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ASSIGNMENT FIVE: WRITTEN REFLECTION-Section Three- The Essential Writing Day Chapters 7-10
Chapter 7: Be Efficient and Integrate Basic Skills
• How might we integrate skill work into student writing rather than teaching it in isolation?
• Daily Oral Language exercises – THEY DON’T WORK!!!
• The importance of focusing on meaning and quality first
• All writing needs both a PURPOSE and an AUDIENCE
• How thinking aloud can make your teaching more explicit
• Teaching WRITING – not just the language of writing (process, process, process)
• What about writing standards? In your District and State?
• Key writing minilessons
• Revision – how to get students to care about it
• Letting kids in on the secret that – Yes! – Conventions do matter!
• How can we effectively use word walls?
In Chapter 7, suitably titled “Be Efficient and Integrate Basic Skills,” Regie gets to the heart of what so many teachers struggle with: “Fitting it all in!!!” Many of the elementary teachers that we work with are beginning to feel as though their personal motto is: “Jack of all trades; master of none.” We just don’t have the time to teach well what has to be taught. The only answer to this problem is to modify our instruction so it agrees with Regie’s stance that isolated skill work (such as Friday spelling tests, DOL, grammar worksheets…) will not help our students grow into writers (or readers.) On page 144, Regie shares four components for an integrated Writing Workshop:
1. Identify writing genres that would interest students (and meet district requirements)
2. Decide who the audience would be for each piece of writing.*
3. Model your own writing process and show students how you struggle.
4. Have students share writing regularly (for both celebration and great teaching moments.)
*This created the biggest change in my own class’s writing - once my students began to write with an audience in mind, the quality of writing shot right up!
Regie also gets to the heart of what writing with “voice” really is and addresses how to teach children to write with an honest voice in their own writing. She describes voice as “the writer’s unique personality on paper, his own melody in words, her ‘mark’ as an individual. To write with voice, the writer has to be interested in the writing.” We think that many teachers and students are unclear as to how to add true voice to their writing. Regie suggests, “Voice is in the details – but details that show the real person and story behind the words, not just details for the sake of adding more words…”
Integrating those isolated editing skills such as grammar, punctuation, and spelling into our writing will increase the efficiency of our instruction. Bottom line – if the students care about their writing, are writing for a specific audience, and understand that “the importance of editing (and spelling conventionally) is to make their message clear and easy to read for their audience – or reader, they take this job seriously and work hard at making their writing clear.”
Chapter 8: Organize for Daily Writing
• What is our definition of Writing Workshop? What does Regie say?
• How can we have student choice within a structure?
• The importance of writing talk (teachers and students)
• The ultimate nightmare for all of us…scheduling…finding the time to write everyday
• The importance of routines, organization and modeling expected behavior
• Genre study – why it’s important to have both school-wide and district-wide conversations
• The possibilities within genres
Figuring out a way to “fit it all in” is usually one of the most frustrating things many of us face. It starts at the beginning of the year as we first plan our daily schedule and continues throughout the remainder of the year. Considering how you will create your schedule to include a solid chunk of time for both reading and writing will probably be the most stressful piece to the start of your year.
Create a Comprehensive Literacy Framework: Play with your time and consider what changes you might make in your daily literacy framework for next year. Take a look at the samples that Regie provides on pages 185-187 for some possibilities. You do not have to post your schedule, but we believe this is a worthwhile activity to complete on your own.
Chapter 9: Conference with Students
• What is the purpose of a Writing Conference?
• What are the different types of Writing Conferences?
• How can Share be used effectively?
• How to conduct a productive conference
• What about management and routines?
We are so glad that this chapter talks about Share during Writer’s Workshop. Too often this component is skipped by teachers who feel there isn’t enough time in the day to “fit it all in.” However, it’s a vital piece of the workshop and beneficial to all the students. Share sessions are an additional time to teach. The teachers in my school are quite comfortable using Share as their mini-lesson if the need arises. Given the reality of daily schedules they were finding that they couldn’t have a mini-lesson, confer and share everyday. They then realized that their Shares sometimes were the minilessons. For more information about Share we recommend looking at Leah Mermelstein’s Don’t Forget To Share: The Crucial Last Step in the Writing Workshop. In this slim book, Leah explains in detail four types of Share: Content Share, Craft Share, Process Share and Progress Share.
The “Tips for Successful Whole-Class Shares and Conferences” on page 215 are excellent ones to keep in mind. The bottom line for Conferences and Shares is that students should feel successful and want to continue to write. Make sure what you say to the child encourages them to keep on writing. “The conference is secondary; the student as writer and confident learner is primary.”
Chapter 10: Make Assessment Count
• Understanding how rubrics work
• What about Test Prep? THE BEST TEST PREP IS EXCELLENT TEACHING!
• How can we collect reliable data on students’ writing throughout the day?
• Guidelines for grading and providing evidence for parents, administrators and the public
“There is lots of writing assessment going on these days, but little of it actually improves the quality of students’ writing.” As Regie continues she points out that this ‘assessment’ “is seldom used to improve daily instruction.” This chapter is about becoming more knowledgeable about assessments. Regie notes, that unless teachers know how to teach writing well, it can be a waste of time to examine students’ writing and place students on a writing continuum. She encourages you, as a staff to “write together, study together, converse together, gather school-wide data, analyze these data and set goals for improving writing instruction. There is no shortcut to helping students become effective writers and there is no program you can buy that will do it for you.”
Remember to use rubrics judiciously and not overdo it. They should be “used as an evaluation tool, not as the driving instructional force.” “Use professional common sense. It is not advisable to apply rubrics to ALL writing nor to score ALL writing. Just as our students need lots of practice reading many texts without the expectation that they will be assessed on everything they read, they need lots of practice writing without being assessed on everything they write.” (Page 243)
Have your students do a lot of writing! “Extensive writing across the curriculum as part of an excellent writing program is the best preparation for doing well on (standardized) tests. Readers have to read avidly to become readers and the same holds true for writers. Kids who write a lot develop higher-order thinking and understanding that translates to higher achievement on all types of tests.” Be sure to check out “Try It Apply It” on page 246 and throughout the chapter for ideas to incorporate into your program.
As Regie points out in this chapter, “The joy has gone out of writing.” We need to “concentrate on developing kids as learners rather than kids as test takers.”
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This section was a bear for me to get through because there was so much good advice that my head was spinning. I am going to need to reread it and pin down what is reasonable for me to apply to my teaching for next year.
ReplyDeleteI am truly hoping that by having students define both the purpose for their writing and their audience they will begin to take more pride in their work. They will understand that it is important to have legible handwriting and write in complete sentences in order for their intended audience to enjoy their writing. I know that I need to have higher expectations for spelling in their writing. There are certain words they should all have spelled correctly. I need to rethink how I teach spelling and use word walls.
I keep coming back to the fact that I need to do more writing in front of my students. I need to use authentic language and let students hear my voice come through. I need to think aloud MUCH MORE. I need to struggle through writing as they all will next year. We will go through it together and hopefully everyone will come out the other side with more confidence and better writing skills.
I really appreciated the list of mini-lessons. Sometimes I get lost myself when planning the mini-lesson. Our school bought the Lucy Calkin’s set a few years ago and while it has some good ideas I don’t feel that I can just follow it day to day. My students more often then not needed something different than what Lucy had planned for any given day. I do need to go back to her books and use them as a resource for mini-lesson ideas. I need to also remember to keep them short and make sure I am giving students enough time for sustained writing. I also like how Regie recommends that students become part of the process. We will chart together what a good writer does, what they notice about things I have done.
I can honestly say that I find time for writing everyday in my classroom. But I need to do more effective mini-lessons, write more in front of students, conference effectively, and ALWAYS save time to share. Just because I blocked out time for writing doesn’t mean it was quality instruction. But at least I have the scheduling piece taken care of! I also spend a lot of time on routines in my room so students know what is expected of them, especially during an independent work time while I am working 1-on-1 or in small groups.
I really liked the roving conference sheet that Regie showed on page 217. I think I am going to create something similar to keep track of my conferences.
Rubrics – ugh. We have struggled with this as a grade-level team. I think I mentioned in one of my earlier responses that we aren’t sure how or if we should assess voice, word choice, etc. You know, the things that make writing INTERESTING! I think quality is really important but those things aren’t state standards so some feel it is unnecessary to assess them. I look at the sample rubric for 1st grade on page 241 – it mentions nothing specifically about conventions. We have an end of the year rubric for assessing writing and giving report card grades but it is heavy on conventions and organization and light in other areas. I think we will need to discuss quality when the year starts up again.
Learning to write well takes practice. (So does learning how to teach writing well!) We are motivated to learn when we learn something that interests us. Providing students with opportunities to explore writing that is intriguing and interesting can make our jobs easier.
ReplyDeleteTime should also be spent talking about writing. It's a given that we should tell students the reasons for learning the subject matter we present. Knowing the whys makes learning meaningful. There must be reasons why we learn certain things. For writing, this also encompasses the targeted audience: who are we writing for/to? We like to matter. We like to engage ourselves with tasks that aren't a waste of time. When we write for a real audience, we take the time to make our writing count. We take pride in our work when we know it will be heard/read and enjoyed by others.
Bringing your writing to the eyes of your students helps them to see that we all go through the same processes and procedures as writers. The humanity of the teacher is exposed and helps aid teaching, making the message of learning more meaningful.
Sharing student writing is empowering. Students are proud and feel excited to share their work in front of their peers. Sharking motivates students to write and to revise. I've seen and heard some great revision work go on while students are sharing. Revision and the like are skills that should not be taught in isolation. Writing skills are best taught with and in practice.
There are myriad ways for students to choose their own topics within the structure of writer's workshop. Demonstrating how to choose a topic is a great introductory writing mini lesson. Choice within structure is comforting. I find it easier to select a writing topic if I am given a simple structure. It helps me pinpoint where to begin my thinking.
Writing can be integrated neatly into existing curriculum and the more value that is placed on literacy, the easier it is to include it in the daily schedule. Writing opportunities exist across the curriculum: books about mathematics, observation notes/ journals for science time, lists of favorite words found; the possibilities to integrate writing are myriad. I like the idea of freewrites. Freewriting gives students the chance to explore their writing abilities without having to worry about conventions or an audience. They are free to explore topics or subjects that they might not normally write about. Freewrite time would also be a great opportunity for a teacher to participate in writing time. Morning messages are also a great way to integrate writing into the daily schedule. I love morning messages. They provide structure for students, help build a sense of community, and provide time for literacy practice.
Writing conferences help students gain confidence in their writing abilities. Conferences also provide opportunities for teachers to get to know their students better. It is a time when a student can have the undivided attention of his/her teacher (and we all know that our students love attention). Conference time is a time to pinpoint the strengths and sticky spots of a student's writing. If more than one student is stumbling over introductions, there is your next mini lesson!
I agree that the best test prep is excellent teaching. When we teach for comprehension and knowledge acquisition, we automatically prepare students for tests. Adequate teaching encompasses all the knowledge and skills needed to succeed on tests. Starting with a solid foundation, we can ensure the success of our students. The biggest obstacle to our students' success is our own interpretation of proper test preparation. We often feel we cannot adequately prepare them and thus have already been defeated by the high-stakes tests. The tests should not be feared: as long as we remember that our goal is independent literacy for our students, they will do just fine on the tests. We need no gimmicks to ensure success.
As I was reading chapter 7, the one idea that kept running through my head was student centered. All the mini-lessons and writing pieces involve the students’ lives. It makes sense, when I am engaged in what I am doing, or am simply enjoying what I am doing, the focus and quality is always higher. I would like to get away from the students writing papers with their audience being me, the teacher. I would like to get them writing to friends, family members and other students in the school. I feel when they write papers to me, they are very concerned with the grammatical aspect of the piece, and not the story or the voice.
ReplyDeleteBeing open with the students is something I took from the unit as well. Teaching mini-lessons should align with my students’ needs, and I should be very explicit in explaining why we are learning this skill, as well as that the objectives are for the lesson. For example, “by the end of the lesson we will learn how to add more descriptive words.”
I was glad to see that Regie talked about spelling in chapter 7. I was very excited to read that all teachers struggle with how to teach spelling, so I know I’m not alone. We have a great spelling program, Rebecca Sitton, but since we got the curriculum three years ago, I have taught less and less of it. The reason being I never saw any of the skills from the writing lessons transfer to their writing. I don’t think my students ever thought to themselves while writing, “I know that it is a long vowel sound, so it will end in consonant then vowel.” I started doing what Regie talked about, I started teaching spelling through their reading and writing. Next year I’d like to integrate these Rebecca Sitton lessons into our writing curriculum, and use student work along side these lessons. I hoped that the time spent doing “spelling” lessons would be better spent having the students simply write. Most of my students improved their spelling through experience and through reading more and writing more. The one thing that I have a hard time with is when students turn in a paper with many spelling errors. I know they edited their paper, yet they missed many spelling words because they thought the word was spelled correctly. I know with more experience they will catch those words, but how do I help them start to recognize those words? I want them to get away from, “Oh, I thought that was how you spelled that word.”
In chapter 8, I was surprised to hear her talk about graphic organizers, and how they aren’t as necessary as I thought they were. I spend a lot of time working with students and graphic organizers because the students are starting to learn how to organize papers/stories. I am going to still use these organizers at the start of the year to help with organization, but I will make an effort to transition students out of these organizers and see how it goes. I am assuming some students will still opt for the organizer, but I would like to give students more freedom in this area.
When doing writing conferences, I am always very careful to make sure the student leaves with confidence in their writing. I know how fragile some students are, and how writing can be a very emotional task, especially when they’re writing about their life. I liked the process that was discussed in chapter 9, starting with encouraging the student to read their piece aloud first. I find that listening to a student read their paper is a different experience then me reading their paper. Keeping the conference positive and pointing out what the writer had done well is important. When discussing the next steps (what the student needs to work on for next time), I know it’s important to make sure I phrase it in a way that is helpful, but does not discourage the writer.
Over the last couple of years, my department (the writing department) has worked very hard to group together little skills with big papers. We pick something specific from our list of power standards that matches the kind of writing we are doing, and teach it through a series of mini lessons. For example, we work on punctuating dialogue in fictional narrative, or claims and anecdotes in expository (character sketch). The standards based grading definitions my school created state that the student has or has not demonstrated proficiency on the “standard being addressed at the time.” I love this. It makes grading so easy. We just use the six traits (which I think are a very logical way to assess writing), and the 1-6 grading scale transferred to letters (basically 3=C—student has demonstrated proficiency on some but not all standards being addressed at the time, 4=B—proficiency on all, 5=A—advanced skills on some standards). Once we decide what standard is being addressed at the time, we can use quizzes and small writing assignments for progress report grades, then a more formal paper in which the student should demonstrate what we have been working on makes the final grade. This allows us to score students in all six traits, but maybe only their ideas and content and conventions scores actually contribute to their grade for the quarter (since those are the standards being addressed at the time). My point is… that no, DOL doesn’t work (thank goodness), especially when it is random. But skill work that is very purposely tied into the kind of writing students are doing does work. It also a way to make grading very clear to students and parents; and we’re not re-inventing the wheel with a million rubrics. The six-trait scoring guide gets frowned on, but I think it is actually a very thorough and holistic approach to writing.
ReplyDeleteI kind of get to cheat with the chapter 8 content because I teach just writing, so I have to do it every day. I really liked her theory of “teach it first, label it later.” As far as student choice within a structure, I think about how my big prompts—the ones that turn into final papers—offer choice. For example, when students are asked to “explode a moment” for personal narrative, they get to pick the moment. Then they get to pick the person for our character sketch, they get to choose what they are going to explain and make up characters for fictional narrative, and they get to choose a point of view for persuasive. There is always a structure that allows for tighter scaffolding when necessary, as well as the opportunity for creativity and challenges.
I was relieved when I read chapter 9. Throughout this book, she has been talking about writing conferences, and I have been thinking to myself, “There is no way I can do that! It sounds like a management nightmare!” Now that I more clearly understand that conferencing doesn’t have to be one-on-one for ten minutes with each student, I am much less intimidated. If roving conferences count, I’m good. She also had tons of good suggestions in this chapter about language (p. 227 is great) and management (I really liked her suggestions about orchestrating who shares on p. 224). In the last couple years, I have also found the wonderfulness of short assignments. It helps in so many ways—especially in work completion and getting students to edit and revise their own work. One paragraph is easier to tackle than five—easier to grade, too!
When I wrote about chapter 7, I also tackled much of chapter 10, so I don’t want to be redundant. Fortunately, in Oregon, the state writing test for seventh grade is temporarily suspended (can’t pay people to score them), so my high stakes test is gone. Our state and district still require at least two work samples, and we definitely do that. The nice thing at my school is that we get a paid day to score the papers together. This increases cross-reader reliability, and allows us to reflect on what students are doing well in their writing and what skills need more work.
This post is from Leah Feller.
ReplyDeleteThis chapter was like a breath of fresh air for me. I will be stressing that the students need to write for an audience and quality first and foremost. Students will get to choose things that are important to them so they have a buy in; so they will be excited about writing.
It was very interesting reading about the word wall. I have used one for years but my students have never made much use of it. Now I know why. When I go back to school I will take it down and my students will help me come up with words that are important for them.
Lastly, revision was always something I didn’t know how to show/teach my first graders. I thought maybe it was a skill that wasn’t developmentally appropriate. However after reading the chapter I know by making mistakes in my own writing and have the students help me fix it, they will learn this skill. I know it will take lots of practice. It is one I am not so worried about doing now.
I have always scheduled a huge block of time for writing for my students. They like knowing what comes first, second and so on. I always try to be organized, know what I am going to do ahead of time, have the papers ready, story set out. It makes me feel more comfortable and everything runs smoother. Usually, I let the students choose what they want to write about. It gives them more voice and they have more passion for it. The times I change that is when I am doing a genre study like fairy tales or non-fiction stories. I read lots of different kinds of stories. We list what we notice each genres have in them that are alike. Then the students will write their own stories. However, after reading Regie’s chapters I realized I missed a step by not doing a shared demonstration. This year I will make sure I do that. Also, I will include more writing talk. I didn’t realize how important that step is in the writing process.
Chapter 9 had such wonderful ideas about writing conferences. I never considered that writing conferences could be put together with celebrations. I always thought you only celebrated when a student had completed a piece of work. It makes so much sense and less stressful for the teacher (more of learning process for student) to celebrate what they have written that day and to also conference in the whole group setting. I will be sure to start doing that this year. I have already been doing lots of roving conferences. I was using the writing conferences to help with correcting of mechanics of their writing. These conferences will change to be more positive for my writers. Although my students are only 6-7 year olds, I believe by springtime with lots of shared demonstration and guided practiced we could be doing some peer conference. I look forward to that.
Our first graders are not tested, it doesn’t start happening until 3rd grade. Even so our primary building is constantly working making our kids better writers. Assessments in writing tend to get tedious for me. I want them to be valuable for students, parents and myself. The child-friendly rubrics that Regie talks about in the chapter make a lot of sense to me. I also liked keep papers from past year students and have them identify what makes the writing stand out for them. From the reading of this chapter, I know when it comes to assessment time; I need to have the students practice. I also have them write several pieces and grade their best. The one that is the best at the end of the year goes into a portfolio which follows them throughout their grades. I think I would like them to have some ownership with the decision of what goes into the portfolio. The idea in the chapter of assessing each student every day on their writing makes great sense. I am not sure how that is workable with a classroom of 29 kids. Do you use sticky notes or one page with each child’s name on it and make a list? I would like something that is quick and easy.
I have the same issues that Phil has mentioned with spelling. It is difficult for my kids to reread their stories and notice where they have made their errors. Even when I say you have 2 spelling errors they need to fix they often can't find them. We also use Sitton spelling and some McCracken. I wish that my students spelling would transfer more into their writing.
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ReplyDeleteMariah - I like that you mention that choice within structure can be comforting. I find with my first graders that some students get extremely frustrated when things are too open-ended. I have let kids use a picture card to help give them ideas, written class lists of "ideas to write about" and written down topics on strips of paper that students can chose. Some kids do better when I tell them - today we are going to write about (fill in the blank), usually an animal or something we have learned about. But I know that I still need to read more to my students because I have seen that inspire a lot of kids.
ReplyDeleteThanks Allison, Mariah, Phil, Ashley, and Leah for posting your comments about Section Three.
ReplyDeleteAllison – I know, this is a jammed packed section full of great writing tips and techniques…this is definitely a book to have out at your desk or where ever you plan, all tagged up and ready to reference :) As you begin to have kids truly consider both audience and purpose in their writing, you will notice a remarkable difference in their writing. While Lucy Calkin’s books are fabulous, I do find them very hard to follow verbatim and fit it in an actual “mini” lesson length of time. I personally don’t like the scripted portion, but always feel too hesitant to veer off, like, “of course Lucy knows better than I”. It’s great that you have the scheduling piece taken care of, in my building; time for writing is NOT a priority. Best of luck as you work towards a better rubric with your team that includes both revision & editing.
Mariah – I loved how what you wrote about shared writing: “The humanity of the teacher is exposed and…” What a great way to describe shared writing. It really does help develop the bond between the students and the teacher. Integrating writing across the curriculum is absolutely necessary with the rigorous content and standards that teachers are striving to address each year. With your view on testing…we need you in a permanent classroom out here in CT!!!
Phil – As I mentioned to Allison above, once you have your children begin to consider both purpose and audience, it cause a complete metamorphosis in both their engagement and content. Spelling is so often a tricky subject across the country. Bottom line as you said, when you bring spelling to the forefront through their reading and writing, this will have a tremendous impact on their performance because they will see meaning in “spelling”. I loved reading your thoughts on writing conferences and the way you allow your students to take ownership over their writing within the conference.
Ashley – It definitely sounds as though your writing department have their act together. I love that you guys integrated all standards (ie. Punctuation) within your units of study. Yeah!!!...to skill instruction being imbedded into the writing. Why does that not make sense to so many people??? And it’s not like it’s hard to do!!! The Six Traits is something I’m trying to get my district to take a look at more in the near future! How lucky to have the test suspended…one silver lining in the budget crisis :)
Leah – I definitely think that once your students are a part of building the word wall with you, that they will be able to better access it as a reference in their writing. Shared writing will definitely be a great launching place to have your first graders revise, but it is definitely something that they should be able to transfer to their own independent writing during the year. This may include adding more detail to they’re writing through word choice, adding more information about a character and setting. Elaboration is one of the easiest ways to get your kids to revise. You can have them start by revising pictures prior to words. Make sure that kids get in the habit of skipping lines when they write so that they have the space to easily make revisions.
Wow… There was so much to take in with this section! One of the most significant statements in this section was, “Once my students began to write with purpose, the quality of their writing shot up.” It is such an obvious thing to tweak in our classrooms but one that often gets overlooked. I felt personally challenged as I go to plan my writing lessons and projects to provide more of a specific purpose and a audience for my students writing. This will motivate them, challenge them and in the end produce a more quality product from them.
ReplyDeleteAnother idea that hit me was integrating isolated skills into writing as a whole so they don’t take up as much time. I feel more confident with the ideas that were given and I am definitely going to try the strategies suggested instead of the conventional worksheets.
The area that I camped out the most in was the conferencing with students. I do this in my classroom but I want to do it more effectively. I tend to just make it be the final stage before they can publish their work. It is mainly a time about conventions and editing spelling. I would like to change that to a more holistic approach to their writing. Sometimes the lack of time weighs so heavy on my mind and I want to make sure I get to all of the students, I tend to rush through instead of taking the time that I would like to with each of my students. I typically will read the students work, so I am going to change that and have them read it to me. Then I usually dive right in and edit it. I am going to change that and compliment them about what they have done well and more discuss the piece with them. I want to do as the book suggests and “sit on my hands” and try not to write on their paper as we talk about their writing. I want to encourage their writing and their excitement about communicating their stories. I felt very excited about the possibility of having different conferences for content and for editing. The idea of splitting them up makes a lot of sense. If I am honest though, I worry about fitting them all in and touching base with all of my students. I liked the idea of handing more responsibility over to the students so they are checking their work with their peers as well as with me. I do that in my classroom but I need to tighten up the process and make it more effective.
Thanks for sharing your comments on this section…you are right it’s packed full of great information. Integrating some of the skill work into writing will definitely make the work more meaningful for your students, especially as they begin to be more aware of their audience reading their writing. It sounds as though you have a great plan in place for conferring with your writers this coming year! To help deal with time issues, you may even want to consider doing some group conferences for kids with similar needs.
ReplyDeleteI learned so much from reading about Routman’s views on spelling. My first year of teaching I spent many hours developing a word wall thinking it would help my students. I realize the problem wasn’t the word wall; it was the lack demonstrating and shared demonstrating with the word wall that was the problem. I want to try using a word wall again this year, but be very explicit about why we have a word wall, how we can use it as a resource, and develop the word wall with student assistance. I will make it clear that I expect students to spell words on our word wall correctly. I believe students will find the word wall empowering and lead to better spelling, and eventually better writing.
ReplyDeleteI began working on my schedule for next year and was able to fit more time for writing during my guided reading group time, and during our science/social studies block in the afternoon. After I meet with a guided reading group I will have a question written out for them to answer. This not only builds their comprehension, but will improve their writing skills as well. I would like to do more shared writing in the afternoon about informational text we have been reading in science or social studies. Once students have had enough scaffolding they will be able to write their own informational writing about science and social studies.
It was interesting for me to read about all the different ways to conduct writing conferences. In the past I have always thought of writing conferences as meeting with an individual student and working with them to improve their writing. I am excited to try whole-class shares as a way of conferencing. Some of the reasons I am looking forward to trying them is students will become better listeners, we will celebrate student writing, and we will learn from one another’s writing.
The part of the “Make Assessment Count” chapter that stood out to me the most was having students do their own self-evaluations. I often have students talk with me about their writing as a way to get them to begin self-evaluation. I see now that written self-evaluations would deepen their thinking and would lead to students being more independent learners. I believe even first graders can be successful with writing their own self-evaluations with proper modeling and practice.
Molly – I think if you build the word wall with your students this year, they will understand how to better access the information, and will therefore actually USE the word wall. It’s great that you were able to find more time for writing…it’s so hard fitting it all in, isn’t it?
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