Monday, July 4, 2016

Assignment Four: Written Reflection

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.

14 comments:

  1. Chapter 4

    “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!”

    What a profound statement. I highlighted it before I read the assignment. I love the whole idea of teaching kids to write while they are writing. I did so many worksheets last year, and none of them transferred into the students writing. I am looking forward this year to using the concepts from this book with my students.

    I really focus on the relationship with my students in my classroom. It is funny, last year as I was going over the writing with the students individually, I didn’t take the time to praise them on the good. I just circles the misspelled words and noted the capitalization and punctuation. Wow I really missed that boat. All of the relationships that I built were hurt by how I dealt with their writing. I will use the new ideas this coming year, and will look forward to getting better results.

    Handwriting, I was pretty lenient on handwriting this past year. The students were learning cursive and it was usually just a mess. Most students didn’t want to write in cursive because it was “too hard” The ones that did, of course did it well. I am going to focus on the handwriting this year. I think it is important to have your writing be legible. I love the idea that it is a respect for the reader.

    Chapter 5

    This was a very informative chapter. One that will have to be reread throughout the school year to keep the ideas fresh in my mind. I plan to use many of the idea. In fact I wrote down several suggestions on what to write about in the margins. Writing with the students actually sounds very exciting. They have great imaginations and I think a few fiction stories will be great written together as a whole group.

    I also like the idea of writing charts, instructions etc together as a group. What a wonderful way to not only practice writing but also it is a great way to go over the material that the children have to learn.

    In a previous post I touched on ClassDojo. I think it would be great for the class to write the rules of the classroom, (and many other things) and have it put on the Classdojo for the parents to see. It can be credited to the whole class, so no one student would be singled out. It is a great way for parents to actually see what is going on. ~~~ Today in class we came up with the instructions for the fire drill, lunchroom procedure etc. I can have the students go home and read it to their parents. Wonderful ideas!!

    I also really appreciate the fact that this is a way to really build up children's self-esteem. Talking in class is so hard for some of the students. There were wonderful suggestions on how to encourage students.

    Chapter 6

    This chapter opened my eyes on the importance of teaching summaries. Teaching third grade, I found that the students had no idea what a summary was. My students followed the book exactly. They would retell almost exactly as the paragraph etc was written. I love how we are encouraged to teach it by doing the summary out loud over and over again. Optimal Learning model is exactly how I taught math for many years. Now doing it with reading and writing (and all subjects for that matter) makes so much more sense.

    I like how it was stressed that having students write in all curriculum areas will only improve their writing which will also improve their reading. Everything is so connected. This is very exciting. I see know why when we are in the classroom we need to teach with urgency.

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  2. Relationships are such a big part of teaching. Including (and starting with) a compliment when you confer with students will go a long way in helping students to be receptive to your constructive feedback. (That, and limiting it to just one or two points about that writing that will help them move forward in their skill. Anything more and students can shut down and feel defeated with how much they have "got wrong.") But more on this later.

    That's interesting that your students weren't really motivated by learning cursive. I'm not doubting you, but usually my students couldn't wait to learn and practice cursive. In fact, I always made them re-learn how to print their letters the correct way before I'd teach them cursive. I used it as a motivator and a way to ensure they were using proper format, pencil grip and posture.

    Yes, I can't say it enough! Plan to re-read sections and even the entire book at some time. You'll def. come away with new areas of focus.

    Plus, there isn't enough time to fit it all in if we don't write across the curriculum. Yes, everything is so connected. I think many of us know a lot of these concepts and ideas, it's just a matter of having time to reflect, which many people just don't have time for, or think they don't.

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  3. Chapter 4:
    YES! Worksheets do foster mediocrity!! This was such a nice section to read and have my feelings validated. Over the past year I have been thinking about my practice regarding worksheets (for homework especially). When I began teaching 5th grade, I joined an already established team so some things (like homework) were already decided upon. I didn’t want to rock the boat, but I hated the weekly homework packets. They consisted of a reading log and pages upon pages of worksheets. My students hated them just as much and I despised correcting them and they often met the recycling bin. This coming school year I am going to change this, especially since my team has had a huge change. I want to find meaningful homework and assign considerably less!! The homework I do assign, I want it to be rigorous and meaningful to students.
    Raising expectations is such a good reminder. I am always amazed at what my students can do when they know it is expected of them. However, it is also just as important to make sure they believe and expect it of themselves. I have found that this can be the hardest part, especially with 5th graders who feel they can’t do more. I am excited to have a conversation with my new team at the beginning of the year and set clear and rigorous goals for our students in all areas. I think this will keep us focused throughout the year.

    Chapter 5:
    This past year I did a lot more shared writing with my students, particularly in connection with the novel study we were working on. I noticed how quickly my students improved in their written reading responses. This encouraged me to do more shared writing throughout my day. This coming year, I want to do a lot more shared writing with problem solving in math. Having students explain their mathematical thinking can be very hard for them, so I think more guided practice in this area will help. I also know that I can incorporate this in many areas of content. We teach a lot of science and history in 5th grade which would be a great time for students to learn and practice non-fiction writing.
    **I love Regie’s idea of using white boards during this time and having students write along with me.

    Chapter 6:
    Finding time is the hard part of my job. I agree with Regie that we have to include reading and writing in all of the areas. I have been working on building my curriculum to include reading and writing throughout the day and have it connect with our studies in history or science. Otherwise, I would never get through anything. One area I personally struggle with as a teacher is making independent reading and read aloud a priority. I feel that sometimes people may judge me as a teacher if I’m not teaching a specific lesson all the time. However, students do need the time to read and hear proper language to advance and practice their skills I work so hard to teach them.

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  4. I don’t necessarily agree that Worksheets foster mediocrity. I do use worksheets in my classroom and I do not believe that there are teachers out there who do not use them. Worksheets help students to practice what they are learning and to work independently on their learning. Worksheets are also a great way for me to see where the students are at when they are working on a standard or topic. Our new math curriculum that we just adopted is full of worksheets, it’s based on them so I don’t agree that you should be labeling teachers who do use worksheets as “mediocre” teachers, or even insinuating they are bad teachers. Now with that said, I don’t just give out any worksheet to fill the time for my students, I put thought and planning into choosing the worksheets I use and how to best use those worksheets with my students needs in mind. I also do not correct every single worksheet and make them up with red markers to make my students feel inadequate or anything, I basically use them as a practice tool. There are many different teaching moments that go along with those worksheets, I’m not just handing them a worksheet and telling them to go to their desk and work, all day every day. Included are read alouds, discussions, partner sharing, group sharing, group collaborating, different teaching strategies.

    Shared writing happens in my class on a daily basis. I love to share my life with my students so that they can feel safe and comfortable sharing their life stories with me, so every Monday we write a Weekend News piece on one moment over the weekend. I always write this in front of the class while we are at the carpet. I will think aloud while I’m writing so they can see my thinking and writing process. They laugh at my stories, they relate my story to their own lives, they get excited if it’s something they did as well, just building relationships through my stories.

    My class has created a few shared stories but now I have a better idea of how to write one in my class because of the great lesson notes that Routman included in her book. I love how she talks so positively to all her students and includes everyone. The way she talks really makes all the students comfortable and all of them are sharing ideas and giving confidence to some students who really need it. I like how she probes them with questions even if they only give a one or two word entry, that will make those students feel successful in writing and give them a positive outlook on writing instead of hating it and dreading writing time.

    In the optimal learning model it fits in nicely with the demonstration part because the teacher and the students work together to create the model. This puts some of the power into the students instead of just the teacher. I think I like the idea of keeping the whole group pen with the teacher as I can see some logistical issues with giving the students the pen in this situation, kids stepping on other kids to walk up, being goofy with the pen, other kids yelling at the student writing because they aren’t spelling things correctly. However, I can see this working in a small group where I have all the students seated at the kidney table and I can watch and guide the discussion more easily.

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  5. Chapter 4:

    I agree it is important to have high expectations for all students. I think the challenge is to find the balance of “rigorous yet reasonable.” I also appreciated her emphasis on showing students higher quality work so they can recognize what good writing is and know they are capable of it. Students need to feel safe enough to take risks in their writing. I am a strong believer in “competence leads to confidence.” Recognizing student success is vital.

    I agree that some worksheets foster mediocrity, but not all. It is important to carefully consider if a worksheet is the best method to practice a skill or meet a learning outcome. It might be in some instances, especially in math. I have not used worksheets in writing, only graphic organizer or note taking sheets.

    On a side note, this chapter seemed to start with the assumption that we have low expectations for our students and we have accepted mediocrity. I don’t think it is accurate or fair to categorize most teachers this way. I wish she had a different approach.

    Chapter 5:

    I do a lot of shared writing at the beginning of my writing units and I also have found it fun and engaging. I would like to work on doing more shared editing/revising whole group of our shared writing. I usually revise, if needed, as we write together. But, it would be great to go through that revision process whole group on a more regular basis. On Fridays, we have free writing which means students can pick their own genre, topic etc. On these days, I have noticed many of the students gravitate towards shared writing in partners or small groups. Thinking about this made me consider the idea of shared writing during our narrative unit. It would be great to see the students write with a partner about a shared school event.


    Chapter 6:

    I would really like to work on summary writing. I often have students write a response to reading, but there is not enough focus on concise summaries. I think learning to write summaries is one of the most useful life skills. Our reading curriculum has quite a bit of nonfiction text. Last year we worked on close reading strategies and teaching kids to annotate text. This helped kids to identify the main idea more quickly and accurately and then be able to write about it. Her section on note taking reminded me of this and that I would like to continue this next year.

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  6. Chapter 4

    I think worksheets can foster mediocrity, but are helpful if used wisely. Following up on skills, independent work for the young ones and a quick check in I find them helpful for. If we raise expectations for minority and socio-economic students they will rise to the occasion, I truly believe. The expectations we give students will help them rise to the occasion especially as we guide them to reach high! Tories expectations in my grade level, I need my team teacher to work together with me. This way it’ll ensure everyone knows the expectations. Same for my hall, having third grade expectations that are then built on in 4th grade is only going to strengthen our school. The optimal learning model will be laminated and with me to support the kids needs throughout the day.

    Chapter 5

    I love, love, love the list of ideas of tried and true ideas for shared writing! This list will be copied and used as a reference. It saddens me that many upper grade teachers don't see the benefit to shared writing. It’s helpful to all learners in my experience. It’s been the best way I’ve found to teach writing skills, and the discussions? Fantastic and so motivating. Linking shared reading and writing that Regie shares is full of easily adapted ways to do it throughout the curriculum. A really helpful part of the chapter for me was Regie’s example lessons that include “What I say…” and “What I do…”. Nothing is more helpful to me than having a script to use as a scaffold in my own teaching.


    Chapter 6

    I love the opening quote from Jhumpa Lahiri- “I’m still studying writing as a reader.” We can become more effective integrating our reading and writing instruction by having the students write the literature the class reads and using students own writing as reading. She also includes using read aloud as a springboard for writing. I’m so happy to have this chapter so reading and writing work together more. I tend to get stuck in writing trait muck and want to incorporate so much authentic writing. I think I do a good job with writing with informational text and like the additional ideas Regie includes. As for responses to reading, to be efficient changes may need to be made. It is so hard to read everyones responses in a timely manner. The idea shared about the teacher who gives their kids a choice or written or oral is brilliant. The importance of writing and reading more nonfiction is a must. as Regie says, it’s the easiest writing for kids to do, and if we merge it with our Science and Social Studies the comprehension will increase. I did my master’s degree work on graphic organizers and have seen the impact organizers, writing, and drawing non-fiction opens so many doors to comprehension for students.

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  7. Shelley Tate

    Chapter 4: Raise Your Expectations

    What about handwriting, spelling and editing expectations?
    Yes! It’s too easy to let some of this fall by the wayside. Too often, we get worn down and neglect to set the highest expectations for our students. I like her ideas about emphasizing the audience; if the writer respects the reader, they will work harder.
    I also resonated with what she said about not having to read everything students write! That takes so much pressure off of teachers; building “fluency and endurance” can be done by having them write daily, then choose what they wish to polish for publication. I’ve tinkered with this idea in the past, and I plan to do even more this year!

    What are our clearly articulated, rigorous yet reasonable expectations?
    I want students to be responsible and accountable for their work, and hold themselves to a high standard. They should have pride in a final product, and in turn, I will scaffold and support them through their processes.


    We’d like to know what your thoughts are of one of our favorite quotes from the book: “WORKSHEETS FOSTER MEDIOCRITY!”

    Absolutely! It’s so true that the more advanced kids would be bored and going through the motions, while the struggling kids would just get frustrated and not learn anything. It’s not useful for anyone – even the teacher, who has to grade pointless exercises. I wonder, though, about the best methods of teaching grammar. Teaching in context, absolutely, but there does need to be some direct instruction and practice. I hope there are some ideas coming in the book; I have a feeling she will address it at some point!

    Chapter 5: Do More Shared Writing

    This chapter helped me to have better understanding of Shared Writing – composing a text as a full class (expanding on students’ ideas, paraphrasing, and organizing). It’s a step I haven’t often used from the OLM - The Shared Demonstration (step two). I’m excited to use this to support ELL students by creating bilingual writing and helping my struggling writers feel validated for their ideas.
    It’s important to link this process to reading curriculum as well as writing and literacy. I’m looking forwarding to trying it to create classroom texts, such as lists, charts, booklets, newsletters, guidelines and criteria for student work. Rereading and revising the class-created work would be a great exercise for both reading and writing!
    I loved the Tried and True ideas; many of them will be useful in setting up classroom procedures and expectations. I can also see using shared writing for research reports in Social Studies and shared book reviews in Language Arts. It will be great to have students help me create rubrics for assignments and newsletters to send home to parents.
    The framework on pages 88-89 is helpful; seems daunting at first, and then I realized that I do some of this already, in a less specific way. The techniques she outlines are definitely geared more toward elementary students; however, I see ways that I can upgrade for middle school. For example, I can cut up sentences from paragraphs instead of words to have students arrange them for flow and fluency.


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  8. Chapter 6: Capitalize on the Reading

    “The best readers are the best writers” – absolutely! I just finished the Reading Essentials class and was already planning to add more reading to my classroom, and this has just reinforced that decision. While there should be lots of free choice reading, she makes a great point that the quality of reading also impacts writing. I will take the suggestion that I read aloud fiction and nonfiction so they hear great language.
    With Common Core, more informational texts and therefore more informational writing are expected to be in the curriculum. I will continue to integrate writing into my social studies curriculum. I also resonated with her assertion that we must integrate reading and writing. I’ll try to have the class-created texts be some the reading curriculum, since rereading writing improves quality.
    This also makes me think about ways to simplify. For example, when having students respond in writing to their reading, make sure that it is not just surface questions. I’ll take more time to craft one reader response requiring thoughtful examination of the text, rather than several surface-level questions.
    I also loved the procedure for teaching summaries on pages 130-131. Summaries are an effective means of demonstrating reading comprehension– but I need to teach them with lots of demonstration and modeling! Her suggestions for reading journals were great – it’s an amazing great way of opening a dialogue with students, not correcting them but responding to them. I also had the aha moment that these discussions could be written or oral.
    I taught AVID last year, which emphasizes Cornell note taking. I have begun to integrate teaching those note-taking skills in my block classes, and I will continue to do so. This is so vital for students to learn!

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  9. Hi Sarah,
    Glad you enjoyed this section and felt validated in your beliefs. (Isn’t that awesome when that happens? ☺ ) I am all in favor of purposeful homework, not busywork.
    That is a smart idea to discuss with your team, prior to the start of school, the goals and expectations for the students. Having consistency across the team will help everyone, students, parents and teachers a lot!

    Excellent idea to incorporate Shared Writing with Math problem solving! You are absolutely right! Independent reading time and read aloud time is a necessity, not something that can be cut from the day when time gets short or special events come up. Students need to have time to practice reading (otherwise, how are they going to improve?) And they need to hear fluent, rich language that is likely above the level they can access on their own. Know you are doing the right thing and don’t worry if other’s are judging you. You’re doing what is best and needed for your students!

    Hi Julie,

    I think you are right. I’m betting that all teachers do use some type of worksheet…we just need to look at Teachers Pay Teachers and see tons of examples. But, what is meant by the statement is that the over-reliance on worksheets and workbooks to teach skills in isolation don’t work. The skills just don’t transfer to students’ work. The big take away is that we have to be aware why we are asking students to do things and what our goals and objectives are for the assignments we ask our students to complete.

    The great thing about the format of this class allows for people to disagree and share their thoughts. So if others want to comment, feel free to do so. ☺ But I have seen enough teachers in my career who do follow prescribed programs without any additional thought or supplemental materials. So the sentiment is a good one to be reminded of.

    Hello Lindsey,
    I agree sharing high quality examples is very beneficial for students. I also like to share examples of students that are below the benchmark, at the benchmark and exceeding the benchmark so we can have conversations about what would improve the piece or what makes it exceptional. (Of course, no names are used and often the work is from other classes, previous years, other schools (if you have access) or Google Searches.)

    Working with a partner and having time (and permission) for oral rehearsals of the story would be a great opportunity for your students to grow as writers. I have found that having students write about topics that happen at school- such as a field trip or when a sub taught makes it easier for me to support my struggling writers as I know what happened and can guide them better than an event that happened at home.

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  10. Hi Theresa,
    I also loved the idea of giving students the choice between written and oral. Another idea to keep in mind is that you do not have to read/respond to everything that the students write. You can ask them to flag the page/section/ part they want you to read and respond to. This way you are focusing on what is most important to the student.

    Hello Shelley,

    I’m glad you’ve picked up some ideas to implement and try out next year. I also think summarizing and note-taking are two very important skills for our students to learn that requires implicit instruction from the teacher. (I also think organizing skills are vital as well and often not taught to children, frequently teachers either just touch on them or just expect students to know how to organize…but this is another topic for another day. :D )


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  11. Chapter 4: I believe if we don’t hold our students to a high standard, they won’t push themselves. I love the quote from a child: “My teacher thought I was smarter than I was, so I was.” We need to believe our students are capable, and make it clear that we expect to see that capability in their work and in their effort. The key is to find a balance between setting the bar high and making sure my students feel they are capable of reaching my expectations. I plan to do that by using the Optimal Learning Model, repeatedly discussing Growth Mindset, and helping my students set goals and track their progress toward those goals.

    One of the things our school is lacking is a standard across grade level for writing. I feel it’s difficult for us to fairly score writing samples, and give students honest feedback, when the standards for writing are not clearly spelled out and stepped up from grade to grade. This will be only my second year at the school, but I’m hoping to lead some discussion on laying out grade level writing standards and scoring rubrics we can all agree on.

    I do agree that worksheets aren’t the best method of teaching students how to write. I used them last year with my 2nd graders, but didn’t find them very helpful because my students continued to make the same mistakes, even on just writing conventions. I realize now that I need to do more modeling, and give feedback that is more supportive than critical. I also see now that I need to give students more time to share their work because they learn from, and are challenged by, seeing the work of others.

    I do want to hold a high standard for handwriting because I feel students need to learn to give their best effort for finished work. In fact, I just created a Penmanship Sample sheet I’m going to have my 5th graders complete on the first day of school. I’m going to tell them I want a sample of their very best handwriting so I can refer back to it as a comparison for what they turn in later in the year. If students know my expectation for neatness, they will put more effort into doing their best.

    Chapter 5:
    I like the idea of shared writing, but I found a lot of the examples in the book were more appropriate for primary level students. shared writing list idea is helpful though. I saw several ideas there that I think I can try in my 5th grade class. Our reading program focuses on social studies texts, such as the Declaration of Independence. I’ll be looking for ways to connect the reading/social studies lessons with writing assignments, and I plan to have students writing family biographies.

    Chapter 6:
    Several things really stood out to me in Chapter 6. I agree with Regie that we need to give students more time to read in order to become better writers. For my reading program I have picture books that I will be reading to the students, in order to show examples of great writing, and in a format that they can easily emulate. Our writing lessons will tag into those mentor texts so they will have opportunity to do their own writing modeled on the story they read. I also really liked her emphasis on rereading our writing, and waiting for a time to do that. I know for my own writing I am much better able to edit if I walk away for a time. I am thankful for Regie’s guidance on teaching students how to summarize. I think summarizing is such an important skill not only for writing, but for understanding our reading. Getting to the “gist” of the text provides greater comprehension and retention. I like the idea of having students write a summary of a text they have read in common. One of my lesson resources is to do reading assignments where students work in groups of four and each must write a brief summary, then work together to create an overall summary including ideas from each member of the group.

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  12. Cindy,

    That's awesome that you are considering leading some conversations around school-wide writing standards and rubrics!!!! Good luck with this! And even if it winds up that it's just your team or a few people at first, it's a step in the right direction.

    YES--students learn so much from each other!!! We NEED to give them more opportunities to have time to discuss, problem solve and share!

    I think that is brilliant to have a sample hand-writing sheet on the first day of school so you can compare to it during the year and students have a clear example of what you expect. I love it!

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  13. I totally agree with what Routman had to say about raising expectations. I had a colleague this past year who I was able to observe a time or two. Each time, I was so surprised by what her students were able to accomplish. She had high expectations for them, and I am sure this is one of the main things that contributed to how her classroom functioned, and the learning that was going on in her room. I know I definitely didn’t give my first graders enough credit this past year, and now I know that they are capable of much more.

    I do agree that worksheets as a primary means of teaching, is definitely less than ideal. I think that when a worksheet is carefully and purposefully chosen, they can be helpful. Although I will say I used worksheets more in math than I did in reading or writing. I think that for literacy, students are much better off practicing those two things, reading and writing, rather than spending their time completing worksheets about those two things. I think worksheets can have a time and place, but should never be the “go to” for every lesson.

    I love love loved this section on shared writing. It makes me excited to get back into my classroom and try this out! We did some shared writing here and there, but it never felt very successful. Routman’s lesson example was really helpful to understand the flow of how shared writing should be. She cleared up some of the logistical issues that I have faced in the past (how to have all students participate, how to complete a shared writing piece in a short amount of time etc.).

    We often incorporate writing into other subject areas, but I would love to do that even more. One of my favorite units is when we learn about frogs, and by the end of it, students create their own book about Frogs. I have never thought about using shared writing, as the text for guided or independent reading. I think that would be such a motivator for students. It’ always more exciting to read something when you know the author(s) or you are the author! I loved the simple ideas she gave for getting students to write about their reading. I definitely see myself using the optimal learning model to teach my students how to summarize. That is such a big part of our reading assessments at the end of the year, and seems like one of the best ways to really teach comprehension.

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  14. I'm glad you were able to observe one of your co-workers. Perhaps you could ask for coverage to do this a little more next year. I know I love watching other teachers and learning from them.

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