ASSIGNMENT SIX: DVD Reflection- Included in your text is a DVD containing video clips of Regie’s conferences with writers in the classroom. There is a detailed commentary accompanying the DVD on page 336 of her text. Please watch the DVD and then look at her teaching notes beginning on page 336 (Regie suggests just watching without notes first so that you don’t miss what she and the students are doing.) After both watching and reading her notes, write your reflection and please post a copy of your DVD Reflection to the blog.
*NOTE: If you experience problems playing the DVD please refer to the Writing Essentials companion website at www.heinemann.com/writingessentials for directions for playing the DVD. Look in the upper right hand corner for the link.
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While watching the DVD and reading Regie’s teaching notes I discovered great ideas to incorporate in my own conferences with students while conducting whole-class share. While watching Max’s conference I liked how Regie suggested that the student read his writing. I too have come across this situation recently when a student of mine had dialogue in her writing piece. I read it aloud to the class and after watching this video I will definitely have the student read it rather it be before or after I read it. I believe this would be a great teaching point to show the students how much better it sounds when the author reads it in his/her voice. During Ervin’s conference I liked how Regie demonstrated crossing off information. I could easily do this with my first graders in a conference and focus on 1-3 (depending on the child) parts to cross off. More than 3 might be too much for my students to remember when going back on their own. While watching Derek’s conference I really enjoyed seeing and hearing Regie and the students clapping for the author. I liked how she emphasized doing this and I am looking forward to doing this with my first graders as well. It really makes the author shine and shows the respect that other students have for the child’s work. While watching Alexandra’s conference I was inspired to follow a similar plan with a few of my struggling writers. I like the idea of conferencing with the child after the whole-class share, especially if there is a lot of confusion regarding the writing and content. With first graders, I want them to feel successful and eager to write. With my reluctant writers, sharing in front of the class and receiving a lot of corrections could discourage them. This process of an individual conference following a whole-class share would be beneficial with a student who may have several corrections.
ReplyDeleteFinally, I enjoyed watching the spelling lesson and was inspired to try this more often with my students. In my class we have a large word wall and my students understand that these words need to be spelled correctly. Even though the word wall is there, they still misspell their sight words. I have started to point out more misspelled word wall words to my students during our whole-class shares, hoping this will inspire other students to look at the word wall more often to double check their spelling. I also liked when Regie suggests trying an alternative way of spelling when a child mixes the letters up in a word. I see this a lot. Her language, “You’ve got all the right letters but in the wrong order. Try writing it another way” (Routman, 2005, p.338) is a great way to help the child notice his/her spelling mistake.
Just recently I have started to do more whole-class shares and have seen nothing but positive results. As Regie mentions, when students hear the writer celebrated, they too understand that they can also produce similar writing pieces. Many students are including more content in their writing pieces and are excited to share their writing pieces. I am looking forward to our next semester and the writing growth that occurs in my classroom.
Assignment Six
ReplyDeleteWatching Regie’s conference video clips was very affirming for me as a teacher. I am a visual learner and so the opportunity to watch her in action really cemented the procedures. Interestingly, I purchased the text used but the DVD package was unopened. I couldn’t help but reflect how the person who previously owned the book had missed an important part of Regie’s message.
I appreciated learning about the importance of reading a piece twice, “first to get the overall meaning, and second to listen for specific words and language to celebrate the writer and help him move forward.”(p. 337) I also liked the idea of writing a student’s thoughts on sticky notes to preserve his thinking, which he can add later, rather than writing directly on the student’s piece.
There were valuable suggestions for directing the ending of a story that goes on and on: “How are you going to end this?” “You don’t want it to go on and on.” ”You could just end it there….” “I’m going to give you a suggestion. You could say….” (P.345)
Derek’s editing conference was so great to review. I think at times we as teachers feel we stifle creativity by being such sticklers on grammar and spelling, but Regie reaffirms the importance of editing after the intended meaning is on paper. I loved:
“Check the letters you know are right.” ”You’ve got all the right letters but in the wrong order… Try writing it another way.”
“What do you know about words that have “er’ in them?”(for spelling ‘over’) “What do you know about words that have ‘ou’ in them?” (for spelling ‘house’)
“Do you know the word ‘out’? How do you spell it? Well, that’s what I want you to be thinking about.”
“Does that look right? (Derek says ‘No.’) “No, it doesn’t. Try it again.”
To teachers observing the lesson: “We have to get them to use what they know. We should be seeing one form of /ow/ or another/either ‘ow’ or ‘ou’/, no excuses.”
“Write the word ‘house’ without looking. Think about the tricky part.”
“Take another look at it. Where’s the tricky part for you? Let’s look at where you wrote ‘house.’ You wrote it (correctly) right here.”
“And the tricky part was…? You had h-o-s-e. What letter were you missing?” “This is the part that gave you trouble, the ‘ou’ sound. Got it?”
“Now write it quickly….Write it one more time as fast as you can.”
“Would you write ‘mouse’? It’s going to be the same except for the first letter. Write it right underneath ‘house.” Do it quickly….Got it? Good for you.”
Hi Ladies,
ReplyDeleteWe also find Regie to be such an inspiration and enjoy watching her in action. There is so much we can take away and learn from watching her interact with students!