Welcome to Essentials of Writing! We look forward to working and learning with you. In order for everyone to get the most out of the course, please be sure to read and respond to each others comments.Please try to keep your responses within one allotted "comment" space to ensure that the blog remains manageable for all participants.
Also, you may want to type your comments in a Word Document and either copy from Word and paste onto the blog or save it in a folder on your computer and then post it to the blog. I have written a couple of lengthy comments that I lost before I was able to post it to the blog. This extra step may save you some frustration later on this term.
Last of all, we will write our comments to your posts on the blog, so you will need to check back to the corresponding week for feedback (and to make additional comments if you wish.)
Let us know if you have any questions. You can email us, but please put the words "Question for Essentials of Writing" in the subject line so that we can respond in a timely fashion.
ASSIGNMENT ONE: Post your Introduction to the course Blog.
Introduction Post- Tell us about yourself. Where do you teach? What grade do you teach? How long have you been teaching? How many students are there in your class? Do you have instructional support? What does your current literacy program look like? (If you aren’t currently teaching let us know.) What is your knowledge/training in the area of literacy (be specific about your experiences teaching writing?) Does your district provide training in literacy –especially writing? If so, what exactly have they offered? Has your district been bogged down with getting students to perform well on state writing assessments – prompts? How do you feel about teaching? Are you happy at work? Also, let us know a little about you outside of the classroom: Interests/ Hobbies/Family Life? What do you hope to get out of this course? Post your reflection to the blog.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Assignment One
ReplyDeleteHello everyone,
My name is Tony Whipps. I am a second grade teacher at Lynch View Elementary in the Centennial School District. After the second week of school I was switched to a first/second blend. I lost 20 of my students and gained 10 more first graders. I started with 33 and now have 24. I have one student with special needs who has a one-on-one, but she is not instructional support for me. We do have math and literacy coaches at our school. My grade level is on a coaching cycle with the literacy coach right now and I am working with her on creating writing groups to better meet the needs of my students in writing.
We practice balanced literacy in our district. I am currently using Lucy Calkins primary writing program. We use the workshop model and gradual release. Most of the lessons are teacher created using this format and the common core state standards. The district created curriculum maps for us so each school in the district would be on the same page at the same time since there is so much student movement within the district.
In literacy I have my undergaduate degree in elementary education. After my undergrad I got a reading specialist endorsement. I have been to Denver two times to get training in literacy. I have taken several classes in writing, read books, and attended conferences. Last year I attended the Rethinking Literacy conference where Matt Glover taught on writing. It was excellent and I am currently implementing much of what I learned from that workshop.
My district provides training in literacy- including writing- through literacy coaching and offering 6 credits each year to use in education related classes. The district has been bogged down with getting students to perform well on state writing assessments especially since our scores were very low. We will be using writing prompts this year that mirror the ones that will be on Smarter Balance (This name reminds me of fake butter).
I love teaching. It has gotten harder since I started 8 years ago and we are asked to do much more with less. I don't like being treated like a machine that should be able to handle whatever is pushed down to teachers. I love teaching and I love my classroom and students. 6 out of the 8+ hours of my work day are spent doing this. I just have to put up with the smaller percentage of time that can often frustrate me. I am often stressed and tired. I just finished a master's degree in June. That kept me busy last year and I worked all summer. I have a beautiful wife and two amazing kids ages 3 and 5. This keeps me busy too on top of everything else.
I enjoy time with my family. We enjoy hiking, camping, the zoo, OMSI, parades, biking, reading, cooking, and our big dog Cooper. I enjoy bicycling. I commute to work each day by bike. I like to play frisbee golf and enjoy watching college football- which I am doing right now as I type this assignment.
I really want to focus on writing instruction this year. I feel that it is my weakest area and I also feel like writing gets the least attention in my building. I want to get some new ideas to implement in my current curriculum as well as a refresher in best practice- and motivation!
Hi Tony,
ReplyDeleteThank goodness your numbers dropped. I can't even imagine teaching 33 first or second graders.
Yes, I can see where you get the fake butter image. :D
I have to agree it has gotten a lot harder to teach from when I started and even 10 or 8 years ago. As you mentioned many districts continue to ask more and more of teachers without providing the support.
There are so many wonderful things to do in the Portland area. :D You will find that Regie supports teachers having time for themselves and families and a life outside of the classroom.
I believe you will enjoy this text and pick up some new ideas to implement into your classroom. Feel free to look back at the summer term's blog if you like. We leave the previous comments up for one term.
Looking forward to working with you. It's early in the term so we'll likely have people joining us in the next few weeks.
My name is Leah Williams. I teach at Redland Elementary in Oregon City, Oregon. I am the Resource Room teacher and I have a caseload of 35 so far. I have two fantastic assistants helping me with our children.
ReplyDeleteOur school uses Step Up to Writing for our main writing support. The staff has received group trainings with using the program. In our program we also use many supplemental workbooks to help with writing sentences etc.
I teach 3 writing groups per day and I have assistants going into the regular education classrooms to support other students.
Our district has put the state writing on hold for the last few years in fourth grade. The regular education teachers are completing writing prompts and using rubrics to score writing samples for portfolios in the classrooms.
Writing isn’t always my favorite subject to teach. I am always looking for new ideas and ways to motivate students. Sometimes it is hard to work on attention and handwriting while trying to get a nice piece of writing accomplished. This year I am lucky to have smaller groups and this is making it much easier to manage, as they all need so much support.
I love where I work and I love the kids I work with. I have been at Redland for ten years and this is my neighborhood school. The school holds fond memories for me, with all the staff I have worked with and the students I have taught. I also have wonderful memories of my own children attending this school.
When I am not working I am hanging with my family. I am married and I have two boys. Nick is 20 and Derek is 18. Nick has just moved back home and it is great to have him around more often. Derek is going to school and just brought home a new kitten. Our cat and dogs are not quite sure what to do with her. We now have a Fila Mastiff, a Bull Mastiff, a black, nameless house cat and a new fluffy white kitten. The Mastiffs keep us busy with trips to the store for dog food☺
If I am not busy with the family you will find me reading. I received a Nook for Mother’s Day a few years ago and I can’t put it down. There are so many free books out there for me to read.
While taking this course I hope to get some fresh and new ideas. I am always looking for ways to get the kids excited about writing. Once they get excited it seems to stick with them forever. There is nothing better than hearing parents tell me that there child is writing stories at home for fun. I am looking forward to dog earring pages and sharing my new skills and ideas with my colleagues.
Hello!
ReplyDeleteMy name is Tia Diaz. I am in my fifth year of teaching. For the first two years I ran a self-contained classroom and since then I have had a resource room. I am one of three elementary special education teachers at my school in Gladstone. My caseload currently has 25 students and I mostly serve fourth graders with a couple of fifth graders. I have many small groups and one group of students who would be considered high needs students. Between the three special education teachers we share 3.5 assistants, who support our students in the resource room and in the general education classroom.
My school is currently going through the process of adopting a new literacy program to align with the common core. We are piloting Wonders, which seems to have a lot of the missing pieces including writing components (currently we use Rigby for reading). The staff has had training and has the Step Up to Writing curriculum. I personally have not had the training, but have access to the program. I have heard teachers like bits and pieces of the program. As a school, each grade level continues to give three rubric writing prompts a year to continue doing writing samples and keep students in the habit of doing them even though it is not a state requirement for fourth grade right now.
I am excited to learn about writing from this class. I had instruction in writing in grad school, but the main focus was on reading. I know that teaching writing is not one of my strong suites. I find that a lot of my students struggle with ideas, getting their thoughts to paper, or going through the process/steps of writing. Though I do enjoy my students and we have found some strategies that help, but I am looking forward to learning more!
When I’m not working or doing work I enjoy spending time with my boyfriend, friends, family, and playing with my dog. I also love to paddle! I am on a blind/visually impaired dragonboat team. (I have albinism, thus I am legally blind.) I am also a member of a blind/visually impaired walking team (Eye Rock) for Portland to Coast and have raced for the last five years. I really enjoy the unity of these teams and being competitive on an equal level.
Tia
Hello Leah and Tia!
ReplyDeleteLeah, what a group of animals you have at home. I can see what you mean about the trips to the store for food. I have a Kindle that I also got around Mother's Day and I love it! I have ipads at work, but the Kindle seems so much more intuitive for me. What a great experience you have had at your school, being a parent first and then a teacher.
Hi Tia!
We hear from many of our students a similar story...that they felt they had a lot of training in reading but not so much in writing. We absolutely feel that you'll find some ideas to implement into your program!
Wow, you keep yourself busy and to be visually impaired makes it sound even more impressive! I also like to paddle and hope to find more time next summer to get out, now that my daughter will be 3. :D