Welcome to Essentials of Writing! We look forward to working and learning with you. In order for everyone to get the most out of the course, please be sure to read and respond to each others comments.Please try to keep your responses within one allotted "comment" space to ensure that the blog remains manageable for all participants.
Also, you may want to type your comments in a Word Document and either copy from Word and paste onto the blog or save it in a folder on your computer and then post it to the blog. I have written a couple of lengthy comments that I lost before I was able to post it to the blog. This extra step may save you some frustration later on this term.
Last of all, we will write our comments to your posts on the blog, so you will need to check back to the corresponding week for feedback (and to make additional comments if you wish.)
Let us know if you have any questions. You can email us, but please put the words "Question for Essentials of Writing" in the subject line so that we can respond in a timely fashion.
ASSIGNMENT ONE: Post your Introduction to the course Blog.
Introduction Post- Tell us about yourself. Where do you teach? What grade do you teach? How long have you been teaching? How many students are there in your class? Do you have instructional support? What does your current literacy program look like? (If you aren’t currently teaching let us know.) What is your knowledge/training in the area of literacy (be specific about your experiences teaching writing?) Does your district provide training in literacy –especially writing? If so, what exactly have they offered? Has your district been bogged down with getting students to perform well on state writing assessments – prompts? How do you feel about teaching? Are you happy at work? Also, let us know a little about you outside of the classroom: Interests/ Hobbies/Family Life? What do you hope to get out of this course? Post your reflection to the blog.
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Penni KravitzJanuary 8, 2013 7:44 PM
ReplyDeleteGreetings fellow educators…from Penni Kravitz. I am currently a Pre K teacher (and Artist in Residence), with a class size of 16, at a private school in Bend, Oregon. My elementary teaching experience has encompassed Kindergarten, second and fourth grade levels. I hold a Bachelor of Arts on Art and a Masters of Arts in Teaching. I have been teaching for 12 years. In my current position, I do not have any instructional support and the literacy program is based on The Daily Five by Moser and Boushey. My knowledge and training in writing was provided by a public school district, several years ago, primarily using the work of Lucy Calkins - Units of Study for Primary Writing and The Daily Five. The district trainings in the past were often half day sessions of lectures and breakaway group sessions, nothing that would be considered profoundly deep. In regards to performing well on state writing assessments, I personally found that it depended on the grade level you were currently teaching. For example, in the district where I taught fourth grade, the intensity and stress of performance fell squarely on you, the fourth grade teacher, when in reality it should have been a cumulative look over the preceding grades…not the one “snapshot” of the fourth grade testing.
Teaching is an art that I am continually developing. I truly enjoy teaching, because every day is a new day! I hope to be rehired in a tradition elementary position in the future, but layoffs and an extremely slow economy is still the reality here in rural Central Oregon…it is the price one pays to live in this stunningly beautiful part of our country. I teach where I can right now and continue to enjoy all that this area has to offer…fly-fishing, hiking, snowshoeing and I manage to continue to work on my art and actually get paid for painting; both watercolors and acrylics.
Finally, my hope is that this course will give me yet more tools in my educator tool box to inspire young writers. Interestingly, in my current position with a Pre K class, where I have been for 2 years, I have found a lack of resources and structure for the 4-6 year old writer despite the fact that they are quite capable of being amazing writers! I have become somewhat obsessed with finding that just right approach to reach the very young writer and fostering a foundation for them in writing.
Madiha Guezguez
ReplyDeleteJanuary 9, 2013
Hello everyone, My name is Madiha Guezguez. I moved to the United States five years ago. I had a bachelor degree in English language in my original country Tunisia. I have two children who are keeping me busy all day long. I taught 1st grade English language in Tunisia for about three years. When I arrived to the US, I taught in a private School in Portland (K – 12th grade) for about five years. I was second grade and third grade homeroom teacher. I taught all subjects (math, science, social studies, Arabic language…) except language Arts. This year I decided to go back to school and work on my master’s degree in curriculum and Instruction. Though my degree is to teach language Arts, and though I studied for 4 years to teach English, my courses I had taken were not related to practical and real teaching experience. During the years I spent in the USA I noticed that My American colleagues are relaxed in their way of teaching. They easily engage their students in fun and educational learning experiences. I felt I’m working way harder to assure that my students are benefiting academically and socially. I thought of going back to school to learn more about education and to be a better teacher who can help students to succeed in their life.
Besides my core classes, which I felt they are general, I decided to focus mainly on language Arts for my twenty-one elective courses. I took several classes in ESL, and I took CAFÉ last term. My goal is to focus on one subject and master it. I want to learn the techniques that might help me to teach writing and make it fun and educational as well.
When I used to teach in the private school in Portland, we had students from countries all over the world (Somalia, India, Pakistan, Morocco, Jordan, Egypt…etc.). Though we have about thirty-two different ethnicities in our school, the majority of our students are U.S citizens who are born and raised in this country. Their parents came here as refugees, employees, or students who decided to stay in this country to provide their children with better opportunity of life. State test scores have been in eighties recently.
I have a broader definition of literacy. I feel it means being able to function as a productive citizen. My school’s literacy program consists of improving reading comprehension and fluency. We also focus on helping them improve their writing skills by using more adjectives, practicing grammar and story writing skills. I don't think teachers have specific training in literacy, but sometimes our experienced teachers offer a workshop. I remember last year was about traits and best practices. It was one of the most effective workshops that focus on the seven traits of writing and the steps of the writing process. I’m curious to learn the best ways to help my students who very often come to my class unable to read and write. I love teaching and I love helping students who struggle academically and socially. However, going back to school and learning about the new ways and strategies will definitely help me to be a better and more effective teacher.
Hello!
ReplyDeleteJust a quick note that the Flu has hit us hard and fast in Vermont and my two sons and my husband and I have it. Luckily, so far, my daughter who is 20 months has avoided it. I'll be responding to your posts soon. Stay healthy!
My name is Sarah and I teach third grade (this year) at Clackamas River in Estacada, Oregon. This is my fifth year teaching and I have 23 students. We have pull out support for students on IEPs for writing, math, and reading. Also we have pull out support for other students that are below grade level in reading. I currently use a basil reading program as well as implement Daily 5. We are suppose to use the program with fidelity- which hinders creativity sometimes. For reading, I teach the "core" for 90 minutes and then an intervention time for an additional 30 minutes. I have an additional 30 minutes for writing instruction. I don’t have a set curriculum for writing, I pull from various resources. Sometimes it ties in with our reading curriculum other times it doesn’t. Students use journals for free write and then we have “assignments” in a folder of the current topic or lesson we are working on in class. I have had training in Daily Five, Step up to Writing, Four Square, and also Oregon State writing assessment training. The last two years I taught at the fourth grade level and I felt pressure to get students to perform to the test- to prompts. Our district requires monthly samples. These samples seem to consume much of our writing time.
ReplyDeleteI love teaching, but this year has been more challenging because I have a beautiful baby girl at home. I am in the process of learning how to get more things done during the school day, because as soon as it’s time to go. I rush home to see my little one. Another reason I think this year is more challenging is that I’m back teaching third grade and last year I was teaching a 4/5 blend with kids I’d had for two years. So yes, I’m happy, stressed, tired, overwhelmed, etc.
I hope to find ways to teach writing strategies that are simple and that stick. When I teach mini lessons the students seem to “get it” but then when it is time to apply it in a sample… it’s gone. Writing is the hardest thing for me to teach and see the results.
Hello Everyone,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your patience while my family and I were dealing with the flu.
Hope you are all staying healthy and warm! (We’re in a nasty cold snap here on the East Coast.)
Hi Penni!
I agree with you…state testing should not just fall on the shoulders of the 4th grade teachers, it is in fact, as you state, a cumulative result of the preceding years. Regie discusses testing later in the text. I don’t have anything against testing to inform our instruction but the focus on penalizing teachers, schools and districts is a disservice to all and a distraction from the real work we need to do in our classrooms.
Bend is beautiful and a great town! We, my husband and I, have friends there from high school in Connecticut. It has grown so much in recent years. In fact, a family from here in Burlington is moving to Bend this summer.
I have also been amazed with the quality of writing that I have seen in Kindergarten and first grade classrooms. (ages 5 and 6) I think you are correct in believing in your PreK students and having higher standards for them. Often, if we just get out of the students’ way they show us how capable and amazing they truly are.
The same could be said for sports. My sons are on a basketball team. (Grades 1 and 2) The team we just played had a coach—who forgive me for making assumption but—I would say had to have been a serious basketball player in his life. He was really tall and lean and looked like a basketball player. Anyway, he was yelling out plays like an NBA coach to his team and his kids were doing it. They were amazing. My husband said it had him rethinking what children are capable of. He coached soccer last year and people kept telling him that the children were too young for this or that…He said that based on what he saw with this team and a coach who had high expectations and knew how to instruct he was going to turn it up a notch next fall for soccer. I would def. say that the concept transfers to the classroom. Even if the students aren’t able to spell the words correctly or get every sound down, they can write their thoughts and stories. (I like to check in with the primary students and record either on the back or on a sticky what the writing says.) This is a great record of their growth throughout the year.
As a side note, I am crazy for dating student work. I want all papers to have the date on it so I can refer to the paper and know when it was completed. A quick way to do this is to have a library date stamp and just fly through the room stamping the date. An assistant or volunteer can do this as well as training the children.
Greetings Madiha!
ReplyDeleteWhat a wealth of experience you bring to the classroom. It’s great to have different perspectives in education. Having moved around the country so often, I feel that this is a strength when I come to a new school. It’s good to have the lens of how other places do things.
I’m just curious, do you think the American teachers relaxed methods are more successful in instructing students or the experiences that you have had previously? I understood your post to mean that you did think it was a better way to interact with the students, but thought I’d ask to be clear. I believe, as you will find Regie does as well, that building relationships with your students is critical to the success of the children and your instruction. You’ll read more on this in the next section
Educators can learn so much from other educators. I know that there are grants and opportunities to go to other countries and even other states to study what is being done to make learning successful. I love to learn and love to visit schools and see what they are doing well and discuss some pitfalls and challenges they have had and how they’ve handled them. The age we are in with social media makes this even easier for teachers to connect over the Internet and discuss education and share ideas. Plus Pinterest is just incredible!
Jackie’s Café course is awesome! Though, she’s had to change the name of it because of The Sisters’ business people. Regie was one of The Sisters’ inspirations so you will find that this text will lend itself nicely to what you learned in the Café course.
The overall message from this text I believe you will come away with for improving your students’ writing is: Write more, Write for a purpose, Write for an audience. I believe if you do these three things you will see great improvement in your students’ writing. ☺
Of course, this is a simplified statement, but these are the big points from the course.
Hello Sarah!
ReplyDeleteWelcome to class and congratulations on your new daughter. Time flies so fast. My little girl, Ellery Grace, is 20 months old. We’re calling her a Self-sufficient Little Lady. She just takes care of organizing everything and if she wants something, she moves a stool to get it or just grabs it.
The great thing about Regie and this text is that it can work for anybody…teachers who have to teach with fidelity to a program and teachers who have the opportunity to teach any way they like. You will def. come away with ideas to simplify your instruction and ways to save you time.
Looking forward to working with all of you this term.
Mary ☺
Hi,
ReplyDeleteMy name is Tonya Divers and I am a 6th grade Language Arts/Social Studies teacher at Ogden Middle School in Oregon City, OR. I have been teaching, again, for the past three years after taking a long 10 year break to stay home with my children.
I have classes that range from about 18 students up to 36 students. Right now my partner and base most of our language arts class on a novel study. We integrate our writing and conventions in with this. Our district is really bogged down with testing and we are trying to get away from it at this time. I have been a long term substitute in the district and am just this year working all year. I know that they do have trainings that revolve around writing and literacy however I have not been to them. I do know that many of my colleagues use the Step up to writing program but I have not used that program.
I love where I am at this time. Our district has made the switch, just this year, to a middle school model and moved the 6th grade from the elementary to the middle school. I have a fantastic group of co-workers who are supportive and helpful as well as a fantastic group of students in my classes. I would really just like to get some fun and interesting ideas for getting my students to write more and better.
Outside the classroom I love to watch my own kids in sports, photography and reading. I am sorry that I am late to this course but am happy to be here and will work hard on catching up.
Hi Tonya,
DeleteThis is off the topic of writing I guess, but I attended Ogden Middle School as a student quite some time ago, and a friend of mine was going to be transferred there to teach, however she had a baby and she's decided to stay home. Anyway, I was wondering how the middle school model has been working there. Does it feel over crowded with the extra grade? Also, from what I've heard the new high school is already feeling too small. It's amazing how fast student populations grow.
Hi Tonya!
ReplyDeleteWelcome! No worries about just starting now...we will have even more people joining in the next week as the last day to register is the 22nd.
It's wonderful that you have a supportive environment! It makes all the difference! We look forward to working with you and the rest of the students in this course!
Hello,
ReplyDeleteMy name is Carol Polinsky. I apologize for being a bit of a late starter in this course. I received my Oregon State Teaching License and Masters of Education from Portland State University in 2009. My license is due for renewal in May of this year, so it’s time to take a few classes to be eligible for renewal. This class was an instant choice for me, as I am looking for ways to improve my strategies for teaching writing, and helping students to see it as less of a chore and more of an enjoyment.
Like many other graduates from my cohort, I have yet to obtain my dream career of having a classroom of my own. I am hoping that one day soon the economy will turn around and districts will stop laying teachers off, but will begin hiring new ones. It’s rather unfortunate for our students, as well as staff. Many students are struggling in over-populated classrooms, and over the years I’ve seen the stress level of staff skyrocket. Staff stress levels in turn affect the overall environment of the classroom, and quality of teaching and learning that occurs.
For the past seven years I have worked as an educational assistant in three different school districts. For five years I worked in Reynolds School District (and obtained my teaching license in the third year), for one year I worked in North Clackamas School District, and this current year I am working in Salem-Keizer School District. I am a Special Education Instructional Assistant in a Lifeskills Classroom designed for grades 3-5. Due to overcrowding in other classrooms, we have 2 second grade students as well, bringing our total number of students to 15. Our classroom currently has no set curriculum, so I am required to create all of my own materials and lesson plans for my reading, writing, and math groups. Though I enjoy creating lesson plans and curriculum, I have to do this all at home, unpaid. I was hired for student contact hours only, so I have no prep-time in which to do all of the things that are required to run successful groups.
The students with whom I work with are low academically and high behaviorally. Writing can be particularly challenging for my group of students, as many of them have a difficulty discussing abstract topics, and some have trouble with fine motor skills. I truly love my job. I enjoy the challenge of inspiring my students to learn. It brings me joy to see a student who struggles with academic success light up when they learn something new and are able to master it.
Outside of the classroom, I lead a very busy life. I have a second job that I work occasionally on weekday evenings, but primarily on the weekends. I work for a business that contracts childcare for conferences and events. About 95% of our jobs are with the military, providing childcare for marriage retreats before and after deployment. We set up empty conference rooms to look like a daycare center. We bring toys, crafts, costumes, diaper changing stations, portable cribs, etc. It’s really a great way to make some extra money on top of working for the school. I love working with the children, and it allows me the flexibility to accept or decline a jobs. The company travels all over the United States, but since my primary job is in the elementary school, I only work in Oregon and Washington. Working so much really makes me appreciate the time that I have to spend with family and friends. I enjoy going out to movies, trying out new restaurants, camping, hiking, and traveling.
From this course, I am hoping to gain some new strategies to inspire my students to write. I feel like I have little guidance in the area of what I should be teaching, nor how to assess their pieces of writing. I could really use some new ideas for making it a more successful teaching time.
Hello I am another late comer to this class. My name is Susan and I teach 2nd grade in Portland. I've been teaching for about 25 years an am happy to say that I really enjoy my job (I also thinking teaching is one of the most challenging and exhausting jobs on the planet, but it is definitely rewarding.) I've taught kindergarten, 2nd grade, and 3rd grade and I have also worked as a Title 1 reading and math teacher. I feel fortunate that when my kids were young I was able to teach part time (job sharing and teaching Title 1) About 5 years ago I returned to work full time.
ReplyDeleteMy district has a basal reader for our reading adoption, but we are only required to read the story of the week and teach the weekly skills and strategies. My principal gives us a fair amount of "professional latitude" so I have been using Reading Workshop for the past couple of years and have been very pleased with the results. (My principal is retiring this year which makes me a little nervous...) The district has put together Writing Notebooks for each grade level, which align very nicely with the philosophy of Writing Essentials. Although I am quite comfortable with the concept of Writers Workshop,I feel that my writing instruction has been less than inspired lately (probably since I have been putting so much energy into implementing Daily 5 etc.) so I am looking forward to gaining so new ideas and excitement in teaching writing.
As a 2nd grade teacher I don't feel too much pressure from state testing (that starts in third grade.) but this year we started doing DIBELS for the first time and I was shocked by how quickly and easily one can slide into focusing on numbers (words per minute, etc) instead of focusing on the child.
When I'm not teaching I enjoy reading and hiking. My husband and I have 3 children. One is in middle school, one is in high school and one is in college. We also have an elderly cat, an energetic dog and three chickens.
I've taken a number of classes from TINT (several from Jackie and Mary!) and have always found them very useful. This is the first one that I have taken that has been in a Blog format, so I am looking forward to interacting with the other participants in the class. Wish me luck as I try to post this successfully.
Hello Ladies!
ReplyDeleteWelcome to the class. As I said before, no need to aplogize for starting now. There's plenty of time to get the work done. :D
Carol, you are in a hard spot. You def. should not have to write the plans and lessons for your students. Especially not being compensated. Are you able to ask for some compensation for the work you are doing? Or negotiate some release time? I understand that when you are looking for a full time job you don't want to rock the boat and you want to show that you are able to step up to the plate when needed. You will def. find ideas in this text to help you with writing in your classroom.
Susan, you posted just fine! You are lucky to have a principal who allows you professional freedom. I wish that was the case for everyone. :D We're happy to have you in class again, and appreciate your kind words. I think you'll also enjoy this course and find new and useful information to implement into your program. It is easy, as you said, to get caught up in the numbers of assessment. But keeping the focus on the child and their love of learning def. helps!
Talk to you soon!
Hi Mary and Jackie,
ReplyDeleteI am one late comer to the class. I teach 6th grade at Clackamas River Elementary, in Estacada, Or. I have taught 6th for fifteen years and enjoyed every moment. I currently have 29 students and have no instructional support. We have the basal Story Town as our adopted literacy curriculum. As of this year we have whittled down our “non-negotiables” to teaching the focus skill, vocabulary, and weekly assessments. I have always supplemented the basal with novel studies as well as nonfiction studies. We have also been using Step-Up to Writing as our curriculum for years and I do like it but have become bored and uninspired. I hope to rectify that issue by taking this class! Seems like our district (as I am sure others as well) jumps from one teaching philosophy to another. Just as we are getting our feet wet with one program, we jump to another that informs us that we have been doing everything wrong. I believe I know what is” best practice” and always try to stick to my strategies (they have served my students well) and produced lifelong readers and kids that like to write.
As for me, I have been married for thirty one years and have two grown sons. My husband and I travel to Arizona whenever we can to enjoy the sunshine. I look forward to finding some great new ideas to inspire my writing lessons!
Hope this blogs, I have never done this before!
Robin Doran
Hi Robin,
ReplyDeleteWelcome! You posted just fine. :) No worries, there's about a month left in the term so you should be fine with getting the assignments done.