Note: These section are packed!!! Pick and choose your discussion points so that the blog doesn't become overwhelming and packed with so much information that participants won't want to read each others' comments. :)
Sections Four and Five- Advocacy Is Also Essential and Teaching In Action: Lesson Essentials
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."
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As I started reading this chapter on advocacy, I have to admit, I felt a little guilty since I really have not done any advocating for “saner teaching and assessment practices.” But as I kept reading, I realized that I was doing more than I originally thought. And even better, I was not the only one at my school advocating for change! One thing that I know I keep mentioning is that I started teaching literacy differently ever since my workshop about CAFÉ and Daily 5. I discovered, a couple of months into school, that there was a teacher in primary who also used CAFÉ! And the funny thing is, we never talked about it formally, but because each of our teaching ‘neighbors’ would pop in and see what we were doing, other teachers started changing how they were teaching! We are by no means a school with a definitive purpose and clear expectations for how to teach with more of a workshop model, but teachers are ready for that change.
ReplyDeleteAnd we want other changes, too. Two things that I have tried to spearhead this year as the elementary humanities team lead were starting a professional book club and changing the format of our weekly meetings to make them more like professional development opportunities. Well, I wasn’t very successful…. Unfortunately, the book club idea was tossed because we were too far into the year. As for the meeting format, we did end up changing three of them. In one we talked about rubrics we all used, and came up with a way to use 6 Traits +1 to everyone’s satisfaction. In the other two, we cross-scored some of our students’ writing, and then talked about how effectively (and similarly) we were (or were not) using the new rubrics.
But even with some disappointments, I am feeling good about my reading and writing instruction. My kids read LOTS, and I read to them. As a side note, I had a child say to me, at the beginning of a school year when I started our first book: “Oh, our teacher started that book.” …yep, that was all she said. When I questioned her, she said that they never finished that book, nor read any others. Yikes! I know I do a great job of introducing my students to good stories through our read alouds, and I sometimes see them imitating the style of our current author! It’s funny how the way I teach writing has changed just since starting this course. I like being able to try out new things right away! Now, I cannot say that my students are writing the most amazing work of their lives, but I do see a bit of an improvement. Maybe because they are mostly Arab speakers, or maybe because I have not really had much time teaching conventions/grammar within their own writing, but their structure is still pretty bad. The content, though, and the organization of their ideas is much better! Mostly, I just feel like I am able to truly differentiate for my students in a way that I never thought possible. I cannot wait to start a new year!!!! (That is the best thing about this career: you always get to do it again!) I know for certain, that I will change what I want the kids to write. I am sort of guilty of the ‘big writing projects’, and need to make sure that I have my kids writing every day, but shorter pieces. I also like the idea of making a chart with the secrets of what good writers do.
I especially enjoyed reading the last section of the book. I like that she included her ‘teacher speak’ for us! And the chart about genre characteristics will be helpful. In fact, the website will be useful next year!
I really like the CAFE model and Daily 5, but I always struggle on how best to organize the Daily 5 in a 5th grade class. We are required to use Literacy By Design Materials for our small group reading groups. However the other students have word work and other stations, but I struggle at trying to get it going effectively. IF you have any ideas on how to best organize it and groups I am up for any help.
DeleteJessie, I am not familiar with Literacy By Design, but it sounds like it might include leveled readers and maybe some worksheet kinds of activities...? If so, then I think you could go ahead and set up your Daily 5 choices, but make something from the LbD be one of them. For example, you could have Reading to Self or Partner be one choice, Listening Center, Word Work, Writing, and #5 be something from LbD. Or, you could use the materials from LbD when you meet with your small groups, selecting materials based on what you notice your readers need when they are reading their own books.
DeleteThe most important thing I remember from reading the books about CAFE and Daily 5 were that your students are choosing their own books and that you are pulling them into small groups with you based on what you notice when they read to you. Wish I knew more about Literacy by Design. Hope this helps a little.
Chapter 11
ReplyDeleteThis chapter really hit the spot of where I am standing in writing and also what our focus at our school is. We are in the middle of trying to put together a school wide writing program. Our district has backed writing workshop and Lucy Calkins work. And as I do agree to much of what her and Regie support about writing to an audience for a purpose and making writing enjoyable, our school believes that we need to have a common vocabulary, graphic organizers and writing base program so that we can make it easier for the students to move from grade to grade and have common teaching practices. Each grade has gotten together to figure out exactly what our writing pieces are going to be, so that we are writing about the same things and using the same practices throughout our grade. Our Principal is a rock star and she is backing up our efforts by buying us professional development pieces that aid in this process. We are basically making our own program with best practices that come from all of our knowledge. I think that this chapter really speaks to what we are doing. Unfortunately I just got word that I will not be at my school next year, with RIF’s in our district I have been moved to another school with many new staff members, including a new principal for the entire school. So hopefully I can use this as well, but I wont be sure until I start next August.
Chapter 12
In chapter 12 Regie talks about limiting the work you take home. I have already said that I fully grade the major pieces and the others I conference and grade only minor parts. I agree that the comments don’t really resonate with the students; mine usually just look to see if they met the standards. In the important timesaver section Regie talks about writing everyday, and that is something that our school does. Our schedule requires 45 minutes of writing each day. The one part that I find difficult is having many choices of writing topics. When I taught 7th grade I was able to use Lucy’s ideas of brainstorming and building upon seed ideas and then choosing one. However, in 5th grade it doesn’t seem to work. The one and only time I did it the students got too confused and were not able to focus if they chose a different topic than my model story. So I really either have to work on that or have an overall large choice of writing topics for even the little/short writing pieces.
Teaching in Action:
I want to take the idea of reviewing what good writers do, and make a poster of it so that it shows everyday what to do! Oh I really do appreciate Day 4 of her narrative writing lessons, it is editing and it shows how she integrates and explicitly teaching how to edit. I would like to see it being more infused into lessons, but I like that I could use this part of the lesson with little short writes or quick free-write and opinion pieces.
In chapter 11, as I read the list of ways to advocate for saner teaching and assessment practices, I connected to a few of those items. I have been trying to become involved in professional development; I am currently participating in a staff book club on Professional Learning Communities and how we will be implementing in the fall. I have also become a vocal person to my administration about the desperate need our school has for writing revitalization (thanks to this class and Regie’s motivating text)! Although nothing has come of my squeaky wheeling, I plan on continuing to advocate for improving teacher and student writing. There were also some connections that I wish or want to have at our school. We teach writing outside of our reading program, although I do try to teach some writing skills to my reading students, the overall school focus is to teach reading and spelling during our reading time. I don’t think that other teachers focus on writing or even touch on it during reading so I know my homeroom kids are really only receiving instruction when they return to class. I’d also love to see staff meetings that are far more beneficial. Although we rarely have staff meetings so when we do, it’s nice to get the facts or mundane so everyone can be on the same page for a day. I have been advocating for better communication so that our meetings can be more efficient, and I love the idea of turning them into staff development as much as possible. It is also my hope that as we build and grow our PLCs that we can spend time focusing not only CCSS topics but also on writing, or maybe I’ll have to start a school-wide PLC for teachers that are interested in writing. When I read the section about Burnt Bridge Creek and how they listed the previous and current practices, I thought back on my past three years teaching and how the majority of my writing instruction fell on the “Used to do” list. I immediately reread the “What we do now” list for the 4th grade students with goal that I absorb it for use in September.
ReplyDeleteAs I began chapter 12, I read the Secrets of Good Writers and thought, as I did almost every chapter, that the list would make a great poster for the classroom. Then I read the teaching tip just to the left… in which Regie recommends making these into a classroom chart… I thought I was so smart… I loved that Regie encouraged teachers to focus writing time for during school hours, I very rarely ask students to do writing assignments at home. This is most because I have many students who do not have supportive homes, whether that is because parents are working difficult hours, are separated, or the handful that sadly just don’t seem to care about school. I want students to be able to have resources and someone on hand to ask for help. I also loved the list of Important Timesavers. It was by no means a total summary of the text, but I felt as though it did cover many of Regie’s key points found within the text as whole. It is a good resource for keeping taped to the front of my writing notebook as a constant reminder of what I should be focused on.
The Teaching in Action section was such an encouragement. I started my lesson planning for the fall before I left school this year, somehow I was miraculously ahead of the check out game, and I want to start the Procedural Writing lesson plans within the first weeks of school. Not only is it great writing, but it also enforces the expectations that are being taught at the beginning of the year. I also loved the Hero Writing plan, I can see so many students having success with such a writing piece, and it would be very interesting to have the whole K-8 at our school participate at the same time! They would make for an excellent school-wide display for Family Literacy Night! As neat as the Heart Poems would be for students, my first instinct was that they would be a great writing opportunity for the staff at a meeting. I want to ask my administration for the opportunity to lead such an activity at the start of the year.
Hi Kathy,
ReplyDeleteThat's so cool that the literacy changes at your school are happening organically. I'd also say that it sounds like your teachers are ready for a more formal change. :)And it does sound like you have been instrumental in many positive changes at your school! I agree, the fresh start each year is wonderful not just for students but for us as well! So glad that you have found new inspirations for your writing program and that the text and website will be useful resources for you in the future!!
Hi Jessie,
I don't know the Literacy by Design Program, so I'm not really sure how to answer your question. If you are looking for information on Word Study Groups then we'd suggest Words Their Way. But this is different from the Daily 5. Jackie actually has a CAFE class that is awesome. Students subscribe to The Sisters website instead of buying a text and the feedback has been incredible. Her class name is "Growing Strategic Readers" if you are interested in learning more; you can look on the TINT website.
You can also check out their website as parts of it is free. http://www.thedailycafe.com/ Regie was one of The Sisters inspirations so you'll find that their work meshes nicely together.
Thanks Kathy for offering some suggestions. :)
Oh, Jessie, I was reading your post and so glad that you have such a great principal and are being allowed the freedom to develop a program that best fits your style AND then I read you were being transferred. I'm so sorry to hear that. I hope your new school winds up being as supportive as the one you are currently at.
I wonder if it was the group of students you had in 5th grade? I've used "heart" pages and "seed ideas" with second and fourth graders successfully. Perhaps it might be something you want to revisit with a different class, or you can stick to your plan of having a variety of topics for them to choose from. :)
Melissa,
ReplyDeleteYEAH! We love this section as many teachers share that they are inspired to become an advocate at their school for changes in their writing program. Good for you for becoming more vocal!
And yes, you ARE so smart. :D I love when I read an experts thought or suggestion and I already had thought of it. :D
I love your last two ideas. Yes, I agree that having all the K-8 students write the hero piece would be an excellent display for literacy night. AND I also love that you hope to bring the writing activity to your staff. I've asked principals to do this in the past and have found it worthwhile. :) I think it's an important experience for teachers to have to write "on demand" with out any warning just as we ask our students to frequently do.