This is a packed section! To keep the blog manageable for everyone to read and respond to.....just comment on what's most relevant to you! Please keep your comments to the one alloted post per person.
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.”
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Chapter 7: The idea that struck me most in this chapter was writing for a purpose, writing for an audience, modeling, and celebrating. I want to remember those in the upcoming year so that each time we begin our writing time I follow those simple ideas, everyday. I don’t believe I have made the audience clear-ever! I always say “Write for the reader!” But who is the reader? I have not made that simple part clear. I have used Daily Oral Language sheets in the past and have not found that they help at all. They become correcting nightmare and have no audience at all. The writing standards (and report card) we use do rely heavily on how many sentences, how many words kiddos spell correctly, use of capitalization and punctuation, and grammar. I am going to incorporate Regie’s four components for an integrated writing workshop. I had forgotten the “Bottom line” in fitting it all in. I have always loved teaching writing and recently let go of the importance and joy. Last year, my kids writing and enthusiasm really showed my lack of quality teaching.
ReplyDeleteChapter 8: The most important thing for me is to fit in writing every day. I like the consistency and predictability. My students always ask for Writer’s Workshop and are sad if it didn’t fit in. This year I will make sure that we “fit” it in each and every day. I also realized that our writing lessons can be during science, social studies, or reading. I have made a draft schedule for next year that I think will work better than last year. I also realized that I can have students do smaller writing assignments. I usually have them work on long term projects and give them a small part of the larger project each day to complete. One day we might work on leads. I will model leads, read leads from mentor text, and then write a lead sentence with students. Then I will ask them to go back and try out a few lead sentences for their piece. I still like the idea of explicitly teaching leads and having them try it. I usually have little cards or scrap paper that the students take back to their seat and write a lead on. I use this as an assessment to see where we go next. Besides thinking a lot about my daily schedule and changes I might make next year, I had a few questions that weren’t addressed. First, do students illustrate? When do they illustrate? Also, Regie talks about giving students choice in what they write, but the choice seems narrow. Is it ok to give students “free write” time?
Chapter 9: I love the idea of conferencing during share time. First, I have to make sure that we have share time each and every day. Then I have to practice this as it seems tricky. Some times at the end of our writing session I ask if anyone used the concept or technique in their writing that day. Then they stand up and share the part they wrote that used the concept taught. Or if I work with a students and I see they used a concept taught I will ask them to share their writing with the whole group. This does not happen every day and I will make sure we do this type of sharing and conferencing each day.
Chapter 10: I have never been the type of teacher that teaches to the test. When I taught 3rd grade many of my colleagues would take a month before the test and teach explicitly what would be on the test. I never subscribed to that. I do not believe standardized testing is valid or appropriate for younger students. I believe that performance and work samples give parents and teachers a much better view of how a student is doing. That being said, I do give my students a prompt 3 times a year and have them write a short piece. I then score it using the district scoring guide. As I said before the scoring guide is set up to show all of the conventions first and then fluency and voice last. I realized this skews my scoring, as I seem to score heavily on the first part of the scoring guide. This may also be fatigue. What I need to do is take more notes and conference more often. I feel this will give me the information I need and how to direct my next steps.
I agree with Jackie or Mary that time for illustrations shouldn't be long, but I think it is essential for many primary writers. I love the idea of quick sketches and teach my students how to do them. Not only will it help solidify their idea for the piece, but it will help when you are asking for more details. On a second day you could ask them to take 5 minutes to add details to the quick sketch, then make sure those details are in their writing.
Deletessignment 5-
ReplyDeleteI am beginning to better understand your comments to me earlier about going back when the class is over and finding deeper meaning. I felt like this assignment was loaded with information on teaching writing. I agree 100% with Routman that writing, or any work in school, needs to be authentic and have a purpose. When kids don’t see a purpose, the learning doesn’t stick.
I know that we are changing our schedule to try and better meet our state standards. We will have 5 periods of 45 minutes of writing each week. I think the difficult task for the school will be to address the needs of new writing teachers like myself. I feel that I have a bit of a leg up with strong management and this class. I am concerned for the non Language Arts teachers and how our school will address this new shift. As far as the actual state test goes, I am confident that Routman’s approach to passing is the way to go. Teaching to a test as if it is a checkbox list of items that you have covered is not helpful to the teacher or student. What I liked most in chapter 7 is the advice on how to turn things that kids don’t like doing in class as a part of the normal teaching process. Once you get the kids to the point that they can edit, reflect and revise you know that you have done your job. She takes the higher order skills and makes them a part of the routine. Finally, in chapter 7, I like the fact that there is an emphasis on conventions. More importantly it seems that Routman suggests that it is almost an individual timing component for each student. There is no need to pound a kid with conventions when they are just starting out. Yet, it is important to maintain a standard for the students in the classroom.
The definition of a workshop that I took away from the chapter is that it is a focused writing lesson, it offers quick feedback, and it should always be based on student needs. The most helpful part for me has been to begin thinking about what my routines, organization and modeling are going to look like in my room. I will also need to get in touch with our Language Arts teachers. I am pretty sure that we have a genre outline already. I doubt that we have aligned it vertically with the elementary or high school.
Writing conferences range from whole class to 1:1 conferences and content or editing. In my mind the purpose of these conferences is to assess student and classroom needs and use that information to help plan your mini-lessons. To me it sounds like Routman takes on the role of a coach in the classroom. She “talks up” her kids and makes sure to focus on the things that she likes or wants to see repeated. I’ve not really read another author put so much emphasis on they way you say things to students. I think that being positive and encouraging is critical to success. I have seen, however, some teachers seem disingenuous and I think the kids pick up on that. A lot of the comments also draw the student into the conversation so they are in the conference as a participant not just an observer.
Hi Kristian,
ReplyDeleteWe’re glad you found the readings useful.
I would limit the time for illustrations or send this home as homework. There just isn’t enough time in the day. Allowing it once in a while isn’t a problem but I’d be clear with the students that they most likely won’t finish the pictures and need to do so on their own time. Quick sketches are fine, and you may need to demonstrate this and let kids practice what a quick sketch is so that there are no misunderstandings.
Yes, I think having free write time is fine, but I have found helping the students with a topic seems to work for the majority of students. What about having a topic or two posted when the students come in to class in the morning and telling them that they are also allowed to free write during this time about something important to them or that they are interested in? Or what about after recess? I would always want my students to know that if they really wanted to write about something other than what was suggested just to talk to me about it. Have you ever been told to write on a subject you weren’t interested in? It’s hard!
Again, I’m with you, as I believe many teachers are, that standardized testing doesn’t really tell us much. I also don’t believe in wasting a month’s time to teach to the test. One thing Jackie and I have done when we were classroom teachers was to show them the format that the state writing tests were in and share the rubrics. We would teach this to the students as any of the other types of writing we were covering: narrative, persuasive, expository, etc…So when it came time for the testing the students had a framework that they could use to help them be more successful. As Regie says, the high stakes testing does matter even if we don’t think it’s important.
Michael,
ReplyDeleteI agree that it sounds like you are in a good place to take on writing instruction next year. Plus, having been an ELL teacher (I think you said this) also should work in your favor!
Love your definition of workshop: “The definition of a workshop that I took away from the chapter is that it is a focused writing lesson, it offers quick feedback, and it should always be based on student needs.”
Another point that you mentioned is the individual timing for students. You hit the nail on the head when you said, “(T)hat it is almost an individual timing component for each student. There is no need to pound a kid with conventions when they are just starting out.”
Once grade levels work on horizontal alignment, vertical alignment is the next way to go. It’s not an easy process as you have teachers who love teaching ____ but if they are getting _____ every year for five years in a row, they are missing out on other content. As difficult as this journey can be it is well worth the effort.
Yes, you have it exactly, Regie does, and thinks teachers should, take the role of a coach. It is encouraging to me to see the recent focus that is being put on classroom communities and respect for the students. I am passionate about all staff speaking, treating and listening to students respectful. What we say and how we say it matters and I’ve picked up a new mission in our schools to have training for our paraeducators in the areas of speaking in a respectful manner. Paula Denton’s book The Power of Our Words is a great reminder for veteran teachers as well as a good resource for assistants and staff that have not had teacher training classes. (Yes, yes, yet another soapbox that I have… :D)
Kids know if you are sincere or not. So it’s vital to mean what you say, say what you mean and show them that you care.
From chapters 7-8, I got a strong message of, “make sure they know why”. I appreciated this. It not only encompasses making sure the writer knows the audience, but also that the writer knows the purpose for each facet of writing (content, spacing, spelling, capitalization).
ReplyDeleteI appreciated the excuse to think about how I structure my writing time and what will be most effective to my kindergartners. The problems I am trying to solve: time constraints, limited parents help (no aide help), need for handwriting practice done in the presence of an adult, need for 1-1 conferences, and the need for little ones to verbally share before they get to writing. My latest idea is to have three stations going on during our writing block. If I can get two parent helpers each time, I could be conferencing 1-1 while one parent has a small group handwriting and another is getting groups to talk about what they’ll write- to share and validate each other’s ideas. Additionally, I look forward to doing more “Morning Messages” and shared messages with my class as a part of our daily morning routine. So important in kindergarten, but I’ve never taken the time for it.
The move to kindergarten from 1-2 was a relief in terms of assessment. I felt a lot less pressure to assess with rubrics than I have in past years. I was able to meet my students where they are in their writing and truly enjoy it rather than feeling frustrated that words weren’t spelled correctly or that they hadn’t used capitals despite all the mini-lessons.
Something I’m going to keep in mind as I teach my students how to share and respond in front of the whole group: go slow to go fast. It will take time for kiddos to learn how to appropriately respond. It takes time for them to learn how to peer share on topic and how to respond. Model, model, model. It may be months before they are truly ready to do this independently. I need to remember to go slow to go fast.
In this section two things really stuck out to my giving students explicit instruction and reason for doing something and also empowering them as learners. First, students need to know the why behind things. I do this very naturally and often in math. Instead of just teaching the children a formula I teach why it works that way they can always solve a problem because they will be able to reproduce a formula that they have forgotten because they understand the process not just a procedure. We absolutely need to given the children a reason for what they do. If there is a purpose behind their work they will value it. I think by giving the students a reason why it also gives purpose to what they do. For example, I have never thought about correct spelling and punctuation being needed because it allows the reader to read the piece with ease. Although this makes perfect sense I have never put it in these terms.
ReplyDeleteThe second piece that really stuck out to me is giving the students the power and responsibility of their own writing. I think this is absolutely essential. If students feel in control of their learning I feel they will value it more. Putting the power in their hands makes them the owns that controls the situation and this is ultimately what we want. I want my students to know that they control their education and grades not me. Grades are not something I give them but rather something they earn.
I also very much enjoyed Regie's comments on kid friendly rubrics. My school is one of the many that is going to posting our standards but last year we focused on posting our math standard being taught. Although, I agree with the idea I didn't agree with the execution. We posted the wordy state standard that I feel has no meaning to the students. I really like them being a part of the process of writing to rubric/criteria. I think this allows them to have more ownership in their learning. It also gives them time to really digest what is being asked of them.
I really feel this section is all about giving the students accountability of their work and really taking pride in what they do. Regie is right on when she says that we should focus on quality writing most of the year and a couple of weeks before high stakes testing equip the kids with the information they need to succeed. I am really enjoying going through this book and reading Regie's words. This is truly changing my thoughts about writing and the way I will teach my students. Instead of writing being something we have to do it is now a way for us to share information and things important to us with a specific audience. The last thing that I feel will be extremely helpful in my classroom is allowing students to talk the ideas before writing. I feel that this really helps our high population of ELL students organize their thoughts, find necessary vocabulary, and include exciting details.
Chapter 7: It was very interesting to me to look at the fifth grade writing goals comparison in this chapter. Just looking at the old goals and the revised goals side by side on page 144 I found myself being much more engaged in reading the new goals. I am anxious to create new writing goals for my own year. I am very guilty of getting rushed at not telling students 'why' we are doing something. Not only in writing, in the classroom in general. This chapter was a nice reminder to me how important it is that I slow down and be sure that I do that everyday. The spelling part of this chapter really struck me. I found myself jotting down a lot of ideas for spelling in my classroom this year. A few years ago I decided to stop doing weekly spelling tests. They were taking up to much of our instructional time and were irrelevant to the kids. It was fascinating to me how many visits I received from parents saying they didn't understand why we weren't having weekly spelling tests and that is what their child needs. It was so overwhelming I ended up doing them again.
ReplyDeleteChapter 8: This year I need to spend more time thinking about what I want and what my expectations are so I can make it very clear to the students. There are times I think that I am guilty of not being clear as to what my expectations are because I am not sure. I also realized in this chapter I need to spend more time on daily writing! I also like how the book continually refers back to the optimal learning model. And how this chapter referred to so many things we can write about in the classroom that are authentic to the kids!
Chapter 9: I have tried conferring with kids in writing at numerous different points in my career this far. I have yet to find success and consistency. I really liked the tips for successful whole class shares and conferences. I am doing more of this in my classroom this year. The other part of this chapter I found to be a very helpful reminder was the establishing routines and procedures section.
Chapter 10: I love the idea of creating child friendly rubrics. There are times at my school we often just use what was given to us. It would be so much more relevant for the students if they were recreated for them!
Hi Jennifer,
ReplyDeleteI know that funds are extremely tight, but could you talk with your administration about getting some aid time for your writing block. Perhaps the building has a general para-educator (aid/assistant) they could pull for 45 or 30 minutes a day or several times a week. Even this little bit might be helpful. And if you make your case perhaps s/he could start looking at next years budget or the one after it to see where some tweaks could be made to help the primary teachers during reading and writing time. (Budgets are set in the fall. Usually by the end of October.)
Another idea is to talk to the specialist. Could SPED or Speech or ELL push in during this time to help support writing?
One thing that I do in my libraries is to ask the secretary to send any subs to me that are paid for the half day or full day but do not have something to do for a period of time. Maybe you might be able to use the periodic person to help with something. Its not regular or even often but just thought I’d mention it.
Hi Julie,
Great comments. We’re so glad you are inspired to make changes to your writing program. We really think this book is full of wonderful ideas and is inspirational. Yes, giving the student the time to verbally rehearse will be a great addition to your writing instruction. Not only for your ELL but all your students!
Hello MacKenzie,
I believe our district uses Words Their Way for spelling and word work. The teachers seem to like it. When in the classroom, I also stopped doing spelling. I passed it on to a parent volunteer who came in every 2 weeks to test the kids and give them their new words from the list of the 500 most frequently used spelling words. Some kids only had 5 words to work on others had 10 or 12. So it was a more individualized way of handling the weekly spelling test.
The next assignment has you conferring with a student, we hope you find the exercise a better fit than what you’ve already experienced.
I think this section is where I feel most disadvantaged by not being in a classroom. I find myself wanting to see and compare her recommendations and to try her suggestions out. Instead I find myself drawing on my past experiences in the classroom and thinking about those teachers with whom I worked that modeled (or didn’t model) Regie’s recommendations. The points that most stood out for me in these chapters:
ReplyDeleteClassroom management isn’t as much of an issue when students are engaged. You can organize your writing time so that students are filled with purpose, joy, and engaged in the process. Not only does this lead to stronger writers, it leads to happier kiddos.
Set expectations by modeling, not just assignments but behavior (writing time is quiet time). Talk and share out loud about the assignment. Demonstrate it. Practice it. I especially like the idea of getting kids comfortable with peer review. So much of what I have learned about MY writing came from learning how to give feedback on someone else’s work.
I think before reading Chapter 9, I wouldn’t have known there were so many different ways to conference with students. Ialways assumed conferences were one-on-one meetings between the teacher andstudent. I’m especially excited to see the Whole Class Share conference in action. I can imagine that students would love being the “special” center of attention and having their work celebrated. I also think that modeling again comes into play. The students who watch will learn how to give feedback andwill learn indirectly as participants about what they can work on in their own writing.
This chapter was a slow read for me because there are so many different concepts presented. However, I feel that I am brimming with ideas for things to someday put into practice. I think with modification the Whole Class Share could even work in small groups for adult students.
Absolutely, I agree that it would work with adult students. I worked for a year in a high school and one of my duties was to work in the writing lab. I was actually shocked how similar high school stduents were to elementary students. It was a great expereince to have.
ReplyDelete