ASSIGNMENT FOUR: WRITTEN REFLECTION-Section Two- Teaching Essentials Chapters 4-6
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.
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One of the reasons I was so eager to read this book is that I was always so perplexed on how to balance spelling, conventions handwriting with thoughtful writing. I would make the mistake of letting spelling go in order for the students to write more thoughtfully or I would go the other way, and obsess about spelling ECT. With either focus the students and I would get frustrated.
ReplyDeleteI have a better grasp as what to expect and when to expect it. I now know to get their creativity going with modeling writing and shared writing, and then let them go for it, with the understanding that they will be expected to clean it up. The idea if the whole –part-whole philosophy has liberated me. I don’t feel the need to harp on conventions in the early draft stage. I have more stamina and energy to really conference about the writing. I notice that the kids have not been as needy when it comes to spelling as well. They know it will get fixed if they choose to publish that piece. I am working at embedding more quick mini- lessons in to workshops when I notice a pattern of spelling or convention issues.
O0Two tools I will use to aid spelling are a word-wall and “words I know books”. The word-wall will feature absolute must spell words and study topic words- right now we’re studying salmon, so many of those frequently used words would be on the board. I chose both because some kids access the books better than the wall.
I am excited to begin shared writing. For now, I’ve written for the children and they have helped me revise sentences and word choice. This was a time well spent. I think that the time we will spend writing together will prove to as helpful and inspire the students to really take owner ship of their writing.
I agree that to use only worksheets is waste of time. Truly, the kids who do well are the ones who don’t need them…just like spelling lists. Worksheets can be tempting when the process of writing feels so tangled and murky. They are so clear-cut. Unfortunately, the step 1, step 2 nature of them does not carry over and they just add busy work.
My kids rarely write about what they have read. This is an aspect of writing I’ve looked over. Maybe because they’re primary students and that type of writing seems for older kids. I found Reggie Routman’s ideas helpful and will strive to incorporate them into our workshops.
Glad you found the section worthwhile! Many teachers comment on how they feel liberated and/or justified after reading the text. It helps us to know that what we believe and know to be true is best for the students and we can answer to any questions or concerns that parents or administration may have and feel "backed up."
ReplyDeleteI also like the "words I know" books and have seen many students in my classroom use these more frequently rather than the word wall. Plus they can add in their own important or frequently used words and have access to them when they need them.
You'll likely find yourself rereading this text or sections of it after the course is over. :D
Chapter 4 was great for me because I work in a school that is a high percentage minority, I mean, in my classroom of 30, I have one white student, three Russian, 1 African, 6 African American and 20 Hispanic students 19 of which are from Mexico. I have two students who have passed the OAKS reading and 3 who have passed the OAKS math. According to recent data, students who come to our school, meaning, transfer in, are 60% or more below grade level. It was great to see some strategies focused on raising standards for those groups specifically. I am a firm believer that all the students can and will rise to perform at high expectations if they have the right support behind them. One of the statements in the book is so true…how some schools get a one size fits all program and the more affluent schools get the best materials and strategies to teach the students, who, for the most part, do not need the extra supports. Sadly, I am noticing the inequities very quickly. I liked the tips regarding excellent writing instruction on page 57. They were some quick and easy things that I could do. Another interesting part of the book was to read students work from the various grade levels. When I started the school year, I was not really aware of how to teach writing, so I just had students write. We did free writes, brainstorms, whatever they wanted, as long as they wrote. In chapter 4, I see that is very important, so I am glad that I implemented the expectation that we write for 30 minutes early on in the year. I also have been caught in the middle of what to expect regarding conventions, spelling and handwriting. After reading this, I am going to begin to expect higher quality work from my fourth graders. They are able to correctly spell sight words and write in legible handwriting. In chapter 5, I liked to idea of incorporating more shared writing into my daily writing routine. I would like to pair it/incorporate the mini lesson that I am (supposed to be) teaching. I think that this would be a great way to combine the two. Pages 88-89 were especially helpful because it gave me quick how-to’s . I am a person who will see something I like and want to try it immediately. The shared writing will happen tomorrow in class. Another great activity that I saw was for work word. I have not done a whole lot of activities with word work and I can definitely see the benefit of using some of the ideas such as cutting up and reassembling sentences and making words with tiles. We are just starting a fictional narrative unit and I think that it would be great to use the shared writing model. The tried and true ideas were great kick starts. This will be a page that I will be referring to as I make changes to my writing time! Chapter 6 also was great because I am teaching summary writing right now in my class. It was our learning target for today and I was getting into the idea of summary vs. retelling. This was good clarification!
ReplyDeleteI really liked the anecdote in Chapter 4 about how the 4th grade teacher told the class she would love to publish her kids' writing, but she wasn't able to because of the convention errors, and low and behold, the class edited and their work came back error-free. This is a great reminder to me as I teach third grade that the kids can edit their work and make it basically correct. One thing I want to incorporate into my writing time is having students edit with a partner. I will model what the looks like when I am the editor and when my partner is editing my piece, so students will be clear on expectations of their time spent together. I believe they are such brilliant investigators when they are looking for mistakes that they know are there, especially with a partner.
ReplyDeleteI save about once a week in my class to work on handwriting - third grade is so big for learning cursive, but it is not one of the common core standards, so we honestly spend about 20 minutes a week on practicing handwriting, and the students practice their cursive for homework as well. However, at the end of the week, each student evaluates themselves as students, and one of the categories of evaluation is "legible handwriting." After students gauge their work and effort, then I assess, so each student knows where they stand for writing legibly. During Writer's Workshop, it is more important for me to have students focusing on getting their ideas and thoughts down than it is to create perfect letters.
I really enjoyed Chapter 5 on Shared Writing. This is one of my favorite writing activities to do as a class because EVERYONE is involved! This year in third grade, we were introducing the idea of word choice, so we took a walk outside amongst the fall leaves and colors, and then we came back inside and did a shared writing activity about what we saw, using "juicy words" to describe things we saw, heard, smelled, and touched. The kids did awesome... Each child who used a juicy word in his or her sentence just inspired the next sharer to use an even juicier word in his or her sentence! It became infectious... It was so fun to read and re-read our shared writing when we finished as a class. Then students were ready to head to their desks and create their own.
I believe the Daily 5 model is one of the best integrations of reading and writing. All during the same block of time, during 4 separate student-directed sessions, students read to self, read with a partner, work on writing and practice word work. Their word work consists of different things, but often it is a comprehension packet that also calls for writing reflections on their reading. This is a great way to integrate the two.
I liked the section on note-taking. In third grade, we focus so much on summarizing and pulling out important facts. I love the idea of students sitting with a partner with clipboards and taking notes on a particular nonfiction text. Also, in integrating the new common core standards, it is suggested there be a writing and reflecting component to many aspects of the students' day. Reflecting on texts that were read aloud, sharing their thinking about a math problem they solved, explaining why they hypothesized what they did about a science experiment. The goal is to infuse writing in all aspects of students' day, and it's easiest to start with the reading-writing fusion!
I completely agree with Regie’s quote, “Worksheets foster mediocrity.” They are low-level thinking activities that are a time filler. Students need to be challenged. It helps with their engagement in the classroom and it makes them feel valued. They work harder for you when they think you believe they can achieve something of value. In the next paragraph Regie states, “Mediocrity is not an option.” I like this quote even better. Students should feel nothing but their best is appropriate in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteI also enjoyed chapter 4 for all of the case studies offered. It was helpful to see Regie’s approach in action. It seems so far most of the examples have been narrative type writings, which students will be allowed to do less and less in the district I am in due to the new testing. I hope we will see more informational or persuasive writing case studies.
“If you’re reading everything your students write, they’re not writing enough.” I also connected with this quote. My students wrote many more things than I read and I would sometimes feel bad about not being able to read all of it. Especially if a student asked what I thought about something they wrote and I hadn’t read it. It made me feel solid about my approach to writing, but still does not solve the problem of kids wanting you to read everything they write.
I see the benefit of shared writing, but see a shared example being visited over several class periods to complete, similar to the magic book story, as middle school students would be required to write more detailed pieces. Some of the ideas from “Tried and True Ideas for Shared Writing” could work for the grades that I work with, but they are more appropriate younger grades. I would need to expand the list of topics to issues students could think deeply and critically about to increase their motivation.
Summarizing, I feel, is a hard skill to master. Many students get into retelling and latch onto details that are not important to the meaning. It is definitely a higher-order thinking skill that requires strong reading and writing skills to be successful. I liked the idea from her Try It Apply It on page 128 where students summarize their own writing. I never tried that one before, but will incorporate it in the future.
I relied heavily on the reading and writing connection as a language arts teacher. I felt short, provocative texts worked well to engage students and get them writing. Some of the best writing I received from students all year was a culminating activity for a novel we read as a class. The novel ends with a character about to give a speech. Knowing the traits of the character and the events he had endured, the students had to write the speech as if they were the character.
Great reflections everyone! Thanks!
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