Assignment Six: DVD Reflection
ASSIGNMENT SIX: DVD Reflection- Included in your text is a DVD containing video clips of Regie’s conferences with writers in the classroom. There is a detailed commentary accompanying the DVD on page 336 of her text. Please watch the DVD and then look at her teaching notes beginning on page 336 (Regie suggests just watching without notes first so that you don’t miss what she and the students are doing.) After both watching and reading her notes, write your reflection and please post a copy of your DVD Reflection to the blog.*NOTE: If you experience problems playing the DVD please refer to the Writing Essentials companion website at www.heinemann.com/writingessentials for directions for playing the DVD. Look in the upper right hand corner for the link.
Assignment Six:
ReplyDeleteWOW! Is the first word that comes to mind when I watch Regie in action! I love that these video clips are raw and we see Regie working with children on their real writing!
I am a visual learner, so seeing Regie in action was extremely helpful. While watching the shared conferences I noticed how the kids changed from being nervous and apprehensive to being proud and assured. Beginning each conference with a positive comment about the piece is even more important than I realized! I saw that it eased the child’s mind to know that they had done something right. Then the kids were able to listen to helpful comments that would make their piece better. I realize that I am so rushed when conferencing with a student that I forget to celebrate the good things they did and just focus on what needs to be “fixed”. I will definitely being changing that!
I liked when Regie asked kids to tell her more, or what happened next? Then she would write their words on a post-it note. I’ve always written on the child’s paper, but I will be changing that too, especially after reading and seeing Regie do it. She also had the kids cross out any words or phrases that didn’t work or belong. She didn’t do the crossing out. I could see that even that one small thing was a big deal. Regie really shows the children that she respects them and what they have written. With my fifth grade writers, I sometimes don’t know what they should change or add to improve their writing pieces. I would love to see Regie work with more advanced writers and learn how to help them make their writing even stronger!
I realize now that when kids write:
• They should know who their audience will be
• They write with a purpose
• We celebrate what they do well
• We take the time to share!!! (this is the part I skip because
of time)
• The teacher guides the writer and helps them make improvements through shared conferences or one-on-one conferences
Regie also demonstrates the use of the Optimal Learning Model by looking at the child’s writing as a whole (she has the student read it), then she focuses on the parts, then back to reading it again as a whole piece.
I’m excited about the changes I am learning to make with my writing instruction!
Assignment #6
ReplyDeleteAfter watching the video and reading about Regie’s conferences, I thought it was a great idea to start public conferences with poems the students have written. It seemed like a comfortable way for me to get started with public conferences as well. I could see the reaction on the student’s faces and their body language as Regie celebrated each child’s writing. When she said she read the writing pieces the night before to pick the writing so she could think about it before hand, I thought, I don’t have time to do that. Then I realized she picked a different writing skill that each child did well to celebrate. That was a great idea in order to re-teach a lot of different skills, showcase a variety of writing styles and writing topics. That variety will help keep the class listening and learning. Just as I was wondering about showing the students drafts to the class, she held up Garrett’s draft to show the other students, I wondered why she hadn’t done that with all of the drafts. Maybe it was too difficult for everyone in that setting to see. I did like the intimacy of having the whole group on the floor together to engage everyone in the learning process. When Regie got to Derek’s story and read it aloud herself in order to save time, I realized each situation is different and the teacher really needs to use his/her best judgement. When Regie was having a one-on-one conference with AlexSandra, it made sense to focus on the whole paper first and then the skills. Sometimes it’s overwhelming to me when I see a paper that needs a lot of help. That brought it into perspective for me as to where to begin to help the student. Derek’s conference made me a little uncomfortable because I really felt like Regie was putting him on the spot. He seemed to take it rather well. I wondered why she didn’t ask the other students in the class for help with the spelling. If that conference worked for Derek, then it was worth it, I guess I do need to raise my expectations for spelling high frequency words.
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ReplyDeleteI am so glad the DVD was part of her book. Watching her in action really gave me a sense of how to focus on different writing skills so that the whole class can benefit. During the poetry readings, I liked how she had the students read and then she read the story and pointed out the positive points of each piece whether it was the beginning, ending, or a particular line with humor in it. I'm glad she only focused on the positive while the student was sharing. I think that is really important. A child's self esteem is fragile when his/her writing is displayed and critiqued in front of the class.
ReplyDeleteI noticed that when kids were having a difficult time finishing their stories, she helped them finish the story by asking questions like in Ervin's story. He had the rest of the story in his head and it was very effective the way she pulled it out of him. The sticky note idea was effective here as well.
The one-on-one conferencing was interesting to watch, especially how the child was or wasn't engaged. She really pushed to correct all or most of the story and I'm not sure I'd go that far. I'd probably work on just a few sentences or maybe just a paragraph depending on the age of the student. I'm glad she had the child cross out and fix what needed to be fixed...asking questions about clarity the whole time.
The whole group conference with Derek wasn't effective. As I watched the other students in the class, most of them were leaning on chairs or looking around and not engaged at all. I probably would have done that conference one-on-one or possibly given the whole class notecards on which to help Derek fix his spelling mistakes. Why not use the opportunity to have the whole class edit? When we've done this type of editing in class, I use a sample paper from the state. The students LOVE to find all the mistakes and are thrilled to rewrite a short piece. And in the end, no feelings are hurt. I'm not sure how Derek felt after that.
Overall, the DVD was very informative. We are writing poems in class right now and did a free write poem the other day. Regie was right. The free write poems were much better that the ones that followed a formula. We will have a poetry share day next week. I'll use some of her strategies from the DVD to highlight some good writing.
Assignment Six:
ReplyDeleteI LOVED watching the DVD. I used the pause button a lot to take notes and truly appreciated the whole thing. There is a treasure chest of wonderful ideas. It was such a delight to see Regie working with the kids in such an unrehearsed manner.
I did notice the joy and celebration in these teaching conferences. It makes so much sense to do this. I am excited to practice these ideas in my own teaching.
The poetry pieces were just precious and you could just see the happiness in the children’s faces as their poems were shared and appreciated. Max’s poem “Pet Monkey” was especially touching. I so agree that each student has a story to tell and it’s our job to help him or her tell it. After seeing this video I am going to be more mindful of my comments to students, especially my initial ones. I think it will just take a conscious effort to focus on content and ideas when I first look at a student’s writing. Regie’s conferences demonstrate how important positive feedback is for a student.
I loved the use of post-its for the student to later copy. I also appreciated how Regie helped students to verbalize their ideas and get their stories out. I have successfully done this with students and it was a delight to see it in action. I could see how the kids were learning from each other in such a short but powerful time frame. After viewing this DVD I am convinced that teaching writing should and can be a wonderful experience for both teacher and student.
Assignment #6
ReplyDeleteRegie definitely makes conferencing look easy! I love her calmness and the positive energy that she brings to the conferences. Even though you could tell that some of the students were nervous to be the focus of attention, you could also see that they were excited to share their stories. Watching the DVD helped remind me that even for Regie not every students was 100% focused on the task at hand. Seeing the conferences in action also reminded me that I’d like to do more partner sharing so more students are sharing what they have written. Our daily sharing usually involves the same four or five students and it would be great to hear other stories as well.
I have to admit that both Derek’s editing conference and Alex’s one-on-one conference were difficult to watch. Even though Derek’s conference was a whole class conference, many students were not paying attention to his writing. I give Regie a ton of credit for her patience with that piece. I can’t imagine helping each student with editing in that way because I already feel short on time. Derek was incredibly patient as well, and was really trying his best. Alex still appeared confused even with Regie’s great help. I have had some students in the past that just couldn’t retell their writing because sequencing was so challenging for them. The use of sticky notes is great for editing. I use this tool all the time and the students seem to appreciate it as well.
I think I need to practice some of the same language that Regie uses when conferring with students. I like how she emphasizes the importance of writing for the reader while staying positive. Again, it can be challenging to encourage without discouraging them. The DVD was an excellent way for us to see that conferencing with short pieces is manageable and that the students are willing to make changes when given appropriate support.
This was a great DVD!! I wish it would have shown more examples. I loved watching her celebrate the children's writing and how happy they were, especially the ones who weren't haven't a great time in school. As much as I learned watching this DVD, I really would have loved to see her conference with a kindergartener. I teach kindergarten and although this class has helped tremendously, it would have been nice to see her strategies and techniques in action with kinders. I appreciated how she let the children take control of their own revisions (letting them do the crossing out), rereading their stories or poems over and over, taking the time to give compliments and point out the strengths of their writing. You can see the kids really light up and they exude confidence.
ReplyDeleteThe clip on spelling was an excellent example of her Optimal Learning Model. She really guided Derek though spelling by giving him many opportunities for success. I loved the way she didn't just give him the correct spelling but tapped into his prior knowledge of sounds. I also enjoyed the respectful but firm affirmation of "you can never spell that word wrong again." I though it went a bit long and I don't think I could do that exact lesson in kindergarten, but I understand the point and purpose of precise spelling and how we need to teach kids to tap into what they know about letters and sounds so that their spelling becomes for accurate and automatic.
Next, with all the valuable teaching I have learned about teaching writing, I need to modify, apply, and practice these excellent techniques with my kindergarteners. From what I have tried so far, I feel they are going to become lovers of writing. They LOVE to share and I love to have the class "celebrate" their stories.
Erin Dugan
After watching and reading about the DVD, I came away with some good ideas, but also some questions/concerns. I enjoyed the conferences that were whole class sharing/celebrations. I recently did this in my classroom (I hate to admit that I did it completely on the fly!) and I was pleasantly surprised that I had used some of the same language and emphasis on ideas that Regie did! I liked how she emphasized with the students that they were sharing to celebrate and had the students repeat this. I also have the author pick 2 students that would like to compliment their writing. This is a great strategy to encourage students who are shy or self-conscious writers to share their work. The most important thing I took away from these conferences is the importance of re-reading the student’s writing so it is clear to the readers. I’m also in the process of planning a poetry unit and will be referring to this during conference and sharing time!
ReplyDeleteI struggled with the portion of the DVD that showed teaching conferences during whole class sharing. I feel that this would be challenging to do in terms of having all students engaged in the conference. One thing I would have done differently would be to display the student writing on the document camera so the other students could see the text. I also know that there would be some students in my classroom that would be very uncomfortable with this type of conference. If you set up our workshop doing these types of conferences at the beginning of the year, I suppose students would be more comfortable. I did pick up some language tips from Regie for working with struggling writers, and liked how she made suggestions to the student, but left the final changes up to the writer.
I enjoyed just watching how Regie conferred one-on-one with a student, and I LOVED how she told Derek he was “never in his whole life” allowed to misspell the word he was working on again! What a powerful way to make your expectation of spelling known!
Overall, the main points I took away after viewing and reading about all the conferences, was that it’s so important to be positive and reaffirm what the student has done well. Students were all very open to change and as an end result, I’m sure their writing improved.
I was somewhat surprised when I saw the video of the lessons. It was not what I pictured as I have read the book. She has some great ideas in the book, and I was almost expecting more when I saw the video. I thought that her idea of having conferences in front of the whole class was really great, it’s a great way to practice skills with everyone involved. But, as I watched, I was surprised that there was such little class participation. I was only able to see a few kids because the camera was zoomed in, but some kids seemed to be looking around and not involved. This may have been the beginning of the process, but it seemed like she didn’t give the kids much of a chance to share, it seemed like it was mostly her ideas- the writer didn’t get much say. There was an individual conference that she did with a little girl that was writing about her sick cousin. She had some good ideas for her to change, but I was surprised that she didn’t give the girl much chance to talk. It was mostly the teacher making changes and not giving the girl much chance to buy into these ideas. After reading the book, I have been changing some things up in my room, and I really like the changes. I feel like more kids are involved, they are sharing more, and we are learning from each other. I just wish that I would have seen that more in the video. It was worth watching because it was good to see what it should look like. It was nice to see her have the kids read the stories in front of the class, and the kids felt comfortable with that. I saw her celebrate some pieces which was a nice reminder that sometimes we can just listen to stories and not always work on editing them. I also saw as she made changes to a child’s paper in front of the class, and it was nice to see that the whole class was comfortable with that as well.
ReplyDeleteThanks to all of you (Beth, Lisa, Karrie, Ann, Tracy, Kelly, Kristin, Nicole, and Erin) for sharing your comments about Regie's DVD. It is great to see her in action. You all had very reflective comments about the clips filled with positive & negative (esp. Derek's conference). It's great to have the opportunity to watch other teachers in action...don't forget the power of visiting your colleague's classrooms in your own buildings and districts. These visits can be more powerful than any other PD experience!!!
ReplyDeleteAfter watching the DVD with Regie’s conferences, I found the notes to be extremely helpful. It’s hard to watch a DVD and get everything out of it that she wants us to. I really like how she has laid out the teaching and celebrating points for each conference in the book. These are really helpful skills to use when conferencing with a student. I found that the notes were more helpful to me than watching the conferences. I really like that she focuses on bringing the joy back to writing and including laughter and fun. Regie points out that the main reason to share their writing is to celebrate. I feel that it’s very important for young children to experience this, and it’s a great motivator for them.
ReplyDeleteI don’t know how much whole class conferencing I will be doing in my class, it seems to put the child on the spot. I would find that a lot of children would be embarrassed if I were to point out mistakes or things they need to work on in front of the whole class. You would have to be very thoughtful of who you would have conference in front of the class. I really identified with the individual conferences when Regie was asking questions to help their writing make sense. I do that a lot with my students. It really helps them focus on the point of their story and making their writing clear to the reader.
I learned so much watching the DVD of Regie in action. It was great to see her using the techniques we have been reading about and how effective they can be. It was nice that she chose students at all levels and that she showed us how a conference in front of the class looks as well as an individual conference. I can see how both are important to developing strong writers. With whole class conferences she really boosts the students confidence, she gives them tons of praise and makes sure students understand the point of this time is to celebrate the writer. I also like how she incorporates little mini lessons into the whole group conferences, like talking about dialogue while celebrating Paige’s story or how to cross out unwanted portions of writing like she did with Ervin.
ReplyDeleteIn the one-on-one conference I noticed how she was a lot more direct, but still let AlexSandra make the decisions about her writing. She really talked with her about the importance of a title, which is something I have done with my class, but from a reader’s perspective and why it is so important to read a story’s title. I feel I can definitely relate this to their writing and why it is important to have a good title for their writing. I also loved her use of post-its to help speed up the conference, without ever writing on the student’s paper.
I found Regie’s whole group spelling lesson interesting too. She used some great techniques and I like that she never gave Derek answers, you could really see him thinking about what he was being asked to do. However, I felt I would lose my students attention if I were to do a spelling lesson like this one. While it was done in front of the class the majority of the interaction was done with only Derek, if I were to do this type of lesson, I need to think through how to have the rest of my students engaged as well.
Having the written notes to accompany the DVD was very helpful as well. It was nice to have Regie’s “behind the scenes” thoughts on each student and situation. I also appreciate how she pointed out the different skills from each conference and spelling lesson. Reading the notes will be a quick refresher should I need them in the future or easy reference when I am doing my own student conferences.
Thanks Jennifer & Kristin for reflecting on Regie’s DVD, you guys agreed with many of the points other course participants have made, especially about the whole group shares and Derek’s conference :) Don’t forget about the possibility of sharing a clip or two at a faculty meeting to help spark some great writing conversations!
ReplyDeleteI think that the first clip with Lahana really shows the importance of celebration. A girl who has some very good word choice and literary elements gets praised for being a writer. Not just for having a "good" story. I also noticed that Routman emphasized rereading the poem so that the students could hear each part again. There were also several instances where they read the poem allowed so that she could use the moment to look at small aspects of her writing. With Max, I thought it was great how she helped max to own his writing. She could have read it or he could have read it under his breath, but she mad the focus his great sound effects so he would be excited to read it. She kept returning to that idea and having him read it again. This also made him feel comfortable, validated, and successful in front of his classmates. Listening to page, I thought of how important voice is when you're presenting to other people. You make a conscious attempt to have your writing seem real. You focus on hearing it and what it sounds like. Making it not so dry. I thought Garrett's piece really showed the importance of rereading. She reread to show the flow of the poem and also to show how well he did in different parts. I liked how she told him to read it differently, but complimented him at the same time.
ReplyDeleteI see that it is really important to talk to the students about their writing critically but use compliments. She really shows how to make a reasonble suggestion that a student doesn't feel attacked from. I do feel like the one-on- in front of the class is kind of tedious and doesn't help the whole class unless you are modeling it. I felt like the Erwin's class was not paying close enough attention as she was trying to model the story. I would have used a visual. With Derrick's conference, I feel that the conference was worthwhile for him and the teaching visitors, I still see that the other kids have trouble sitting through it. It seems like this is a better one-on-one conference to me. I really like how she uses rereading and questioning with the kids as they conference. Hopefully this translates to the kids starting to do it themselves. She always allows the students to make the changes and hear the details. Routman also shows that it is important for the student to correct their own spelling and then demands that they know it from now on. Using their actual writing helps them see that they misspell it, too. It's not fractured from their writing.
I really enjoyed the lessons since they showed pretty clearly how to conference with the students. I think that I would use the spelling lesson and the whole class share/celebration. These provide good modeling for the students while using their writing. I do think that some of the lessons in front of the class could be time consuming and not helpful for the whole class. That is my opinion.
Thanks for assignment six Scott! I definitely agree with your thoughts on conferring. The need to be specific whether giving a compliment OR your specific teaching point is what will move students forward in their writing. I also agree that I'm not as sure if I see the value in the whole class conference unless you are modeling something. It makes ME squirm as well as many of the kids you see in the clips. One of the best beliefs to take away from Regie is the thought that kids should be responsible for their own writing and that includes making their own edits and revisions!
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