ASSIGNMENT FOUR: WRITTEN REFLECTION-Section Two- Teaching Essentials Chapters 4-6
Read Writing Essentials, Chapters 4-6 and BRIEFLY reflect on the following thoughts written below and any additional comments that you have after reading these chapters. Post your reflection to the course blog.
Chapter 4: Raise Your Expectations
• Why we need to raise expectations – ESPECIALLY for our minority and lower socio-economic students
• How to raise expectations in your classrooms as well as in your grade level and throughout your entire building
• What about handwriting, spelling and editing expectations?
• How to use the Optimal Learning Model to support your students’ needs
“Raising expectations” for our students is a big push in all of our districts. Under “No Child Left Behind” many schools have been identified as “in need of improvement” and have been working furiously yet unsuccessfully for over ten years to “close the gap” for our minority children. But more important than improving performance on high stakes tests is remembering that if we raise our expectations and teach explicitly, then our students will rise to the occasion and astonish us with the high quality work that each of them is capable of.
Regie has some great insight into the need to raise expectations of our students and feeling comfortable and confident with the decision to set high standards for all learners. She raises the question, What are our clearly articulated, rigorous yet reasonable expectations? This is a question that we should reflect on as individual teachers, and one that should be the starting point for a conversation within our grade levels, buildings and across entire districts.
We’d like to know what you think of one of our favorite quotes from the book: “Worksheets aren’t good enough. The students who can do them don’t need them, and the ones who struggle with them feel defeated by the red marks, which only reinforce their feelings of inadequacy. WORKSHEETS FOSTER MEDIOCRITY!” (We personally wanted to shout out when we read that!) Please include your thoughts in your Section Two Reaction.
In this chapter, Regie also sheds some light on several topics that teachers often ask about. “What about handwriting expectations?” and “Conventions, Editing and Publishing?” It’s always helpful to get another professional’s point of view on these pressing issues! Enjoy the chapter!
Chapter 5: Do More Shared Writing• Where does Shared Writing fit within the Optimal Learning Model?
• For which learners is Shared Writing appropriate?
• How can we link Shared Writing with Shared Reading?
• How can Shared Writing be used to support word work?
• What are some “Tried and True” ideas for Shared Writing?
Regie's idea of Shared Writing is very different than that of many other professionals in the field. So often we use Shared Writing only with the primary grades. As Regie states, “What a great way to teach and engage all students in all aspects of oral and written language.” If we are to consider teaching through all phases of the Optimal Learning Model, we can begin to see how important Shared Writing is for our students. We think that the idea of using Shared Writing in both upper elementary and the middle schools is a new way of thinking for many of us.
One of the reasons Regie encourages teachers to use chart paper and an easel, instead of projecting to a screen with an overhead or document camera, is that the children are seated right with you on the floor, which usually holds the children’s attention a little better. Another idea that has worked great for me is to move the overhead machine to the group area and place it on the floor in the middle of the group in front of the easel. I then project the machine onto the white space of the easel. It’s great because you’re able to be right there in the middle of the group and have the benefit of writing more quickly onto a transparency rather that chart paper. You’ll need to consider which of your Shared Writing activities you’ll want students to be rereading (don’t forget that you can hole punch transparencies and put them in a binder for future reference) and which you may want posted to your walls on charts.
Regie’s list of “Tried and True Ideas for Shared Writing” (page 112) is very extensive. It would be helpful to take a look at Regie’s list as you create your curriculum map for the year. Where would some of her suggestions fit within your science, social studies, math, reading and writing units across the year?
Chapter 6: Capitalize on the Reading-Writing Connection
• How can we become more effective integrating our reading and writing instruction?
• Are we as efficient as possible with our responses to reading?
• The benefit and necessity to integrate our content area teaching with both reading and writing
• The importance of writing (and reading) more nonfiction
We know research shows that reading achievement affects writing achievement and vice-versa, and we also know that it continually gets harder to fit “it all” into our day. Effectively using reading and writing connections throughout the day in all areas of language arts, math, science, social studies, and even specials such as art, music and library, is our only option.
Regie’s suggestion of taking a closer look at how we use written response to reading is a very important one. Careful consideration is needed to decide if what we’re asking the students to do is “worth their time.” For example, if the response we’re looking for will “deepen comprehension, cause the writer to reflect on the content, and/or foster appreciation for the text” then it’s worth it. We whole-heartedly agree with her statement that many of the overly structured assignments such as book reports can alienate our readers! While response journals do have their benefits for us professionally Regie states, “they also take up a lot of our time!” It’s a very organized teacher who can effectively keep up with their responses without feeling overwhelmed and frustrated. Don’t forget the bottom line – “Be sure that students spend more time reading than writing about reading!” (Page 126)
We are so glad that Regie addressed how to effectively teach summary writing. We know that many teachers have a difficult time differentiating between a summary and retelling – I (Jackie) was one of them until several years ago. The snapshots and procedures that Regie shares on how to teach summarizing are invaluable and should be a reference that we all refer back to throughout our teaching year.
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I loved the quote that worksheets aren’t good enough. I agree with the quote and it is something I have wrestled with in my classroom. I do use worksheets on a fairly frequent basis and have seen that my students who don’t need them are the ones who do them. I feel like I can’t completely get rid of worksheets though because I need something prepared in case I am not available to teach (for example if I have a student in crisis). Worksheets are something my staff can easily use and generally don’t need extra instructions on how to complete worksheets.
ReplyDeleteI was very appreciative of how Regie wrote of maintaining expectations for good handwriting and conventions. Those are things I work a lot on with my students because I think it is a life skill that they need to practice when thinking ahead to later on in their lives when they are going to fill out job applications. I think it makes more sense to practice throughout rather than just during handwriting time or grammar time because then they have more practice at the skill and it becomes habit. We do have specific grammar and handwriting times during our day so that we can target the specific skills but continue to maintain the expectation that students use those skills in all academic areas.
I was inspired to practice more shared writing in my classroom after reading Chapter 5. My students have shown that they enjoy working together and sharing ideas to come up with a story so I think it is something they would be engaged in. I saw the benefit of using chart paper and an easel rather than a document camera, though I would worry about the paper getting destroyed by a few particular students. We have a SmartBoard in my classroom and I have used that to write on with the students sitting up close. They were able to stay engaged while I wrote on it and since the SmartBoard is pretty new, they are still very engaged whenever we use it. I also really appreciated the activities that were suggested in the chapter, such as reassembling sentences and making words with tiles.
Chapter 6 provided some good reminders for me. Having a classroom that focuses on functional academics and life skills, I try to ensure that activities are worthwhile for the students but I have been asked several times “why do we have to do this?” This chapter reminded me of the importance of having a solid answer to that question. The chapter also reminded me of the link between reading and writing. I think I sometimes forget how much they are linked and instead focus on them individually. This especially comes when looking at my students IEPs and trying to ensure that we meet their Specially Designed Instruction times. I need to remember that linking reading and writing together is more efficient and beneficial overall than trying to separate them out.
Hi Meg,
ReplyDeleteI think Regie would be totally fine with your rationale. The big point, I believe, is that we should be thoughtful and deliberate if and when we decide to use them. I don't know of any teacher who never uses a worksheet, but the over-reliance of dittos and workbooks is what I think Regie was getting at. :)
I also have an interactive white board, but I rather write on my easel. But I have seen many teachers successfully use their whiteboards (Smartboards) for everything. (Being old-school I just like the image for them seeing me connect pen to paper.)
So many teachers have shared with us that they had an AH-Ha moment regarding the connection between reading and writing, so you are not alone. Once we are reminded of this it does help to "save time" to view them as closely connected and related.
I am not a big fan of worksheets and we don’t use them very often in my classroom, or at my school for that matter. I have noticed that, when we do have a worksheet, there are some students who just love it! And, as Regie said, it’s usually not the struggling students, but the stronger ones. I’ve often wondered if it’s because they feel a sense of closure or completeness. When much of our work is open-ended, is it a relief to sometimes have something that is clearly done or not done, clearly right or not right? For my struggling students, worksheets can be very stressful – I see them get anxious looking ahead at what they have to do and wondering how to make sense of it. I occasionally use the Scott Foresman Reading Street phonics and spelling pages for our word study and that is what I’m thinking of right now. I’ve been trying to branch out from the Scott Foresman word work and I really liked Regie’s suggestions about sorting words and cutting up and reassembling sentences from our own writing.
ReplyDeleteI was completely inspired by the chapter on shared writing and I loved all of her examples and details about doing this effectively. It reminds me that we have so many opportunities during our day to write together and that I can be deliberate about using those to demonstrate good writing, and the process of good writing. As I’ve been reading this book, I’ve been focusing more on our morning message – being thoughtful about what I write and teasing out some work on a spelling patterns, punctuation and capitalization, etc. My students to write a reading response each week and I am planning on using the shared writing format to write a response together on a recent chapter book read-aloud. This will give us a chance to review and strengthen the criteria and for me to model a strong and thoughtful reading response.
I really appreciate the perspective that we need to give students time to read and to write each and every day. I’m learning to peel away a lot of the work that I ask of students to leave time for them to do these two things – not on cute worksheets or graphic organizers, just reading good books and writing stories, letters, information books, things that matter to them. I like how she talked about reading response journals and the time they take for the teacher. Our reading response is one way for me to check in on comprehension, but I want it to be meaningful for them as well. I am always looking for ways to use my time best and most effectively with my students. Conferencing one-on-one and meeting in small groups feels right, along with careful and efficient use of our whole-group time.
Yeah! We're so glad that you are enjoying the text and picking up new ideas to try in your classroom.
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