ASSIGNMENT TWO: WRITTEN REFLECTION–Section One- The Essential Writing Life Chapters 1-3
Reflect on the following comments written below from Chapters 1-3 and any additional thoughts that you have after reading these chapters.
Chapter 1: Simplify the Teaching of Writing
• Simplify our teaching
• Becoming more knowledgeable about teaching writing
• Examine your beliefs
Regie gets to the heart of her book Writing Essentials with this quote on the final page of Chapter One: “By reducing the clutter in our teaching lives-the overplanning, the unnecessary activities, the paper load, all the ‘stuff’ that takes our time and energy and does little to improve teaching and learning-we bring joy back into our work and the world of our students.” Many of us work very hard and spend many hours complicating our teaching lives. In this book Regie will help you simplify your teaching life for your benefit and that of your students.
One of the frustrations that teachers encounter regularly is the ever changing “latest and best” writing programs that districts or states force on them and their students. With this revolving cycle of programs, teachers are spending too much time learning how to use the program rather than becoming better writing teachers. Regie explains that in the districts where students are the best writers, they are writing for real purposes and audiences and publishing their writing; teachers are not using prescribed writing programs.
Look at Appendix A (page A-2.) Examine your beliefs about writing by reading the statements about the writing process and marking true or false in your book. (Go ahead and write in your book, it’s OK! You can even use a pencil and mark very lightly if you want to.) We found this activity very enlightening. Let us know what you think after you complete the activity.
In your reflection for Section One, please include your thoughts about the following questions or statements:
• Regie demonstrates how to use the Optimal Learning Model (shown on the front cover and page 11) throughout the book. Consider how the Optimal Learning Model fits into your own instruction.
• As you think about how to teach writing so that all students can become successful, effective and joyful writers, reflect on how you presently teach the “12 Writing Essentials” (as described on pages 13-14 in the text) during your daily writing instruction. As we continue to read through Regie’s book, hopefully you will begin to see how you might make changes in your instruction to better incorporate these “12 Writing Essentials.”
Chapter 2: Start With Celebration
• Make sure writing is meaningful not just correct
• Use stories as springboards and ensure that ALL students hear stories
• Write in front of your students and connect home and school
The title of Chapter Two simply states, “Start with Celebration,” and that’s exactly what we need to do for our students. The celebration of all students’ writing needs to be put into the forefront and be made our first teaching goal. Celebrations should happen school-wide, within our classrooms and with students individually. As children begin to see themselves as successful writers, they will take more risks in their writing and in turn will become better writers who enjoy the writing process.
Another key point that Regie highlights in this chapter is to “make sure writing is meaningful, not just correct!” Students need to understand that writing is “enjoyable and for a real purpose and audience.” She also reminds us “that teaching skills in isolation does not make student writers; neither does teaching to the test. And breaking writing into bits and pieces robs children of the joy of writing.”
Regie suggests using stories as a springboard for teaching and learning. Hearing and telling stories builds our students’ oral language skills and these stories are “an entryway into reading and writing.” Only when students are reading and writing real stories can they connect the “skills” based learning to their reading and writing!
Please include your thoughts about the following questions or statements in your written reflection of Section One:
• Regie explains how important celebrating student writing is. How do you celebrate student writing in your classroom? How might you add more celebration of student writing to your day/year?
• Consider what changes you could make in your writing instruction to make writing more meaningful and purposeful for your students.
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Chapter One:
ReplyDeleteAs I looked at the Optimal Learning Model, I realized immediately that it follows Centennial School District’s “Gradual Release of Responsibility Model” almost to a tee. The only difference (and a wonderful one, I might add) is that there is more time in the “We Do” area of Regie’s model. I see this fitting in very comfortably in my own instruction. There are times (even after reading this chapter); I admit wholeheartedly, that I struggle to stay in that middle area for long enough. Often I catch myself boring them to death with the “I Do It” area, or I sort of just rush through the middle and release them because they look bored. I continue to evaluate myself in order to find that balance.
“The 12 Writing Essentials” are fantastic! I will also be frank when I say that I don’t think I have ever really explicitly taught all of these essentials. I may not have ever taught them at all. Maybe it is because I cannot remember being explicitly taught these things. I feel that I will be able to use this list for myself as a teacher and a writer. Fifth graders may very well be able to use a list like this to guide their own writing, but I will not just throw this at them, I will gradually release the responsibility to them, as the Optimal Learning Model demonstrates!
After I completed the activity in the Appendix, I realized that I knew the “right” answer to most of the statements, yet I do not always do these things with fidelity. There were a few statements that I had no idea what my belief was about them. For instance, I have heard arguments on both sides of the “invented spelling” issue. I truly don’t know what is best. Sometimes I think kids just need to write and go, other times I think they are being a little lazy. The activity helped me realize that I don’t have really strong beliefs about certain issues. Whether that is okay or not, I don’t know, I suppose that is all part of the process!
Chapter Two:
I love the idea of celebrating students’ writing. Up until this year, I really just had kids read their final products to the class. I didn’t realize the importance of having them read anything that they had, especially rough drafts. It seems so simple, but it is a step that I hadn’t allowed for until now. I have started having a couple of kids come up to the front of the room and share their free writing or rough drafts with the class, and then they receive two compliments from the other kids. They seem to love it!
There are so many changes and improvements I can make to my writing instruction. The one quick change that I have made is I am using my story-telling for something other than just “making connections” during reading instruction. Often I tell stories that seem to entertain kids, but I only refer to them orally. I have begun to tell the story, and then model writing it, then reading it aloud and taking suggestions for improvement from the kids. There is now a written procedure up in the room about how to find a partner, share your story, put it into words, rough draft, then share again. I will let you know how it works out. So far, I feel like it is so much more in depth than I have seen before and I am so excited!
Hi Lisa,
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your thoughtful comments about Section Two. Regie’s OLM is exactly the same idea as “Gradual Release”, the problem for so many teachers is feeling like it’s OK to take the time and actually “release” instruction and learning appropriately, due to the intensity of the curriculum that needs to be “taught”. I’m so glad you found the 12 Writing Essentials so helpful….as far as the spelling issue goes, I believe you need to hold high expectations (they will rise), but also that when a piece is to be published (audience & purpose), that that is when it becomes real important for accuracy. During my last couple of years in the classroom (4th grade), I really began to have some sort of writing celebration at the end of each unit...the kids really began to take ownership of the whole celebration process and their excitement about writing skyrocketed.
Chapter 1 through 3 reflection
ReplyDeleteSo far, I appreciate the positive tone presented in the book about teaching writing. Routman presents teaching writing as something that everyone can do and as something that is more often than not made more complicated that it actually needs to be.
I feel that the OLM closely resembles what actually occurs in my classroom, probably due to the fact that it is similar to strategies that I have been made aware of in past professional development sessions. I frequently start out a mini-lesson by modeling an aspect of writing that I want students to be aware of in their writing. Before I release students to practice it on their own. I feel like this gives students time to process the new information and reflect on how they can improve their writing. I am comfortable with the OLM and agree that it is the best method of getting students to reflect and improve on their writing.
As far as the 12 writing essentials go, as I read the I found myself connecting with many. I did find them overwhelming and slightly as odds with the whole idea of simplifying the teaching of writing. One of the things I struggle with most about teaching writing is the vast amount of skills involved in creating effective writing. How can all these skills be taught in a timely fashion across a variety of different writing genres. In particular, I struggle with the "reread, rethink, and revise while composing" essential. My students enjoy writing the most when they are having fun and getting their words down on paper. Too often, my students seem to get bogged down in the editing process and lose interest in their topic. I see many of the different writing traits taught in other writing programs represented in the writing esentials, including ideas, voice, convention, words choice, organization, and sentence fluency. A major difference would be that these essentials are not taught one by one but instead are taught all at once in a more inclusive and authentic manner.
I often give students time at the conclusion of a writing period to come up to the elmo and share their writing with the rest of the class. As a class, we discuss things that the student excelled at as well as a couple of areas where the student might be able to make some improvements. Mostly it is a time where students get to share what they have accomplished and receive affirmation from their peers. So we are doing a little sharing frequently. One thing I will do in my classroom after reading Ch. 2 is create specific longer periods at the conclusion of different writing assignments devoted to sharing finished products. It seems as if, we are always running and out time and anxious to move on to the next thing, but more summative sharing experiences would provide a good closing opportunities.
Another thing I will address in class after reading the first three chapters is more specifically addressing the question of who we are writing for. While, we do touch on this frequently, I find that devoting more time to this might really focus the students in on the language and style they use in their writing.
In addition, in response to the third chapter, I have once again picked up my writing journal, and will try to improve my writing alongside that of my students.
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ReplyDeleteI really liked how Lisa described her rush to “you do it.” I have also struggled with the apparent boredom of them watching me model, and the sometimes off track behavior that can occur in shared demonstration. That is why I am very interested in reading how Regie models, as she describes in chapter 3. She seems to keep the modeling down to 8 minutes or so, which relieved me when I first read it. I think I let the modeling bog down the teaching, trying to do too much with it. I’m going to work at keeping the modeling short and too the point.
ReplyDeleteThe “middle part” of the optimal learning model can also bog down….but almost always, I regret shortening this part of the process. One of the most important things I’ve learned as the years go by is to not rush the process, that they need more modeling and guided practice time in order to be successful independently. The trick is to learn the tricks that keep students on task and engaged.
I really liked the l2 writing essentials, because they actually seemed to break down the huge skill of writing into the subsets, or mini-lessons, that will help guide the year’s lessons. I see each as an individual focus, while not neglecting the rest.
This year, I have the great luxury of having a language arts coach who will be working with me on creating a reading and later, writing workshop. We discussed how the 6 traits, for example, are a way to evaluate writing and were never meant, originally, as a way to teach writing. It is an important distinction to make if we are to bring joy back to writing.
I forgot to answer the questions about Chapter 2:
ReplyDeleteI was really convicted about the celebration aspect of student writing – I never felt I had time for this, always anxious to jump onto the next topic under consideration. Big mistake. Even 6 traits added 1: publishing. I think if students felt their writing was really going to be read and heard, they might care more about what was written (duh?). Well – anyway, I’m definitely going to work harder at including this in the flow of the units I do. And this would most certainly include reading the writing aloud to the class, as no one seems to care too much if a paper is posted on the bulletin board. I also need to be better at encouraging students to submit writing to the school literary magazine (and make sure I assign writing that would be a good fit…)
Thanks for your comments Tod and Teri! Tod, it was great to know that much of your instruction was affirmed after reading these chapters. I think it’s great that you are considering time for true publishing celebrations as well as thinking about the audience in student writing. I think you’ll see that when you really address “audience” to the students, that it can have a dramatic impact on their writing. Teri, you are so right about keeping that modeling short and to the point, ONE teaching point actually! Interesting point about the 6+Trait were designed for assessment…food for thought. Good luck with your “celebrations” this year!!!
ReplyDeleteI have to admit, I am a little confused by the The Optimal Learning Model. I understand the gradual release model and have studied this style of teaching in graduate school, but I can’t say that I would really be able to fully explain Routman’s OLM. I feel like I would struggle with being able to use this style, as it does not completely make sense to me.
ReplyDeleteFor writing instruction, I currently start with a trait-based mini-lesson and then send my students off for writer’s workshop. During this time I am conferencing with students. I pull them back later for another quick lesson and then we continue with workshop.
I think I am perhaps, without any middle ground on the OLM and I should probably look at this more closely, because I feel like my students would greatly benefit from some shared writing experiences. I feel like I am over teaching a trait to only a few in a whole group lesson who seem to pull out the objective and use it effectively. The rest do not seem to understand or use what I am teaching at all. A little shared practice of the task may help to make things more concrete for my students and make it more manageable for me to be able to deliver content.
I was really surprised at how many of the 12 writing essentials I already practice and feel like it would be really easy to jump on board with the rest. I always make charts and have discussions at the beginning of the year about what do “Good Readers” and “Good Writers” do. Just this year we also added a chart and class discussion centered around “What does Good Writing Look Like?” I was amused by most of the answers centering around clean and neat papers, spelling, fancy illustrations and punctuation. I had to really lead the conversation to include thoughts about what enjoyable writing has in the areas of ideas and organization. Two areas that I am really weak in and have made goals to fix are evaluating and celebrating writing.
We have an extraordinary second-grade writing celebration every year right before winter break. It is legendary and well-known around our district. After an intense writing unit stemming from the book The Polar Express, we have our very own trip to the North Pole complete with velvet seat covers, punched train tickets and a viewing of the movie. We are really lucky to have two overly-dedicated volunteers who make this happen for us. We also have a nonfiction celebration at the end of the school year where we invite parents with which share our coral reef animal reports. This too is a lavish, themed affair that is a grand celebration for students and families. I would say that with my team’s help I am really good at grand celebrations, but I do little to nothing to daily celebrate in small ways. I feel like if we need to cut something to make things fit in our day, it is writing sharing. I also rarely let my students share with each other in peer conferences, because again, the time is so limited. I also have this image of a shared piece of writing needing to be lengthy and polished, Routman has helped me to see in this chapter that this is not the case.
I think the point that Routman brings up about having staff write together is very interesting. I have never thought about sitting down and writing a story to or with another staff member, but what a neat experience this could be. I work with some amazing people who could probably put out some fantastic work.
I do make it habit to write in front of my students. My first year of teaching I had a pretty tough class, and one day in a really eye-opening writing lesson, I had some students open up to me after writing a quick little story about something from my life. After this, I made a point to always sprinkle in some writing about myself. The kids love to connect to these ideas. I think that if I could get my students to write even a little more about themselves that I would really enjoy getting to learn more about them. I think the rest of the class would enjoy this as well, giving us an audience.
Chapter 1
ReplyDeleteMy lessons are designed with instruction, guided practice, and independent practice components, but I felt like something integral was missing from my writing lessons. Based on Routman’s Optimal Learning Model, I realized I was missing explicit shared demonstration. This “Aha!” moment was so exciting that I revised my lesson plan on Thursday night to add it to Friday’s instruction. During the lesson, I discovered that I needed more practice demonstrating ahead of time, though. I sketched out a few notes and a rough outline before the lesson, but I felt like I was floundering as I tried to verbalize my thinking process, type, and watch the chat pod (our online version of hand-raising/Q&A) as I demonstrated. I lost some of them as I worked through my first paragraph (even though the instruction lasted only a few minutes,) and so I skipped the shared demonstration. I have to keep practicing; I would really like to observe a teacher’s writing demonstration in action before I try it again.
I was thrilled to read Routman’s statement, “the skills and strategies that writers use are the same across the grade levels; their depth and sophistication are what increase” (13). As a seventh grade teacher, I work with students who have a sometimes overwhelming difference in writing abilities. Having those skills pared down to just 12 essentials made it seem so much more manageable. Routman’s idea to write for a specific reader was one that I don’t presently teach; it’s more of an imaginary audience “out there.” I also have a hard time explaining how to craft an authentic voice. The other 10 skills made sense as essentials that I already teach.
Chapter 2
Celebrating writing in an online classroom is an interesting challenge. I think I am doing some of the things Routman suggests. I like to give “glow” statements in my responses as a way to celebrate their accomplishments before giving advice on what to change/edit in order to “grow.” I lead with comments like, “I really like how you…” or “Your ___ was excellent” to celebrate an accomplishment or skill; I try to be as specific as possible. The lessons also have flexible prompts, and I encourage my students to choose topics that are the most appealing to them so that the assignment is more meaningful (or at least more fun.)
However, I do not have students share their writing or read it aloud. I appreciated Routman’s advice to ask, “Who tried something new? Who rewrote a part that didn’t work? Who has a great lead?” (19). It’s harder to adapt the daily celebrations of writing in an online 7th grade class, where pre-teen students are very hesitant to share their work with strangers. Any suggestions?
There is still room for improvement, though! I wish I had read this chapter before we did our personal narratives for the year. I can see several great ways to use story telling to engage the students in the idea of writing their stories. I tried story telling with our American Hero essay, instead, and I was pleased to see how many students wanted to hear about my grandpa, who I was using as an example of one of my own heroes, even after we had moved on from the brainstorming activity. I think if, given the chance, they each have stories they would like to share with the class, too!
Thanks Hope & Alicia. Hope, I think you are on the right track…the OLM is the Gradual Release of Responsibility (The “I do, We do, You do model”)!!! And I think that adding some shared writing to your writing instruction would be definitely help your students gain control of using some of the traits, or writing lessons you are teaching them and support them as they try to incorporate these strategies into their own writing. Alicia, I loved the way you tried some shared writing with your distance learning course. You definitely experience some unique challenges, such as encouraging teens to share their writing. Is your course pretty anonymous or do the students know each other? I would think that the relative anonymity of an on-line course would make sharing easier.
ReplyDeleteIn response to your question about the anonymity of the virtual classroom, the students are listed by name and when they comment, it's in a chat box with their name attached, so anonymity isn't inherant. However, there is the protection of the computer screen, instead of eyes staring. Since we only meet live once a week, I've been toying with the idea of making a celebration message board (similar to this blog) where I could post success stories.
ReplyDeleteI need to start with a reflection on the last chapter (3) of this 1st section. Regie is speaking to me when she writes about teachers who don’t view themselves as good writers. I’ve always thought of writing as incredibly time consuming ~ because I can’t say it right the first time. I always want my writing to flow and to be eloquent, right “off the tip of my tongue” so to speak. However, it’s never that way for me. But reading her words and the quotes from other teachers who feel like I do, definitely gives me courage. I am not at all confident to write off the top of my head in front of my students. Whenever I have done a “free write” as a demonstration for my students ~ it is well planned out. I think it through beforehand, even writing it out completely (with all my “boring word choice” examples in place to show good revising with more exciting words). Isn’t this what we do as teachers when we make our lesson plans? !! We give thought and detail to lessons BEFORE we teach the kids. Thinking aloud on the spot still makes me nervous, but I’m happy to say I’ve taken the plunge (awkwardly, but it's getting better!).
ReplyDeleteI write this first, with a confession of reading the whole book before writing these required reflections. I realize that I want to get the whole picture - get as much as I can first -so that I can be a better informed writer. Not a bad goal, however, Regie’s book has made me realize that this kind of thinking has hindered my enjoyment of writing. I can remember working on my Master’s thesis paper this way: papers piled all around, books surrounding me with a multitude of pages marked, and pages from websites printed and highlighted, scattered among everything else. I was inundated with information…and then I needed to make sense of it, pull it all together sequentially, and put it into my own words and thoughts. It seemed an insurmountable quest and when I was done I felt very little joy or even pride, just relief. This is how my 7th and 8th grade students must feel after writing the science fair background research paper I require of them. I appreciate this revelation as it inspires me to be a better writing teacher. Old habits are hard to drop…but I’m working on it.
Chapter 1 The OLM model has not been as well utilized as it should be in my classroom because of my insecurities as a writer. When I have modeled writing in the classroom it often takes longer than 10 minutes ~ often approaching the 20 minute mark. This is long for me, but I can see how it may seem like an eternity to my students. I now watch the clock, as Regie mentions, and try to keep the modeling to 10 minutes. I’ve incorporated the 2nd half of the middle or “we” section of the OLM model. I go from my demonstration to the guided practice, and then the “you do it / independent practice”. I often miss the “we do it / shared demonstration” part or don’t give enough time to it. This is such an important part I realize. I have made a copy of the chart and have it taped to my teaching cart at the front of the classroom. The teaching / learning verbs (scaffolds, interacts, collaborates, etc.) are right there in front of me and it reminds me the best sequence to work with.
I can honestly say that I do work on most of the 12 Writing Essentials in my classroom. However I’ve been teaching with the goals of improved understanding of how writing “works” (grammar) and test scores. I’ve been too concerned with the “correctness” of writing, which I feel paralyzes both me and my students. I realize my mini-lessons on voice, sentence fluency, conventions, etc. are focusing too much on the 6 traits and not on the writing itself.
This is where Regie’s 2nd chapter has really made a difference for me. With a focus on going from whole-part-whole I’m better able to bring celebration and enjoyment to the writing process. I have relied too much on worksheets to keep my class “learning” while I would conference with a student. The more I can incorporate the goals of writing enjoyment and celebration in my classroom, the easier it will be to keep the students actively engaged in their writing. I’m beginning to reap those benefits now that I’ve been working on this process. I also have less worksheets to grade, thus reducing the workload. I’m having fun with telling stories about myself and listening to students’ stories. It definitely makes writing much more fun and easier. We celebrate more by oral sharing. Students are more comfortable reading parts of their writing aloud now that I have done it more often. We started out this year with a week of Outdoor School. I’ve always had the kids write a memoir of this trip. This time, before I had them write anything, we shared photos and reminisced about our time together. What a great springboard this turned out to be!
ReplyDelete(New revelation...I'm writing too much because when I tried to submit my first comment, it was deemed too many characters. I need to be more succinct!).
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ReplyDeleteChapter One-I am enjoying reading this book as it is written in a conversational fashion that makes it easier to focus on the message. Regie’s OLM is very much like the Gradual Release of Responsibility model. I like seeing it clearly laid out on the inside of the cover as it makes the thinking behind it clearer for me. In analyzing the OLM I can easily recognize that I have done an adequate to good job with the outer layers of the model, but need to spend more time working on the middle layer; I can see that I have perhaps rushed my students through that area and need to allow them, and myself, more time to focus on a more gradual release of responsibility. I think that I have felt overwhelmed by pressure to make them successful writers and have allowed that to cloud my judgment of what my students themselves would have benefitted from.
ReplyDeleteI thought that I had done a good job with guiding students through choosing an appropriate audience and writing for that audience, but after reading this one area that I have wanted to do, but felt I shouldn’t, is allow students to write just for themselves! I think this is an important area that we should explore with our students. I appreciate Regie letting me know that it is okay. As to the majority of the 12 writing essential, I have focused too deeply on the mechanics of writing and not enough on the craft of writing. I need to refocus my teaching and make this change.
Chapter Two-I have done better with celebrating students writing some times over others. I tend to run in spurts; I will have the occasional full class celebration Friday when we sit in a big circle on the floor and everyone who wants to share any piece of their writing can. I will occasionally ask a student if they would mind sharing a particular piece and they will usually happily do so. Then there are times when I will randomly draw names to see if students want to share. This usually involves 4-5 students per afternoon.
While reading the book it dawned on me that I have probably done damage to students who wanted to share and I would tell them that they only had a couple of sentences done and why don’t we wait until they have more written. Unfortunately, these are usually the students who will likely never finish a single piece of writing. Perhaps if I had allowed them to share once in a while they might have felt more encouraged to write more, to take more chances.
This is another area that I can make positive changes in my writing program and in my thinking. There is no reason that students should have a completed draft prior to sharing with the class or with a partner or small group of students. I have seen how excited they get when the opportunity to share arises. I need to make better effort. This is the kind of thing that could be done from the first day of school even if students only have a couple of sentences written.
Writers Celebrate!
ReplyDeleteRegarding the Optimal Learning Model, it is one of the very few aspects of Writing Essentials that seems cumbersome to me thus far. I agree with the idea that we should gradually release responsibility to students. However, the graphic organizer that Regie has created seems a bit contrived. There are so many wonderful aspects of Regie’s teaching that say “simplify!” and the OLM doesn’t seem to reflect that message.
I love the 12 Writing Essentials! Many of these are “universal writing truths” also shared by our writing mentor, Lucy Calkins. The first one, “write for a specific reader and a meaningful purpose,” seems so important, yet I find myself neglecting it with my students. One trick I learned from a visiting writing consultant was to have students draw a super-quick cartoon picture at the top of their entry of the audience they have in mind (but I haven’t tried it with my students yet!).
Regie encourages us to celebrate our students’ writing. In my classroom we will have between six and eight writers’ celebrations throughout the year to celebrate our published writing. Our first writers’ celebration this year was a major success! More than ten parents joined me, both of our administrators and two EAL teachers for the celebration. We sat in a big circle with our writing in front of us, displayed on a large sheet of paper, rough draft on one side, published copy on the other. Every student cut out a paper balloon and placed it on their writing for feedback. As we read each other’s writing we wrote comments about what we absolutely loved about their writing. After 30 minutes of rapt writing, students went back to read the comments people had left.
Despite the huge success of our first writers’ celebration, as I was reading chapter two, it seemed important to me to more publically and formally celebrate students’ writing while they’re still in the writing process, not just once they’ve published. At the end of writing workshop I am going to make a bigger point to publicly praise my students’ stellar writing and encourage them to do so as well.
My school highly values writing time for students. However, we have not set aside time for teachers to write. Just as Regie implores, Lucy Calkins also encourages teachers to live a “writerly” life. So far finding personal writing time for myself has been difficult, sometimes a nuisance. In class I do shared writing with my students during minilessons and conferences, but I am rarely able to follow pieces all the way through publication. I would really like to figure out a way to find more time for my own writing and for writing amongst the colleagues on my team.
Thanks for sharing Yvonne, Amy and Scott. Yvonne – hooray for taking the “plunge” and risk of writing in front of your students. You’ll continue to gain more confidence with this, especially as you see how much your students will love watching you work through the process. Also, congrats on reducing your worksheet paper load…you, your students and the environment will all reap the benefits ! Amy – I think we’ve all felt as though we’re rushing students through the motions to get them to that “end point” (usually a score on a standardized assessment)…but it is important to remember that it’s OK to slow down and teach the way we know we should be, without always feeling the need to rush through the OLM. Scott (Christopher) – I love the idea of drawing a quick cartoon of your audience, thanks for sharing. I share your frustration of finding time to write…I couldn’t do it in the classroom, because it’s more important to meet with students, and home is crazy balancing both professional and personal (family life)….one of these days the true writer in me will be able to emerge .
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