Assignment Eight: Read Writing Essentials Chapters 11-12 and Section Five. Reflect on the comments below and any additional reactions you have after reading these chapters. Post your thoughts to the course blog.
Chapter 11: Build on Best Practice and Research • What are some of the key research findings most relevant to writing instruction?
• What are the practices of highly effective teachers?
• How can you be part of the ongoing professional development discussions in your building?
• What about test scores? What are the characteristics of high performing schools?
• Think twice before adopting a “program”
Regie begins this chapter sharing her experiences doing residencies in schools and the surprising (and delightful) discovery that whole school cultures changed during the course of their work improving literacy instruction. As she said, “This is what education should be about…whole schools working together so that all students (can) succeed.” How is the climate/culture in your school? On your team? One reason we continue to look to Regie for inspiration is that we feel she is so practical. There is not one right way or method to teach writing. “That is why formulas, programs and recipes don’t work. Every context, school and person is different and has different needs. Literacy is not a set of acquired or learned skills.”
Chapter 12: Make Every Minute Count• You need to “REDUCE THE PAPER LOAD!!!”
• What can we do that will save us time and allow us to focus more on meaningful instruction?
• Regie states, “Take more time to see the light!” Don’t get bogged down with daily worksheets and isolated exercises.
Though this chapter is short it is full of valuable ideas and reminders! Regie reminds us in this chapter to stop and reflect about what we are doing in the classroom. Ask yourself: Is this the best use of my time? Is what I’m about to do going to help my students become more joyful and accomplished readers, writers and thinkers?
“It might be that the best use of your time is to read a professional book, see a movie, visit with a friend. Sharing your experiences with your students may be a more useful way to get them to think about their writing than marks and comments on a paper.” “It’s hard to come to school all excited about teaching if you’ve spent hours the night before pouring over papers.” It is a disservice to our students and ourselves “if our out-of-school time is all about paperwork.” In fact, “Teachers’ comments on students’ papers do little to improve writing, even if the comments are positive ones. It is far more effective to conference with students and focus on specific writing issues with the student at your side.”
Also “(b)e sure that most of your writing time is devoted to writing, not preparing for writing or doing activities about writing. Safeguard sustained writing time; it’s critical for becoming a writer. Limit take-home work for students too, and place more emphasis on free-choice reading. Having more reading experiences positively impacts growth in writing skills.”
Regie closes this chapter by reminding us to breathe, relax and enjoy writing- and your life! “One way to reduce stress and have more energy for teaching and advocacy is to have a life outside of school. I worry about teachers and principals who work twelve-hour days. I have seen no research that shows educators who work the longest hours get the best results or that longer reading and writing projects teach more about reading and writing. Keep evaluating whether what you’re staying late for-or the hours of work you take home- will help your students become more effective readers and writers.”
• What are the practices of highly effective teachers?
• How can you be part of the ongoing professional development discussions in your building?
• What about test scores? What are the characteristics of high performing schools?
• Think twice before adopting a “program”
Regie begins this chapter sharing her experiences doing residencies in schools and the surprising (and delightful) discovery that whole school cultures changed during the course of their work improving literacy instruction. As she said, “This is what education should be about…whole schools working together so that all students (can) succeed.” How is the climate/culture in your school? On your team? One reason we continue to look to Regie for inspiration is that we feel she is so practical. There is not one right way or method to teach writing. “That is why formulas, programs and recipes don’t work. Every context, school and person is different and has different needs. Literacy is not a set of acquired or learned skills.”
Chapter 12: Make Every Minute Count• You need to “REDUCE THE PAPER LOAD!!!”
• What can we do that will save us time and allow us to focus more on meaningful instruction?
• Regie states, “Take more time to see the light!” Don’t get bogged down with daily worksheets and isolated exercises.
Though this chapter is short it is full of valuable ideas and reminders! Regie reminds us in this chapter to stop and reflect about what we are doing in the classroom. Ask yourself: Is this the best use of my time? Is what I’m about to do going to help my students become more joyful and accomplished readers, writers and thinkers?
“It might be that the best use of your time is to read a professional book, see a movie, visit with a friend. Sharing your experiences with your students may be a more useful way to get them to think about their writing than marks and comments on a paper.” “It’s hard to come to school all excited about teaching if you’ve spent hours the night before pouring over papers.” It is a disservice to our students and ourselves “if our out-of-school time is all about paperwork.” In fact, “Teachers’ comments on students’ papers do little to improve writing, even if the comments are positive ones. It is far more effective to conference with students and focus on specific writing issues with the student at your side.”
Also “(b)e sure that most of your writing time is devoted to writing, not preparing for writing or doing activities about writing. Safeguard sustained writing time; it’s critical for becoming a writer. Limit take-home work for students too, and place more emphasis on free-choice reading. Having more reading experiences positively impacts growth in writing skills.”
Regie closes this chapter by reminding us to breathe, relax and enjoy writing- and your life! “One way to reduce stress and have more energy for teaching and advocacy is to have a life outside of school. I worry about teachers and principals who work twelve-hour days. I have seen no research that shows educators who work the longest hours get the best results or that longer reading and writing projects teach more about reading and writing. Keep evaluating whether what you’re staying late for-or the hours of work you take home- will help your students become more effective readers and writers.”
When I’ve taken time to breathe and do things I enjoy, the work I do in the classroom improves. Watching interesting movies, reading pleasurable books, getting ideas from Pintrist are all activities that inspire me, and give me the extra oomph to make the school day engaging for children.
ReplyDeleteThe emphasis in teaching with depth and doing it well, rather than covering a broad amount of material on the surface, is another reason I appreciate my school. Of course, we all feel harried and too busy…it’s the life of a teacher… but there is a notion that begins at the top, that we need to live our lives. I think this shows in our instruction, and finally in the smiles of our students.
In addtition, to making my students feel like writers, the ideas and techniques Regie describes have helped establish a strong bond in the class. The students care about their classmates and their progress. They care about doing well, they care if their neighbor does well. There is an excitement when we share, when we write and most especially when we publish.
I think that Writer’s Workshop and the concept of writing with, and for meaning for real audiences is a manifestation of the belief that schooling in general and writing instruction specifically needs to be authentic. The idea that to be successful is to work hours upon hours correcting and copying papers is not sustainable and not healthy. Regie Routman is so clear about this. It’s although she’s given us the permission to be real. Thank goodness
It's interesting when I reflect on the culture of our team and school. Our team is made up of five teachers, and we all come from different places. Three of us have taught 1st, and the other 2 come from 4th. We have very different approaches to teaching writing! Everyone is very open and willing to learn from each other... Whether everyone goes back to their own classroom and teaches his or her old or familiar way is up for debate! :)
ReplyDeleteOur school/district is doing a lot of work with the new Common Core writing standards this year. My teammate and I are the professional development facilitators for this work in our school. We are asking that teachers take time to reflect on how much time they devote to writing instruction as well as how much time they devote to independent practice and conferencing with students. Teachers are also reflecting on what their teaching tool is i.e. Lucy Caulkins, 6 Essential Traits, etc. Overall, I would say the culture of our school is very reflective and open.
I really like at our school how teachers are not expected to "adopt a program." Different writing programs appeal to different teachers, and I do believe being authentic and true to yourself is the most important aspect of teaching. We have a handful of different philosophies that we are able to choose from, and I really like the culture that creates.
I have been that teacher who stays until 8:00 at night at school, and I truly believe that it did no one good. I was prepared! Well, I was OVERLY prepared! But I was exhausted and living an unbalanced life. I think it's so important to follow Regie's advice about asking WHY we do some things... Is this the best use of my time? Or the students' time?
I am happy that I feel confident with the amount of time that I contribute to out-of-school work as well as in class writing time. Reading Routman's book has helped to reinforce my beliefs on writing and a balanced teaching life, as well offer a number of great ideas to incorporate.
I think chapter 11 gave solid strategies and ideas to discuss writing with other teachers and staff members. It inspired me to make some changes both within my classroom as well as talking with administrators to see about changing things school wide. I was especially interested in the section that discussed the special help that many of our struggling readers received. I have been having the issue with that this year and feeling like my kids are missing out to receive something that isn’t really helping them. They may know the skill but they are unable to apply it to any meaningful context. This is definitely something that I want to discuss before the year progresses too far. I think that the text really focused on practical ideas, especially chapter 12. It was a great chapter to read and it was over before I knew it because it was, to me, the integration of everything. The book discussed all this information and now what do we do….? The number one thing that I took away from chapter 12 was to ask myself about every activity and exercise if this is the best use of my time? I think that as I make changes to make sure that everything I do is the best use of my time, I will see great results.
ReplyDeleteHi Megan,
ReplyDeleteI feel the same way. It is as if Regie (an expert in instruction and literacy) is giving us permission to do what we really feel is best for the kids, our families and ourselves. What a relief!!! So many teachers comment on this to us in our reading and writing classes that use Regie’s texts.
The other point that I think you make and believe Regie talks about in Teaching Essentials, is that it really takes a great principal to bring about change and improvement in schools. I believe she is quoted as saying, “I use to think teachers could do it alone, but I now believe that without a quality principal changes are very difficult to make.” (This is not an exact quote; it’s from my memory.) I would have to agree, as someone who has worked in seven different schools across the country in four states, having a good principal is so important. (We could go on and on talking about what exactly a “good principal” is, but for the sake of brevity will leave that conversation for another time. ☺)
Hello Jen!
Oh, I love that you said it several times…reflection, reflection, reflection. There seems to never be enough time for reflection and it is so important. That is great that your school has a supportive culture and is open to trying new things AND giving teachers the time to critical reflect on their practice! Not to mention they are given the freedom to instruct the way they believe is best and feels most comfortable.
Jessica,
Kudos to you for being willing to initiate change in your building. Sometimes, it’s a long and tiring process, but without the time, effort and dedication of teachers like all of you, nothing would improve. We are all, in fact, here for the children and when we are able to keep this perspective the difficult conversations go a little easier.
I agree with Regie that as teachers we also need to be advocates for what is best for our students, stand up for what we know works. The district I taught language arts has a wonderful, caring staff that are doing good things for kids, but at the same time we are forced to perform in a sense. We have weekly PLC meetings in our teams and are asked to bring data (charts, graphs, etc.) to display our formative assessment data to determine if our students are meeting our learning target. I feel there are many more useful things I could be doing with my time than collecting assessment data at times when it feels unnatural to do so and making a graph or chart of that information.
ReplyDeleteI liked that Regie shared the story of the teachers who realized the skills isolated writing curriculum that they themselves had created was not what was best for students and they re-wrote the guidelines. That speaks to the importance of re-evaluating and re-visiting our strategies and curriculum to ensure we are providing excellent teaching for our students and to make changes if needed. Teaching is a profession that requires you to be constantly reflecting. After teaching a lesson and mid-lesson, I’m always asking myself what is going well here, are they getting it, what do I need to change, where do we need to go now, etc. If we are not having that constant dialogue in our head, we are not interacting well with our students and we are not invested in their learning.
I also liked her point of focusing on one area for writing comments on student writing. If you have one area in your mind as a focus then a stack of 150 papers seems less daunting.
What an important and simple question - is this the best use of my time - Regie poses to teachers in chapter 12. I feel we always need to have our end goal in sight and if an activity does not align with that goal, get rid of it. That is such a good question to be asking ourselves as we grade, plan and instruct. I’ll definitely be asking myself that question in the future.
Kaetlyn,
ReplyDeleteWe also thought it was a very powerful question! Yes, more time for reflection for both students and teachers alike!