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ASSIGNMENT FIVE: WRITTEN REFLECTION-Section Three- The Essential Writing Day Chapters 7-10
Chapter 7: Be Efficient and Integrate Basic Skills
• How might we integrate skill work into student writing rather than teaching it in isolation?
• Daily Oral Language exercises – THEY DON’T WORK!!!
• The importance of focusing on meaning and quality first
• All writing needs both a PURPOSE and an AUDIENCE
• How thinking aloud can make your teaching more explicit
• Teaching WRITING – not just the language of writing (process, process, process)
• What about writing standards? In your District and State?
• Key writing minilessons
• Revision – how to get students to care about it
• Letting kids in on the secret that – Yes! – Conventions do matter!
• How can we effectively use word walls?
In Chapter 7, suitably titled “Be Efficient and Integrate Basic Skills,” Regie gets to the heart of what so many teachers struggle with: “Fitting it all in!!!” Many of the elementary teachers that we work with are beginning to feel as though their personal motto is: “Jack of all trades; master of none.” We just don’t have the time to teach well what has to be taught. The only answer to this problem is to modify our instruction so it agrees with Regie’s stance that isolated skill work (such as Friday spelling tests, DOL, grammar worksheets…) will not help our students grow into writers (or readers.) On page 144, Regie shares four components for an integrated Writing Workshop:
1. Identify writing genres that would interest students (and meet district requirements)
2. Decide who the audience would be for each piece of writing.*
3. Model your own writing process and show students how you struggle.
4. Have students share writing regularly (for both celebration and great teaching moments.)
*This created the biggest change in my own class’s writing - once my students began to write with an audience in mind, the quality of writing shot right up!
Regie also gets to the heart of what writing with “voice” really is and addresses how to teach children to write with an honest voice in their own writing. She describes voice as “the writer’s unique personality on paper, his own melody in words, her ‘mark’ as an individual. To write with voice, the writer has to be interested in the writing.” We think that many teachers and students are unclear as to how to add true voice to their writing. Regie suggests, “Voice is in the details – but details that show the real person and story behind the words, not just details for the sake of adding more words…”
Integrating those isolated editing skills such as grammar, punctuation, and spelling into our writing will increase the efficiency of our instruction. Bottom line – if the students care about their writing, are writing for a specific audience, and understand that “the importance of editing (and spelling conventionally) is to make their message clear and easy to read for their audience – or reader, they take this job seriously and work hard at making their writing clear.”
Chapter 8: Organize for Daily Writing
• What is our definition of Writing Workshop? What does Regie say?
• How can we have student choice within a structure?
• The importance of writing talk (teachers and students)
• The ultimate nightmare for all of us…scheduling…finding the time to write everyday
• The importance of routines, organization and modeling expected behavior
• Genre study – why it’s important to have both school-wide and district-wide conversations
• The possibilities within genres
Figuring out a way to “fit it all in” is usually one of the most frustrating things many of us face. It starts at the beginning of the year as we first plan our daily schedule and continues throughout the remainder of the year. Considering how you will create your schedule to include a solid chunk of time for both reading and writing will probably be the most stressful piece to the start of your year.
Create a Comprehensive Literacy Framework: Play with your time and consider what changes you might make in your daily literacy framework for next year. Take a look at the samples that Regie provides on pages 185-187 for some possibilities. You do not have to post your schedule, but we believe this is a worthwhile activity to complete on your own.
Chapter 9: Conference with Students
• What is the purpose of a Writing Conference?
• What are the different types of Writing Conferences?
• How can Share be used effectively?
• How to conduct a productive conference
• What about management and routines?
We are so glad that this chapter talks about Share during Writer’s Workshop. Too often this component is skipped by teachers who feel there isn’t enough time in the day to “fit it all in.” However, it’s a vital piece of the workshop and beneficial to all the students. Share sessions are an additional time to teach. The teachers in my school are quite comfortable using Share as their mini-lesson if the need arises. Given the reality of daily schedules they were finding that they couldn’t have a mini-lesson, confer and share everyday. They then realized that their Shares sometimes were the minilessons. For more information about Share we recommend looking at Leah Mermelstein’s Don’t Forget To Share: The Crucial Last Step in the Writing Workshop. In this slim book, Leah explains in detail four types of Share: Content Share, Craft Share, Process Share and Progress Share.
The “Tips for Successful Whole-Class Shares and Conferences” on page 215 are excellent ones to keep in mind. The bottom line for Conferences and Shares is that students should feel successful and want to continue to write. Make sure what you say to the child encourages them to keep on writing. “The conference is secondary; the student as writer and confident learner is primary.”
Chapter 10: Make Assessment Count
• Understanding how rubrics work
• What about Test Prep? THE BEST TEST PREP IS EXCELLENT TEACHING!
• How can we collect reliable data on students’ writing throughout the day?
• Guidelines for grading and providing evidence for parents, administrators and the public
“There is lots of writing assessment going on these days, but little of it actually improves the quality of students’ writing.” As Regie continues she points out that this ‘assessment’ “is seldom used to improve daily instruction.” This chapter is about becoming more knowledgeable about assessments. Regie notes, that unless teachers know how to teach writing well, it can be a waste of time to examine students’ writing and place students on a writing continuum. She encourages you, as a staff to “write together, study together, converse together, gather school-wide data, analyze these data and set goals for improving writing instruction. There is no shortcut to helping students become effective writers and there is no program you can buy that will do it for you.”
Remember to use rubrics judiciously and not overdo it. They should be “used as an evaluation tool, not as the driving instructional force.” “Use professional common sense. It is not advisable to apply rubrics to ALL writing nor to score ALL writing. Just as our students need lots of practice reading many texts without the expectation that they will be assessed on everything they read, they need lots of practice writing without being assessed on everything they write.” (Page 243)
Have your students do a lot of writing! “Extensive writing across the curriculum as part of an excellent writing program is the best preparation for doing well on (standardized) tests. Readers have to read avidly to become readers and the same holds true for writers. Kids who write a lot develop higher-order thinking and understanding that translates to higher achievement on all types of tests.” Be sure to check out “Try It Apply It” on page 246 and throughout the chapter for ideas to incorporate into your program.
As Regie points out in this chapter, “The joy has gone out of writing.” We need to “concentrate on developing kids as learners rather than kids as test takers.”
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Section Three: The Essential Writing Day was like a road map of how to create a really effective writer’s workshop. It detailed content, writing process, and important resources for both teachers and students. This is an immensely helpful section.
ReplyDeleteI was pleased to see that I have already incorporated 3 of the 4 components for an integrated writing workshop, according to Regie, into my writer’s workshop. My district has been working on projection/pacing guides to align with the CCSS over the past few years. My teammates and I have been working to create genre studies that match our district expectations. This next year should be our first year with the projection map and our genre studies in place. I am hopeful that it will help our year to progress smoothly while still keeping in mind high expectations for all of our students. As part of my writer’s workshop model I am constantly writing, modeling, making mistakes and showing my struggles in front of my students. Since the addition of a document camera to my classroom last year (hooray!!!) it has been much easier to share student writing on a daily basis. We share writing in all stages of the writing process. Students not sharing are responsible for sharing their questions, suggestions, or compliments for the writing being presented. My classroom also celebrates finished pieces of writing with publishing parties. 3 out of 4 of the components for an integrated writing workshop are a good start. One of my goals for this coming year is to focus on the 4th component; decide who the audience would be for each piece of writing. I am encouraged to see that this made a big change in your own classroom. It seems like a simple thing and I assumed that students knew whom they were writing for but after reading the chapter I see that it is an essential skill that needs to be explicitly taught. I am looking forward to implementing this 4th component and watching the quality of writing improve as well.
On page 155 there is a sampling of common mini lessons. I found this to be very helpful. Each year I struggle with what to teach in my mini lessons and in what order. It was nice to read that there is no right sequenced list. I loved the question Regie posed, “ Is this the most important thing students need at this time to continue writing well? This question will help me focus in on the next small step, the mini lesson, and not perseverate on the end of the year expectations.
My school is going to be really focused on assessment this next year. It is one of our goals as part of our Focus School status. We are going to spend the year building our knowledge of formative and summative assessments. As well as, how to effectively write and use assessments in the classroom. We will be receiving professional development from Assessment Training Institute (ATI) founded by Rick Stiggins. I am confident that this professional development will improve our daily instruction by teaching us how to effectively use assessments in order shift student learning. I am hopeful that through this professional training all of our staff members will learn how to use assessment in a positive way; pointing out to students what they did well and then noting the areas of improvement. This would be a big shift for our building. One that I believe needs to take place in order for all of our students to feel successful. Students need to feel successful even if their successes don’t meet the standards, especially if they don’t meet the standards. I genuinely appreciated chapter 10, Make Assessment Count.
Hi Tricia!!!!
ReplyDeleteI'll reply more in detail to your post later but just wanted to say that I LOVE your ending thought... "STUDENTS NEED TO FEEL SUCCESSFUL EVEN IF THEIR SUCCESSES DON'T MEET THE STANDARDS, ESPECIALLY IF THEY DON'T MEET THE STANDARDS!!!!!!" Yes, I am shouting! Well said!! I love it! We all need this reminder. So glad you enjoyed this chapter. :D Mary
Tricia, I also have always assumed that students knew who they were writing for when given a task. I have never made a point of discussing this. Now I see that was a mistake on my part. I agree with Mary. I love your statement about students needing to feel successful. So many of mine don't. They are discouraged learners who need a boost. I am hoping that my implementing practices from this unit into my instruction this year will help them improve even more and feel better about themselves as learners.
DeleteWriting Essentials # 5--Joyce Reynolds-Ward
ReplyDeleteWow! This reading section generated a lot of notes to myself to use different pieces in my classroom. It also gives me the justification to do what I have really wanted to do, which is fully integrate reading and writing as a specific whole in my intervention classroom. Whether students are focusing on writing itself or on writing as a response to what they are reading, I plan to model and talk about reading and writing as interrelated activities. Because the students in my Intervention classes are going to be there because they are not passing the Reading assessment, I plan to be open about that being the situation--but I am planning to state my goal for the year as encouraging and developing students to see reading and writing as FUN (and oh yeah, by the way, everyone will pass the state reading test!).
Several things from these chapters leap out at me as things which need to happen with my particular group of middle schoolers. First of all, I want to integrate more shared work. Some ideas I'm considering is for students to have a peer partner that they write to. Depending upon the makeup of my two classes, I may have the classes write to each other, or pick a partner in the other class who will be their reading partner that they share work with.
Secondly, I want to share more of my own writing drafts, not just work that I do in school but work that I do outside school that I'm marketing professionally. I am a good reviser and I generally share these skills with students in one-on-one conferencing--now I need to take the leap and do more whole-class modeling about just how I go about revising and reworking, as well as knowing when to walk away from the writing. There's a saying amongst professional writers that it is possible to overpolish a work and take all of the life out of it. I also want to restate what Regie says on Page 160 in kid terms--"Overattention to grammar and mechanics while composing adversely impacts writing." This is SO TRUE and I see it a LOT with my sped students.
I completely and totally agree with Regie that students need to be writing and writing daily. However, I've got ideas now for different forms of reading and writing which are perfectly valid, such as lists, brochures, emails, and so on.
Quick hit applications--
*Create a word wall using individual Tough Words For the Week--create some sort of activity which encourages students to bring tough words from other classes or readings.
*Talk about writing as helping to understand the deeper levels of reading.
*Have each student pick 2-3 pieces of writing per month to go into a writing portfolio so they can see how they progress
*Do more explicit behavioral teaching and modeling in the first few weeks!
*Write snapshots picking one moment from the summer or a summer secret to share
*Gratitude message board as well as other writing to perform acts of kindness. We have a MAJOR culture of bullying in the school including several of my sped students, and I think stressing positives as well as cultivating a weekly habit of writing a thank you to SOMEONE may help model new behaviors.
As I said, this is a section which really resonated with me so there are a lot of notes. I plan to be revisiting this section in a few weeks as I get closer to the beginning of the school year.
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ReplyDeleteLori Fossati
ReplyDeleteAssignment #5
These chapters were really jammed packed with a lot of good information, ideas and, “Ah ha moments”. Some of the key ideas that I will take away from these chapters are:
Chapter 7
*Teaching whole-to-part-to-whole. This makes a whole lot of sense to me, focus my lessons with them on, what I see my students doing, or not doing in their writing
*Celebrating what they are doing well, their strengths!!
*Only isolate the skill if students know how and why the skill is used.
* Students should write for meaningful purposes and for real audiences.
*Mini Lessons are taught throughout the day, not just at the beginning of writing class.
*Teach the concept first and label it later. (Easier and more meaningful for students.)
Chapter 8.
I love to explore various genres with my first graders. We spend a lot of time reading books and discussing what they notice about the author’s writing, and also similarities and differences between authors and genres. Next we usually do a shared writing piece or two. Sometimes students write their own pieces, but not for every genre.
Some of the ideas or thoughts that I will keep in mind or use this year are:
*Set the criteria for writing after you have written the demonstration piece.
*More short writing projects. They don’t all have to be long and involved.
*The “Snapshot” on the camera as a way for students to write and get to know each other at the beginning of the year.
*The Try It Apply It on page 189 “Model Writing Behavior” and “Eliminate Distractions”
Chapter 9
The “Ah ha” moment in this chapter was the idea of doing a whole-class share conference. I can see how doing this form of writing conference with a student in front of the class would be an incredibly useful teaching tool. I will definitely try this out and I am also going to:
*Focus first on quality, then content, and work on editing last.
*Celebrate what the writer has done well.
*Comment on ideas first, not the mechanics.
*First time through, listen while the child reads without looking at the words. I think I’ve tended to combine both content and editing when conferencing with students, in an effort of trying to fit it all in and save time.
*Make one or two teaching points to move the writer along.
*Teach students, “How to listen”.
*Give editing responsibility back to the students.
Chapter 10 is good reminder to not overdo the use of writing rubrics and to instead spend more time focusing on needs and successes of your students. Teaching first grade and in a private school I do not have the burden of the dreaded state writing tests. I do use two simple rubrics, one for content. It is very similar to the first grade rubric on page 241. The second rubric is for mechanics. Both are very basic. I want my students to enjoy and value writing, just as much as I want them enjoy and value reading.
As was previously noted, there is so much valuable information within this section. This is definitely a section I will continue to read and revisit important suggestions or methods. But as asked, I will respond only in regards to the points I found that were most pertinent.
ReplyDeleteI found myself wondering if I was able to be effective enough to conference with each student. Would I have sufficient management skills to be able to conference with each student? My image of conferencing with the students was exclusively of one-on-one conferences. So the section on conferencing with students was invaluable. The potential benefits of the whole class share really stood out as a powerful tool. I always tell my students they can learn as much from each other as from me, and that I learn from them every day. If one student needs scaffolding in a specific area, it is guaranteed that many others will need the same support. Quickshares is an excellent manner in which to praise numerous writers in a short period of time. And the quickshare can assist other students see or hear what various aspects of quality writing of their peers looks like. I will have to evaluate the potential use of peer conferences based upon what elementary grade level I teach. It also opened my eyes to realize that the focus of the one-on-one conference is on the writer first, writing second.
It was interesting to read about the editing conference. In keeping with the authors themes, Regie follows through by urging us to raise the expectations. I am sure it will take time and effort, but I agree that the students should and can take more responsibility in their editing. Editing is part of becoming a writer after all. She refuses to do for the students what they are themselves capable of. I made many notes in the margins as she described her conferences as being nurturing during content conferences and tougher with editing conferences.
Assessments, assessments, assessments……………………….I was very focused during this section as it is the hot topic interview questions. I devour any text that can better help formulate my philosophies of assessment and my ability to discuss them with concrete examples! I am very focused on the use of assessment for learning but often get hung up on assessment of learning. There is a time and place for each and rubrics can be effective if used as an evaluation tool rather than “the driving instructional force.” This section also provided great discussion of various means document the students writing progress especially from classroom based assessments. There is so much to think of as a new teacher about what you want to implement and how in your classroom. This helped organize my thoughts about the procedure of collecting writing samples throughout the year. I am a prolific note taker and list person. So I will be thinking of how to most effectively develop a method and procedure for connecting conference notes to evidence of writing and their storage.
Another key note I made was to spend less time grading and more time focused on reading and writing. The students need to be allowed lots of time to practice and experiment with support rather than writing to a grade. It was interesting to note that Regie stated “80% of writing need not be graded.” And the counterbalance to this is the aim of independence and working towards the student having the ability, means, and desire to self-assess their writing.
Wow! This reading section was loaded. I kept reading and re- reading to get all the information to sink in. I’m really excited to begin the school year using the information and ideas I gathered from this section. I look forward to integrating reading and writing across my second grade curriculum. As I was reading through this section I kept jotting down ideas I would like to use in my own class.
ReplyDeleteThe thing that stands out the most in this section is teaching writing “whole to part to whole”. I’m always so worried about fitting all the writing components into our curriculum that I feel disjointed (I can only imagine my students feel the same way!). Regie’s approach to writing makes so much sense; “teach the concept first and label it later”. Teaching the skills within the context of writing makes so much sense and is way more meaningful. I am also really going to focus on audience this year. I wan t my students to understand who will be reading their work
Chapter 8 gave me one of those “oops” moments; writing four times a week for 45 minutes? Oh my, I have some planning to do! It was helpful to go through my class schedule (from last year) and figure out when and where I could have incorporated more writing (and more reading). Going through last year’s schedule will help me be more purposeful as I prepare for this fall. As I implement more reading and writing I will need to incorporate better modeling habits. In order to refrain from redundancy I teach the concept and reteach it, but I teach at the beginning of the lesson. I love Regie’s practice of writing a piece and then asking, “What did I do?” Why was this a good piece?” Aha! I will practice modeling good writing habits regularly this year.
Chapter 9 was a big Aha chapter for me. Understanding how to conference more thoroughly and efficiently will improve my ability to teach well. My mantra for this year is frontload, frontload, and frontload! If I teach well, scaffold, give students time to work things out and then use the OLL to gradually release the responsibility of learning to each student then my time conferencing will be more efficient (for me) and more beneficial (for both the student and I). I think I may have to tape a picture of one of those dirt pusher trucks in my teaching area to serve as a reminder! Key elements for me to remember are: focus on meaning first, and when conferencing offer one or two things for the student to work on.
Finally, by setting criteria early in the lesson, and using the various methods of conferencing as tools to work toward excellent writing I should be able to assess better and more accurately. I was really interested in Regie’s thoughts about self-assessment. It is really a form of reflection; we use that all the time as teachers. What a great tool to teach our students, especially as we guide them to become independent learners.
Hi Everyone! Hard to believe that summer is almost over. ☹
ReplyDeleteTricia, I know, I love document cameras. ☺ I would say 3 out of 4 of the components is a great start. Yes, as educators we can sometimes get overwhelmed with all that students need to learn. But if we focus in on “what the student needs right now to improve their writing,” it helps make the task less daunting. I think it’s wonderful that your school is focusing on assessment, especially formative assessment. Assessment is often a scary word for teachers but really; using formative assessment helps to adjust and drive instruction and support students’ learning. It should be a good thing!
Hello Joyce,
So many teachers feel justified in their instruction after reading this text and feel that they now have the evidence and research to do what they have known and felt is best for the students. Yes, yes, yes!!! More fun with and during writing! I would say it would be incredibly valuable for you to share with your students how you edit and revise work that you create professionally. I know, from working in the high school writing lab, that many older students are just as resistant to editing, revising or changing their papers as elementary students. This process must be shared over and over again with students; hopefully so that they do not take it personally when you critique their paper.
Yes!!! Again another point worth restating: The over-focus on grammar and mechanics while students are composing usually results in negative feelings towards writing. There is a time and place to discuss mechanics and grammar, but it should not be the first thing that teachers point out.
The Gratitude Message Board sounds like an excellent idea! This could easily be adapted for all grade levels.
Hi Lori!
Yes, more, shorter writing pieces. I wish all teachers would realize that great learning can happen with shorter writing assignments. So glad that you and the others are finding the readings useful!
Hi Todd!
I can tell you, yes, you have everything you need to successfully conference with students. Just having a quick conversation with students about what they are reading gives the teacher so much information about where the child is in their ability. Plus, students LOVE having one-on-one time with their teacher. ☺ Glad you liked the other types of conferences as well. Yep, focus on the writer first and the writing second!!!
The record keeping piece of writing and reading workshops is often the area that many teachers struggle with. Developing a system that works for you that is easy to manage usually takes a while. Remember, you want to note what is new or surprises you about a student, don’t waste time recording things that you already know your students can do.
Hello Kristin!
Yes, this is a very full section! Def. worth reading again. ☺ Being intentional in adding more writing across the curriculum will absolutely result in better writing for your students! It’s again, one of those things that many of us likely knew, but with all the demands placed upon us, it’s easy to get caught up in covering material to say we did it. Taking the time to slow down and be intentional and purposeful with our planning and instruction and give students the time for processing and reflection will improve the quality of students’ work.
I think your key elements from the section are important ones! Focus on meaning first and only pick one or two things for students to work on at a time.
Megan Downey
ReplyDeleteWriting Essentials Assignment #5: Written Reflection Section 3
Chapter 7:
The list of common mini-lessons is a helpful reminder of the specific skills (or explicit teaching) to provide our students when the needs arise. I often recognize that there is a need in some of these areas for my students, but don’t really address them through a mini-lesson.
I know I shouldn’t, but I often find myself stuck on conventions and neatness of student work. I love the example of how Regie addressed Owen regarding spacing between words. She, first and most importantly, celebrated the work he’d done but also addressed the importance of neatness for the reader and their ability to read his good writing.
In regards to invented spelling, I often struggle with sight words and students using invented spelling. Regie says that students should not be using invented spelling n sight words. I often am asked by students how to spell common sight words and encourage them to give it a go. I am now curious, is it better to tell them the correct spelling of common sight words or allow them to use invented spelling?
Chapter 8:
One thing I need to consider in my instruction (and planning for students via IEPs) is the over use of graphic organizers. I suggest that students use graphic organizers for their writing as a way to organize their thinking. But in reading in the text, Regie warns against over doing it. I need to also be creating a balance for students, such as outlining, to help with the prewriting process.
The idea of integrating writing across the curriculum makes so much sense. The Common Core State Standards seem to be designed to integrate content. While you may not use this writing time to focus on the instruction of the writing craft, it is a great opportunity to get students writing more.
Regie talks about her love of letters, and to me, this is such a great way to get reluctant writers writing. I have one student (a 6th grader last year), who HATES putting pencil to paper; even asking him to write his name was a painful experience. He is also a deeply caring boy and a good friend. One day he noticed a classmate’s little brother was upset and he requested to write a letter to his friend letting him know. Given that opportunity, he wrote more than I’d ever seen and attempted to spell words that he would normally ask for help. Letter writing has a much clearer purpose than much of the other writing he was ever asked to do, and so it was much more motivating for him.
Chapter 9:
The transcripts from Mikaela and Tristan’s conferences are such a great help. I often, like Marlene Tucker, would stop after one sentence and abandon that piece of writing (with my youngest writers, 1st and 2nd graders). But seeing the progression and how the conversation had with students allowed Tristan and Mikaela to expand on their writing over several days is a great example of how the writing conference works. I would like to make it my goal for next year to spend more time on a single piece of writing and help students learn to stay with a piece over an extended period of time.
Chapter 10:
One thing this chapter got me really thinking about, primarily because of the link to the rubrics is the new teacher evaluation system in our state. Next year we will move toward a student growth model for teacher evaluation system. The goals teachers will set for themselves and how they will measure the growth of their students (in writing) is largely tied to our state scoring rubric, because it’s a tool that we already use regularly in our district. I worry that teachers will over rely on this rubric now as a way of measuring student growth. As Regie warns, we shouldn’t over do it! My hope is that teachers will use a variety of methods of measuring growth of their students, and I think self-assessments will be one valuable way of doing this.
Section Three: What a great resource this will be for me while I am re-structuring the writing program in my classroom. I know that I will be revisiting the pages I have marked and the many notes I have made throughout the chapters in this section.
ReplyDeleteChapter 7
•I feel our writing curriculum approaches writing from the opposite viewpoint – teach the skills and integrate the teaching of writing. Regie’s idea to teach writing with meaning and then integrating skills (based on your student observations/formative assessments) makes total sense. This is something I know I need to address within our school.
Chapter 8
•While students in my classroom spend time writing each day (some of this is done with writing tied in with our literacy instruction), I realize that we’re not making the most of this time. We use writing prompts, students write, I review/reflect on their work and then we’re off on a new prompt the next day. Then, we spend some time teaching “writing”, which is not always tied into what they were working on previously. This whole literacy and writing block time desperately needs restructuring. To me, if feels very fractured. We have the time dedicated for these skills during the day, but we are not as effective as we can be with this time. This chapter really made me take a good hard look at how we’re using this time and I realize that we can do so much better at making writing purposeful and integrating writing throughout our day. We have new daily schedules coming out, which I will see when I return to school next week, and I am anxious to meet with my first grade team to see how we can make more efficient and effective use of this time with our students.
Chapter 9
•This chapter, in conjunction with the video clips provided, was very helpful in understanding how to use informal writing conferences with students in my classroom. Admittedly, this is not something I used on a regular basis in class last year. It is my goal this next year to make them a part of our writing program and to structure writing so that students are writing and sticking with pieces long enough for us to write, confer, edit and publish. I feel that we moved rather quickly through our writing and looked at writing by responding to reading or writing with prompts on a daily basis, instead of allowing students to really move through the entire writing process. Again, this comes back to a restructuring of our writing program, but it is necessary. After reading, watching the DVD and conducting my own informal reading conference it was clear to see how valuable of a tool these will be in the classroom.
Chapter 10
•I appreciated reading about student self-evaluation and realize that this is a skill that I need to spend more time teaching to my students. I hold high expectations for my students and know what I expect from them, but do my students understand how to self-evaluate? Are they able to look over their own work and have conversations with themselves about their writing? This is not something that I have explicitly taught my students, but I see the value in this. Teaching them to view their work through self-reflection helps give them the tools they need to become better writers – just as we ask them to use similar skills to become better readers. The basic tips that Regie presented on p. 253 are helpful and give me a starting place for implementation with my students.
Assignment 5
ReplyDeleteWritten Reflection Unit 3 Chapters 7-10
I enjoy and agree with Mem Fox’s quote at the start of the chapter. I fully agree with Routman’s opening statement about having made writing way to complicated. When we hold IEP meetings and spelling comes up or specific skills in writing we often discuss how “he can spell the words on the spelling test but does not apply those same skills in daily writing” or “she did great on the skills assessment for using punctuation but doesn’t show it when writing papers”. Wow, did these conversations echo in my mind as I read this chapter. Routman’s visual of having all the pieces to the puzzle but never having see what the picture was an “aha” moment for me. What a great way to paint a picture for her reader. I was impressed with the change in Debbie’s team writing goals for the year. I think the second version looked more manageable, less overwhelming and more fun than the first list. I think we teachers forget sometimes that we need to like what we are doing for the kids to like doing it as well. Audience is a big part of writing. I put in my IEP’s for students that they are going to work on who they are writing to and how we use language. I frequently use the example of writing a note to a buddy to see if they can come over for a sleepover is different than writing a paper for class or my Christmas wish list for grandma and grandpa. I want my kids to understand this concept, however, I have not specifically taught it or given them the tools to use it. Too many of us assume the students make the connections but don’t give them the roadmap to get them there. I want a word wall this year- I will actually have room for one. But rather than my staff and I making the wall I want the kids to do it. What words do they kind of know but need support with. Which words are they actually going to use the wall for. I would rather have a small word wall that is used frequently than lots of words that never get looked at. Also, once my staff and I notice students are needing those words less, since they are mastering them the kids will need to add new words and decide which words can be deleted.
I found Routman’s definition of Writer’s Workshop helpful. I am looking forward to more daily writing, shared writing, students having more choice in what they write, sharing my writing and the writing of my staff with students, feeling like I have a better handle on evaluating what my students have written, publishing writing in the room. When I can do all of these things my students should feel as though their writing is of value. If they feel valued, then hopefully they will feel pride in the work and the product will continue to grow and improve. I think my students will positively take advantage of the ability to talk about their writing before and after activities. I can see how these conversations can engage the writer more into their writing and help produce better writing.
I am excited to try group writer’s conferences. Since we will not have more than 15 students in my room for writing at one time I think this will work. I like the group idea for many reasons. The biggest piece is when one person’s writing is being discussed the others are listening and likely will benefit from hearing want is being said to the other student. I think it will help each student become a better writer, listener and to be able to give true feedback to each other.
I hate district and state writing assessments. I used to be the secondary level testing coordinator for all IEP students 7-12th grade. The topics tend to be of little interest to struggling writers and capable writers just write to complete the task and move on. They don’t ever seem to get vested in the topics given. I really hate that students are double scored on conventions. So they could meet in multiple areas but by not meeting in conventions it kills the score entirely. Once again mechanics are being held higher than message. For ELD and struggling writers it makes them feel as if their work does not count.
Megan,
ReplyDeleteWith regard to telling students the correct spelling or letting them use inventive spelling I think it’s a mater of your best professional judgment. You know best what your students need at the time. Perhaps you have a conversation and make a goal of no excuse words. Maybe let the child pick them. Maybe you only pick X amount of words for a period of time. Or maybe, there is no excuses…this is what you expect. I don’t think we can say absolutely one way or the other for every case.
Great example about letter writing. (I love when teachers have an ah-ha moment that their writing assignments don’t have to be three pages long.) Students can (and will) learn the skills with shorter writing assignments and likely feel less overwhelmed. This is why poetry is so wonderful to use in the classroom.
One way to caution against the over-use of the state rubric is just a simple reminder. I think what you wrote says it well. I would consider sharing it at a staff meeting some time just to remind the teachers and bring it forth in their minds.
Stacey,
AWESOME! Love that you want to address this with your whole school! It makes total sense!
Robert Marzano’s book, A Handbook for Classroom Instruction That Works, also has a section on goal setting (setting objectives) and self-assessment (providing feedback.) It is another one of the nine instructional strategies proven to improve student performance and achievement.
Karyn,
Your comment, “the students should see their writing has value,” really stood out to me. This is so simple and so important. We should always keep this in our minds. When writing has no value or doesn’t really matter, why put a lot of effort or time into it? Or if students thought it mattered and the teacher just glances at it and says, “Good job.” Students are smart, they know when we are sincere and mean what we say. So we should try to ask our students to only do things that matter and have value as much as we can.
Would you think about starting conversations at your district level about what can be done regarding the weighing of mechanics for the state test. Changes can happen but it takes a lot of time and effort. Perhaps if enough people and districts wrote the state DOE something would occur. Your points are valid and true and your experience also helps back up your opinion.