have my own list of writing expectations and could use this as an opportunity to model my thinking and writing. In turn they could add to the list as this process becomes a shared writing experience. This piece of writing could then be posted in the classroom and used as a reference tool and added to through out the year. This could also be posted on the class web page and shared with families. As Regie suggests “encourage student to take risks as writers.” We all know of students who write only in their comfort zone and not much more. Here is the opportunity to raise expectations on an individual student level.
Worksheets are boring whether you are doing them or grading them. Let’s be honest, how many worksheets have you not had time to grade, let alone, write some feed-back that will benefit the student’s learning? I’d rather be doing this with a student in a writing conference based on some authentic writing experience.
Chapter 5
My familiarity with shared writing time is that it energizes the classroom. It is one of the most exciting and rewarding times of the day. There is more social interaction with ideas flying everywhere. Once you experience this, you want to find ways to have shared writing be a mainstay in the weekly schedule. One Tried and True which I use at the beginning of the school year is writing to younger students, usually a friendly letter format telling how to act in different parts of the school: library, cafeteria, and playground. I have found that writing in the content areas is the only way to get in enough daily writing practice. FYI: another great resource for authentic writing ideas where students “drive into texts” both informational and fiction is The Word-Conscious Classroom: Building the Vocabulary Readers and Writers Need.
Chapter 6
I too found the procedures for teaching summarizing to be extremely helpful. I liked her teaching tip Teach it First; Label it Later. As a student would you like a hook that goes something like this “today students we’re going to learn about a new type of writing called summarizing?” I wouldn’t. A great hook can really get a class excited about learning something new, especially something as important as summarizing. Writing more book reviews or book blurbs can be extended into a technology component where students pod cast these reviews. Now that is a great hook!
Talk to you later, Katherine
Chapter 4
ReplyDeleteWhile it is important to have expectations of students, I do think that it is important on how those expectations are presented. Regie in the last part of the chapter gave a good example of how to notice the positive first in writing so the student feels successful in some way. I keep writing journals for my students so they can look at the progress they made over a year. They like looking back at different points in the year so they can see their growth.
I do think she made a good point to about the importance of demonstrating something more than once. With the students I work with, I often have to explicitly teach multiple times things like where to put the date.
Expectation wise I am particular about handwriting. It is usually something fairly easy for my students to fix. I use popsicle sticks to help with spacing and teach letter formation to my younger students. If their classroom teacher reinforces legible handwriting as well, my students tend to be successful in that area. Editing and spelling are more difficult from them to do independently. In spelling, I try to work on the high frequency words that they misspell and with older students getting spelling approximations so that a speller can help them correct it.
As a school we are working on raising writing expectations at each grade level. We have been going over what a teacher expects a student to do at each grade level and what teachers expect the students to do at the next grade level.
Chapter 5
The chapter on shared writing gave me some good ideas for things to do next year with students. At the beginning of the year we are expected to go over school procedures and shared writing would be good for it. I could have each grade level work on a specific location in the school and take a photo of my students performing the procedure accurately with the shared writing expectations posted with it on our hall bulletin board. With my 4th -6th graders I would like to try doing shared writing around a research report. My students really struggle with summarizing instead of copying information for their research projects. The “Mystery Message” is a great idea for my younger students. They often get stuck only wanting to read books that they read in my room. The “Mystery Message” sounds like a fun way to get them to try to read something else.
Writing a play that they could read would be a good activity to try as well. Especially at the beginning of the year when I’m trying to get them engaged in reading and writing again.
For the most part I have enjoyed doing shared writing with my resource room groups. I have primarily done it around mini lessons on trying to get them to expand their vocabulary in their own writing. I definitely need to refer back to the list of ideas for shared writing so I can incorporate them in my groups.
Chapter 6
The integration of the reading and writing piece is sometimes difficult to accomplish with the simplified research based curriculum I use in the resource room. Although the repetitive text and slower introduction of words is wonderful for my students, it can make connecting to writing harder. I do think planning wise that some stories we read do lend themselves to more summarizing. In general this chapter was very helpful in going over how to teach summarizing. The one thing I do like with the reading adoption the general education teachers use is that it does have a lot of nonfiction. There is also in a broad range of topics so if students don’t like one unit of nonfiction they might like the next.
Kim Fast
ReplyDeleteChapter 4:
-Our minority students and lower socio-economic students need the same skills as our other students. They might just need more exposure and more opportunities. These students will be functioning in the same society as everyone else and to limit their access through our kind heartedness is only handicapping them for their future.
-I think that by raising the expectations in my classroom and watching the students accomplish those goals, it makes it easier to have those conversations with my colleagues about it being possible and beneficial.
-Although I sometimes struggle with wanting students to just write to wanting them to work on spelling, handwriting and editing, I think there is a balance that needs to be reached. For a few years, I cut “handwriting” out of my schedule because there was SO much else to do. In the past 3 years, I have put it back into the routine. It isn’t a formal daily activity but it is something that I teach deliberately. In 2nd grade, I am noticing many students’ letter formation is completely backwards. When I show them the “other way” to make the letter, I tell them it will make learning cursive SO much easier for them. Since learning cursive is a big enticement for them, they buy in much easier. I give the students a “Writer’s Workshop” folder that has many common words in it as well as a place where they can write words that they want to know how to spell. I also teach them how to use the dictionary. This next year, I will be teaching a 2/3 blend so my 3rd graders that I had last year will be able to help pass along these skills. We work on editing as a class. I liked some of Regie’s ideas that she shared and will incorporate those for this coming year.
-The Optimal Learning Model is a flexible framework that allows me the opportunity to adjust the number of lessons and the types of lessons that my students need to master a new concept. My students’ learning dictates the teaching rather than me alone.
I agree with the quote about worksheets. I think that as teachers, we work very hard at creating the times we can work with small groups of students. Oftentimes, that independent “seat work” becomes worksheet driven. Last year, I began implementing “Daily 5” in my classroom. It has been a huge management help in my classroom and it has allowed me time to work with small groups while my other students are ENGAGED in REAL activities! It has been wonderful and I highly recommend it!
~Kim Fast
Kim Fast (continued...)
ReplyDeleteChapter 5:
-Shared Writing is a powerful tool we can use as we create independent writers. We are releasing control while still holding the pen. It allows students the opportunity to see a concept again and in a supported way.
-Shared Writing is appropriate for all learners but especially helps support our students with special needs, English language learners, students who have less rich language exposure at home and students who just lack the confidence to be independent.
-I loved the way that Regie linked Shared Writing to Shared Reading by having the pieces that the class creates become the reading that they will be able to work with later.
-Some of the ways I can see my using it is in a class made book, cloze activities, cut up the text and reassemble it, word sorts, vocabulary building and enforcing, and raising phonemic awareness.
-Some of the “Tried and True” ideas that I could use in my classroom are: welcome letter, procedure writing, guest teacher guide, “All About” book, class journal, fiction stories, poems, recipes, “What to do if…”, pattern books, book review, “My favorite…” book, class newsletter, “All About…” book, “How to…” book, science observation logs, appreciation writing, memory book, thank you notes, innovations on familiar texts, and bilingual books.
Chapter 6:
-We need to know what we are teaching ahead of time. This coming year, I will go from teaching a straight 2nd grade to teaching a 2/3 blend. I will be learning the 3rd grade curriculum as I go. Of course, I will map things out ahead of time but for me, I become more efficient the more times I teach it. I will need to be very purposeful in making integration happen across the curriculum in writing.
-I think that I will work better by having mini-conferences with my students with a post-it pad in my hand. I think that the teachers who can pull off writing responses for everything that’s great; but for me, I don’t choose to make that happen.
-Time is such a huge limitation in the classroom. We have so many things to cover in a short amount of time. Multitasking by integration is not only time efficient but it is also much more interesting and engaging for students.
-I made a big switch several years ago toward using much more non-fiction. It is validating to now watch as my students and well as my own children (especially my boys) choose non-fiction over fiction. This year, I will work at writing more non-fiction. That is a very different type of writing with different skills that are needed to do it well.
~Kim Fast
I believe that all students can succeed. Therefore I have high expectations for all students. I think that is the reason that so many of my students are successful and confident. What I love about writing is that every student can be successful.
ReplyDeleteOur staff's professional development focus is writing. As I mentioned before, we are doing the Routman in Residence Series (which is really great - I recommend it for any staff). We use our early release time once a month to get together and discuss our expectations school wide for student writing. It has helped us to create clearly articulated, rigorous, yet reasonable expectations.
I am so happy to hear Regie's thoughts on worksheets. I AGREE. They are not meaningful for students they make more work for us and they just don't get to the heart of any subject. I also like that teaching with fewer worksheets uses less paper and makes less waste!
I love doing shared writing. One of my favorite memories of teaching 2nd grade was writing a story about a dragon who wanted to learn how to read. We decided on the characters and what would happen. It was wonderful. Then when we were finished students worked with a partner to illustrate a page of the story to be bound and kept in the classroom library. I had a blast and so did they! I use shared writing for writing letters home to parents. When students are involved in the writing they take more ownership and things are more likely to be shared with their parents. It also demonstrates another purpose and use for writing.
I find that using the Daily 5 has helped me with making the reading-writing connection meaningful for students. I use my writing block (60 minutes) for writing instruction and then I use my 90 minute reading block for reading instruction with writing integrated into my mini-lessons and student conferences. I am a big fan of the Daily 5. It is a fabulous, meaningful way to structure your literacy block. My students love having choices and they look forward to the daily 5 every day.
Chapter 4 - Raising Expectations
ReplyDeleteIt is difficult to establish writing expectations sometimes for ELD students. Teachers don't really know where to hold the bar and what to do when the bar isn't being met. Part of the problem sometimes is the size of the class as well, but I have seen some amazing work done by teachers who have raised the bar in writing for the entire class. There are several great thoughts in this chapter: expect excellence, increasing read alouds, model through think alouds, give plenty of support and scaffolding, provide editing and grammar tools, do focussed mini-lesson where there are gaps, and demonstrate good writing practices. The one thing I do not agree on necessarily is that quantity is quality. Just because you write a lot doesn't mean you write well or you are particularly improving on your practice. I have seen remarkable improvement in some of my ELD kids when they where in a classroom where they heard three or more read alouds per day and talked about the language in the texts. Their vocabulary increased, their variety and flexibility in sentence construction increased, and their love for writing and sharing their work increased. Thus raising the expectations and providing a language rich environment does raise the overall accomplishment of the class.
Chapter 5 - Shared Writing
As an ELD teacher I am always doing shared writing. Shared writing is just the best teaching practice for teaching ELD students. We construct text together, we edit text together, we play with language to improve our texts, we cut apart text and put it back together, we create classroom books, group poems, etc. Sometimes I start with a shared text and move on to independent text if they look like they understood and internalized the lesson. We look for spelling patterns and practice sight words. I can definitely always expand my repertoire and add a few new things from the "Tried and True" ideas list.
Chapter 6 - Reading/writing connection
I use my reading adoption to teach both reading and writing. I especially use the reading in lower grades to teach writing because it's a great way to learn new vocabulary, spelling, get ideas, learn how to write for different purposes (summarize, tell a story, give information, entertain, etc.), start discussions, learn note taking, etc. The reading is a great jumping board for writing. For the older kids I learned I needed to expand my repertoire because the reading adoption was a little too dry and not always what the kids cared about. It's hard to get someone to write something they don't really care about. So I always have to dig a little harder to find out what works for different groups of students. I am always looking for a new book that is not too long (because I have a time constraint) but deep and interesting enough to get their attention. Sometimes we use articles which address issues they care about and that usually works in extending their writing.
Expectations
ReplyDeleteI do come from a school with high poverty and high ELL students. I went to a conference last year from Damon Lopez and the “No Excuse University”. It was very motivating to see a principal from a school with similar demographics setting very high expectations for all of their students (all kids will go to college) and having a lot of success. I truly believe kids will rise to our expectations. It is an excellent reminder that everything we say is taken personally by children and our first response when sharing work should always be positive. Writing for a purpose came up again for me and I realize how often I assign writing that will only be read by me (and maybe their parents at home) and how they don’t have an authentic audience or real reason to write with voice.
Shared Writing
After beginning my journal in the last blog assignment, I am already feeling more confident about writing. I am realizing how important it is for me to experience what I am expecting of my students (duh!). I am also realizing that while I may have dabbled in shared writing in the past, I certainly haven’t used it as consistently or as purposefully as Reggie suggests. I was noticing in several of her teaching examples she also uses picture books to share good writing. I wonder what the balance is between shared writing as the teacher and sharing good writing by published authors. I know there are many factors, but I’m curious as to what others think…
Reading-Writing
I love the ideas for reading response, note-taking, and the detailed teaching points for summarizing. My question is then about balance. I understand and completely agree that we need to make sure students spend more time reading than writing about reading. I have tried having students write a summary or response once a week (students are assigned certain days to respond) and I have also tried having students respond after they finish a book. I had trouble keeping track of the responses with the second option because many kids flaked. I also had trouble balancing with other response activities, two-column notes, graphic organizers, etc… What is a simple, organized way to keep a response journal with students.
Great comments all!!!....Kelley, I completely agree with your comments about student expectations and children (even with special needs) understanding and knowing whether we believe in them or not. As far as the whole worksheet dilemma, I think that when you teach using worksheets, you’re just making more work for yourself (all take home)…within the workshop model, your “on” and working with kids constantly (whole group, small group, individually), but you’re definitely not bringing home a pile of papers at the end of the day. By the way I love The Sister’s CAFÉ…I’m trying to go see them in the fall!!! And the benches are a great suggestion. I used them when I taught both 2nd and 4th, we had a colleague’s husband build them for us. There was storage underneath for their reading boxes/baskets and they sat on them during lessons – great way to get the upper grades “in close” . Katherine, I love the idea of getting your students in of the process of “raising writing expectations”…imagine the buy in that would bring! And yes – getting students to write book reviews and pod cast them is a superb idea (I’m actually going to share it with our media specialist!!!). Tamara, writing journals as well as writing portfolios offer a great way for students, parents, and teaching staff to see student growth over the year! Meeting with teachers who teach at the levels above and below you is a great way to ensure that there is articulation in your building. You are very fortunate to be having these conversations!
ReplyDeleteKim – I completely agree that our expectations HAVE to be raised for our ELLs, lower socio-economic, minority, special needs….and if not, we are doing a complete disservice to these children in our classrooms. This was a huge fight with our K/1 team in my old building. The whole writing/handwriting/spelling balance is always a struggle for me. I think the best way to go about it is to assess needs and teach what’s necessary. The more nonfiction reading (especially for high interest and for vocabulary building) the better! Krista, I loved your shared writing idea for the class book…and I completely agree, I love the Daily 5….and any of you who don’t know about The Sisters, should definitely check out their work!!!! Lily, I see your point about quantity vs. quality, but the way I think about it, it’s like a sport. The more you play (soccer for example) and practice, the better you will get. The quantity of writing (and reading) is what gives our students practice. During practice though, we set those high expectations, and students are working hard with us by their sides coaching them (either in small groups or during conferences. Christina – it’s all about finding that balance isn’t it? I think these decisions we need to make is what actually make teaching so hard. In a given week, I usually try to use shared writing 1-2x, and a piece of author’s text (mentor text) 1-2x also….It really does vary on the focus and needs of students though. I wish I could give you a more concrete answer.
Ch. 4
ReplyDeleteThere were a few well aimed statements in this chapter that made me cry out in total agreement. Our school culture has such low expectations and the students know it. This makes my job much more difficult because I get to push the students to step up and insist to the parents that their child really CAN do it! After reading this chapter I now am convinced I need to be more diligent in my handwriting expectations. Another aspect very entrenched in our building is the use of worksheets. Regie's statement about worksheets fostering mediocrity is very true from my experience. My first year I was told I had to use the curriculum that the district provided us, and being the pleaser that I am I used it all. I had a mini-breakdown because I felt ANYONE could come off the street to do what I was doing. Thankfully, we got a new principal and literacy coach that let me change my practices! I am lucky like Joelle and do not have to use them as long as my students are making progress.
Ch. 5
As I was reading this chapter I continued to kick myself for not doing it as much as I should. She is absolutely right in every argument she uses in this chapter. This chapter is full of rich resources, scripts I can use to visualize the scenes, and ideas for shared writing. I plan on using many of these ideas next year. Her "Tried and True" list has really inspired the writer in me to get started!
The largest DUH moment for me was when she listed poetry. I have spent three years doing a poetry unit using her poetry book and it NEVER occurred to me to move from demonstrating writing poetry to shared writing poetry. I'm still shaking my head at myself! My one comfort is that I have used the cloze activity with my students with some of our favorite books that a transition to our writing will be easy.
Ch. 6
Using literature as a springboard for content areas is something I do more than using it as a springboard for writing, which does not make sense to me know that I've read this chapter. My goals include: Teach students to reread as they write, use literature as a springboard for writing and shared writing, refine my summary writing using the resources provided in this section, have notebooks in their bookboxes once I have modeled and we have done shared writings of the possibilities, and require students to respond to deeper thinking questions in writing.
Teaching nonfiction is a passion of mine, so with a few adjustments recommended by Regie we are good to go!
The part I appreciated the most about the worksheet quote is “The students who can do them don’t need them, and the ones who struggle with them feel defeated….” I feel that really gets to the heart of the limitations of worksheets. They are a perfect example of “one size fits all” mentality. I very rarely find it justifiable to copy worksheets just due to the amount of paper for the number of students I have at my junior high. Often I will look at a work sheet and see one or two items on it I would like to emphasize with my students as either a review or to introduce a skill. When that happens, I simply retype what I like on my computer. Fortunately I have a projector so I can share things with the whole class. The only other times I find myself utilizing worksheets is when I have a substitute that doesn’t know my students. Then I use them to reinforce a skill we have already covered. Yes, in the back of my mind I can see the students’ faces who will find them “drop dead boring” and those who will try to copy from their more knowledgeable peers.
ReplyDeleteThrough out the chapter, I found myself nodding my head and saying, “yes” under my breath. Raising expectations doesn’t have anything to due with increasing the number of skills being taught but by the attitude the teacher is conveying to students. Attitude and respect is so important to my age group. My seventh graders come with their “imaginary audience” and if you were to treat them disrespectfully in front of their peers, they would have a hard time ever forgiving you. Those who witnessed it would also take it personally and come to their peer’s defense.
This chapter did a great job reinforcing the importance and validity of shared demonstration and guided practice. As a teacher that only has a group of students for a limited time, I am always worried about the amount of time we have together and what we need to cover. The “caution against overteaching” is constantly an urge I need to monitor and avoid.
Other quotes from chapter 4 I found very powerful included:
• “Try of focus more on what the child is trying to do and less on what we are trying to teach”
• “Leave the writer intact”
• “What might help this writer rather?” than “What might help this writing?”
• “What would you attempt to do if you know you could not fail?”
I feel these quotes really focus on the teacher’s philosophy toward his or her students and profession. They emphasize important common sense that we often forget as we become overwhelmed with standards, tests, and grades.
As I went the list, I was thinking about what would work well with language arts and social studies. I was also thinking of how I could use Shared Writing to include students on letters and memos I write during to year to parents and staff.
ReplyDelete1. Welcome Letter – Great to use for Back to School Night in the Fall, our Student Led Conferences in the Winter and our Celebration of Learning in the Spring.
2. “All about” books – I like the idea of creating on about our school that could be used with our sixth grade orientation
3. Class Journal – I especially like using it as a review of major things learned regarding specific cultures or time periods we study in social studies
4. What is special about us – Again linking it to LOJ and sixth grade orientation
5. A fictional story – I know they would love this, especially around the holidays when they are so energetic
6. Poems – We teach a lot of poetry and read the novel Out of the Dust. This would be very powerful. In the past I just showed past examples written by students.
7. Advice – 7th graders always have a lot to say on this topic
8. Favorite foods – My 4/5 block is right before lunch. They would love this!
9. Book Reviews- We have monthly book review we do, but this would be a great way to teach and model the format!
10. Profiles and biographies – Perfect with social studies
11. Student survival handbook – Fun beginning of the year or end of the year activity
12. What to expect in seventh grade – Another end of the year / sixth grade orientation activity
13. Summaries of nonfiction studies – I would like to share this with our science team too.
14. How to act – This would be a much better vehicle to reinforce behavior then the standard lecture. We are always trying to reinforce our “Anchor Values” at LOJ
I enjoyed reading chapter six. Much of the chapter was information I was already familiar with, but I found reading Regie’s words and supportive evidence empowering. Some of the things mentioned validate my current teaching practices. When we read novels like Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, I have students keep Reading Response journals. When my colleagues and I give our students prompts to respond to we spend much time crafting something that will help them interact with the text. We try to avoid fact-based responses and often try to have them make connections to their own lives. This is usually easy to do since many of the main characters in our novels are of similar age. It was nice to read we are on the right path regarding this. But I also appreciated the reminder to make sure that students are spending more time reading than writing.
ReplyDeleteThe other part of chapter six I found very valuable was the focus on summary writing. This is an ongoing topic at our school. The “Lesson Snapshot and Framework: Summary Writing on pages 128-131 is something I will definitely share with my colleagues. The information helped clarify some of my thoughts and approaches. Not only do I feel I can talk more confidently to other teachers about summary writing but also address some of my students’ questions that arise from this form of writing. Students often want to know how an assignment or activity will be beneficial to them. Know I can more readily address their questions.
Chapter 4:
ReplyDeleteI work in a district that is has a very low SES and I do feel like that at times I have been guilty of not holding my students as accountable as I might if I worked in a more middle class district. But I have been working harder on keeping my expectations high throughout the year for ALL students!!! The team that I work with is constantly working on and striving to align our expectations and make sure that they are reasonable and rigorous.
Worksheets...the dreaded worksheet...students dread doing them...teachers dread correcting them. Although I do think that are times when the extra practice for some students is good and occasionally you get the parent/parents that expect them. When I do send home worksheets I make sure that they are practice not introducing or trying to teach a new skill and I rarely grade them but instead go over them with the entire class the next day and discuss the answers and hold discussions about what we are learning about. Then students get credit for what they did not what they got right or wrong.
5: More shared writing...YES!!! I started this last year and found that it was really helpful but didn't stick with it as much as I would have liked. I really like the idea of using chart paper and an easel. I really think that she is right...last year when I was doing shared writing on the projector I did feel like I had a lack of participation. However, I do teach 6th grade and have 30 students and a very small classroom so I will need to figure out how to arrange my room so that we can all fit someplace on the floor and be able to see the paper.
6: i got a lot out of this chapter. In my building we have over 20 first languages spoken...on average I have apx. 2-3 ELL newcomers and 2-3 limited english speakers. I really like the cutting up the sentence idea...I really think that this will be helpful for my ELL and SPed kids...and great practice for all of my students especially when we are focusing on sentence fluency.
I am also going to use the "Tell me something that you know about...fill in the blank...that is very important." I am going to use this in social studies...I have been looking for new ways to incorporate more writing into social studies and I think that this would be a great way to get kids writing in their social studies journals and I think that this would also be a great way to start a piece of shared writing that might also help students study for unit tests.
Kelly Rolwes
ReplyDeleteAssignment #4
I have taught now three years in a Title I school. I have also taught in a Reading First school. Where I am now is almost too flexible in its curriculum and standards. I am pretty much on my own with writing expectations and curriculum. I had many very low readers and writers last year. It was hard to individualize their writing ability and cater to that ability. This next year, I plan to have a 5th grade minimum goal for all students in the areas of spelling, editing, writing, and then hope through student writing conferences and peer evaluation I will be able to gather individualized goals for each student in writing.
As I saw in chapter 4, I also would like to give more power to the students. In writing, I think if students can be apart of creating standards and even how writing is graded; that could be very beneficial to improving their writing. This takes time, but I believe it will be worth it this year.
The struggle I still have is getting the whole school on board. It seems like many of the teachers have taught in their own bubble with little guidance in teaching writing. It will take some time to get the whole school together on this. So for now, I can only make it better in my classroom.
I would love to be able to observe other classrooms in writing. I like that teacher tip in chapter 4. Yes, I need to step it up with these conventions at 5th grade! Conventions were so bad all year, and I just could not figure out an effective way to improve conventions. It seems like I would have to go through every punctuation, editing tool, and spelling error and teach it in order to expect that with my students. Time-wise, that just can not happen. I did like some of the suggestions in Chapter 4 on how to raise the expectations with students. Also, I hope it proves true some of the suggestions students can use to edit their own work.
Love the post-its. I ordered so many packets of them this year. I use them when students are reading and don’t understand a word, or have a huh? moment, notice similes, metaphors, personification, when they find the setting, problem, antagonist, etc. Now I will be using them all through writing.
Shared writing is something I really have tried to do in the classroom. It has proven to be very powerful. Students love sharing, they love being able to make suggestions, and it does improve their effort when they know they will be sharing it in class.
I like the idea of a class-generated story where everyone is asked a question or asked to fill in a part. Great for a class book, but I think it is also a great way to get students engaged.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I have to give my district create for is their reading curriculum. They adopted last year a great program that has worked great for integrating all the subjects in reading.
As far as reading and writing more nonfiction; I took the summer class Writing for Real. I loved what he taught us. He opened up my eyes to focusing more attention on nonfiction. He also showed me an abundance of materials and books that were so interesting. Yes, even as a teacher I always thought nonfiction books would bore out my students, but the stuff written now is great.
Mediocrity is unacceptable. I cannot accept mediocrity in myself as a teacher. Therefore, I cannot accept it from my students...ANY of my students. At Parkrose we have a highly diverse population. It becomes so easy to just accept what I'm given and call it done, because it IS something. But Routman reminded me that minortiy students have fewer opportunities to succeed because we decrease the amount of work expected. In their case, more is actually better!
ReplyDeleteThe other reminder was the fact that nurturing and building relationships is vital to creating an atmosphere where all kids feel they can take chances in their writing. They might not do it well, but they should feel safe and confident that their teacher will praise what they have and gently redirect them. Relationships matter. I remember a student that I had years ago. He wasn't a skilled writer. I stretched to find praise for his work and commented that he had such good voice. He beamed. Later that day another teacher told me that the student had brought her his work and told her that Mrs. Lozano said he had great voice. He was so excited. I have to remember that kid and how much that one comment meant to him. After that, he wanted to try harder and do more. DUH!
Achieving expectations will come afer achieving a trusing and safe relationship. Kids won't take chances if they are not positively supported, praised and redirected when they take the chance and fail.
From this chapter I took away:
1. The NEED to be consistent in my expectations with ALL students. I have to hold firm and make sure that I'm teaching what I expect. If I don't hold firm, I teach mediocrity = success.
2. I have to have high standards and expectations for them as I do for any other student.
3. Nurturing is important!
Chapter 5
ReplyDeleteShared Writing is crucial component to the Optimal Learning Model. It's practice that makes writing perfect. You can't just tell someone how to drive and them give them the keys and expect they will do it correctly, or at lease to your standards. It's about actively being involved in teaching in an environment that you've established as safe and creative where meaningful relationships allow kids to feel free to contribute, make suggestions and demonstrate their abilities. This seems to be a theme for me.
I appreciate how Routman reminds us of what should be obvious. Wow! Using the writing we've created as a class to support our reading. I really like the Holes example. It's meaningful to ALL students. I can't wait to try that out in my class. It's careful modeling of expectations.
I'm so glad that she included the list of "Tried and True" activities. I want that out on my desk so I'm constantly reminded of the great ways that I can tie reading and writing together. Students are far more interested in what they have created. They are more apt to analyze,and pay attention to it. ANYTHING we create together can be used! It's authentic and relevant to them.
Chapter 6
This chapter reminded me that reading is thinking. Writing tasks that "force" the students to expain their thinking about a text just seems like a no-brainer. Sometimes I think I have no brain, however because I just don't do this often enough or at least I don't demonstrate it well enough to show the kids what I really want. It was a good reminder for me to consider that writing about reading will deepen their comprehension, cause them to reflect on the content and, hopefully, foster an appreciation for the text. What if all teachers in all content areas did this!?
So, my question is how can we get all teachers to buy in? This year I want to work with my Science and Math partner to create writing lessons that will support what he will be doing in his classes. I can support him AND promote literacy. I've tried to do this before, but now I feel I have a greater understanding about how to make it work.
Our district is focusing on Cornell Notetaking. I think this format could work well as a springboard to some good writing. It promots analysis of text and then requires a summary of that analysis. What an important life-skill to be able to summarize. It will be a focus for me this year.
Assignment 4
ReplyDeleteTheoretically, yes it is extremely important to have high expectations for students. However, I’m still not sure how to enforce this. I have found that even when I teach something pretty explicitly, there are some students that don’t produce writing up to the expectations I have for them. Then, what do I do? Give it back and say try again? Except it, but show areas of improvement (along with some positive feedback) for next time? I would love some more ideas regarding committing and following through with high expectations for students.
Chapter 4 also helped me realize that I am probably sending the message to my students that handwriting doesn’t matter. I do not have the best handwriting and often try to write fast instead of neatly. I will often joke with my students that they can write better, but I should be the one setting the example instead.
I completely agree and think that worksheets are a waste of time. The ones provided by reading curriculums are never good- they often don’t make sense, have confusing answers and are BORING! I often end up making my own sheets most of the time. I have found that students need a place to record their answers, thoughts or activities and use worksheets in this way. For example, one of my reading stations is sometimes spelling their vocabulary words with Scrabble tiles. I made a sheet that looks like a scrabble board for students to record on it.
Previously, I had not given much thought to shared writing. I would model then tell the students to go write. I love this idea! I can’t wait to work with small groups to write a piece together or as a whole class. Routman gave us many ideas to try and I have already decided to incorporate some of them into my plans this year- I love the guidebook for the school, book reviews and a class book project (or two!). It was very helpful how Routman gave specifics on criteria for book reviews and summarizing. She broke the teaching down into steps using the Optimal Learning Model and I’m planning to model a review, read found examples, write a review whole class with students on a book we’ve read together and then have students review their favorite book.
The chapter on the reading-writing connection really helped me think about ways to work with students on comprehension. I have struggled with this in the past couple years- answering the curriculum questions are tedious and boring! I’ve recently started using the reading roles to help with comprehension, but I also love the list of questions Routman posted on page 136- What questions does the author answer? What’s the most important idea on this page? are some examples. One of my primary goals in my teaching is to teach students to think critically and deeply. I don’t think I was taught to think critically in my early education and it was something I struggled with later in my education. I want students to question and think about what they read early on.
Chapter 4--
ReplyDeleteThe part of this chapter that stood out most for me was the importance of neatness and nice handwriting. This seems to have changed over the years. When I was a child, I never would have turned in ripped, doodled on, crossed out work. I work in a very high poverty school, and I think that this is often a result of environmental factors. That being said, it is also a representation of how seriously students take education. If we show them just how important it is to write on unwrinkled paper, in nicest handwriting, with no crossouts, maybe they will take their own learning more seriously.
Chapter 5--
The majority of this chapter seemed a bit irrelevant to me, as it seemed to focus on K-2. However, I was very happy to see Regie's teaching in action lesson with the 5th grade. I have struggled with shared writing in my teaching, as I have not been sure how to demonstrate my expectations without taking up the entire writing period. I also really appreciated the "Tried and True" section. There are many ideas that I will definitely incorporate into my own writing program.
Chapter 6--
I was very happy to see the section on summary writing in this chapter. I think it is a very difficult type of writing, yet we automatically expect our students to be able to do it perfectly on day 1. I like the example of the weeklong lesson plan, specifically.
Thanks Sarah, Kristin, Megan M., Kelly R., Angela, Kelly B., & Leslie for sharing your comments! Sarah, I’m glad this section was so powerful for you. You are lucky that you have the flexibility to do what you feel works best for your students…we should all be so lucky . You mentioned the ah –ha moment of doing shared writing with poetry….and that you’ve used her poetry book. Do you mean the Kid’s Poems book which is the series I mentioned in an earlier comment? I thought that a big part of her instructional sequence in those books included doing shared writing. Maybe you’re using another one of her texts??? Just curious. Kristin, I loved Regie’s quote about worksheets also…I’ve often debated sneaking that one in to the teachers’ lounge and posting it up on a bulletin board! You are so limited in your blocks of time with students, so it is even that much more difficult figuring out where to spend your time. What an incredible list of ideas you created…I hope that some of the other middle school teachers in the course have a chance to see your great ideas! Megan, it sounds like you also had a great mix of both reinforcement and ideas that have given you new goals for future instruction. You mentioned the idea of using an easel and chart paper maybe giving you more participation...when I taught the upper grades, I’ve used a over head projector (or ELMO) if you have one…and projected it from a small table (or even the floor or chair) directly to an easel. Therefore you still have the smaller/closer sense of community, but also the ease of being able to write more quickly on the OH projector. Just an idea…
ReplyDeleteKelly, it can be very frustrating when you’re working in a district where there is no structure or set curriculum, and each teacher is left to flounder and try to figure out what will work best for their students. I like your idea of having kids being a part of writing their own standards and participating in the grading process…what a way to give them more accountability!!! It is also impossible to “reteach” all of the conventions that the kids were supposed to have learned in previous years…have you tried to give some sort of pretest at the beginning of the year to see what they really know…maybe they’re just not transferring what they should to their writing???? Angela, you are right on when you talk about how important it is to keep those expectations up with ALL of our students!!! In my old district which had a much higher rate of both minority (&ELLs) as well as lower SES, than where I am now, I got tired of cringing during every data team meeting, and hearing some teachers blame everything on the home environment and the lacking of preschool environments. Good luck as you try and work with your partner this year…sometimes all it takes is a couple people trying something new before it spreads!!! Kelly, that follow through on high expectations IS tough! I worked with a staff developer who said that if students handed in writing with rules and conventions errors that have been taught (and learned) she would not accept the work or give credit until the work was fixed. ( – and this will vary amongst students in your class, especially ELLs and SpEd…you’ll change expectations in those situations - but make sure you increase them!!!). I tried this hard line with my 4th graders at the time, and you would not believe the differences in the work that was handed in. The kids took it on as a challenge and it was fun and in no ways punitive…but it raised accountability! Good luck as you try out some of the other ideas you were excited about this coming year! Leslie, I’m glad that you also got some great ideas/reinforcement from these chapters. The one thing I want to comment on from chapter 5 is that I felt her message was that shared writing wasn’t just for primary K-2 teachers, but to show you how effective and important it is for our upper grades students to have this type of instruction. I especially love the way you can incorporate shared writing into science/social studies curriculum.
ReplyDeleteRegie’s ideas on writing education clash with many of my own teaching practices and ideas that I have formulated over my nine-year career. Although I’ve always tried to make my writing assignments meaningful by giving the students choice, I’ve largely followed the part-to-whole approach that Regie discourages. She has great anecdotal evidence to support her pedagogy, but more importantly, it seems like a more effective and logical approach to writing instruction.
ReplyDeleteI agree that high expectations are essential to being effective in the classroom. Most students barely expend enough effort to meet a teacher’s expectations and often don’t shoot to exceed them. With high expectations, you’re more likely to see the desired amount and quality of work from your students. Furthermore, high expectations at school are even more critical for struggling students because they may have less support and lower expectations at home.
I have noticed that my stress level at school is higher when I have extremely high expectations, because I feel disappointed when the same students continually fall short of meeting those expectations. However, it’s easy to blame students for being lazy or apathetic, but as they say when you point a finger at someone else, there are three pointing back at you (the thumb is not a finger, besides it’s usually pointing elsewhere). Thus, I need to re-examine my teaching practices and find a way to motivate those students to meet my expectations. If I can make my curriculum and instruction more meaningful to students, they will be more motivated to produce their best quality work. I should also better at praising students and finding ways to be more positive about what they have accomplished, even if it falls far short of my expectations.
Shared writing is something I am going to use more in my classroom. I think it is effective for all students, but most beneficial to the struggling students. It provides scaffolding for struggling students and helps them find success while writing in a controlled and safe environment.
Brad - you know...the best teachers are the reflective teachers, and you are definitely reflecting! It's great to assess your instruction, but as you move into the year, pick small and manageable goals so that you don't get frustrated and throw in the towel!!! Thanks for sharing.
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