ASSIGNMENT SIX: DVD Reflection- Included in your text is a DVD containing video clips of Regie’s conferences with writers in the classroom. There is a detailed commentary accompanying the DVD on page 336 of her text. Please watch the DVD and then look at her teaching notes beginning on page 336 (Regie suggests just watching without notes first so that you don’t miss what she and the students are doing.) After both watching and reading her notes, write your reflection and please post a copy of your DVD Reflection to the blog.
*NOTE: If you experience problems playing the DVD please refer to the Writing Essentials companion website at www.heinemann.com/writingessentials for directions for playing the DVD. Look in the upper right hand corner for the link.
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Reading the book gave a lot of information on how to be a more effective writing teacher, but watching the video fleshed out many of my questions.
ReplyDeleteThe whole group conferences that doubled as celebrations were more informal than I imagined. These were more like conversations that were loaded in information. While watching I realized that Regie wrote many of her tips and suggestions on sticky notes. This seems helpful to the student as well as the teacher. While re reading drafts you can see how the students incorporated your suggestions; or how they put them into their own words.
I liked that the emphasis was what was done well, then how something could be tweaked for the future. I thought it was helpful that she was so direct. During one of the conferences she said,” Now, I don’t really understand this, how can you say it differently”. She is very clear, while being very conscientious of the writer. It was helpful to see her conference one on one with the students. The issue of a story not making sense is a challenge I face very often. The way led the student to write an understandable story seemed very natural.
I was eager to watch her teach spelling. What I took from this clip and her comments was that we must give the students the responsibility to spell correctly. To often, it’s me circling and crossing out and fixing it all up. This is exhausting for me, and not really helpful in the long run for the students. I need to encourage them to focus on the spelling patterns they know and make them own their work.
Yes, I know exactly what you mean about being exhausted correcting students' spelling. :D You are right, reminding students to focus on the spelling patterns that they know and giving them the responsibility to make the piece grammar and spelling error free is what we need to be doing for our students.
ReplyDeleteI was so interested to see these conferences and celebrations in action. I really liked how the celebration was not only a chance for the student to read his or her writing to the class but also a time for the teacher to ask questions and provide feedback that the whole class was able to hear. I can only imagine that the students are listening to the tips for the writer, and that will help their own writing as well. I really like how "into the stories" she was. I can definitely relate to this... I love reading the students' writing and learning all of the funny stories they have to tell. Celebrating this as a whole class will boost writing confidence and build a more cohesive classroom culture. I also really liked how informal the celebrations and conferences are. And even if students aren't "finished" with a piece, they still share.
ReplyDeleteThe sticky notes are a great idea. It's a quick way to jot down a note or two that the student can take with them on their paper as a reminder to incorporate into their writing.
In my classroom, I am conferencing one-on-one often, and now I see how a conference can almost be done in conjunction with the celebration. The best part of watching the videos is the genuine and authentic pride each student has from sharing a part of his or herself with their classroom community.
The DVD was great to see real celebrations of writing. I liked that it was a very easy going, informal positive activity with the students. There were ideas on how to make the writing better and ways for other students to use the same strategies in their writing and it appeared to be inspiring and engaging for the students which are two things that all of us need to do on an everyday basis with our students. In addition to the celebration it was nice to see how excited the students were about their writing and it gave me some ideas on how I can teach students about writing for an audience. If we never share our writing, how will students learn to write for an audience with writing that reflects their voice and ideas? I am sharing the videos with several of my team teachers and hope that we can make some of these changes across the grade level. I am not sure that they would require a lot of prep work other than watching the video and being open to the idea…no copies to be made or manual to read…which is great!
ReplyDeleteI also enjoy watching Regie in action. Here's a link to some other video clips she put together for her book Teaching Essentials and from a Google search on the web.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.regieroutman.com/teachingessentials/videos.asp
http://www.regieroutman.com/inresidence/cnctn/player.aspx?file=Connections_Sessino_04
http://www.regieroutman.com/inresidence/wrtg/player.aspx?file=1_07_chapter01
http://vimeo.com/22093383
Seeing Regie work with students while watching the DVD conferences and mini-lesson really showed how “do-able” this style of teaching is. Celebrating students as writers by giving lots of positive feedback and helpful encouragement is not complicated, we just have to take the time to do it well. I also think teachers sometimes do not give themselves enough credit for everything that they are accomplishing with students at any given time. Reading Regie’s comments on the conferences shows everything point by point and you see how much you are actually touching on in only three minutes. I really liked that during Ervin’s conference Regie did not cross out his repetitive information for him, even after he agreed to remove it, but had him do it. I feel she was teaching the skill of getting rid of repetitive information, but still respecting him as a writer by letting him cross it out. I was glad to see Regie using post-it notes, I’m a huge fan! I’ve used them similarly with students for writing as well as using them for “hot spots” in novels during literature circles.
ReplyDeletePride and eagerness beamed from these students. They were engaged in the conferences and excited about their writing. The kindness and warmth Regie shows towards students is critical for their success. The environment of the conferences and spelling lesson was compassionate and supported where students felt OK to take risks and struggle some. Derek seemed fine to work through his spelling mistakes in front of the class and you could tell he knew he wasn’t going back to his seat without doing this right. I love the high expectations Regie displayed and the responsibility she put on the student. Rigor and student accountability is crucial for a successful classroom.
I agree with everything you said Kaetlyn! I do think teachers don't give themselves enough credit and so many students comment to us that they felt validated after reading various sections of the text.
ReplyDelete