ASSIGNMENT TWO: WRITTEN REFLECTION–Section One- The Essential Writing Life Chapters 1-3
Briefly reflect on the following comments written below from Chapters 1-3 and any additional thoughts that you have after reading these chapters.
Chapter 1: Simplify the Teaching of Writing• Simplify our teaching
• Becoming more knowledgeable about teaching writing
• Examine your beliefs
Regie gets to the heart of her book Writing Essentials with this quote on the final page of Chapter One: “By reducing the clutter in our teaching lives-the over-planning, the unnecessary activities, the paper load, all the ‘stuff’ that takes our time and energy and does little to improve teaching and learning-we bring joy back into our work and the world of our students.” Many of us work very hard and spend many hours complicating our teaching lives. In this book Regie will help you simplify your teaching life for your benefit and that of your students.
One of the frustrations that teachers encounter regularly is the ever changing “latest and best” writing programs that districts or states force on them and their students. With this revolving cycle of programs, teachers are spending too much time learning how to use the program rather than becoming better writing teachers. Regie explains that in the districts where students are the best writers, they are writing for real purposes and audiences and publishing their writing; teachers are not using prescribed writing programs.
Look at Appendix A (page A-2.) Examine your beliefs about writing by reading the statements about the writing process and marking true or false in your book. (Go ahead and write in your book, it’s OK! You can even use a pencil and mark very lightly if you want to.) We found this activity very enlightening. Let us know what you think after you complete the activity.
In your reflection for Section One, please include your thoughts about the following questions or statements:
• Regie demonstrates how to use the Optimal Learning Model (shown on the front cover and page 11) throughout the book. Consider how the Optimal Learning Model fits into your own instruction.
• As you think about how to teach writing so that all students can become successful, effective and joyful writers, reflect on how you presently teach the “12 Writing Essentials” (as described on pages 13-14 in the text) during your daily writing instruction. As we continue to read through Regie’s book, hopefully you will begin to see how you might make changes in your instruction to better incorporate these “12 Writing Essentials.”
Chapter 2: Start With Celebration
• Make sure writing is meaningful not just correct
• Use stories as springboards and ensure that ALL students hear stories
• Write in front of your students and connect home and school
The title of Chapter Two simply states, “Start with Celebration,” and that’s exactly what we need to do for our students. The celebration of all students’ writing needs to be put into the forefront and be made our first teaching goal. Celebrations should happen school-wide, within our classrooms and with students individually. As children begin to see themselves as successful writers, they will take more risks in their writing and in turn will become better writers who enjoy the writing process.
Another key point that Regie highlights in this chapter is to “make sure writing is meaningful, not just correct!” Students need to understand that writing is “enjoyable and for a real purpose and audience.” She also reminds us “that teaching skills in isolation does not make student writers; neither does teaching to the test. And breaking writing into bits and pieces robs children of the joy of writing.”
Regie suggests using stories as a springboard for teaching and learning. Hearing and telling stories builds our students’ oral language skills and these stories are “an entryway into reading and writing.” Only when students are reading and writing real stories can they connect the “skills” based learning to their reading and writing!
Please include your thoughts about the following questions or statements in your written reflection of Section One:
• Regie explains how important celebrating student writing is. How do you celebrate student writing in your classroom? How might you add more celebration of student writing to your day/year?
• Consider what changes you could make in your writing instruction to make writing more meaningful and purposeful for your students.
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Penni Kravitz:
ReplyDeleteWhile reading Chapter One, I was immediately struck by: “The idea of expectations while streamlining the teaching of writing…” from page 5. What does the idea of expectations look like for a four to six-year-old? What other word or words could I utilize to aid them in embracing the concept of expectations? I thought of craftsmanship or to believe in strongly, but these are still too immense and vague for the average Pre Kinder student. I finally arrived at, simply, “to look for”. As we collectively write, we will look for this and/or that. In addition, using the question: Are you doing your best work? Even four to six years old comprehend the notion of doing one’s best work!
From this chapter reading, the “top five things I do” from page 8, resonated with me personally. The one piece that struck me was teaching students the need to draft, revise, edit, polish, and publish. To illustrate this concept in another way, I will use an art lesson to bring this concept to the forefront. By using oil pastels, they will start a piece, then revisit, revise, and polish. Oil pastels are an ideal media for revision due to the fact that one can go over the first attempt with ease without changing the original design. After several revisions, the art piece will be ready for celebration!
As I continued to reflect on the chapter reading and the use of the Optimal Learning Model, on page 11, was a firm challenge with respect for the Pre-K writer. I am familiar with this concept and have used the described model with K, second and fourth grade classes. With respect to the Pre-K writer, they have not mastered or are still attempting to master the art of writing the letters themselves. Therefore, the concept of “who holds the pen” is a non-issue with the Pre-K writer. Nevertheless, they are quite capable of storytelling or “writing verbally”. It is a beautiful experience because they are unhindered by the fact they have to think and write at the same time.
As Chapter One winds down with the 12 Writing Essentials on page 13, I agree with the author that these 12 fundamentals are crucial for all grades. For myself and the group of students I presently have the privilege to teach, the following writing essentials are a main concern: Elaborating on ideas is a primary focus, as well as, writing for a specific reader and embracing language. Research shows that play based curriculum in Early Childhood is a best practice, so let them play with language!
Chapter Two offers a great deal to ponder and implement. For example celebrations, we celebrate our work collectively during circle time. In addition, the student’s work is published and placed in the library for others to read. On page 18, in the text, the author writes that writing often becomes “painful, and that much of that pain comes from too much concern with correctness at the expense of enjoyment”. The beautiful element of the Pre-K writer is that they have zero concern about correctness or the encumbrance of the pencil.
The challenge of what changes I might make in my writing instruction is one to contemplate. Perhaps, introducing and embracing the idea of celebrating the risk taking in stories. I will personally use the phrase: “Who tried something new?” As often happen in Pre-K writing, the same subject matter is used time and time again and virtually the same story is often told. The notion and examples of expanding personal writing, as list on page 27, will be put in my writer’s tool box. In addition, the use of contrast and compare with students work will be another method I will begin to use. Finally, I will tweak an already existing method of storytelling. This is activity involves each student giving me a word and then I proceed to tell and write a short story using those words. I will now begin asking each student to do the story telling with the words given. Since I have modeled it for them, this new activity will begin moving them along the Optimal Learning Model by giving them the independence as a writer/storyteller.
Madiha Guezguez
ReplyDeleteJanuary 28th, 2013
I hesitated to take this course due to my lack of experience in teaching writing; however, after reading the first three chapters I was glad I took the decision because it seems that even experienced teachers are struggling to help students produce a meaningful and joyful writing. Besides, the book is very practical and easy to read and understand. I like how the author is focusing mainly on action and productive step by step writers instead of just some suggestions here and there.
The Optimal Learning Model (to observe, interact, try it and then work independently) seems to me as the most effective strategy to improve students learning not only in writing, but in all other subjects including math and science. I taught second grade for five years, and I used this model in teaching Math problems, but I never thought to do the same for the writing part in social studies. My students were never interested in writing though they loved social studies. Instead of writing a paragraph, I barely received a sentence or two. Now I understand why that happened. I never modeled for them my expectations. They had no clue how to share their thoughts through a meaningful paragraph. I believe using the Optimal Model in the future will definitely clarify my expectations to them and encourage them to do more writings.
The twelve writing essentials are the key to a successful writing. Considering myself and my colleagues as well, we do use some of these essentials, but we do not emphasize all of them on a daily basis. I’m wondering if these essentials should be posted on the bulletin board for all the students to read and practice daily or it is the teacher’s mission to enforce them during the writing class or the conference with the students.
Start with Celebration!!!!!!!! I tried to remember one moment where one of my teachers celebrates my writing orally. It never happened though I was getting good grades. I feel sad and more enthusiastic to celebrate my students work no matter how simple or messy it is. But again I urge myself to be so careful to include all students no matter how small the thing is. Kids are so sensitive and conscious towards teachers’ reactions especially when we consider the diverse background of our students.
I always celebrate my students’ writing by encouraging them to share loudly and getting feedback from their peers; however, it is always the good writers who get to do that. Hearing and listening to more stories, class wide celebration, along with topics that might encourage my English language learners to be more engaged are few things I would love to try in my classroom to include all my students in celebrating their own writing.
My last thought I would love to share is that I wish all teachers would focus on the meaningful writing before the correct writing. It is very essential to gain students self-confidence and pleasure to write. I think this is definitely one way to gain our students positive attitude about literacy.
Apparently it all depends to the teacher’s knowledgeable writing practices to guarantee that students will enjoy producing a meaningful writing that worth reading.
I too think it's nice to hear that even seasoned/experienced teacher struggle with the best ways to go about teaching writing. I didn't feel like I received enough instruction in grad school to be a great writing teacher. We have no set curriculum in our classroom, so I have more flexibility, but I feel as though I have no guidance or ideas on how to motivate my students to produce quality pieces of writing. I am so glad to be obtaining new ideas on how to motivate students, as well as develop richer pieces.
DeleteI wish that I could say that I was using the optimal learning model and 12 writing essentials daily in my classes. I cannot. I do not spend nearly enough time or effort on writing. Sadly, I do much more writing demo when I am covering note talking than I do for actual writing. I do not have a standard system for working with the teacher. I take time to work with students who struggle and I celebrate the good writers but I do not conference with all writers. I think that so much of the time we are told that we should keep our lessons short and that the kids should be the one writing that we forget that modeling of good writing and the writing process is necessary and valid. I love the idea of letting the students see and experience how messy good writing can be when first started. How horrible I spell when I am just starting to get my thoughts out on paper and how much my final draft is different from my original paper after revision.
ReplyDeleteWe spend time on at least 9 of the 12 writing essentials however it is not quality time and it is not all 12. We truly are doing so much of our writing as response and very little authentic writing for writing’s sake. I would like to have the 12 writing essentials posted somewhere to remind me and direct my teaching on a day to day basis.
I always take the time to celebrate students writing. Whenever there is a written assignment there is always a time set aside for sharing. Students, even the shy ones, love reading or having their writing read aloud. I would like to incorporate other ways of celebrating student writing like maybe posting writing on the bulletin board (where we usually post only artwork) or maybe creating class books of student’s favorite or best work. I think that if students see or hear their writing it may add value to it and in turn they may value themselves more as writers.
Since I work in a Lifeskills Classroom, with students who are low academically and high behaviorally, I am constantly looking for real life ways to motivate students to write. I have been thinking lately about fun ways to get them to produce writing. They love sharing their work, and a few ideas I have had were to have them make brochures for different places to travel. It's kind of a twist on doing state reports, and it's something that real people do to entice travelers to certain locations. Another idea that I've had is for them to write and produce a commercial about a product. It would take some time (and some more thought on my part) but it would be a fun way for them do something that is real and can be shared. I also really liked the idea of sharing students writing in staff meetings. I think my students would love knowing that the other staff and principal were hearing their writing pieces being read aloud. Maybe the principal could even come in once a week for an authors tea or something. Students always seem to feel extra special when the principal shows interest in their work.
DeleteThe Optimal Learning Model fits into my own instruction daily, but probably less so in writing than other subjects. I’m a strong believer in what I call “I do, we do, you do.” This guides my instructional process across all subjects. For writing I think that I need to add some more of the “we do” component. I model writing for my students, but more for correctness – title goes here, indent here, skip lines, etc. I have started showing more of the thinking and how at first we just want to get the ideas on paper. I modeled a brainstorming activity and the kids loved this. Many did it multiple times after we had done it together.
ReplyDeleteI really like the “12 Writing Essentials” and I think I do well with some of these, but will different verbage. I have now copied this page and put it onto my lesson plan book. Over the next few weeks I plan to introduce these “12 Writing Essentials”, modeling and posting them in our classroom.
I have already added some elements of this book into my instruction. My students have composition books- we use them for free choice writing in the front and as guided instruction from the back. This last week I had the students find a free choice story they had been working on a share just the first couple of lines and we celebrated all the different ideas we had as well as some really great beginnings. This activity had them looking back at things they wrote about a long time ago and after sharing many students went back and polished up these stories. I want to incorporate more sharing in celebrating, so I have scheduled it every week on Wednesday – “What are we Writing about Wednesday” (title still a work in progress).
To make writing more meaningful and purposeful to me students, I try to make it relevant. For example, we worked on friendly letters earlier this year and my instruction was very formulaic, but we revisited it just recently. You see our wonderful secretary was laid off do to budge cut last effective January 31. The students had known her since the first day of school, they were heartbroken. We all took the time to write a letter to her and tell her how much she meant to us. I modeled and the kids took off. I showed without telling, all the components of a letter and almost every student, had all the elements there! The letters were heartfelt and I didn’t worry about every misspelled word, or indentation. We used stationary and addressed envelopes. Then they all carried their letters and delivered them with a hug. This was some of the best work I’d seen from some of my reluctant writers because it was so meaningful to them.
One of the problems with writing in our classroom is lack of time. We have writing twice a week for a little over an hour total. It is scheduled for Mondays and Tuesdays, so if the students are working on a continuing a piece of writing, they have 6 days before they come back to it again. That’s a long time for any student, let alone students with learning challenges.
DeleteI was a little ashamed when I was reading in Chapter 1 about the importance of teaching whole-to-part rather than part-to whole. I realized that I have been teaching mini-lessons at the beginning of each period about commas, quotation marks, etc. (part-to-whole method), and I haven’t been sharing real life examples of how they are used in books. I have been using Evan Moore’s Daily Language Review at the beginning of each writing period. However, the other day I totally switched things up and read part of a book from the Goosebumps series. My students are on a Goosebumps kick right now, so I figured it would be a good way to get their attention. My goal was to show them different ways to begin sentences, and how they are used to “hook” the reader and make them want more. It was a success! This real life example really “hooked” my writers and gave them ideas for how to begin their sentences.
I also think that if I start following the Optimal Model of Learning, my students will have a better idea of what my expectations are, as well as an understanding of how to go about creating a quality piece of writing. I began the year doing a lot of modeling of what good writing looks like, how to begin with a topic sentence and add details, and how to edit and revise work, but as the year has gone on, and I feel like our time is so incredibly short, have done a lot less modeling.
The “12 Writing Essentials for All Grade Levels” is really helpful since I work with students in 3rd-5th grades. It gives me a good idea basis of how to help students develop their writing. I am planning on making a poster for our classroom with more basic language so that the students may understand these ideas as well and refer to them while writing.
Another idea that I liked from chapter one is demonstrating more of my thinking aloud while reading. During read-aloud we focus more on comprehension type questions, but I think it would be helpful if we also notice elements of good writing, and the different ways the writer “lures” us in to read more. I also like the idea of sharing successful and unsuccessful pieces of writing and talking about what works and what doesn’t in each piece.
As far as celebrating students writing, I love the idea of having author teas and inviting parents, other teachers, and the principal in so that students may be affirmed by the different people in their educational lives. Regie also made a good point on page 19 that, “what we choose to celebrate sends a message about what we value…” Instead of just allowing students to share, I think I am going to start asking question that pull value out of the students writing, such as, “who has a really great “hook” beginning?”
I had a little laugh to myself at the beginning of chapter 3 when Regie says, “I know what you’re thinking. You’re not a writer, so maybe you’ll just skip this chapter.” It’s true. I don’t feel like a particularly fabulous writer, and my own school experiences with writing weren’t ones that made me feel an enjoyment for writing. This chapter has reinforced the idea that we should be teaching students to write for the reader and not focus so much on conventions, etc. When I have students begin a piece of writing I tell them not to worry about spelling, punctuation, or anything else. The first draft is going to be messy. I suggest that they don’t even erase.
The “Try It, Apply It” tips are very helpful. It gives concise ideas to help me be a better educator. Though the classroom isn’t my own (as I am not the “head teacher”) I am able to teach my own group of students the way I best see fit to meet their IEP learning goals. I’m feeling inspired!
I think I made a mistake, and I added my assignment as a reply to the above person's assignment. I meant that to be a comment, not a reply. I've never used a blog before, so I'm still learning! :)
ReplyDeleteHere are some of my thoughts on Chapter 1
ReplyDeleteThe Optimal Learning Model is really the essence of teaching. Modeling, practicing together and practicing independently give children the opportunity to learn by watching and doing, and most importantly to internalize their learning. I would like to say that I incorporate the Optimal Learning Model into all my teaching and I can honestly say that I have it pretty much in the forefront of my mind as I’m planning and teaching. In reality, however, I probably teach using the "Fairly Optimal Learning Model". Some lessons I seem to do a really good job with the “I do” part, gloss over the “We do” and jump right into the “You do”. In other lessons I may just run out of time for independent practice. I usually notice that the lessons that go best, the times that I really feel that everyone is engaged are the times that I get the balance just right. In teaching writing I find that the guided practice is the most difficult for me to do effectively, I am pretty good at modeling a writing lesson while the kids watch and usually allow the kids plenty of time for independent writing. Sharing the pen does not come as naturally to me.
In reflecting on the 12 writing Essentials I find my self amazed that young children are capable of so much Here are a few of my thoughts about some of the essentials
Writing for a meaningful purpose: This is one that I don’t think that I have really specifically focused on. I realize that often my kids are just writing (usually quite happily) because it is writing time. They are usually just writing for themselves. Sometimes they see their classmates as an audience but I don’t think this really informs their writing. The only times that I really give the student a true opportunity to think about the audience is when they are writing letters and when they are writing Super Star Books. (We write an individual book of compliments for each student in the class.) I think one way to begin to help kids understand author’s purpose is to discuss the author’s purpose during read alouds.
Embracing Language is one of the Essentials that I do enjoy teaching. I love teaching poetry to kids. I wouldn’t call myself a poet and I don’t actually read a lot of poetry, but I find that by giving kids the opportunity to write poetry, to fool around with language, kids write more fluently and more descriptively than they do otherwise. The same kids who will sit for a class period not writing a thing, rarely gets “stuck” when we’re writing poems. (And now that I think about it, when I’m teaching poetry lessons, I usually do shared writing. We always write a class poem before the kids write their own. That’s probably why those lessons are so successful. The Optimal Learning Model in action Yeah!)
Apply correct conventions and form This seems to be another area that is all about balance. A child’s writing needs to be readable It is essential that kids lean to write legibly, use punctuation and correct spelling, but that can’t be the only focus. It is also essential that kids see that their writing is more than just being correct—their writing needs to be expressing their ideas, telling their stories. When teaching my students to proof read their work we use the acronym C.U.P.S. Which stands for Capital letters, Understanding, Punctuation, Spelling. While this has been a useful way to get kids to go back and check the conventions, I realize that they generally gloss over the U (understanding.) I think I need to work more with my students to teach them to revise their stories as well as to proofread them for correctness.
In reflecting on Celebrating children’s writing I tend to have informal celebrations (author’s chair at the end of a writing period) and more formal celebrations such as when we had a dinosaur museum and the kids went around the room reading each others dinosaur pop-up books. I’m very interested in hearing other ways that teachers are celebrating students as writers—especially ways that honor kids as writers but don’t take lots of time. Sometimes it takes longer to celebrate a piece of writing than it took to actually write it, especially if you are letting each child read their writing aloud.
ReplyDeleteAssignment 2 Essentials of Writing
ReplyDeleteIn my years of teaching I have had the experience of many of my colleagues and that is moving from one writing program to another. In my introductory blog I mentioned that our district and admin jump from one “new innovative” adoption to a new one every two years. We receive a several hour training and set free to “teach” the new methods. Complicated? Yes, definitely.
I find that when I allow my students to write a short story about a winter scene on a Christmas card, putting themselves (POV) as a character in that scene, they come up with wonderful, imaginative writing. We then all share our stories, they revise and their works are beautiful! They ask right away if they may read their writing to the class showing their pride in their work. They do take risks, put humor or deep feelings in their writing. It never fails to amaze me.
I have felt teaching programs such as four square, produces only stilted, stiff, formulaic writing with no voice, and is a chore for me to read. My belief that writing in front of my students showing my thinking, changing my thinking as well as searching for the “right” words, revising, etc., is the way to show my students how to make their writing meaningful. Have always done the same for reading, stopping to share my thinking and connections to get deeper meaning and relate to the text. Modeling is a powerful tool if done correctly. I greatly appreciate the affirmation form Reggie that what I believe is effective , really is!
Hello Everyone!
ReplyDeletePenni,
Your example to use an art lesson to illustrate revision is a great one not only for PreK-K but for all grade levels. Having worked in a high school as my last position, I was truly amazed to discover that the students there were just as opposed to revising and revisiting their writing as elementary students. Students want to do something and be done with it. It is very important to teach the lesson over and over again through the grades that writing is a process. We’re glad that you are finding ideas to implement into your program given that you are working with PreK students.
Hello Madiha!
You are correct, many experienced teachers struggle with teaching writing. We often hear from students in this course that they feel this text has given them the foundation that was missing in their teaching program to teach students to write and to have joy doing so. I have to agree with you (as does Regie) that I believe teachers need to focus on meaning first in student writing; then they need to be respectful of their audience and go back and edit and revise their piece to make sure their reader understands clearly what they are trying to convey. It is part of the job of being an author to make your message as clear as possible for the audience.
Hi Tonya,
I am a terrible speller! (Always have been. So forgive me if you spot a typo.) But like you I see real value in letting my students know this and see the many versions I go through when I write a piece. (I have even brought my multiple versions of new classes that I develop into school so that students can see that it takes time, effort and many drafts to create a polished, finished piece.) I teach with an easel next to me and try to incorporate as much writing into my library lessons. I make a big deal about how spelling is hard for me but my first job is to get my ideas down. Then I need to go back and check the spelling and grammar for my audience. I show them that I circle words that I’m not sure that I spelled correctly and tell them the strategies that I use to make sure my writing is as error free as possible. My hope is that if students hear this in the classroom and library and other areas of school they will start to get the message that writing is a process and many people do not create perfect pieces the first time they write. Also, sometimes, it’s perfectly fine to write quickly and not check your spelling, like if I’m making a to-do list for my self or a shopping list for the store…no one but me is going to be reading it so as long as I understand what I wrote than it is fine.
Hello Carol!
Great ideas! You could even have them do a persuasive piece on what they think is the best video game. :D I’m sure there would be a lot of debate about that topic. Having the principal come in even once a month would be excellent! I have found that sharing student work at staff meetings is an excellent use of time and benefits the staff greatly. Teachers can discuss and share what they think is on grade level writing, above grade level writing and below grade level writing. (I have a passion for using staff meeting time effectively and wisely. If administrators would use memos, emails and weekly staff news letters a lot of the time in a staff meeting would be opened up to allow collaboration, sharing and reflection.
Hi Sarah,
ReplyDeleteThe OML does work in all subjects and goes by various names: To, With, By; I do, We Do, You Do; The Gradual Release of Responsibility. Of ten the piece that most teachers say they leave out is allowing time for students to do the lesson/activity with them (guided practice.) While this framework does take more time it proves to be the most effective way for students to learn a new skill or concept.
Have you asked the students to help you come up with a title for your Wednesday Writings? Sometimes they are so creative, more so than adults. Wow, your story about the friendly letters for the secretary is powerful! It’s sad that you lost the secretary but what an amazing example to demonstrate what writing for a purpose can do for students.
Carol,
We discuss later in the course about trying to “Fit it all in.” It seems the only way to do this is to write across the curriculum. Glad the Goosebumps lesson went well! (Kids do love that series. ) Using real literature is one of the best ways to demonstrate a concept. There are so many amazing stories and articles to choose from, as well as students’ own writing. (Another gold mine of examples.) One suggestion for when you are sharing your thoughts during a read aloud…lower the book to your lap to indicate that what you are saying is your thoughts and not from the book. This visual cue helps students differentiate between what is in the book and what you are thinking about. We’re glad you are finding the readings inspiring. (We think you’ll like the later chapters even more.) :D Oh, no worries about the posting on the blog. :D You’re doing just fine!
Oh, Susan! You totally made me laugh with the “Fairly Optimal Learning Model.” It’s awesome that it’s in your forefront when you plan and teach, but really I think most of us use the “Fairly Optimal Learning Model” over the OLM. :D I believe, and would guess Regie would as well, that the important part is that you are thinking about it and aware of it and doing the best you can. We are all human and also very pressed for time. The more we use it and plan around it the easier it becomes to incorporate into our instruction.
I also am a great believer in using poetry to teach writing. I think the lack of “rules” often found in poetry allows students to take more risks as well as the frequent short length of poems. (There’s nothing that says that good writing has to be six pages long.) Poems are a great way to allow students the opportunity to demonstrate their grasp of a concept in a quick, fun manner. Plus it’s easier for the teacher to read and respond to shorter writing pieces than it is to read an entire writing journal. If you take a look at the standards, poetry covers many of them.
I have found that having students read their writing or listen to their writing read to them helps them to hear that their piece is missing information or not clear.
Celebrations can be quick during class or at the end. If you comment that you want someone to share a fantastic lead or a very descriptive sentence, these are celebrations. You can also roam around and note examples of vivid imagery or whatever concept you want to highlight and celebrate the author in the process. These could take a few minutes and nothing fancy is needed—though who doesn’t love some food at celebrations. A balance of both kinds of celebrations is what should be happening in class. Another way is to submit student work to the school newsletter, or have some students share a BRIEF poem over the loud speaker. You could even email families once a week with some examples of amazing student writing. (Though I’d keep a check-off list to be sure that I included everyone.)
Another “celebration” could be Poetry Graffiti. (Or a modification of it.) With Poetry Graffiti you can put either student’s poems up or poems that they like that they have read. There is no right or wrong way to do this. If you photocopy a poem from a book have the students illustrate the poem around the words and state why they chose this poem. (They could have to pick from a list of poetry elements that they need to know.) Then the “graffiti” part comes in…hang up the poems all over the school—wherever people will pass or be waiting. Teachers can share a little blurb about the Poetry (or Writing) Graffiti like this:
ReplyDeleteThis poem is part of the poetry graffiti project done by Mrs. Mitchell’s third grade 2012-13 class. Please enjoy reading this poem and thinking about it. We only ask that you be RESPECTFUL of the poem; leave it where it is and how you found it. THANKS!
Or
The Poetry Project was created by students in Mrs. Mitchell’s class. We wanted to make sure poetry is all around our building so that students, teachers and people who pass by have a chance to read some poetry. We look for places where people wait in line with nothing to do, a place where they could just as well read a poem. Happy Reading! This poem was selected/written by _____ .
Or
We put poems in places where people are waiting, take a moment and enjoy!
I think you get the idea. Does anyone else have some ideas for celebrating writing that they would like to share?
Yes, Robin! We are with you 100%! We also felt, and have heard from many teachers in this course, that we/they felt affirmed after reading Regie’s words. It’s a relief to hear from an expert that what we are doing and know to be true is in fact the best method to instruct writing.
ReplyDeleteWriting Essentials Assignment Chapt 2
ReplyDeleteRobin Doran
Purposeful writing is the only way students will write with their hearts. We do a
lot of reading response writing and we read books that require deep thinking and
deep discussions.
We are currently reading “Bystander” by James Preller. It fit in
beautifully with our “No Name Calling Week”. It is about bullying
and the “Bystander” effect. We watched a video by the same name
then discussed why people choose not to get involved when there is a
crisis or someone needs help. I asked them what they would choose
to do in a similar situation and they poured their hearts out
telling the story. But, before they were very far along a student
raised his hand and asked if they could share their writing! That
excites me because they are anxious to “tell” their views, opinions
and values. As usual I was amazed at their thinking and their
ability to get it on paper. Not quite the same when they are given
a generic prompt that they have no interest in, no schema and no
passion about.
I also want to share an experience I had years ago when “Out of the
Dust” first came out. I was leery of reading this to my students
but loved the way it was written in free verse poetry, much the same
as “Love that Dog.” We all learned a lot about the era of the
dustbowl but more importantly we loved the way the free verse told
the story. I shared a writing that my son had done after listening
to “Out of the Dust” in high school. He had written about his
junior year football season and it was amazing! I told my students
to pick something they were passionate about and take me through the
“season” so to speak. What they came up with (even the severely
struggling students) was the best writing I have ever read by a
class. I t was dramatic, sincere, spellbinding and emotional.
Funny how when I was writing this, that assignment came back to me.
I haven’t done it since because we have adopted so many different
writing curriculums that I had forgotten it. Reggie again is right.
We know how to teach, and do what is best for students. Why are we
not allowed to use the creativity that is inherent is so many of us,
instead producing cookie cutter students and cookie cutter teachers.
Robin,
ReplyDeleteThese examples are excellent. I think we all get so caught up in the requirements that the districtis put upon us that we don't even have time to breathe, let alone reflect on successful lessons and units. I'm glad you were reminded of the above story and I bet you'll be planning to use a similar assignment in the future. :)