Read Writing Essentials, Chapters 4-6 and briefly reflect on the following thoughts written below and any additional comments that you have after reading these chapters. Post your reflection to the course blog.
Chapter 4: Raise Your Expectations
• Why we need to raise expectations – ESPECIALLY for our minority and lower socio-economic students
• How to raise expectations in your classrooms as well as in your grade level and throughout your entire building
• What about handwriting, spelling and editing expectations?
• How to use the Optimal Learning Model to support your students’ needs
“Raising expectations” for our students is a big push in all of our districts. Under “No Child Left Behind” many schools have been identified as “in need of improvement” and have been working furiously yet unsuccessfully for over ten years to “close the gap” for our minority children. But more important than improving performance on high stakes tests is remembering that if we raise our expectations and teach explicitly, then our students will rise to the occasion and astonish us with the high quality work that each of them is capable of.
Regie has some great insight into the need to raise expectations of our students and feeling comfortable and confident with the decision to set high standards for all learners. She raises the question, What are our clearly articulated, rigorous yet reasonable expectations? This is a question that we should reflect on as individual teachers, and one that should be the starting point for a conversation within our grade levels, buildings and across entire districts.
We’d like to know what you think of one of our favorite quotes from the book: “Worksheets aren’t good enough. The students who can do them don’t need them, and the ones who struggle with them feel defeated by the red marks, which only reinforce their feelings of inadequacy. WORKSHEETS FOSTER MEDIOCRITY!” (We personally wanted to shout out when we read that!) Please include your thoughts in your Section Two Reaction.
In this chapter, Regie also sheds some light on several topics that teachers often ask about. “What about handwriting expectations?” and “Conventions, Editing and Publishing?” It’s always helpful to get another professional’s point of view on these pressing issues! Enjoy the chapter!
Chapter 5: Do More Shared Writing
• Where does Shared Writing fit within the Optimal Learning Model?
• For which learners is Shared Writing appropriate?
• How can we link Shared Writing with Shared Reading?
• How can Shared Writing be used to support word work?
• What are some “Tried and True” ideas for Shared Writing?
Regie's idea of Shared Writing is very different than that of many other professionals in the field. So often we use Shared Writing only with the primary grades. As Regie states, “What a great way to teach and engage all students in all aspects of oral and written language.” If we are to consider teaching through all phases of the Optimal Learning Model, we can begin to see how important Shared Writing is for our students. We think that the idea of using Shared Writing in both upper elementary and the middle schools is a new way of thinking for many of us.
One of the reasons Regie encourages teachers to use chart paper and an easel, instead of projecting to a screen with an overhead or document camera, is that the children are seated right with you on the floor, which usually holds the children’s attention a little better. Another idea that has worked great for me is to move the overhead machine to the group area and place it on the floor in the middle of the group in front of the easel. I then project the machine onto the white space of the easel. It’s great because you’re able to be right there in the middle of the group and have the benefit of writing more quickly onto a transparency rather that chart paper. You’ll need to consider which of your Shared Writing activities you’ll want students to be rereading (don’t forget that you can hole punch transparencies and put them in a binder for future reference) and which you may want posted to your walls on charts.
Regie’s list of “Tried and True Ideas for Shared Writing” (page 112) is very extensive. It would be helpful to take a look at Regie’s list as you create your curriculum map for the year. Where would some of her suggestions fit within your science, social studies, math, reading and writing units across the year?
Chapter 6: Capitalize on the Reading-Writing Connection
• How can we become more effective integrating our reading and writing instruction?
• Are we as efficient as possible with our responses to reading?
• The benefit and necessity to integrate our content area teaching with both reading and writing
• The importance of writing (and reading) more nonfiction
We know research shows that reading achievement affects writing achievement and vice-versa, and we also know that it continually gets harder to fit “it all” into our day. Effectively using reading and writing connections throughout the day in all areas of language arts, math, science, social studies, and even specials such as art, music and library, is our only option.
Regie’s suggestion of taking a closer look at how we use written response to reading is a very important one. Careful consideration is needed to decide if what we’re asking the students to do is “worth their time.” For example, if the response we’re looking for will “deepen comprehension, cause the writer to reflect on the content, and/or foster appreciation for the text” then it’s worth it. We whole-heartedly agree with her statement that many of the overly structured assignments such as book reports can alienate our readers! While response journals do have their benefits for us professionally Regie states, “they also take up a lot of our time!” It’s a very organized teacher who can effectively keep up with their responses without feeling overwhelmed and frustrated. Don’t forget the bottom line – “Be sure that students spend more time reading than writing about reading!” (Page 126)
We are so glad that Regie addressed how to effectively teach summary writing. We know that many teachers have a difficult time differentiating between a summary and retelling – I (Jackie) was one of them until several years ago. The snapshots and procedures that Regie shares on how to teach summarizing are invaluable and should be a reference that we all refer back to throughout our teaching year.
High expectations are imperative if we want out students to become writers that make parents and politicians (and teachers) proud. Worksheets and the teaching of writing skills using prompts are indicative of low expectations: what value are we placing on our students when we give them this “busy work”? Writing to prompts should not provide a base from which to teach or understand or practice writing skills. I also think that grammatical and spelling errors detract from a piece's message and meaning. Spelling and grammar are important building blocks in writing and important to the writing process. We teach so our students can be independent thinkers, so we must provide them with the basics, the foundations to achieve independence in writing (and reading!). Communication happens when we understand the message being relayed to us and we write to communicate with others. We all want our voices to be heard.
ReplyDeletePoor handwriting also detracts from an author's message. Additionally, poor handwriting (print or other) can cause the targeted audience to feel put-out. Again, we write to communicate: mumbling when we speak verbally to others is considered rude and so is messy writing when writing to and for others.
Shared writing reaches all students; it allows more advanced students to hone their skills, and aids struggling students (they can see how a piece of writing is put together). Shared writing instill confidence and gets students excited about writing. We all love to contribute; to know that we shared something that will be seen by many makes us feel proud. Shared writing time gives opportunities to struggling writers to explore writing in a safe, caring environment. The power of positive thinking and feedback is amazing.
As we think about and comprehend the stories we read, we can share writing that explores those stories. Writing about reading allows us to think more deeply about what we read. We can reflect and ask questions that will provide us with additional clarity. We can ask questions together and figure out answers together. Some great ideas for shared writing are: a class alphabet book (what a great way to see what is meaningful to the kiddos!), “All About Our Classroom” book (again, this gives students a chance to showcase what is meaningful to them), “What we Have Learned About” books (great way to summarize and synthesize learned information!), 'What Good Readers/Writers Do” chart (the answers are often surprising!), rules for games (I've done this one with 5th graders- shared writing lead to partner writing of rules and they loved it! I had so many pairs that wanted to share their rule-sets with their peers.)
Linking writing and reading is easy! There are so many great ways to link the two, because they are so interrelated. I appreciated the section on encouraging students to take notes while reading (especially nonfiction texts). This is a very important skill that will serve students well into their college years. Note-taking is a skill I wish I had learned before attending college: studying and retaining knowledge would have been much easier. Note-taking allows us to assign meaning and importance to what we read. As we jot down information, we remember and reflect on things that are important or interesting to us.
As teachers we need to show students just how often we write, encourage students to write on their own, and provide ample opportunities for students to practice writing across the curriculum.
Chapter 4 was really eye opening. I am definitely going to raise expectations in writing for my students. But first I will need to spend more time explicitly teaching. I am hoping that by doing more modeling and “think alouds” students will better understand the writing process. I like that Regie tells us that students need to show pride in their work. This happens by having correct punctuation, good handwriting, and high frequency words spelled correctly. Handwriting is always a struggle but I think learning the correct formation of letters is a bit like learning the rules of a classroom. It is important to spend adequate time on them so that what follows can run smoother. If you invest time in handwriting early on you will spend less time making corrections later.
ReplyDeleteI appreciated the descriptions of the 4 states of the OLM. I am still a bit unclear about the differences between Shared Demonstration and Guided Practice. Shared Demonstration seems to be most often a whole group activity where students are verbally sharing and applying knowledge while the teacher is writing and offering lots of support. Guided Practice – you mentioned that you usually do this in small groups and the other students generally at their seats. Are they applying what was taught during the Demonstration and Shared Demonstration periods while the teacher works with a small group? Do you ever do whole group Guided Practice? What does that look like? Thank you for giving “permission” not to do every part of the OLM daily. We do have so many time constraints. Ugh! Sorry for all the questions! I feel I really need to get a handle on the OLM if I am going to raise expectations for my students and teach effectively.
Worksheets – It is so true that the kids who can do them don’t need them and the ones who struggle, well they struggle more and get frustrated! Worksheets bring no context (or audience) to their writing. They just don’t seem helpful.
I really enjoy Shared Writing but still need to do more. It is a great way to get everyone involved and even build community in your classroom. When I do Shared Writing next year I won’t over explain why I am doing things. You lose the students that way. I don’t need to talk about every period I place or capital letter I write. I am also going to use a variety of language. I would usually stick to words that the students could sound out perfectly or at least phonetically. Instead of writing, “I had a bad day” because it is easy for the students to spell I might try “I had a terrible evening.”
One thing I will have to figure out is how to do Shared Writing and how and what to post. We have lost even more wall space in our classrooms to interactive whiteboards. If I use the board to do Shared Writing I can’t exactly post it anywhere. I could certainly still use chart paper but have limited space to hang it up. I do have the option of printing out what we write on the interactive board. Any suggestions here?
ReplyDeleteI love Regie’s ideas for Shared Writing. I think these would work really well not only in my homeroom class but also during our English Language Development time. I might suggest that we do a lot of Shared Writing during this time and use these ideas! It would be a great way to get kids practicing all of their language skills.
We use Success For All (SFA) for our reading curriculum. I am not sure if you are familiar with the program. Our students are regrouped by ability and travel to different teachers for an 80-minute reading block daily. While I think this model works really well for our students in the area of reading it really puts a damper on the reading-writing connection for homeroom classes. Also, our school has cut 10 minutes out of the SFA block (it is supposed to be 90 minutes). This was a decision that was made because it was felt that the writing portion of the block was not as important since all students are being taught writing in their homeroom classes. I am wondering if this is a disservice to our students. I feel that more writing needs to be done that connects to the texts we are working on in SFA. It is hard to hold kids accountable when you are not responsible for all of their writing instruction either. Often you have students from 6 or 7 other homeroom classes!
One way I can increase the reading-writing connection is by continuing to do writing during theme time (science and social studies) and increase the amount of student written text that we read and re-read for fluency. I really like the idea of doing shared writing, cutting apart sentences, ear to ear reading, etc. There are many GLAD strategies that address this and I need to incorporate more of those into my classroom.
I think raising expectations is so important. I know as a first grade teacher that my students will work towards any goal I set for them, no matter how high. Sometimes, in writing this is more challenging for me. I want the bar raised for all my students. Regie gives some wonderful ideas on how to do that. I will start reading more read alouds that include nonfiction picture books as well as poetry books. The charts in Chapter 4 that she made with the class on “what does it mean to write more/tell more,” are something that will be very helpful with my class. I have always had very high expectations with my student’s handwriting skills. I believe it is very important that their writing be legible, the letters be formed correctly. We start the first day of school with this. We brush up on it periodically throughout the year. I have always wondered if it was too sloppy to read if I should have my first graders rewrite it. Any thoughts? I know that editing is important. I also know with my little ones it is one we have to practice and do lots of shared writing with. I plan to do lots more partnering practice when I start editing. Some of my students always struggle with where to put periods. I wonder if you have some good suggestions. Using the OLM I will use more authentic language when I write. I will talk as I write and make sure my students can see me plan, edit and revise as I am writing. I will also do many more shared demonstrations. This seems to be a wonderful way to get their minds flowing on what they want to write about, especially since they are involved in the process. They are talking with partners; sharing with the teacher and watching the story unfold. If my understanding is correct the students then practice, using guided practice what they have seen through the shared demonstration. Teachers are monitoring closely or are doing writing conferences. I am confused about the difference between that and independent practice.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely agree with your quote about worksheets. Students become better writers by writing, not by doing worksheets. They aren’t very helpful. When using them students are writing for an audience and the students don’t have any ownership in their writing.
Shared writing is a very important part of the Optimal Learning Model. It is ideal for all learners. I can see this being especially helpful for my ELL learners. It taps into students interests which motivate them. I am always looking for new ways to motivate my students to write. Although we don’t have our own kids for reading (we use SFA), I do a lot of read alouds and would combine them with Shared writing. As Allison mentioned previously, we also teach ELL class. This method of doing a story and then taking the story apart, noticing words they know, word tiles, etc. would be fabulous for those language learners. I liked the list of tried and true methods for Shared Writing that Regie presented in Chapter 5. It gives me examples that I could use in my classroom like welcome letter to a new student, procedures for a classroom, all about books a fictional story, poems and what is special about us, recipes and favorites foods. These are all great ideas that students can relate too. I so look forward to start writing with my students.
One way I will integrate the reading and writing connection is having my students write across the curriculum. I do that now, but need to make sure I incorporate it even more like in math. I will also be reading more non-fiction stories and work on shared writing experiences on how to write summaries. My students struggled this year when writing non-fiction stories. I finally realized it’s because I didn’t give them enough exposure to them. That is why I will include them in my read alouds. I really liked the idea of her book reviews. I teach the higher level reading group and this would be something I could start with them in the Fall. I would then teach my own class how to do them. I think it is a very valuable tool.
ReplyDeleteHi all! Don't forget to comment on each others' writing. Even if you just confirm or ask a question about one other participants' response. It just makes it more interesting to have some dialogue going...and is the whole point of blogging :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Mariah, Allison and Leah for posting your comments for assignment four. I loved hearing how you all have high expectations (or will be raising them this coming year!). If we hold kids accountable, they will almost always rise to the occasion. Several of you had more specific questions about the OLM, specifically the difference between modeled and shared practice. Bottom line: OLM or gradual release provides students with the opportunity to have the scaffolds (support) that each individual needs to be independent. In reality, every one of your students will need varying degrees of support. That’s why our day ebbs and flows with a mix of whole group, small group, and individual work with students. Don’t get too hung up on the language of what we call these scaffolds, especially since different professionals use different terms for the scaffolds. I see shared practice as more modeling but students may (or may not) have a voice in the actually piece being written. In the more primary grades, interactive writing is considered guided writing, but for the most part guided writing for me happens in small groups. Most often this will be for a group of kids who need additional support to what was given in the minilesson or a group of kids who are all exhibiting another need (could be work on that sloppy punctuation or weak leads….). I hope this helps to clarify a bit more.
ReplyDeleteAny suggestions for Allison’s issue with space for charts? I know some teachers who just make a “reference” big book with past charts put together with a ring. You’d be surprised how often students will use these to refer to, especially if you continue to use them instructional during whole group, small group, and conferences :)
I think I have so many questions about the Guided Practice portion of the OLM because our new principal has demanded that we do Guided Practice during every lesson we teach in any subject area. I believe that he thinks Guided Practice should look something like this: Students are brainstorming and offering ideas while everyone has their own paper to write on. The teacher writes in front of the class while everyone copies.
ReplyDeleteI am not sure that is what Guided Practice is exactly but am open to being corrected. I do not see much validity in having kids copy text daily. For 1st graders especially there are a lot of skills a student needs to have in order to copy text from the board. It can be very tedious and time consuming. I see doing that kind of like a worksheet - no one is really getting anything out of it. The "good" writers speed through each sentence and are waiting around doing nothing for a majority of the time. The "struggling" writers can barely keep up, are frustrated, and are concentrating so hard on the copying that they aren't actually absorbing anything.
I feel like after reading thus far that I have actually been doing a lot of Guided Practice and not much Independent Practice. I would set up my writing block in 1 of 2 ways. 1 way: I do a mini-lesson, students help me with the text and then they are sent off to write about whatever they want while I do roving conferences. 2 way: I give students the entire writing block to write about whatever they want while I do roving conferences or work with small groups. Now I know this is not ideal and definitely plan on doing things differently next year. LOTS MORE DEMONSTRATION!!!!! And a better quality demonstration. Anyway, based on that very short explanation of what I used to do - where is the Independent Practice? Is the Guided Practice for the students I am conferencing with and Independent for the rest?
Again, I totally agree with everything Regie is writing in these chapters. When she talks about raising expectations, I think it is especially important to remember that pride equals motivation, and confidence builds confidence. My favorite thing that she points out in her “Nurture and Nudge” section is to have good peer models. My students love to hear former student work and strive to be one of my “student samples.” One of the things that has really raised my expectations of my seventh graders is having a school age child (my son). As I help him with his schoolwork, I have a clearer picture of at what age/ in what grade concepts are introduced and studied. Knowing this has allowed me to fine tune my instruction and minimize things kids already know. The students definitely appreciate when I say, “I know you already know this, so let’s take it to the next level.” I see teachers holding on to lessons that they like to teach that are BORING to students…because it is stuff the kids already know. Then the teachers get frustrated with the lack of effort…hmmm. As far as worksheets, I agree, but I also think they have their time and place. Just like any lesson, you can have good worksheets and bad worksheets.
ReplyDeleteThe state standard for handwriting in Oregon is simple: Write Legibly. Parents love to worry about handwriting. If I could just get parents to look beyond handwriting and spelling! Unfortunately, as a seventh grade writing teacher, I can read almost anything, so pretty much anything is “legible.” Also, we have mobile laptop labs, and have been typing more and more of our papers lately. I still, however, have students pre-write, rough draft with paper and pencil, edit and revise, then type. This shows the writing process, which I think, in seventh grade, is very important. They are allowed to use spelling and grammar check on the computers, and we have to teach them how. We teach them how it is not always correct and will not catch correctly spelled but misused homophones (their, there, they’re; to, too, two; whole, hole; piece, peace, etc.). It is a more modern and more practical way to teach conventions, editing, and publishing.
Shared writing. Yes, love it, definitely do it. I like to move from the document camera to a piece of paper just because it mixes things up a little and gives students something new to look at. I don’t make them sit on the floor—well, they couldn’t because we are too crowded and it would cause more distraction—but looking at something new wakes them up a little. She is right that you have to move fast and not go on too long. It is a great choice for shorter assignments, or just to get students started on something. As far as her “tried and true suggestions,” since I teach writing, many of them are already in my curriculum map. Some new things that I really like are the visitor’s guide, what parents need to know, and since my school does PBIS (Positive Behavior Interventions and Support) I like the ideas of having them work on student handbook, how to act on the bus, playground, what to do in a fire drill—all those ideas would be a great follow up to the PBIS lessons. Lastly, I always toy with the idea of having a student-made classroom or team newspaper or letter. Maybe this year, with a new schedule, I can make that happen.
Reading and writing: I believe. Since reading and writing are separate classes at my school, the reading teacher teaches a lot of the summarizing and does the book reports. However, for my persuasive unit, instead of having the students write a boring paper about why they should be able to chew gum, we read a book that poses a question and they take a side and write a persuasive paper using evidence from the story (yes, it is fiction) to support their claims. It is a great unit and gets them thinking about responding to literature the way they will be in high school. They love it, and as we discussed in chapter four, it raises the expectations. It is something new, challenging, and interesting for them and, because of this, effortless to teach.
After reading chapter 4, I understand the importance of expecting excellence from all of my students. Not only is it important to simply expect excellence, anyone can do that, but to help students develop skills and help your class develop a culture based on high quality work. Being consistent with my expectations throughout the year, and helping students when they do not meet those expectations is crucial. Doing things such as reading aloud and engaging in class conversations, writing poetry, seeing and reading student work, and being intentional with my lessons will help my students meet those high expectations. I know I need to do a better job of ensuring students know what the objectives are for the lesson. If my objectives are clearly outlined, then I can ask students before they turn in work if they met the objectives, and they should know right away if they met them or not.
ReplyDeleteChapter 4 also talks a lot about handwriting, and this is an area I would like to focus on next year. Starting off the year the next, I want to be very intentional from day one. Starting with capitals, where you start writing, keeping the words on the line and proper letter formation will be a focal point.
As with the other posts, I found the shared writing section very helpful. I have done lessons similar to this, basically where I write a short story in front of the students, but I’ve never done it with a lot of input from the class. Writing in front of the students, and in some cases having the students copy what I am writing can also be helpful. Having students write with me will help them with paragraph indentation, word spacing, general layout and spelling. Using shared writing as a 10 -15 minutes starter can be useful, but also writing a longer story over a week or two span would be a great way to create a class written story together. Leah said shared writing could be especially helpful to ELL students, and I agree with this as well.
The final chapter goes into reading and writing. Throughout the year, we as a class are constantly using the word summarize. From asking them to summarize what we did in math yesterday, to asking them to summarize what happened during the read aloud yesterday, we are always summarizing. With students, I find they are normally very good at summarizing verbally, but have a difficult time organizing their summarize thoughts on paper. This is an area I believe I can do a better job of modeling next year. I’d like for the students to do more book reviews next year, and I think it would be a good idea to do a shared writing lesson where we as a class write a review of a read aloud we finished.
I like what Phil said in writing a longer story in front of the students. With first graders I probably wouldn't start out with this way, but introduce later.
ReplyDeleteI see my writing block set up similar to Allison's. However, I will start out with me modeling a story and then proceed with a shared demonstration. My dilemma is how to proceed from guiding practice to independent writing.
Our school does PBIS, as well. It would be a great idea to have students write handbooks based on those expectations. I like that idea, Ashley!
ReplyDeleteI also think students will enjoy striving to be one of the student samples you keep. My classes have often enjoyed reading the class stories that previous classes have written. They like to "live on" in their writing.
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ReplyDeleteThanks Ashley and Phil for adding your comments on Section Two.
ReplyDeleteAshley – It sounds as though I’d love to be a student in your writing class :) It’s wonderful that you are using shared writing in your 7th grade class. We’re starting PBIS next year as a pilot school, and I have to remember about having kids draft and write the Visitor’s Guide for the building!
Phil – You’ve set a great goal of high and consistent expectations for next year. If you stick to your guns, kids will hold themselves accountable in all instances including their handwriting. Using shared writing as the spring board to teach editing skills such as paragraphing, is a great idea! I also absolutely love the idea of having kids write book reviews for their peers. Have kids clip the reviews to the book with a paper clip and put them in the classroom library in a basket with a title they come up with like, “Rave Reviews”.
Allison - I don't like (didn't want to use the word hate) when a Principal goes to a one shot type professional development and out of the whole day picks one minute idea or new learning that he/she will bring back to the school as a new focus for instruction. I'm not sure where your Principal is getting his information, but most of the literature out there would describe guided writing as happening in a small group (usually temporary) that focuses in on a particular need of the group you've gathered. I pulled out Fountas and Pinnell's Bible, "Guiding Readers and Writers" and they confirm this definition as well. I completely agree that having kids just copy your work is a complete waste of time!!! As you said - explicit modeling and then they go off and practice with some independent writing (during which you will either confer OR pull a small guided writing group)....??? Is your administrator the type of person you could copy some information either from Regie's book or Fountas and Pinnell to support your beliefs during a discussion?
I think it is imperative I have experts to support my beliefs. My principal loves data and things in black and white. That would be very helpful.
ReplyDeleteWorksheets…So I completely agree about what Regie was saying. I think she summarized the effect they have on our students in a clear and concise way… The question that I have is what about grammar? That is the one place that I have seen worksheets to be effective. In teaching capitalization, parts of speech, correct use of periods ect. I definitely conference with students and address these topics and subjects with them in their writing but I have seen the extended practice benefit and transfer into students writing…
ReplyDeleteI had a few “aha!” moments in this section. One of the first ones was using and overhead with shared writing. A frustration for me has been how long it takes me to communicate my story with shared writing. So I like the idea of being able to quickly jot my ideas down so that I don’t loose my students attention. Another “aha!” moment was the integration of reading and writing instruction. I have viewed these two subjects in isolation and reading has always won in terms of what I allow time for. I was struck by the statement, “Using their own writing as reading material engages all students.” I saw that more last year with my class as we did more writing projects… I watched my student pour over their writing, re-reading and re-reading their pieces, sharing them with their friends, having fluency when they read their stories to the class because they knew the tone they were trying to communicate. My last “aha!” moment was to ask worthwhile questions about hat they have been reading. That struck a chord with me and made me want to examine the questions that I ask about the Literature study books they have been reading.
Thanks Regina for sharing your reflections on this section. As far as grammar worksheets are concerned, you are lucky that your students transfer learning from the work sheet to their writing work. Quite often, teachers do not see this transfer. Efficiently using the reading/writing connection will possibly allow you to save some time in your schedule, which for most of us is always a struggle.
ReplyDeletePosting for Molly:
ReplyDeleteI definitely believe that we should have higher expectations for our students. When we have high expectations for our students, they stay engaged and stretch themselves in their learning. I think high expectations goes hand-in-hand with planning engaging lessons, good modeling, shared writing, guided writing, and independent practice. We can’t simply have high expectations – we must also be strong in our teaching so students can meet and exceed those expectations.
While reading the chapter on raising expectations I reflected a lot about my own writing program and what can improve. I see that I spend too much “writing time” having students do activities that aren’t authentic. Reading Routman’s quote, “Worksheets aren’t good enough. The students who can do them don’t need them, and the ones who struggle with them feel defeated by the red marks, which only reinforce their feelings of inadequacy….”(56-57) really drove home the point for me of the importance of giving students time to actually write so they can have practice and at the same time experience success. I made many worksheets this year that I spent hours creating, yet no student ever came up to me telling me how proud they were of finishing the worksheet. No one wanted to share their worksheet with the class either, yet anytime we did free choice writing everyone wanted to share.
Posting for Molly (con't):
ReplyDeleteIt was really interesting to read about Routman’s beliefs about teaching handwriting. She talks about modeling good handwriting, having alphabet letter formation student visuals, and if needed working one on one with a student to help with their letter formation. I have really worked hard to have my first graders write neatly, but it always seems like there are so many things we need to teach such as reading, writing, and math that it is always placed on the back burner. I recently went to a presentation by an occupational therapist who talked about how our country has continued to devote less and less time to handwriting as teachers feel more and more pressure to get kindergarten and first grade students to meet benchmarks in reading and writing. She talked about how in Europe they devote many hours to correct letter formation in the primary grades and how there is a “perfect” measurement ratio that the individual student desks and chairs are adjusted to so they can write more easily. I had a little boy in my class who had brilliant ideas, but terrible handwriting. Because I had so many students during writing time that needed my help much more than him I met with his mom and gave her some handwriting books to work on at home. This seemed to help a lot, yet handwriting continues to be a big issue in school and there don’t seem to be easy answers.
While reading Routman’s “Tried and True Ideas for Shared Reading” I found myself starring and writing down many of them in my school journal to remember for next year. Some ways I can teach shared writing in different content areas are as follows:
Math:
• Write different story problems using student names as a class.
• Generate a fact sheet on all the things we know about coins, then show what different groupings of coins equal.
• Create a chart of different shapes focusing on descriptive language.
Reading:
• Write a book review after reading a book as a class.
• Have students reread the shared writing in pairs by word processing copies for students, and then have students take their copies home to illustrate and reread to their families.
• Focus on word work by having students highlight specific rimes or letter sounds.
• Bring attention to high frequency words by having students circle them with a partner on their own sheet. As a group review the high frequency words students circled and teach several new ones.
Science:
• Create a “What we Know About Insects” shared writing together.
• Work together to describe the texture, color, and shape of different rocks and minerals.
After completing shared writing I would give students an opportunity to think about what they would like to write, give them a chance to share and then begin writing their own copy.
I love how Routman makes the connection between comprehension and writing. For years while reading I have written things down as I read because it helps me to remember. This connection made me realize the importance of teaching students to write down information and highlight parts that speak to them. I need to remember to be explicit about what strategies I use and teach them to my students.
Thanks Molly – I’m not sure what the answer to the handwriting issue is in schools, but I know that my bottom line is to get my kids to be able to read, write, and do math. I think that handwriting becomes an issue with audience, because kids need to understand that their audience needs to be able to READ their writing. I think it’s a good idea to have parents support with handwriting at home, to follow up on whatever it is you are able to accomplish in the classroom. Best of luck as you try out some of Regie’s “Tried and True” ideas this coming school year!
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