Welcome to Writing Essentials! We look forward to working and learning with you. In order for everyone to get the most out of the course, please be sure to read and respond to each others comments. Please try to keep your responses within one allotted "comment" space to ensure that the blog remains manageable for all participants :)
ASSIGNMENT ONE: Post your Introduction to the course Blog.
Introduction Post- Tell us about yourself. Where do you teach? What grade do you teach? How long have you been teaching? How many students are there in your class? Do you have instructional support? What does your current literacy program look like? (If you aren’t currently teaching let us know.) What is your knowledge/training in the area of literacy (be specific about your experiences teaching writing?) Does your district provide training in literacy –especially writing? If so, what exactly have they offered? Has your district been bogged down with getting students to perform well on state writing assessments – prompts? How do you feel about teaching? Are you happy at work? Also, let us know a little about you outside of the classroom: Interests/ Hobbies/Family Life? What do you hope to get out of this course? Post your reflection to the blog.
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My name is Colleen McNeill. I am currently a substitute teacher in the Beaverton, Oregon school district. I substitute teach in grades K-5. This is my third year teaching. I have been teaching for 3 years. My first year of teaching I taught first grade and had 23 students. That year my first grade team used the Lucy Caulkins program to teach writing. We did not receive any training in that program. I also attended a workshop on writing in grades K-3 that was put on by the school district. Also, when I was teaching first grade our literacy coach came into my classroom for two weeks and taught writing in my class. I observed that she used a variety of techniques not a particular program. I felt that what she modeled was very engaging and interactive with my students. Because of budget cuts my district does not provide as many workshops including literacy workshops. They do however, have a tuition reimbursement program for classes such as this one if you are a regular employee.
ReplyDeleteI do feel that in my district there is too much emphasis on students perfoming well on tests but am realistic about why this is so.
As a substitute I can't say that I am as happy as a teacher as I was when I had my own classroom. I hope to have my own classroom next year but the prospect is not optimistic.
I am taking this class to renew my teaching license that expires in October. I am taking this particular class so that I can learn how to make writing more fun for students as well as pass their state test for writing.
I am married and have one grown daughter. We have two dogs, a black and a yellow labrador retiever. We recently bought some property and when we retire I plan to start a bed and breakfast. We love to travel, hike, camp and volunteer. I love to read, have coffee with my friends, and stay active in my church.
My name is Jennifer Dolton and I currently teach fifth grade in the David Douglas School District. This is my seventeenth year of teaching. At this time, I have twenty seven students in my class.
ReplyDeleteI just celebrated my fifteenth wedding anniversay in January and we have two wonderful daughters, aged nine and five. Between teaching and raising my own children, my life is full. I love my job and I couldn't imagine doing anything else.
Last term I took your Reading Essentials class and absolutely loved it. It refined the way I teach reading, using the optimal learning model, and the way I conference with my students. Our district adopted the Stack the Deck series for our writing instruction, but I am not sure how many people actually use it. Most people I know use the 6 + 1 traits of writing by Ruth Cullum. Between that text and Lucy Calkin's The Art of Teaching Writing, most of my instruction derives from there.
There is a huge amount of pressure on the fourth grade teachers who administer the state writing test. In an effort to support them and the students, our building does a school-wide writing assessment three times a year. I am not sure how effective this is, but I suppose it is another opportunity to assess students' growth.
I am hoping to solidify how I teach writing in a more effective way. I want my students to want to write, not just do it for an assignment. I want it to be authentic, enjoyable and fun.
My name is Tracey Rinck and I have been a 6th grade teacher for 4 years now. I teach at Minter Bridge Elementary in the Hillsboro School District. I currently have 30 students in my homeroom class which is only during writing instruction and content, adding to about 1 hour a day. I have 35 students in my math class and 19 in my reading class. We do a lot of switching and rotating for the different subjects. Right now our literacy program looks like a 90 minute block of reading instruction, plus 30 minutes of enrichment that is used for differentiation and fluency practice. We then have another 30 minutes of writing in the morning outside of the reading block. Our district has really been committed to training in reading instruction, specifically in intervention programs. We have not had much training in writing. I have attended a training for the four square writing method and our school has made the 4 square a priority in the way of organizing writing. The problem that I’m seeing with my students writing in 6th grade is that their organization is too formulaic so we spend a lot of time un-teaching the 4-square. I am happy at the beginning of the year when the word “state testing” is not really thought about much. I tend to get grumpy this time of year when testing seems to overtake teaching and lessons revolve around strand data. My interests and hobbies outside of school are spending time with my family, reading fiction (adult and childrens), hiking, rock climbing and mountain climbing. Just being outdoors makes me happy.
ReplyDeleteMy name is Lisa Sweeney and I am currently a .5 Middle School Spanish teacher for PPS. I also teach Spanish at Benson for there night school program. I would love to teach Spanish fulltime, but those jobs are few and far between. I have additional endorsements is Language Arts and Social Studies. Next year I am going to try and apply for some LA/SS positions, but I don’t feel confident in my skills to teach writing.
ReplyDeleteMy school’s improvement plan is focused on writing and we spend a lot of time scoring writing samples. Other than scoring papers I am not sure what is being done to improve there skills. I am sure a plan is in action, but because I teach Spanish right now I am not clear on what it is. I’m guessing I should look into that.
I do work as a substitute teaching in my building in the mornings, and I see the students struggling to write. I see them bored, uninterested, and frustrated by the endless worksheets. I am teaching an English class this summer, and my goal is to take the knowledge I learn from this class and apply it to the classroom. I want to feel confident and excited to teach writing with the students. I want them to enjoy the process of writing rather than counting the lines until they have written the minimum.
My home life is exciting and new as my fiancé and I recently bought a “cosmetic fixer” house. We spend most of our time painting, sanding, and cleaning. Aside from the house I love to be outdoors. It could be reading, running, hiking, playing sports or just relaxing, as long as it’s outdoors I’m happy.
Hello Everyone!
ReplyDeleteWelcome to class. It was great to learn a little about each of you. We think you'll enjoy reading Regie's text and def. come away with some new ideas to try.
My name is Diane Dean-Johnson, and I am a full-time ELD specialist (ESL) in North Clackamas School District. I work with students in grades K-6. This is my fifth year of teaching ELD. I also taught in the classroom for 4 1/2 years. There are 7 students in my smallest group and 12 in my largest. There is another half-time ELD teacher there as well. We share an I/A, but she's only there about 3 hours a day.
ReplyDeleteIn addition to an ESL endorsement, I also have a reading endorsement.
Our district uses Lucy Calkins for writing and Treasures for reading. There's some use of Writing to a Prompt, too. Some teachers also use Step up to Writing or Four Square. Most of the training I've had is in workshops or classes that I've taken on my own. Our district is very concerned about the writing, and that's why they adopted L.C. But students are still struggling. I am always looking for ways to improve the writing of my students. I enjoy taking classes that teach me new ways to teach. I am also always on the lookout for books to incorporate in my teaching. I have access to one particular reading curriculum, but many of those books are either not the best to teach from or they are not interesting to the students. The first grade books are way too short, and the 5th and 6th grade books are dull and dry. Or they give them a little bit of new information without enough background information to help them understand what they are reading. My ideal books would be interesting to the students in one group (grade level), contain enough substance to teach conventions and forms and functions, and enough substance for me to create a writing project for them. If it is a chapter book, I would wish for these things from each chapter. I would like to find these kinds of books for each grade level. A newly discovered passion of mine is to find a way to incorporate art activities with writing, including the language forms and functions.
I love what I do. I enjoy my students, and the other teachers are great. Yes, I am stressed and tired. I put so much of myself into my lesson plans, that I never seem to have enough time for any part of my life. I always have to give up something. I work on my lesson plans every evening and on weekends. I'm always striving for the perfect lesson, and I have found a few. But considering that I have 7 different age groups, and they are all reading a different story each week, it's going to take awhile before I find great lessons for each group every day of the week.
I was recently told about mentor texts, and they just might be a big answer for me.
I enjoy music, art, physical fitness, and reading. I play the piano and like to work with rubber stamps. I'm also learning how to draw. I enjoy walking with my dog, riding bikes, and working out at the health club. My husband and I like to travel. Last year we went to Jamaica and visited a school. It was interesting to find out that teachers in a third-world country deal with the same behavior issues as we do. The sad thing is that they have to worry more about getting shoes on everyone's feet in addition to teaching reading.
I'm looking forward to reading this book, because I've heard great things about Regie Routman.
My name is Derek Porter and I am currently a 5th grade teacher at Jacob Wismer Elementary School in the Beaverton School District. This is my second year as a classroom teacher and my fourth year at the school. I’ve lived in the Beaverton/Portland area for most of my life, however I spent a lot of time moving around while growing up. I was born in Virginia and moved to the west coast shortly thereafter. I spent most of my elementary years in Southern California before coming to Portland. I’ve been here for the past 19 years. My wife and I have a 10 month old that is now in the exploratory stage of development, AKA he’s all over the place. Changing diapers and getting him dressed has been quite the experience. I love every minute of it.
ReplyDeleteI currently have 25 students in my class of various backgrounds. They are very bright students and can handle challenges well. In regards to writing, they are required to fill out a daily writing journal as part of their homework. We began this at the beginning of the year and it's been great to see how much they have improved. In addition to the journals, I spend about 30 minutes a day in writing instruction and practice. - Derek Porter
My name is Patrick Iaboni. I teach at a professional techincal school here in Portland. I teach all years of high school. This is my third year of teaching. I have about 30 students per class, and I teach 4 separate classes.
ReplyDeleteI have been enrolled in our pro-cadre group of new teachers since I began teaching here. This is a group of teachers with under 3 years experience that are led by an instructional coach. It is through this group that I have received the most training. I have also been through the 24 hour Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol. I teach health services, so I am not teaching writing directly, however, I do expect good quality writing from all of my students. I am also not directly training students for state assessments of writing.
I love teaching. I find it to be an extension of my primary career as a Chiropractic Physician. I work with an amazing group of nurses and educators that make everyday a fun day. Outside of the teaching world, I maintain a small private practice, and my main hobby is restoring vintage italian sports cars. I also commute year-round on a motorcycle, and enjoy playing hockey and bike riding to keep in shape. I have a wonderful wife and 5 and 3 year old sons at home who are my pride and joy.
I look forward to learning more about the art of teaching writing skills in this course.
My Name is Emily Stukel and I teach at Cascade Academics. Cascade is a small, private alternative school located in Oregon City. I teach social studies and health to grades 7-9. In our junior high program we have a student to teacher ratio of 5:1 and in our high school classes our ratio is 10:1. It is a small learning community with no real formal literacy program or training (and none offered). As a non-English teacher/expert I wish there was one. At my student teaching experience at Parkrose High School, the district adopted the Jane Schaffer writing program. I try to use everything I learned about the Jane Schaffer program in my current classes. Taking this class is my attempt in learning how to teach literacy more effectively.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely love teaching. I love how busy it makes me, how challenging it is, and connecting with students most of all. My current placement is not ideal, but I'm waiting out the economy in hope of working at a mainstream public school. I've only been teaching two years and am very excited with where my career may take me.
I unwind outside of school by spending time with my amazing husband and 2 dogs. I enjoy working out, cooking, traveling, and spending time with friends. I look forward to reading others' entries and learning more about reading and writing in general.
Hello Diane, Derek, Patrick and Emily. Welcome to class.
ReplyDeleteWriting Essentials
ReplyDeleteAssignment 1:
My name is Vickie Sumner and I teach 5th grade for Portland Public Schools. I have been teaching for 25 years. I have a class load of 29 students with no instructional support. We do have a decent literacy program with a new reading and writing adoption. But I don’t think a curriculum is what makes a good literacy program; it has to be a teacher who loves to write and knows how to inspire kids to write.
After teaching for 25 years I do feel like I have a lot of experience teaching writing. The district has provided a writing notebook that addresses all the modes of writing with lessons in each mode tied to our reading adoption. But along with that they realize that we as classroom teachers have already put together strong writing programs that are already well developed; therefore, we are encouraged to incorporate new ideas that they have provided (some not so new) but we are also encouraged to blend it into the great things we already have going in our classrooms.
One of the discouraging parts of teaching writing at the 5th grade level is that we get them coming out of 4th where they have spent the year learning how to pass a state assessment. Needless to say, it leaves us as 5th grade teachers the task of getting these students back to writing because they can enjoy it, and encouraging them to move beyond the formula. This is in no way the fault of the 4th grade teachers because they are under extreme pressure to get these students to meet the benchmark.
As far as training goes, we have ongoing training provided by literacy coaches that are trained and then bring it back to each individual bldg. I personally believe that this is an area that the district has provided sufficient support in (I don’t know that I could take much more).
I continue to enjoy teaching even after 25 years and can’t imagine doing anything different. Every year is different as well as every day.
Outside of the classroom, I am the mother of three with two in college and one in high school.
To be quite honest, what I hope to get out of this class is 3 credit hours but along the way I hope to gain some further knowledge in how to teach writing. I hope it gives me a fresh outlook on teaching in this core area and some great ideas.
Vickie,
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree with you more. I also believe that the key ingredient for writing instruction is a knowledgeable and excited teacher. It's great to hear of districts that not only allow but encourage teachers to use strategies, units and lessons to supplement and support the students' writing process. :)
Assignment One
ReplyDeleteMy name is Sherri Sinicki. I teach in Dayton Oregon and I teach grades 9-12. I have been teaching English and Social Studies for four years. My class sizes range from 20 to 30 students per class. I have instructional support depending on the individual students I have in class, most times I do not have in class support. The literacy program we have at the high school consists of what we three English teacher lay out at the beginning of the year. We do have a full fledged Literacy program on the grade school and junior high levels. We have not had any specific literacy training unless we have sought it out at other venues. State writing tests have definitely bogged us down. We have a very difficult time getting students to ‘buy in’ to taking any state test.
I love to teach. It is not just what I do but who I am. Working at a small school I wear many hats. I am National Honor Society advisor, Junior Class advisor, Co-Chair of our May Week Celebration. I teach Freshman English, Sophomore English, Advanced Writing and Government and Law. It is stressful and time consuming but I love it. I love to spend time with my family. We watch movies and read together. I have become an avid runner in the past couple of years and this has helped me deal with the everyday stressor of being a teacher and a mom.
As far as this course goes, I am looking forward to finding ways to teach writing that my students will enjoy as well as benefit from.