Sunday, February 7, 2016

Assignment Six: DVD Reflection

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.

7 comments:

  1. DVD Reflection

    What struck me first after watching the video and reading over the notes, is the power of “authentic writing.” These topics, such as “secrets of 2nd graders,” make this process genuine and engaging. And the audience is also engaged when each student shares. My take away from this is to really think about topics and make sure they are interesting and easily accessible to my students. This would be a good task for my grade level team to develop.

    Another point I’m thinking about is the opportunity to celebrate and teach at the same time. I can see strategizing a particular skill, such as using descriptive words, or creating a catching beginning through these conferences so that all students will hear the guidance from one or two pieces. This is something I’m putting into practice right away. I noticed through the conferences in the poems that Regie teaches some of the same things; like line breaks through more than one poem. Young learners need lots of repetition , and this is a great setting for that to happen.

    Personally I thought that the editing conference with Derek went too long. I was a bit uncomfortable for him and maybe that was because Regie needed to finish her modeling for the sake of the video etc. Still, Derek seemed overwhelmed. I probably would have given him a few pointers and then let him go finish editing on his own, checking back individually later. This was a good reminder though of making sure my students use the word wall and other tools for “no excuse” words in their writing.

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  2. Hi Karen,

    We think it's great to see Regie in action. And many teachers, along with us, have felt uncomfortable with Derek's conference. It would be interesting to ask Regie what she was thinking as the conference happened and if she'd change anything now.

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  3. What I learned the most from the DVD was the various elements of doing whole class share style conferences. I often will pull good examples of student writing and put it on a document camera to show the whole class. I’ll read the example and highlight a couple of things that work well in the piece. Routman’s approach of having students read their writing to a whole class and then speaking both to the student and the whole class is not something I’ve done, nor is it something I’ve come across much in the field. “Efficiency of context,” (Routman’s term) hitting a variety of teaching points in a short amount of time, is a major benefit of doing whole class share. I’m curious and helpful to try to conference in this manner.
    I found the whole class shares that focused on revising and story sequencing especially helpful as well. What Routman did (I assume) is notice areas where many students were struggling (for example – sequencing a story from beginning to end, or identifying parts of a story that are not important to the overall story). She strategically picked students who were struggling, went over their writing, and helped them find out what they could do to strengthen their pieces. Essentially she was teaching the whole class and giving specific feedback to one student at the same time. As teachers we all look at what aspects of writing students are struggling with and provide mini lessons based on eliminating those particular struggles. Using whole group share is a way to give mini lessons that benefit all learners in the class.
    While long and potentially off-putting to the student she was working with, I liked aspects of the spelling lesson. “Use what sounds you know to spell” – it’s a simple, obvious message, but one I could use more. Also, Routman’s nagging persistence did send a strong message that kids can fix spelling mistakes on their own and the expectation is that they should do this. I wish however she let the viewer in a little more as to her methods. She asked the boy to circle his mistakes without revealing how he was supposed to know his mistakes (kids will realize they spelled some words wrong, but not all). Also, she did not point out what kind of visual the boy was supposed to use in order to correct his high frequency word spelling mistakes.

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  4. Assignment 6 – DVD review

    It was great to see Regie in action. I loved the poems and how giggly the students were reading their poems. You can tell how proud they were and how much fun they were having sharing them with the class.

    It was a great example of using class conferencing to get a lot of teaching, about relevant writing out. One of the best strategies for students to learn is from each other. It lessens anxiety when children see that others are doing the same mistake, or for perfectionists to see that it’s OK and even an opportunity to grow when you do make a mistake. I appreciated the positive learning environment.

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  5. Hello Brian and LeAndra,
    Glad you found the assignment worthwhile.

    Brian, I was just with a high school writing teacher last night. She has a strong reputation as a tough, but talented teacher. As we were walking we were talking about school and students. One thing she shared with me with regard to having her students revise who were either ELL or below level was that she would edit just the first paragraph with them and tell them to go back to their seats and fix the errors she had noted in the rest of the piece. She said if they make a spelling error in the beginning they will usually carry that through the entire piece. This might be worth trying with your students. She also agreed with me that she only focuses on one or at most two things to correct at a time and work on with the student. In fact, she said, sometimes that may be the goal she works on with them for the whole year if they are struggling or ELL. (And as she told me about the 48 essays she just collected that she doesn't edit or read their first drafts. As she said, "I tell them I don't want to see their mess." (Said with humor and kindness.) She assigns a first draft. Gives them some time and then tells them to revise it to improve it. That's the draft she starts with and then does a couple more rounds of editing with them.)

    LeAndra I agree that using other students is a powerful strategy. :) The importance of creating a positive learning environment can not be stated enough.

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  6. DVD Reflection:

    A quick mention regarding the gallery...enjoyed it! This is going to sound so first grade, but I love seeing the student’s work in color!! and I have some new writing ideas. After watching the fourth grade examples and feeling the pressure to get my first graders to that stage of writing came the much appreciated second grade conferencing examples. Watching the conference with AlexSandra was a perfect example of how long first grade conferences can take. I find it difficult to get to all the students who truly need that one-on-one help. It’s been a difficult balance between classroom management/keeping students on task and being able to have those much needed more lengthy conferences. I have felt incompetent more often than not, when I can’t conference with each student who needs it. We do have many moments when I conduct a writing conference whole group. However, the difficulty is keeping those certain students who need it the most, engaged so that they can hear the ideas then apply an idea or two to their own writing. On the flip side, there are many students in my room who have taken off as independent writers and glean several ideas when we celebrate our work together, which is my goal for all students in my class. The love of writing will continue to be our focus. Slowly but surely we will make growth with our skills.

    One struggle I have with whole group writing celebrations is that most all students want to share, and share in one sitting (which would easily take an hour or more). When we run out of time, it’s hard for them to wait until later. In the past, I have made sure the second session of celebration happens the same day. I am no longer going to rush the celebration process, and will turn it into a two day celebration. My hope is that by going slower, the conversation will be more thought provoking. I will also use the post-it note idea to jot editing on. Usually, we would just discuss the ideas and they would remember and make some changes to their writing.

    The spelling editing conference with Derek was LONG!! I could envision my class melting into puddles :) Of course, it was a second grade conference and it could have been more toward the end of the year, which seems more apt. It was a wonderful idea that I hope to incorporate into writing instruction!!! I love that she told him that he knew how to spell the words came and over. She had him check the letters that he knew were correct and then had him spell it on a separate transparency to check, then a couple of more times to write the word correctly. A great way to integrate spelling corrections with writing.

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  7. Brenda,

    I think you are right on the money... we don't want to rush the celebrations. Having a two day celebration makes sense. Good luck with it.

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