The old oak rocker sat empty in the living room, motionless. Peering through the bay window I could see the bottom had been wired together for support and the keyhole board on the back had a slight crack in it. The rich patina of the brown oak was inviting. The old woman seen sitting in it day after day was gone. They found her in the apartment, alone, after she had breathed her last breath. The mailbox revealed that her name was Hattie Brittan. Although I felt a little odd about moving into an apartment in which someone had recently passed away, the charm of its high ceilings and bay windows beckoned me. It was like an elegant old lady and I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to make it my home.
This apartment building was not new to me. A second floor apartment had been my home for the past six months and climbing the steep steps with books, groceries or my bicycle in tow made me weary. Initially my parents came to help me fix up the apartment. My father painted the walls white while mom cleaned. She made the mistake of mixing ammonia and bleach while cleaning the bathtub and almost passed out. She scrubbed the oven until it glowed. I remember by father struggling to get the sleeper sofa up the steep back steps. He wasn’t a very large man and the sleeper sofa was very heavy. Persistence paid off and the job got done.
That quarter this apartment was shared with my cousin Mary, an invisible roommate. She showed up just as school was starting. That quarter was tough for her. I had to keep an eye on her. She was prone to things like leaving water boiling unattended on the burner. It was a wonder the place didn’t burn down. I later found out she had had an abortion that quarter with a man she eventually married and divorced. Messy. Poor Mary.
Moving into Hattie’s apartment required finding new roommates because it was larger and the rent was one hundred and fifty dollars a month. It was a one floor apartment with two bedrooms, a living room, formal dining room with bay windows and double pocket doors to the living room, a kitchen, pantry room and a bathroom. Hattie’s chair continued to assume a place of prominence in the living room. The ancient kitchen had a gas oven and large tip out bins for storage. Lighting the oven for the first time was an experience that greeted me with a flash flame and left me with singed eyelashes. There was even a screened back porch pantry. Out in the courtyard there was old oak ice box (I once saw a snow owl sitting on it). That quarter three of us shared the apartment: a young woman whose name has left me (she was divorcing her husband, a dentist), Sandy, and I. The divorcee left us after a quarter and she was replaced by a fellow art student who was memorable because she only had one hand. Sandy always kept her bed in the dining room and was rarely there because she had a “serious” boyfriend.
This apartment complex was located across from the Bellingham Hotel and there was no place to park my car except on the street. “Feeding” the meters meant getting up before I wanted to on Saturdays so I didn’t get a ticket. On one of those Saturday mornings I got up only to find someone had backed into the front of my car and “punched” out my headlights. That tragedy was memorable because my budget was miniscule and replacing headlights was not in my repertoire of skills. As I swept up the broken glass I wanted to find the person who had done this and give them a piece of my mind. Undoubtedly they had been to the top of the hotel in the cocktail lounge and were driving with impaired judgment. Why me? I wondered if this had ever happened to Hattie. Probably not, she probably didn’t even have to worry about a car.
That summer roommates all went their separate ways and I moved on. The landlords were not interested in selling any of the old furniture in the apartment when I inquired. As “Keeper of the Chair”, my decision was that Hattie’s chair would moved on with me. It barely fit in my car, but I persisted until it did. This act was a tribute to Hattie.
The chair had seen better times and after a few more moves it needed some repair. After graduating from college and starting my teaching career my father offered to refinish it for me. Hattie’s chair went on a trip to Seattle and left it with him for a time. I had no idea what that chair was in for. Dad decided to have it dipped which meant dipping it into some stripper that would remove all stain and any other finish. My father removed the keyhole back and replaced it with a new one he had made. He reinforced the legs and removed the wire. In his mind he was making it stronger. The chair was stained a new color and the grand finale was that it was given a Varathane finish. Varathane is an acrylic finish that helps preserve wood. My chair was going to be around long after the human race. When I got the chair back Dad was so proud of his work that he just beamed and I was mortified. My lovely antique chair had lost its patina and now stood in the glow of its acrylic Varathane finish.
Hattie’s chair continued to move with me. My cat, Amy, loved to sit on a pillow on this chair when we lived in half a duplex. It was hers for a period of time. The chair and the cat moved in with us when my husband and I got married. It moved to Blue Lake where we made our home. At one point it was moved to the loft at the lake were it sat idle for a few years. It came down from the loft when our daughter, Ashley, was born and I rocked her in that chair. Not long after, we rented our home and moved to California so it was stored for ten years.
When we returned from California we spent time at the lake house. The chair came out of storage again. Ashley, now ten, and Nick, just six, loved to rock in it up in the loft. The chair retained the shine from the acrylic finish, but began to creak from the absence of glue that disappeared to some extent when it was dipped. It looked new, but sounded old.
That following June, Hattie’s chair came to first grade with me. I accepted a new teaching position and used it for story time and as a special seat for the “Superstar of the Week”. Imagining Hattie looking down on the classroom with a satisfied smile on her face was a comforting thought. The chair was at home in that room, at least for awhile.
Dakota arrived in my first grade class unexpectedly one Monday morning. He hid behind a pile of bark on the playground as we lined up. I remember him peeking around the bark and telling me he was “kinda shy”. His bright red hair and mischievous smile did not appear shy to me. Dakota’s shyness lasted about five minutes. He had a few problems and one of the ways I gave him time to think was to go and sit in the rocking chair. He would rock and think and think some more. It was a therapy of sorts for him. One day, during choice time Dakota yanked and pulled on one of the spindles in the back of the chair and broke it. The chair went home with me that night. I wasn’t sure just what could be done to fix it, so chair was stored in the garage until someone could be found to do the repairs. Dakota never mentioned the chair again. He never let on if he missed it or not, but he wasn’t going to have any more opportunities to damage it. Not Hattie’s chair.
Hattie’s chair went back to the loft at Blue Lake. Our family hasn’t been to the lake house much the last few years. Ashley and Nick now live away and attend college. Two of our family members that loved the lake and sat in that chair have passed away. We have hopes of spending more time there soon. Until then Hattie’s chair will continue to sit in the loft and wait with empty arms for the next chapter in her life.
By Audrey White
Friday, July 30, 2010
My reflections on the past four weeks.
July 30, 2010
Reflection on the last four weeks.
These four weeks have been a whirlwind of reading, thinking, writing, revising and sharing. It was fun working with our group and I value the relationships we forged. I am leaving richer for the experience. My classroom will not be the same. I look forward to implementing writers’ workshop in the Resource Room and figuring out the details of how to do it. As I work with my students in writing I will continue writing too. I’ll keep you posted on how it is going.
Reflection on the last four weeks.
These four weeks have been a whirlwind of reading, thinking, writing, revising and sharing. It was fun working with our group and I value the relationships we forged. I am leaving richer for the experience. My classroom will not be the same. I look forward to implementing writers’ workshop in the Resource Room and figuring out the details of how to do it. As I work with my students in writing I will continue writing too. I’ll keep you posted on how it is going.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Demonstration Workshops-What I learned.
What I learned:
1. Cheryl F- You can use music as the catalyst for writing. Play an inspiring piece of music and have the students respond to it with writing.
2. Virginia-Tips on handwriting, especially the Handwriting Without Tears program. Also some reminders about pencil grips and other ways to help children whose hands get tired when writing.
3. Megan-There are many wonderful children's books that I can read to my student to teach them about the six traits.
4. Lupe-Writer's notebooks can be customized and decorated to increase ownership. She shared marigold seeds and mentioned that planting seeds is like planting flowers--small ideas grow and give us more ideas as writers.
5. Shannon-There were many jounaling ideas shared. I was fascinated with the history of journaling. The tips on writng prompt ideas and classroom routines were very useful.
6. Cheryl K-Many different writing ideas to use after sharing a piece of literature with the class. Cheryl used Mollie's Pilgrim as her example.
1. Cheryl F- You can use music as the catalyst for writing. Play an inspiring piece of music and have the students respond to it with writing.
2. Virginia-Tips on handwriting, especially the Handwriting Without Tears program. Also some reminders about pencil grips and other ways to help children whose hands get tired when writing.
3. Megan-There are many wonderful children's books that I can read to my student to teach them about the six traits.
4. Lupe-Writer's notebooks can be customized and decorated to increase ownership. She shared marigold seeds and mentioned that planting seeds is like planting flowers--small ideas grow and give us more ideas as writers.
5. Shannon-There were many jounaling ideas shared. I was fascinated with the history of journaling. The tips on writng prompt ideas and classroom routines were very useful.
6. Cheryl K-Many different writing ideas to use after sharing a piece of literature with the class. Cheryl used Mollie's Pilgrim as her example.
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Response to Emily Duvall
Article presented: Teaching to the test…not! Balancing best practice and testing requirements in writing
Some ideas that were presented that gave me something to think about in relation to my classroom practice:
Conquering Tests:
1.Reading tests test reading and writing tests test writing; just different forms or genres of reading and writing (informing, demonstrating and teaching the different genres
2.Teach children to gain control over the test taking.
3.Teach them to gain control over their own thinking by teaching them to think about their own thinking.
4.Frame the teaching of test taking as on opportunity to assess not only test taking strategies, skills, and affect, but also uncover children’s awareness of content knowledge. Use as a formative assessment when time allows; use for reflective and reflexive teaching.
What I gained is that instructional time is spent practicing for the test and because of that important and challenging topics are dropped from the curriculum. The shift of teaching for learning to teaching for the test is devastating to our classrooms, but it is happening. The article does outline best practices for test preparation. It makes reference to writing workshop and the writing process, 6 + 1 Traits, and modes of writing, as preferred curriculum that will prepare students for testing, but also give them a comprehensive background in writing based on research based theories. The article continued to give an example of how these three curriculums can work together to provide a balance writing curriculum where the teacher still can make instructional decisions based on his/her students’ needs and meet state standards using best practice.
Additionally this article highlighted three aspects found in effective writing instruction:
1.Attention to the social nature of language (Vygotsky, 1978)
2.Recognition of the importance of a student-centered focus (Moffett, 1983)
3.Use of developmentally appropriate practices (Jalongo, 2003)
I truly appreciate the focus on the above three aspect of writing instruction because they helped me validate my thinking on test preparation in writing in relation to the Resource Room setting. I am now well informed regarding writing workshop and I look forward to learning more about 6 +1 Traits and modes of writing. My district does endorse 6+1 Traits and has given me some professional development on integrating it with Step-Up to Writing. I think if I can integrate some of these different curriculums into the mini-lesson component of writing workshop that I might be able to offer my students a well rounded writing curriculum that would help them become good writers. Separate test preparation would not be necessary if the instruction is balancing best practice and testing requirements into daily writing instruction.
Article presented: Teaching to the test…not! Balancing best practice and testing requirements in writing
Some ideas that were presented that gave me something to think about in relation to my classroom practice:
Conquering Tests:
1.Reading tests test reading and writing tests test writing; just different forms or genres of reading and writing (informing, demonstrating and teaching the different genres
2.Teach children to gain control over the test taking.
3.Teach them to gain control over their own thinking by teaching them to think about their own thinking.
4.Frame the teaching of test taking as on opportunity to assess not only test taking strategies, skills, and affect, but also uncover children’s awareness of content knowledge. Use as a formative assessment when time allows; use for reflective and reflexive teaching.
What I gained is that instructional time is spent practicing for the test and because of that important and challenging topics are dropped from the curriculum. The shift of teaching for learning to teaching for the test is devastating to our classrooms, but it is happening. The article does outline best practices for test preparation. It makes reference to writing workshop and the writing process, 6 + 1 Traits, and modes of writing, as preferred curriculum that will prepare students for testing, but also give them a comprehensive background in writing based on research based theories. The article continued to give an example of how these three curriculums can work together to provide a balance writing curriculum where the teacher still can make instructional decisions based on his/her students’ needs and meet state standards using best practice.
Additionally this article highlighted three aspects found in effective writing instruction:
1.Attention to the social nature of language (Vygotsky, 1978)
2.Recognition of the importance of a student-centered focus (Moffett, 1983)
3.Use of developmentally appropriate practices (Jalongo, 2003)
I truly appreciate the focus on the above three aspect of writing instruction because they helped me validate my thinking on test preparation in writing in relation to the Resource Room setting. I am now well informed regarding writing workshop and I look forward to learning more about 6 +1 Traits and modes of writing. My district does endorse 6+1 Traits and has given me some professional development on integrating it with Step-Up to Writing. I think if I can integrate some of these different curriculums into the mini-lesson component of writing workshop that I might be able to offer my students a well rounded writing curriculum that would help them become good writers. Separate test preparation would not be necessary if the instruction is balancing best practice and testing requirements into daily writing instruction.
Response to Bonnie Warne
Writing Steps: A Recursive and Individual Experience
Teaching Conventions in a State-Mandated Testing Context
Bonnie Mary Warne
Writing is a recursive adventure. It goes around and around.
Fidelity is the new F word.
She takes issue with the writing prompts in published writing series. They are not successful with teaching students how to write because they do not have ownership with the topic.
There has to be enough structure to nurture the learning but not stifle it.
She uses a different rubric with each assignment.
Students can get a higher grade with revision.
She fosters a community in the classroom so that students can help each other. They read for each other and read to see if whatever components were required are there.
She does not care as much about the finished piece as she does about the process. That is where the learning is happening.
She pulls good examples from books her students are reading to share with her them. This gets them interested in reading the books and teaches them about how to write. She teaches from where they are and what they are interested in. Use the good stuff.
She uses rubrics to grade her students. She grades them on their ability to see what they need to do to improve their writing and then doing it: their growth.
She also uses good examples of student work (not always students at her school).
Journals: She made bound journals with writing prompts she developed on each page. She also made around the year journals to write in after vacations or special events.
Implication for my classroom:
I enjoyed listening to Bonnie as she shared her philosophy of teaching writing. In my mind she really gets what is important in teaching writing and it starts with her students and their needs. Isn’t that where all good teaching starts? Her focus on writing as a process really struck home with me because it is during the process where learning occurs. Also, I applaud her for grading on growth—such practical thinking! It has long been my “gripe” that the A student will always be an A student, and the struggling student will always fail, if we grade just on benchmarks. After listening to Bonnie I felt as if my thinking on writing and assessing writing, had been validated.
Teaching Conventions in a State-Mandated Testing Context
Bonnie Mary Warne
Writing is a recursive adventure. It goes around and around.
Fidelity is the new F word.
She takes issue with the writing prompts in published writing series. They are not successful with teaching students how to write because they do not have ownership with the topic.
There has to be enough structure to nurture the learning but not stifle it.
She uses a different rubric with each assignment.
Students can get a higher grade with revision.
She fosters a community in the classroom so that students can help each other. They read for each other and read to see if whatever components were required are there.
She does not care as much about the finished piece as she does about the process. That is where the learning is happening.
She pulls good examples from books her students are reading to share with her them. This gets them interested in reading the books and teaches them about how to write. She teaches from where they are and what they are interested in. Use the good stuff.
She uses rubrics to grade her students. She grades them on their ability to see what they need to do to improve their writing and then doing it: their growth.
She also uses good examples of student work (not always students at her school).
Journals: She made bound journals with writing prompts she developed on each page. She also made around the year journals to write in after vacations or special events.
Implication for my classroom:
I enjoyed listening to Bonnie as she shared her philosophy of teaching writing. In my mind she really gets what is important in teaching writing and it starts with her students and their needs. Isn’t that where all good teaching starts? Her focus on writing as a process really struck home with me because it is during the process where learning occurs. Also, I applaud her for grading on growth—such practical thinking! It has long been my “gripe” that the A student will always be an A student, and the struggling student will always fail, if we grade just on benchmarks. After listening to Bonnie I felt as if my thinking on writing and assessing writing, had been validated.
Response to Rief/What's Right with Writing
Response to: What’s Right with Writing/Rief
Linda Rief’s article outlines what research has helped us learn about writing and the teaching of writing:
1. Writing is thinking
2. There is no one process that defines the way all writers write
3. Writers need constructive response
4. Evaluation of writing should highlight the strengths of the process, content, and conventions and give the writer tools and techniques to strengthen the weaknesses.
Rief also notes that writing is reading—that you can’t just focus on reading at the expense of writing. Writing is a recursive process and requires critical thinking.
The implication for my classroom is that I need to provide adequate time for my students to write and give them a choice of topics. If they are interested in their topic they have the strongest chance of writing with passion and voice. I also need them to read good models of written, both professional and peer-written. I need to find ways for them to get constructive responses. The writer’s workshop model should help me achieve this.
Rief also addresses the factors that stand in the way of powerful writing instruction:
1.Testing-because the prompts are generic and do not lend themselves to allowing students to have much voice. Many teachers feel forced to teach to the test and sometimes their contract renewal depends on improving test scores on the state test.
2.Lack of tools such as computers.
3.Scripted lessons that are generic “one size fits all lessons”.
4.Lack of professional development that appropriately addresses how to help teachers teach writing.
Further implications on my classroom are that I need to use technology. I currently have Alpha Neos that provide my students with a way to type and print their writing. This avoids the penmanship issues which can keep some students in the Resource Room context from completing writing assignments. This year I am slated to have a technology upgrade in my classroom which would increase the number of computers and add a Starboard. I do feel fortunate to work in a setting that does not have negative factors that will stand in the way of powerful writing instruction. My biggest obstacle is going to be finding adequate time for writing. Additionally, my district has adopted the Step-Up to Writing curriculum, but we have had excellent training on expanding the curriculum to use it with the students we teach. I think my previous training combined with my desire to implement writers’ workshop will give me a good basis for planning solid writing instruction for my students. Reading the work of different theorists this summer has given me so much to think about. I am enthused to make some significant change is my writing program!
Linda Rief’s article outlines what research has helped us learn about writing and the teaching of writing:
1. Writing is thinking
2. There is no one process that defines the way all writers write
3. Writers need constructive response
4. Evaluation of writing should highlight the strengths of the process, content, and conventions and give the writer tools and techniques to strengthen the weaknesses.
Rief also notes that writing is reading—that you can’t just focus on reading at the expense of writing. Writing is a recursive process and requires critical thinking.
The implication for my classroom is that I need to provide adequate time for my students to write and give them a choice of topics. If they are interested in their topic they have the strongest chance of writing with passion and voice. I also need them to read good models of written, both professional and peer-written. I need to find ways for them to get constructive responses. The writer’s workshop model should help me achieve this.
Rief also addresses the factors that stand in the way of powerful writing instruction:
1.Testing-because the prompts are generic and do not lend themselves to allowing students to have much voice. Many teachers feel forced to teach to the test and sometimes their contract renewal depends on improving test scores on the state test.
2.Lack of tools such as computers.
3.Scripted lessons that are generic “one size fits all lessons”.
4.Lack of professional development that appropriately addresses how to help teachers teach writing.
Further implications on my classroom are that I need to use technology. I currently have Alpha Neos that provide my students with a way to type and print their writing. This avoids the penmanship issues which can keep some students in the Resource Room context from completing writing assignments. This year I am slated to have a technology upgrade in my classroom which would increase the number of computers and add a Starboard. I do feel fortunate to work in a setting that does not have negative factors that will stand in the way of powerful writing instruction. My biggest obstacle is going to be finding adequate time for writing. Additionally, my district has adopted the Step-Up to Writing curriculum, but we have had excellent training on expanding the curriculum to use it with the students we teach. I think my previous training combined with my desire to implement writers’ workshop will give me a good basis for planning solid writing instruction for my students. Reading the work of different theorists this summer has given me so much to think about. I am enthused to make some significant change is my writing program!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)