Sections Four and Five- Advocacy Is Also Essential and Teaching In Action: Lesson Essentials
Read Writing Essentials Chapters 11-12 and Section Five. Reflect on the comments below and any additional reactions you have after reading these chapters. Post your thoughts to the course blog.
Chapter 11: Build on Best Practice and Research
• What are some of the key research findings most relevant to writing instruction?
• What are the practices of highly effective teachers?
• How can you be part of the ongoing professional development discussions in your building?
• What about test scores? What are the characteristics of high performing schools?
• Think twice before adopting a “program”
Regie begins this chapter sharing her experiences doing residencies in schools and the surprising (and delightful) discovery that whole school cultures changed during the course of their work improving literacy instruction. As she said, “This is what education should be about…whole schools working together so that all students (can) succeed.” How is the climate/culture in your school? On your team? One reason we continue to look to Regie for inspiration is that we feel she is so practical. There is not one right way or method to teach writing. “That is why formulas, programs and recipes don’t work. Every context, school and person is different and has different needs. Literacy is not a set of acquired or learned skills.”
Chapter 12: Make Every Minute Count
• You need to “REDUCE THE PAPER LOAD!!!”
• What can we do that will save us time and allow us to focus more on meaningful instruction?
• Regie states, “Take more time to see the light!” Don’t get bogged down with daily worksheets and isolated exercises.
Though this chapter is short it is full of valuable ideas and reminders! Regie reminds us in this chapter to stop and reflect about what we are doing in the classroom. Ask yourself: Is this the best use of my time? Is what I’m about to do going to help my students become more joyful and accomplished readers, writers and thinkers?
“It might be that the best use of your time is to read a professional book, see a movie, visit with a friend. Sharing your experiences with your students may be a more useful way to get them to think about their writing than marks and comments on a paper.” “It’s hard to come to school all excited about teaching if you’ve spent hours the night before pouring over papers.” It is a disservice to our students and ourselves “if our out-of-school time is all about paperwork.” In fact, “Teachers’ comments on students’ papers do little to improve writing, even if the comments are positive ones. It is far more effective to conference with students and focus on specific writing issues with the student at your side.”
Also “(b)e sure that most of your writing time is devoted to writing, not preparing for writing or doing activities about writing. Safeguard sustained writing time; it’s critical for becoming a writer. Limit take-home work for students too, and place more emphasis on free-choice reading. Having more reading experiences positively impacts growth in writing skills.”
Regie closes this chapter by reminding us to breathe, relax and enjoy writing- and your life! “One way to reduce stress and have more energy for teaching and advocacy is to have a life outside of school. I worry about teachers and principals who work twelve-hour days. I have seen no research that shows educators who work the longest hours get the best results or that longer reading and writing projects teach more about reading and writing. Keep evaluating whether what you’re staying late for-or the hours of work you take home- will help your students become more effective readers and writers.”
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Chapter 11
ReplyDeleteEven though it is mentioned numerous times throughout the entire text, Regie points out again to take caution when using or adopting a writing program. I admit I have numerous “supplemental” texts that I have used over the years. All of them focus on skills and break apart writing. After reading this book, it makes sense that I have never gotten the results that I desire from my students. The most relevant research findings for writing instruction that I need to focus more on are taking part in professional conversations on a more regular basis. Of course, time is a teachers’ dwindling resource. This is an area I will have to devote more thought to during the summer. Writing everyday and having predictable routines will also be more of a focus for me to improve on as well as linking it with reading. For many years, I did teach reading and writing within the same period. It seemed like that was overwhelming for my students so I separated them. After all the research Regie cites, however, next year I will schedule them together again. Finally, giving students more choice in what they write while always keeping the audience in mind is my number one goal.
I have always had high expectations for my students, I have built an excellent classroom library, and I am always looking to improve my skills as a teacher. Fortunately, all of these are tasks that highly effective teachers do. While I collaborate with my grade level on a weekly basis, I find it difficult to engage in professional conversations with people outside of my grade level. Since beginning this class, I write a lot more in front of my students while sharing what I am thinking and pointing out what good writers do. It has been difficult in the past to conference with every student for each writing assignment, but the benefits of doing so are tremendous.
I think the hardest thing to do will be creating school wide common goals and coaching opportunities. Fortunately, my principal has read this book and is familiar with the lessons. I have already approached him about taking steps to include writing in our efforts to continually improve our instruction. As I mentioned before, I am going to have to reread this over the summer before I can propose any ideas on how to do this. At least now, I have a starting point.
Chapter 12
Saving time so we as educators have more to spend outside of our classroom is always a challenge. I agree with Regie, and after taking the reading essentials class, I have worked at trying to achieve this. Writing always has taken me the longest to assess and I mostly based the assessment on major writing assignments. For the rest of this school year, and all of next, my focus will be on doing more short writing pieces with only two or three “big” ones, as she suggests. On page 287, where she gives her “best advice,” I will copy and paste that into my lesson plan book for next year, It is encouraging and will definitely remind me to “take time to see the light.”
The school district that I teach in is very committed to teaching our students to be good writers. Many of the key research findings that Regie lists on page 263 have been applied. In the school where I taught first grade we were all on the same page when it came to writing instruction. We also collaborated on scoring writing samples during staff meetings and staff development. This was done at grade level as well as across grade levels. We were encouraged to attend professional seminars and classes to become effective writing teachers.
ReplyDeleteI agree that better readers make better writers and that the two go hand in hand. That is why in my classroom independent reading is a high priority as well as reading at home.
From experience I appreciate that adopting a writing program should be looked at very carefully. As a first year teacher my grade level adopted a program to use which had many elements of good research based principles but was much too scripted for me. It felt very unnatural for me to teach. I talked this over with my literacy coach and she volunteered to come into my classroom for a week to model a "writer's workshop". She modeled many of the techniques that Regie has presented in this book. I was much more comfortable teaching my writing this way.
From the list of practices of highly effective teachers I want to work on demonstrating writing by thinking aloud and writing in front of students. I also want to make conferencing with students and moving students to assess their own writing a priority.
Balance, balance, balance. That is what is needed not only to be an effective writing teacher but a good teacher. It was good to be reminded by Regie that there must be a life outside the classroom. It is prudent advice to be constantly evaluating what I am doing and what is its worth to my students. In order to have the engery and enthusiasm that I want to have for my students I must take time out for myself. As a teacher of writing I must be an avid reader and have rich experiences myself to have fodder for my writing instruction.
"My Best Advice" on page 287 is what I want to use as a blueprint for my writing instruction. It is a fantastic summary of what Regie has been teaching in her book.
Assignment #8:
ReplyDeleteComing from a science background, I really appreciated Regie's list of key research findings. Having this reference with a summary of each piece of research is quite helpful to me. I especially like the fact that most of what I read on this list reinforced what techniques I already use in the classroom. I appreciate the research that shows students who bond with their teacher learn more easily and take more risks. My personal philosophy in teaching is to expose the students to who I am as a person, so that they may find a link to me. My belief is that this type of bond will help to embolden even the most timid students to feel comfortable to stretch themselves and take risks in the classroom. I have been amazed at the level of depth some students reach when communicating with me whether it be in their written work or verbally.
Providing choice, purpose and an audience is another important piece of research in my opinion. I have always held that the more a person enjoys what they are writing about, the more effort they will put into it. The challenge for me as a teacher is to find ways to offer the student the opportunity to have that choice in their writing and focus on the curriculum at the same time.
The question of maintaining a role in the ongoing professional development discussions in our building is a good one. I have sat through professional development sessions that were not useful to me at this point in my career. It was not the best way for me to spend my time. As an example, I sat in on a smart board learning session. With no likelihood of acquiring a smart board in the near future, the time felt wasted to me.
In our building, we have a professional development specialist who I frequently speak to and offer suggestions on what would be useful to me. This has often resulted in time being spent on the topics I have suggested. I gather these topics from conversations with my peers and from my own frustration and lack of knowledge on a topic. I must say, that from this perspective, I feel that all of my peers and I have the ability to directly influence our professional development, and this is a great asset that we have in our building.
Reduce the paper load!!! I cannot agree more! What is the point of a teacher being so overwhelmed with grading that it saps all of the energy out of them during the school day? Does this seem like effective teaching to anyone? I do not believe that a teacher who is buried in papers to grade is achieving much. I believe that a direct comment to a student about their writing has a much greater impact on the student than any comment written on a piece of written work. This is even more important in the moment, as the writing is occurring. I love to circulate through the room as my students are writing and give constructive criticism in the moment.
I really enjoyed this section of the reading. It re-affirmed my ideology that teaching should be fun. Yes, we do have a responsibility to give students the best education we are capable of, however the cost should not be the teacher's entire being! The day that teaching becomes a drain on me, to the point that I no longer enjoy it, I will move on from this career. No promise of retirement or pension is worth throwing away the best years of my life!
I really appreciated seeing what the research findings are for writing. Our school, for the last couple of years has focused on improving our writing scores for our state assessments. We have done this by doing pretty much everything the book says not to do. We teach a lot of issolated skills based lessons, we have 3 formal writing prompts throughout the year that every student grade K-6 has to write on. After reading this book I have come to the realization that we have a lot of work to do to change the standard that we have set. Writing doesn't need to be as difficult and taxing as we have made it. The thing that I like the most is that Regie really emphasizes the point of making writing fun. Letting the kids choose what they want to write about. And none of this is really that hard. Let the students write, have an audience, celebrate....these are all really simple concepts.
ReplyDeleteIn chapter 12, I completely agree with limiting the work that is taken home. Especially with 2 children of my own. I try to leave work at home and not let it consume my life. I think that I have been pretty good at balancing both work and home. The last point that I liked is critically looking at everything I do asking "so what". I think this is important because everything that I do in the classroom needs to have relevance. Will my students be learning what they need to inorder to become competent writers.
Writing Essentials
ReplyDeleteAssignment #8
Chapter 11
I thought these two chapters were absolutely great. Talk about common sense! Regie did a great job of breaking down and simplifying what we as teachers need to do in order to be successful at teaching writing. All of the stuff that consumes such an enormous amount of time is really the stuff that needs to be tossed out. The nice thing is that now we don't need to feel guilty about it. The school district that I work in has given us a lot of freedom in developing our own writing program which I very much appreciate, and finally we have a principal that has centered our late openings this year around writing. This is where our conversations now take place on a monthly basis. It has been a real eye opener. On top of that we meet once a month in literacy groups with K-2 and 3-5 to discuss writing in our classrooms and share ideas that are working; therefore, I do believe we as a school are truly on the right track and I have already noticed a difference this year with expectations that next year will be even better. One thing that I am really going to work on next year is not taking so many pieces to the publication level but focus more on some shorter more fun pieces that are more relevant.
Chapter 12
Finally, someone who says enough is enough. Over the years raising three children and working full time I have really had to work on keeping my life in balance. I have no problem telling people no and I do it frequently.
I am going to keep the "so what" quote near and dear to my heart next year to make sure I stay in line with my goal of making all of the writing I assign relevant. What a great closing chapter!!!!
Ch 11
ReplyDeleteSome of the key research findings that I related to were having the students write every day. I will make sure that my students are writing for varied purposes every day. I want them to become comfortable fluent writers, and have writing become a normal part of their lifestyle. I also find parent teacher support to be incredibly important. I am a strong believer in parent involvement correlating with student success. Our middle school students write letters home to their parents every month telling then about what they are learner. It’s a great way to keep the parent involved with the curriculum.
I also believe that inviting students to write about a personal experience can have a dramatic effect. If students are producing meaningful writing it keeps them engaged. When they have a story to write the words often come easier for them, and the quality is high.
Our professional development for writing is quite bleak this year. They have had one workshop on the rigor of writing, but it didn’t do anything to boost my skills as a teacher of writing. The younger grades follow the Scott Foresman model for writing and I know from subbing that it is quite structured. It breaks down all of the days and even minutes. After talking to some teachers I have found a mixed review on whether they like it or not.
As far as our testing goes, the state OAKS test is dreaded my many, well most. Out of our entire 7th grade only four 7th graders passed. It seems as though they are changing the protocol each year, and this year the students had to type a response to a prompt on a computer. They were used to writing on paper and many of them felt it was more difficult to type. Overall our testing is always up for debate and argued. I hope that the state will find a way to balance the need for assessment and practicality.
Ch 12
This chapter helped me feel at ease. Sometimes I find myself going through the motions of the day and grading paper after paper. I lose sight of the whole teaching experience. I have found myself trying to get a minute at my desk so that I can grade a few papers, all the while I should be walking around the room having conferences with my students. I would say that most of the teachers in my school take home papers to grade on a regular basis. I try my best to always complete my work for the day “at” work. I want to have a life outside of the school and not feel bogged down with grading. This also gives me a little perspective for my students and their workload. I am sure that they would prefer to be playing outside and not writing papers all evening. I will keep in mind the paper load practice is the minimal use of worksheets. I don’t use too many, but I feel like it’s an easy time filler for the start of class. I am hoping to come up with a good starter to the class.
Ch 11
ReplyDeleteSome of the key research findings that I related to were having the students write every day. I will make sure that my students are writing for varied purposes every day. I want them to become comfortable fluent writers, and have writing become a normal part of their lifestyle. I also find parent teacher support to be incredibly important. I am a strong believer in parent involvement correlating with student success. Our middle school students write letters home to their parents every month telling then about what they are learner. It’s a great way to keep the parent involved with the curriculum.
I also believe that inviting students to write about a personal experience can have a dramatic effect. If students are producing meaningful writing it keeps them engaged. When they have a story to write the words often come easier for them, and the quality is high.
Our professional development for writing is quite bleak this year. They have had one workshop on the rigor of writing, but it didn’t do anything to boost my skills as a teacher of writing. The younger grades follow the Scott Foresman model for writing and I know from subbing that it is quite structured. It breaks down all of the days and even minutes. After talking to some teachers I have found a mixed review on whether they like it or not.
As far as our testing goes, the state OAKS test is dreaded my many, well most. Out of our entire 7th grade only four 7th graders passed. It seems as though they are changing the protocol each year, and this year the students had to type a response to a prompt on a computer. They were used to writing on paper and many of them felt it was more difficult to type. Overall our testing is always up for debate and argued. I hope that the state will find a way to balance the need for assessment and practicality.
Ch 12
This chapter helped me feel at ease. Sometimes I find myself going through the motions of the day and grading paper after paper. I lose sight of the whole teaching experience. I have found myself trying to get a minute at my desk so that I can grade a few papers, all the while I should be walking around the room having conferences with my students. I would say that most of the teachers in my school take home papers to grade on a regular basis. I try my best to always complete my work for the day “at” work. I want to have a life outside of the school and not feel bogged down with grading. This also gives me a little perspective for my students and their workload. I am sure that they would prefer to be playing outside and not writing papers all evening. I will keep in mind the paper load practice is the minimal use of worksheets. I don’t use too many, but I feel like it’s an easy time filler for the start of class. I am hoping to come up with a good starter to the class.
June 2, 2010 4:55 PM
I viewed these two chapters as the nuts and bolts of writing instruction. They are the key parts that are necessary to make sure everything is being done correctly. As I was reading through Chapter 11 the first thing that jumped out at me was how districts tend to adopt the latest and greatest programs in order to get their students to meet benchmarks on tests. Although I haven't felt the pressure to make huge adjustments to my writing program lately, there has definitely been changes in curriculum and huge pushes for new programs in the past. This has definitely had an impact on teachers. It's very frustrating to be forced into something when what you might be doing already works. My philosophy is that I need to find what works for my students each year using a variety of sources.
ReplyDeleteSome other points I'm taking away from this chapter are: write everyday, establish writing routines, embed test prep into curriculum, and encourage kids to take risks. Another point that came to mind while reading was that my enthusiasm for whatever subject I'm teaching plays a big role in how my students learn. My frustration for math and writing has been evident at times and I see it rub off on my students. Being more prepared and excited for a subject has definitely made a difference in their efforts.
Writing is not much of a discussion at our school right now which makes it difficult to be excited about it. There really hasn't been conversations about what exceptional writing looks like, how we can coach our students or be coached ourselves, or ways that we can observe exceptional writing teachers. The down side of this is that I feel more pressure to seek out my own ideas and formulate a wider selection of assignment or prompts for the students to work on; in hindsight, maybe that's not a bad thing after all. :o)
Lastly, the topic of reducing worksheets sounds great, but what do you recommend inserting in their place? I typically use worksheets for some grammar lessons or as an introduction into a specific trait. Are there things I could be doing differently?
Derek
Chapter 11
ReplyDeleteAs a social studies teacher I liked the piece on teaching students persuasive writing. I see it as a cornerstone to become an involved citizen. I think teaching kids to be courageous as writers ties into being effective persuasive writers. Also, using high achievement to promote best practice teaching should be guideline in schools everywhere.
Chapter 12
Part of making every minute count in the classroom is being well prepared and being honest about what your goal is. I loved reading Regie's advice about how to be more effective.
My favorite part was "Ask so what?" Using the question that Regie's tells us to ask ourselves is germane to the teaching life.
I'm glad to see Regie saying that writing programs are not always the best way to help students learn how to write. Our district has a well-known one, but many teachers find it difficult to use. I've seen improvement in students' writing this year, but I think it has more to do with the fact that they are writing more than they used to, and not so much because they are using this certain program. The teachers have told me that they often go in another direction than the writing program anyway. Now our school is adopting another curriculum, in addition to the one they are using. This is a formulaic program, which I do like for organization techniques, but it's another thing for the students and teachers to learn, and it's taking away from the free flow. Why not give everyone this book, and cut out the rest of the stuff? There is so much to learn in this book. Chapter 11 has included a good breakdown of good research. I'm sure some people feel that programs give teachers and students a sense of security, but they need to ask themselves the question that Regie asks - so what? Is it the best way of improving the students' literacy skills? Maybe they would be better used for interventions that are required to be research-based. But I really think Regie's way would be better interventions, if there were a way to implement and document it.
ReplyDeletePages 270 and 271 remind me of "The Sisters" books. I think a lot of people still do the things in "What We Used to Do." Actually, I still do some, but since reading this book, I want to move myself completely over into the "What We Do Now" columns.
Jennifer,
ReplyDeleteGood luck with beginning your conversations! Having a supportive and informed principal is essential for it to be successful. Remember also to celebrate the teachers and staffs efforts; it’s a long process and everyone appreciates recognition, encouragement and acknowledgment.
Colleen,
It’s wonderful that your literacy coach supported you in learning more about writer’s workshop. I, too, have had a very difficult time when I tried to use a scripted program (trust me, it wasn’t by choice!) In fact I know that my instruction suffered, which in turn resulted in the students suffering. I believe that scripted programs are appealing to beginning teachers because it’s all laid out for them and it is MUCH easier to teach this way than to implement a workshop model. But I am certain they are not better.
Patrick,
I don’t think enough can be said about the importance of bonding with our students. Creating a classroom community and culture where students feel supported and encouraged allows the risk taking to happen that is needed for students to grow and learn.
The older I get, the less patience I have for wasting time. Time is a valuable resource that there is never enough of. If people would consider if email could deliver information effectively, then perhaps there would be more time for our important conversations! Our school spent a lot of time this year re-structuring how our weekly staff meetings were run. We instituted an agenda with times on it and a clock watcher and a bird walker. (The bird walkers role is to make sure we stay on task and not get side tracked. We also have the most important items first. People are asked if their announcement can be emailed instead of taking time in the meetings. And a bunch of other worthwhile changes were instituted and we are well pleased with how the meetings are run now. I am also vocal to my administration if I don’t think a workshop or training is relevant to me or my assistant. I’d much rather have time with a team of teachers or other librarians then sit through a half-day math inservice. Good for you for suggesting ideas to your PD Specialist. I bet s/he appreciates it as much as your staff does.
Well said Tracey! Writing does not have to be as difficult as we make it. Hopefully you’ll be able to bring some ideas and suggestions to your school/district about possible changes for next year.
Vickie,
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like you guys are well on your way! Good luck!
Lisa,
I love the idea of the students writing monthly letters home sharing their learning! How disappointing for the teachers and students that only 4 students passed the OAKS. I’m sure they both worked very hard and must be so disappointed. I can’t believe the students had to type their responses. This is crazy, is it a typing test or a writing assessment. It would be interested to see how other schools and districts did who also had to type their response.
Derek, both you and Lisa commented on the worksheets. It’s hard to give you examples without seeing your program or being in your room. Could the students have time to write in a journal or read quietly? What about browsing some class magazines? Are you looking for a quiet way to start the day while the rest of the students arrive? What about some games? Solitaire, Scrabble, Chess, etc… If you have worksheets and you want to use them and it works for you, I think it’s fine, but I’d just ask myself, is this busy work for the students? Is it creating more work for me? Could you ask the students what they would rather be doing? Could you use a document camera to highlight the introduction to a new concept or skill? Hopefully some of these ideas might work for you. If you want more specifics you can email us and we can continue to discuss other possibilities.
Yes, Emily! Being prepared makes such a difference. I’m sure we can all think of the times we have winged it and got by, but we know if we had been prepared it would have been so much more powerful and meaningful for our students.
Yeah Diane! We agree with you! We think all teachers would benefit from this book. Just think how much money we could save instead of adopting a new curriculum every few years. :)
We think The Sisters are great. In fact, Regie was one of their inspirations so their style and books complement Regie’s nicely. If you haven’t read The Daily 5 or their CAFÉ book, you should!
I love the comment about keeping struggling writers in the classroom. This for me is huge. We have sometimes struggled with different departments about when to pull students out and when they need to stay. I want the students who struggle to stay with me and their peers, so they can be participatory in all of the peer editing. It also gives me a chance to touch base or as Regie says to conference with them. It was nice to hear someone else say that besides myself and the other English teachers. Since I deal with high school age student homework happens often. It is usually what does not happen to be finished in class or their anchor project. As a parent I know t hat doing homework with my children came become something that bogs the whole family down. However, I think working outside of the classroom and learning to budget time is so important. I think there is a balance that can be made between zero homework and the ‘right’ amount. I do enjoy the validation Regie gives to teachers outside lives. I know my first year of teaching I was never without my ‘teacher bag’ as my sons called it. I was always correcting and grading. This was so unhealthy for my students, my family and myself. I finally have come to a balance of what happens in school and what come home with me. It is wonderful to hear that other have done this as well. I still feel guilt sometimes but even that is slowly ebbing as I see how much it means to my own children that I am truly present with them.
ReplyDelete