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.
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My name is Leslie and I teach first grade in Molalla, Oregon. I have been teaching for 13 years, 11 years in first grade. This year I have 27 students in my class. I do not have direct instructional support in my classroom, but several of my students receive instructional support in reading, speech, small math groups, etc.… under the guidance of myself, reading specialists, and/or learning specialists. Our current reading program is Treasures (McGraw-Hill) My students receive 90 minutes of reading in the morning 4 days a week. During this 90-minute session, we have whole group instruction for about 45 minutes, then my students go to centers for the second half and I meet with small groups (grouped by their DRA levels). Some of my students also leave during this time for an additional small reading group. My students also receive reading instruction in the afternoon for 30 minutes. The afternoon groups are based on DRA levels as well. During this group I see students from my own class, and students from the two other first grade classes in my school. I incorporate guided reading, Making Words, Write Well, sight words games, and word family activities. Some of the other groups that are with first grade teachers, reading specialists, and instructional assistants (under the guidance of a reading specialist) incorporate Read Well, Guided Reading, and/or ERI.
ReplyDeleteAs far as knowledge and training in in the area of literacy, I have had training in Read Well, Treasures, and Daily 5. I have also had training in Step-Up to writing. As far as explicit writing trainings, our reading program, Treasures, has a daily writing lesson that consists of guided, shared, and/or independent writing. My district provided training in Step-Up several years ago and I have materials related to Step-up and incorporate as much as I can in my first grade class. My grade level also has sets of Lucy Calkins Writing Workshop series. We have never had training with this series, just used the books as guides when teaching Writer’s Workshop lessons. Our district though is pushing for more writing instruction and more district trainings/workshops are in the near future.
I truly enjoy my job and LOVE teaching first graders! Outside of school I enjoy spending time with my husband and 11-year-old daughter. My daughter is on a competitive dance team, so her schedule keeps us pretty busy! While taking this course I hope to be inspired to spruce up my writing instruction. I feel like I am pulling from several resources and mostly using the lessons in my Treasures reading program. The lessons are good, but I feel like I need more ideas and strategies to help my students become better independent writers.
Assignment One
ReplyDeleteIntroduction
Hello, Everyone,
I am a retired elementary teacher who taught in public and private schools for a total of 25 years, grades one through six. Upon retiring, I began studies at Concordia University, Portland, to complete a reading endorsement.
I applied for a local business license and I tutor independently in Fairview, Gresham and Portland. Performance in 2013-2014 state writing assessments (grade 11) in these districts is sobering, with 41.7 percent in Reynolds meeting or exceeding; 58.8 in Gresham-Barlow meeting or exceeding; and 63.7 meeting or exceeding in Portland.
My students at present range in grade level from third grade to college senior level. All seven have reading difficulties, and each difficulty is unique. Their challenges range from diagnosed dyslexia to autism, and perhaps inadequate decoding instruction early on, aggravated by large class sizes.
I pull from many sources to teach writing, my curriculum dictated by the specific needs and interests of my students. I arrive with a stack of nonfiction books based on their interests, my laptop and portable modem. We read together, then write, and attach one or two related images. We e-mail these writing pieces to their parents, who are delighted to listen to them read again. With ESL students this provides an opportunity to work on prepositions and adverbs in a context of the students’ choosing. I intermittently employ Marie Clay’s Running Records to get an insight into where everybody is.
I devote my spare time to two grown daughters and two granddaughters, working out at a local gym, visiting Portland Art Museum, interior design, live theater, my parakeet Jupiter, and dancing lessons at Arthur Murray Studios. Tango is my favorite! I read murder mysteries aloud to my fiancé and always have an historical fiction playing in my car. Regie Routman is so right regarding the influence of reading upon writing. The more exposure to others’ writing, the more skilled one becomes as a writer. How will I benefit from this class? I will continue to grow as a writing instructor!
Hello Leslie and Jean,
ReplyDeleteWelcome to the course. I think you both will love reading this text and gain many new ideas to try out! In fact, I always suggest that students plan to re-read this book later, maybe in the summer or next fall, as you will take away even more ideas when you are able to re-read the text. I look forward to working with you this term. Let me know if you have any questions. -Mary