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!
Friday, July 23, 2010
Response to: Teaching with Rubrics /Andrade
Response to teaching with Rubrics by Andrade
July 23, 2010
This article addresses rubrics as both teaching and grading tools. Most rubrics list the criteria for a piece of work and the gradations of quality for each criterion. Criteria and levels of quality are the focus. Andrade states that what makes a rubric an instructional rubric are the ways in which it is used in the classroom. I have only used rubrics with my student for evaluating written work. I have looked at the criteria and familiarized myself with the various levels of performance. I have not created my own rubrics and used them for instructional purposes.
Andrade lists the good, the bad, and the ugly of rubrics:
The good: rubrics orient us toward our goals as teachers. They can be used to clarify learning goals, design instruction, communicate goals to students, guide feedback, and judge final products.
The bad: rubrics are not a replacement for good instruction and they are not self-explanatory. Students need to be taught how to use them for peer and self-assessment. Rubrics are not just scoring tools.
The Ugly: teachers need to carefully consider the quality of the rubrics that we use. Validity, reliability and equity need to be kept in mind as we choose the rubrics we use. Andrade says that by attending to these important issues, the good of instructional rubrics can far outweigh the bad.
In my own practice of teaching Resource Room students writing, I think I will find the leveled rubrics that were shared in class to be very useful. The rubric I currently have is just a primary rubric. When I get back in my classroom in August I want to compare the shared rubrics to the rubric I have been using. The website that was shared will also help me create my own rubrics and that was a good “find” for me this summer.
Another implication in my classroom is that rather than using rubrics for grading purposes, I have been using them as a diagnostic tool to monitor student progress. I use them to evaluate my students’ progress on their monthly student writing samples “free-writes”. What I have done and like doing, is to photocopy my students’ work so that they keep the original, and then after analyzing it with the rubric, I conference with students individually and we talk about what they are doing right and what they need to work on. I always make sure they are aware of their own learning targets when we are done. This has been pretty successful and since I have only a small group of students that I serve for writing each quarter, I can be consistent on my follow-up with the students. My challenge will be that I need to work with the educational support staff that work in my room so that we are all on the same page.
July 23, 2010
This article addresses rubrics as both teaching and grading tools. Most rubrics list the criteria for a piece of work and the gradations of quality for each criterion. Criteria and levels of quality are the focus. Andrade states that what makes a rubric an instructional rubric are the ways in which it is used in the classroom. I have only used rubrics with my student for evaluating written work. I have looked at the criteria and familiarized myself with the various levels of performance. I have not created my own rubrics and used them for instructional purposes.
Andrade lists the good, the bad, and the ugly of rubrics:
The good: rubrics orient us toward our goals as teachers. They can be used to clarify learning goals, design instruction, communicate goals to students, guide feedback, and judge final products.
The bad: rubrics are not a replacement for good instruction and they are not self-explanatory. Students need to be taught how to use them for peer and self-assessment. Rubrics are not just scoring tools.
The Ugly: teachers need to carefully consider the quality of the rubrics that we use. Validity, reliability and equity need to be kept in mind as we choose the rubrics we use. Andrade says that by attending to these important issues, the good of instructional rubrics can far outweigh the bad.
In my own practice of teaching Resource Room students writing, I think I will find the leveled rubrics that were shared in class to be very useful. The rubric I currently have is just a primary rubric. When I get back in my classroom in August I want to compare the shared rubrics to the rubric I have been using. The website that was shared will also help me create my own rubrics and that was a good “find” for me this summer.
Another implication in my classroom is that rather than using rubrics for grading purposes, I have been using them as a diagnostic tool to monitor student progress. I use them to evaluate my students’ progress on their monthly student writing samples “free-writes”. What I have done and like doing, is to photocopy my students’ work so that they keep the original, and then after analyzing it with the rubric, I conference with students individually and we talk about what they are doing right and what they need to work on. I always make sure they are aware of their own learning targets when we are done. This has been pretty successful and since I have only a small group of students that I serve for writing each quarter, I can be consistent on my follow-up with the students. My challenge will be that I need to work with the educational support staff that work in my room so that we are all on the same page.
Lane Ch 13-Jigsaw Activity
After the End, Barry Lane Chapter 13: “Words in Collision”, revising poems
Jigsaw Assignment 7-20-10
Lane states that he notices two types of poetry in our schools: The kind kids write and the kind they learn to write. In the younger grades he feels their poetry is full of imagination and life. As they get older it is more flowery, contrived and more like the poetry of greeting cards. He does not blame teachers but rather poets and cultural attitudes toward poetry.
Three activities that can be used for writing poetry in the classroom:
Geof Hewitt, Vermont poet, never mentions poetry when he gives this assignment:
Collaborative Poetry
1. Students write down a phrase that describes an observation made between waking up and arriving at school. They have twenty-two seconds to do this.
2. Each student is asked to read their phrase.
3. The teacher takes dictation, writing one phrase per line on the board.
4. Read all the phrases as if they were a poem and ask the class to define what was just read.
5. Explain that you have just written a collaborative poem. Everyone copies it down in their notebooks and they can revise it any way they want to.
6. Model the editing and revising processes right in fro of the students on the board. Do what ever it takes: cut out phrases, add words, remove lines, etc. Keep all drafts of the poetry.
7. Share the edited poems. Look at the differences and similarities.
This can be a fun chance to play with words. The words are not all your own so it can be easier to let go of them and try something else. Lane show how he edited it and how Geof Hewitt edited it—both very different. Children have a natural love of playing with words. Lane talks about Verandah Porche, a poet that carries a heart shaped tin with her that contains thousands of words. She will give a class a prompt and then give them a fistful of words to play with. The students love it.
Verandah Porche: Wordboxing
1. Make photocopies of books you have read with the class or student stories or anything else you’d want to use. Slice up all the words and put the into your chose vessel.
2. Read students some playful poems and tell them that poets play with words on the page like toys on the floor. Tell them you are going to teach them to do the same and the poems don’t have to make sense. They don’t have to use all the words and they can trade. The poems don’t have to rhyme.
3. After finishing the poem they need to write it down.
4. Share the poems.
5. Suggest they try rearranging the same word into another poem.
Spinoffs:
1. Have students pick nouns, adjectives, and verbs from their individual piles of words. Write a familiar piece of writing on the board, like the Pledge of Allegiance. Go through the piece with the class identifying the parts of speech. Erase them and put in N for noun, A for adjective, and V for verb. Now go around the class and substitute another word for each part of speech.
2. Collect a bunch of words that rhyme and make a special wordbox. You may want to have the children write the words. Ask the students to arrange nonsense poems that rhyme.
3. Teach the students what an image is by using poems. Create an imagebox on a theme (war and peace). The box will contain images of war and peace. You can add images from published poets as well.
Each student takes a handful of images and arranges a poem.
4. Using a video camera, tape close-ups f students’ faces as they say what their observations are. Experiment with other forms, such as concept poems, where a word like peace is repeated after five images or peaceful words.
5. Students write a poem that depends on a title to fill in the information like this one:
Ode to a lost Brain Cell
Where did I put it?
It was here
I know it
Think, think, think
6. Have students write a poem that is a dialogue between tow people (p183)
7. Ask students to write a poem that begins with a question they sometimes ask themselves (p.184) (why do dogs roll on dead things?)
8. Conduct poetry readings regularly. Students stand 1-3 at a time and present.
9. Have students revise “Roses are Red” poems to make them lose the predictable rhyme and get more interesting. Examples on p. 184.
10. Teach metaphor with this fill in the blank exercise:
_____________is a ________________
(feeling) (noun)
Anger is a hissing cat.
11. Have students write a poem about a landscape inside them. Example on page 185: Wishes.
Jigsaw Assignment 7-20-10
Lane states that he notices two types of poetry in our schools: The kind kids write and the kind they learn to write. In the younger grades he feels their poetry is full of imagination and life. As they get older it is more flowery, contrived and more like the poetry of greeting cards. He does not blame teachers but rather poets and cultural attitudes toward poetry.
Three activities that can be used for writing poetry in the classroom:
Geof Hewitt, Vermont poet, never mentions poetry when he gives this assignment:
Collaborative Poetry
1. Students write down a phrase that describes an observation made between waking up and arriving at school. They have twenty-two seconds to do this.
2. Each student is asked to read their phrase.
3. The teacher takes dictation, writing one phrase per line on the board.
4. Read all the phrases as if they were a poem and ask the class to define what was just read.
5. Explain that you have just written a collaborative poem. Everyone copies it down in their notebooks and they can revise it any way they want to.
6. Model the editing and revising processes right in fro of the students on the board. Do what ever it takes: cut out phrases, add words, remove lines, etc. Keep all drafts of the poetry.
7. Share the edited poems. Look at the differences and similarities.
This can be a fun chance to play with words. The words are not all your own so it can be easier to let go of them and try something else. Lane show how he edited it and how Geof Hewitt edited it—both very different. Children have a natural love of playing with words. Lane talks about Verandah Porche, a poet that carries a heart shaped tin with her that contains thousands of words. She will give a class a prompt and then give them a fistful of words to play with. The students love it.
Verandah Porche: Wordboxing
1. Make photocopies of books you have read with the class or student stories or anything else you’d want to use. Slice up all the words and put the into your chose vessel.
2. Read students some playful poems and tell them that poets play with words on the page like toys on the floor. Tell them you are going to teach them to do the same and the poems don’t have to make sense. They don’t have to use all the words and they can trade. The poems don’t have to rhyme.
3. After finishing the poem they need to write it down.
4. Share the poems.
5. Suggest they try rearranging the same word into another poem.
Spinoffs:
1. Have students pick nouns, adjectives, and verbs from their individual piles of words. Write a familiar piece of writing on the board, like the Pledge of Allegiance. Go through the piece with the class identifying the parts of speech. Erase them and put in N for noun, A for adjective, and V for verb. Now go around the class and substitute another word for each part of speech.
2. Collect a bunch of words that rhyme and make a special wordbox. You may want to have the children write the words. Ask the students to arrange nonsense poems that rhyme.
3. Teach the students what an image is by using poems. Create an imagebox on a theme (war and peace). The box will contain images of war and peace. You can add images from published poets as well.
Each student takes a handful of images and arranges a poem.
4. Using a video camera, tape close-ups f students’ faces as they say what their observations are. Experiment with other forms, such as concept poems, where a word like peace is repeated after five images or peaceful words.
5. Students write a poem that depends on a title to fill in the information like this one:
Ode to a lost Brain Cell
Where did I put it?
It was here
I know it
Think, think, think
6. Have students write a poem that is a dialogue between tow people (p183)
7. Ask students to write a poem that begins with a question they sometimes ask themselves (p.184) (why do dogs roll on dead things?)
8. Conduct poetry readings regularly. Students stand 1-3 at a time and present.
9. Have students revise “Roses are Red” poems to make them lose the predictable rhyme and get more interesting. Examples on p. 184.
10. Teach metaphor with this fill in the blank exercise:
_____________is a ________________
(feeling) (noun)
Anger is a hissing cat.
11. Have students write a poem about a landscape inside them. Example on page 185: Wishes.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Response to Calkins: Ch 13 & 14
Response to Lucy Calkins
7-14-10
Chapter 13: Conferring
Calkins analogy that writing is not very different from making a clay rabbit was very helpful to me. I can remember trying to sculpt something in clay many years ago. You do tug and pull at the clay and smudge it between your fingers. You stand back and as yourself or someone else, “How does that look?” Then you get back to work and tug and pull some more until you stop again to take a look at how you have done. Writing is no different. All writers need to have those moments where they discuss their writing either with someone else or themselves. As Calkins states, “Creation and criticism—these are central to our work with clay and blocks, and they are also central to our work with words”. The implication for my classroom is that I need to take more time to confer with my students on their writing and do it in a structured, regular and predictable way.
Another shared experience is the “I’m done!” syndrome that so frequently plague’s students during writing time. I think by conferring with the writer and asking them what questions they have about their writing we can gradually keep writers focused in the classroom. Calkins states that conferring is at the heart of the workshop and it is difficult to learn to confer well. She also reminds that it is worth the struggle. I look forward to establishing conferring in my classroom this fall when I implement writers’ workshop.
On sustainability-we should be teaching the writer, not the writing. Calkins reminds us that we need to be focusing our attention to things that can help the writer rather than a particular piece of writing. The implication for my classroom practice is that I don’t need to be making marks on my student’s papers. We need to talk about their writing and have them make the changes. This will be a challenge for some of my students, but I think students retain ownership of their own ideas and writing by doing the revision this way.
Chapter 14: Learning to Confer
In this chapter Calkins presents four types of conferences for us to ponder:
Content: Just interested conversations about the content of writing or even about the content of student’s lives.
Design: Conferencing about organization. Writers need to learn that they don’t have to follow the actual sequence of event.
Process: Conferring about the strategies the writer is using & helping them develop more effective strategies.
Evaluation: both individual writings and to evaluate several pieces (best, worst, how is writing changing, what new things are being tried, what patterns do are apparent?)
In this chapter Calkins states, “If the conference goes well, the child’s energy for writing increase and they want to write”. This quote provides all the more reason for me to try conferring as I look at ways to motivate unmotivated writers.
Calkins states in the last page of her chapter that these categories of conferring should be viewed as lenses for thinking about conferring:
“In the end, conferring is useful not only when rethinking writing, but also when rethinking our clay rabbits…and our teaching.”
The implications for my classroom are that I would like to find a balance of conferring using all four types of conferences. Currently my student and I talk a lot about content and design. I would like to include more process and evaluation conversations.
7-14-10
Chapter 13: Conferring
Calkins analogy that writing is not very different from making a clay rabbit was very helpful to me. I can remember trying to sculpt something in clay many years ago. You do tug and pull at the clay and smudge it between your fingers. You stand back and as yourself or someone else, “How does that look?” Then you get back to work and tug and pull some more until you stop again to take a look at how you have done. Writing is no different. All writers need to have those moments where they discuss their writing either with someone else or themselves. As Calkins states, “Creation and criticism—these are central to our work with clay and blocks, and they are also central to our work with words”. The implication for my classroom is that I need to take more time to confer with my students on their writing and do it in a structured, regular and predictable way.
Another shared experience is the “I’m done!” syndrome that so frequently plague’s students during writing time. I think by conferring with the writer and asking them what questions they have about their writing we can gradually keep writers focused in the classroom. Calkins states that conferring is at the heart of the workshop and it is difficult to learn to confer well. She also reminds that it is worth the struggle. I look forward to establishing conferring in my classroom this fall when I implement writers’ workshop.
On sustainability-we should be teaching the writer, not the writing. Calkins reminds us that we need to be focusing our attention to things that can help the writer rather than a particular piece of writing. The implication for my classroom practice is that I don’t need to be making marks on my student’s papers. We need to talk about their writing and have them make the changes. This will be a challenge for some of my students, but I think students retain ownership of their own ideas and writing by doing the revision this way.
Chapter 14: Learning to Confer
In this chapter Calkins presents four types of conferences for us to ponder:
Content: Just interested conversations about the content of writing or even about the content of student’s lives.
Design: Conferencing about organization. Writers need to learn that they don’t have to follow the actual sequence of event.
Process: Conferring about the strategies the writer is using & helping them develop more effective strategies.
Evaluation: both individual writings and to evaluate several pieces (best, worst, how is writing changing, what new things are being tried, what patterns do are apparent?)
In this chapter Calkins states, “If the conference goes well, the child’s energy for writing increase and they want to write”. This quote provides all the more reason for me to try conferring as I look at ways to motivate unmotivated writers.
Calkins states in the last page of her chapter that these categories of conferring should be viewed as lenses for thinking about conferring:
“In the end, conferring is useful not only when rethinking writing, but also when rethinking our clay rabbits…and our teaching.”
The implications for my classroom are that I would like to find a balance of conferring using all four types of conferences. Currently my student and I talk a lot about content and design. I would like to include more process and evaluation conversations.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Response to Barry Lane: Chaps 6&7
Response to Barry Lane Chapters 6 & 7
July 20, 2010
In chapter six the index card activity allowed me to look at changing the order of the moments in my writing to add interest. It also allowed me to rethink my story and look at it though another lens.
Moment mapping with cave writing on the back of the card helps the writer change the sequence of events.
Another helpful strategy: View Shift. This strategy helps you see the event from different eyes. Even shifting from first to third person can make a significant difference. I tried this technique with my writing about the forest and found it improved the quality of the writing.
All of these strategies would be fairly easy to implement in my classroom and I would find them useful in my own writing as well. I am especially fond of the cave writing for use with my students in the Resource Room. My students like to draw and I think it will engage them in the writing process while helping them think though the events in their writing and help them to manipulate the events.
In Chapter seven the important message to me was that to create an effective writing period the children need to “own it, create it, and agree to it as a group”. If this does not happen I am promoting a top down model that will work against my goals. The class or group needs to brainstorm a list of activities for the writing time. It needs to be edited. Students need to contract each day. If the students get stuck they can refer to the list.
When it comes to the peer conference, a form needs to be created with questions like, I like, I wonder, questions, and plan for action. The teacher will need to model how to use this form and make sure the students know they need to fill out one form for each peer conference. I will need to think on the application of this for my Resource Room students as they may need more preteaching and support.
When it comes to ideas for conferencing I especially like the comment that conferences are not for fixing the student’s work. The student should be in charge of revising their own work.
Journaling and having the student write to the teacher and the teacher writing back is a great idea. I am not sure how this could look in my classroom. I only have my students for thirty minutes per day so I think it will be important me to collaborate with the classroom teachers to find out what they are doing about journaling. I can’t do it all in thirty minutes, but can supplement what they are doing for writing in their classroom.
Displaying student work is important and a way to publish their work. I made a goal to display student work more often next year to increase student pride and build their confidence as writers. The ideas of plays, literacy teas, writers’ lunch, parent evenings, and an author quote corner all are appealing as they encourage reading and writing. I will have to give them more thought and investigate what can be done at the building level.
July 20, 2010
In chapter six the index card activity allowed me to look at changing the order of the moments in my writing to add interest. It also allowed me to rethink my story and look at it though another lens.
Moment mapping with cave writing on the back of the card helps the writer change the sequence of events.
Another helpful strategy: View Shift. This strategy helps you see the event from different eyes. Even shifting from first to third person can make a significant difference. I tried this technique with my writing about the forest and found it improved the quality of the writing.
All of these strategies would be fairly easy to implement in my classroom and I would find them useful in my own writing as well. I am especially fond of the cave writing for use with my students in the Resource Room. My students like to draw and I think it will engage them in the writing process while helping them think though the events in their writing and help them to manipulate the events.
In Chapter seven the important message to me was that to create an effective writing period the children need to “own it, create it, and agree to it as a group”. If this does not happen I am promoting a top down model that will work against my goals. The class or group needs to brainstorm a list of activities for the writing time. It needs to be edited. Students need to contract each day. If the students get stuck they can refer to the list.
When it comes to the peer conference, a form needs to be created with questions like, I like, I wonder, questions, and plan for action. The teacher will need to model how to use this form and make sure the students know they need to fill out one form for each peer conference. I will need to think on the application of this for my Resource Room students as they may need more preteaching and support.
When it comes to ideas for conferencing I especially like the comment that conferences are not for fixing the student’s work. The student should be in charge of revising their own work.
Journaling and having the student write to the teacher and the teacher writing back is a great idea. I am not sure how this could look in my classroom. I only have my students for thirty minutes per day so I think it will be important me to collaborate with the classroom teachers to find out what they are doing about journaling. I can’t do it all in thirty minutes, but can supplement what they are doing for writing in their classroom.
Displaying student work is important and a way to publish their work. I made a goal to display student work more often next year to increase student pride and build their confidence as writers. The ideas of plays, literacy teas, writers’ lunch, parent evenings, and an author quote corner all are appealing as they encourage reading and writing. I will have to give them more thought and investigate what can be done at the building level.
Monday, July 19, 2010
Top Ten Revison Strategies
Top Ten Revision Strategies
July 19, 2010
1. Snapshot
2. Thought Shot
3. Explode the Moment
4. Shrink the Century
5. Questioning, Harper article, page 194
6. Making a Scene, Harper article, page 198: draws from all four elements of narrative writing to create balanced scenes: action, dialogue, snapshots, thoughtshots.
7. The Roller Coaster and the Local Train, Lane, page 135
8. Shotgun, Lane, page 136-138
9. Spinoffs, Lane page 145-146
10. Write from a different person. Example write from third person instead of first person.
July 19, 2010
1. Snapshot
2. Thought Shot
3. Explode the Moment
4. Shrink the Century
5. Questioning, Harper article, page 194
6. Making a Scene, Harper article, page 198: draws from all four elements of narrative writing to create balanced scenes: action, dialogue, snapshots, thoughtshots.
7. The Roller Coaster and the Local Train, Lane, page 135
8. Shotgun, Lane, page 136-138
9. Spinoffs, Lane page 145-146
10. Write from a different person. Example write from third person instead of first person.
Response to Harper's Article
Response to Harper
“The Writer’s Toolbox: five Tools for Active Revision Instruction”
Harper discusses five revision techniques and how to help student use them in their own writing. Her idea of including a 5” x8” manila envelope with a card for each revision tool based on Barry Lane’s revision techniques made sense. She took some rather abstract ideas and made them more concrete for her students. She gave them some common language to use in revision and taught them the techniques so that they had “tools” to use during revision. Previously her students had just added in more words when she told them to revise their writing. Now they knew techniques.
The implication for my classroom is that I can see teaching the five techniques that Lane wrote about. I think her idea of using a common symbol such as the camera for the “snapshot” techniques is an effective way to help students cut to the chase when revising peer work. It takes less time than writing comments and having the common language allows them offer quick feedback. I also like the manila envelop with the cards because it is a good reminder of the techniques. Using and applying the techniques helps the students internalize the concepts and allows them to use actual strategies to improve their writing.
My experience in working with my students on writing in the Resource Room setting is that they have very little idea as to what to do to improve their writing. Teaching the five techniques and giving them symbols to label each will help them process the information better. My plan would be to initially try this with my third through fifth grade students. The five techniques could be taught in writers’ workshop as mini-lessons. We would explore these techniques over time. I would introduce the techniques and practice them doing a think aloud and modeling the technique initially. Brainstorming the symbols would be a way for the students to have some ownership. Harper doesn’t say who puts the information on the cards in the manila envelopes. I am unclear if it is something that the teacher has printed on the cards, or if the students make their own. I find that if students make something they remember it better and have ownership of it.
Lastly, I really like the comparison of a writers’ toolbox to a carpenters’ or mechanics’ toolbox. Harper states that the toolbox must function just like a traditional toolbox. The tools must be readily available to grab so they can be put to quick use. She states that this helps prevent mental blocks or endless rewordings. It gives the writer a range of tools or choices and appropriate tools for each job. This concrete example will help me explain the revision toolkit to my students and I think it will help them understand the concept better. I look forward to testing its effectiveness with my students’ writing next year.
“The Writer’s Toolbox: five Tools for Active Revision Instruction”
Harper discusses five revision techniques and how to help student use them in their own writing. Her idea of including a 5” x8” manila envelope with a card for each revision tool based on Barry Lane’s revision techniques made sense. She took some rather abstract ideas and made them more concrete for her students. She gave them some common language to use in revision and taught them the techniques so that they had “tools” to use during revision. Previously her students had just added in more words when she told them to revise their writing. Now they knew techniques.
The implication for my classroom is that I can see teaching the five techniques that Lane wrote about. I think her idea of using a common symbol such as the camera for the “snapshot” techniques is an effective way to help students cut to the chase when revising peer work. It takes less time than writing comments and having the common language allows them offer quick feedback. I also like the manila envelop with the cards because it is a good reminder of the techniques. Using and applying the techniques helps the students internalize the concepts and allows them to use actual strategies to improve their writing.
My experience in working with my students on writing in the Resource Room setting is that they have very little idea as to what to do to improve their writing. Teaching the five techniques and giving them symbols to label each will help them process the information better. My plan would be to initially try this with my third through fifth grade students. The five techniques could be taught in writers’ workshop as mini-lessons. We would explore these techniques over time. I would introduce the techniques and practice them doing a think aloud and modeling the technique initially. Brainstorming the symbols would be a way for the students to have some ownership. Harper doesn’t say who puts the information on the cards in the manila envelopes. I am unclear if it is something that the teacher has printed on the cards, or if the students make their own. I find that if students make something they remember it better and have ownership of it.
Lastly, I really like the comparison of a writers’ toolbox to a carpenters’ or mechanics’ toolbox. Harper states that the toolbox must function just like a traditional toolbox. The tools must be readily available to grab so they can be put to quick use. She states that this helps prevent mental blocks or endless rewordings. It gives the writer a range of tools or choices and appropriate tools for each job. This concrete example will help me explain the revision toolkit to my students and I think it will help them understand the concept better. I look forward to testing its effectiveness with my students’ writing next year.
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Response to Bird By Bird -2nd Third
Bird by Bird
Reflection on the second third
July 18, 2010
Lamott writes about set design and how she actually uses other people as a resource when she does not have the background knowledge or experience to write the details of a setting. When she needed a garden setting she actually called a man who worked at a nursery. She continued to call him throughout the year to learn how the plants would look at that specific time. This is just one more validation that writers must be very familiar with what they are writing. I would think that should be a “given”, but perhaps not. The implications for me are that I need to write about what I know or research the information I need to be authentic in my writing. I think this would be good advice for young writers in the classroom as well.
In her chapter on “False Starts”, Lamott writes about the artist who paints and then whites out a section of the canvas. The artist’s repainting is like the writers revision. Each time the artist whites out an area he/she discovers what it isn’t and in doing so comes closer to discovering what it is. I can relate to this from the days when I did paint. The creative process is very divergent for most of us and one thought leads to the next. Sometimes you just have to explore a lot of places before you get to where you need to go.
When Lamott addressed her own book in “Plot Treatment” I could not imagine the persistence she had to have to finally get the final copy. She had to revise it several times before she was done and then it turned out to be one of her most successful novels. The message here is that it may take several drafts to “get it right”. That leads into her next chapter, “How You Know When You do are Done?”. She made two analogies that created vivid pictures in my mind. In the first example she said completing a writing is like putting an octopus to bed. I could picture the arms popping out just as in writing certain parts just keep coming back for revision. Her second comment was that you are done when there is no more steam in the pressure cooker. Sometimes we have just written all that we have to say on a topic and there is no more passion for the subject.
There were several other topics that “spoke” to the writer in me in this second third of her book. One of the useful tips is to keep index cards available and jot down ideas on for writing on them as they come to you. She states that so often she would have an idea and then proceed to forget it if she didn’t write it down. Actually she said that it was the worst feeling to have had a wonderful moment or insight and lose it. I can relate to that and I think the index card idea might be very useful for me.
Lastly, I found her chapter on “Broccoli” to be interesting. She says the most of us lost access to our “broccoli” when we were children. It is the notion that we listened to our intuition when we were small and then our perceptions of what was true were not always welcomed by the adults in our life. Eventually we stopped listening. Lamott encourages us to find and use our “broccoli” again in order to write well. It is all about trusting yourself and that builds intuition and confidence. I’m in pursuit of my broccoli.
Reflection on the second third
July 18, 2010
Lamott writes about set design and how she actually uses other people as a resource when she does not have the background knowledge or experience to write the details of a setting. When she needed a garden setting she actually called a man who worked at a nursery. She continued to call him throughout the year to learn how the plants would look at that specific time. This is just one more validation that writers must be very familiar with what they are writing. I would think that should be a “given”, but perhaps not. The implications for me are that I need to write about what I know or research the information I need to be authentic in my writing. I think this would be good advice for young writers in the classroom as well.
In her chapter on “False Starts”, Lamott writes about the artist who paints and then whites out a section of the canvas. The artist’s repainting is like the writers revision. Each time the artist whites out an area he/she discovers what it isn’t and in doing so comes closer to discovering what it is. I can relate to this from the days when I did paint. The creative process is very divergent for most of us and one thought leads to the next. Sometimes you just have to explore a lot of places before you get to where you need to go.
When Lamott addressed her own book in “Plot Treatment” I could not imagine the persistence she had to have to finally get the final copy. She had to revise it several times before she was done and then it turned out to be one of her most successful novels. The message here is that it may take several drafts to “get it right”. That leads into her next chapter, “How You Know When You do are Done?”. She made two analogies that created vivid pictures in my mind. In the first example she said completing a writing is like putting an octopus to bed. I could picture the arms popping out just as in writing certain parts just keep coming back for revision. Her second comment was that you are done when there is no more steam in the pressure cooker. Sometimes we have just written all that we have to say on a topic and there is no more passion for the subject.
There were several other topics that “spoke” to the writer in me in this second third of her book. One of the useful tips is to keep index cards available and jot down ideas on for writing on them as they come to you. She states that so often she would have an idea and then proceed to forget it if she didn’t write it down. Actually she said that it was the worst feeling to have had a wonderful moment or insight and lose it. I can relate to that and I think the index card idea might be very useful for me.
Lastly, I found her chapter on “Broccoli” to be interesting. She says the most of us lost access to our “broccoli” when we were children. It is the notion that we listened to our intuition when we were small and then our perceptions of what was true were not always welcomed by the adults in our life. Eventually we stopped listening. Lamott encourages us to find and use our “broccoli” again in order to write well. It is all about trusting yourself and that builds intuition and confidence. I’m in pursuit of my broccoli.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Response to Calkins: Chapter 11
The main implication for my classroom gleaned from this article was that I need to set aside time for writing that is predictable and adequate. It simply needs to happen every day. Calkins believes it is less important how you structure writer’s workshop rather then that we set time for it and structure it into our day. Since I usually only have students for thirty minutes per day for writing it is going to be a challenge for me to figure out how to get all three components of the workshop in during that time. I have given some thought to only sharing on certain days, not every day. If the mini-lesson takes 10-15 minutes that only leaves 20 minutes to write so I will have to try it and adjust it as I respond to my students needs.
This article and Lain’s article covered some of the same material in regard to the writer’s workshop but each approached it a bit differently. Calkins addresses the predictability, structure, and gives a general overview of the components while Lain addressed these in depth and the types of writing. I do appreciate that Calkins does address the interruptions that prevent writing from happening in our schools. She states, “It is only by cleaning out some old things that we can give time and space to new ones”. She urges teachers to set aside an hour each day for writing. I could connect with the “cha-cha-cha” curriculum that she mentions. The hour a day won’t be possible for me as a supplemental program, but I can offer my students part of this hour. The classroom teaching is supposed to be providing the core instruction in writing for all students, but I don’t think this is happening in all classrooms. At times I feel like the teachers don’t want to take the time to differentiate the curriculum to help the struggling students in writing. This puts me in a bind because I don’t have any authority to tell them how to teach. I don’t really have any good ideas how to change this other than sharing the student work done in the Resource Room with the classroom teacher so that they can see what their students are capable of doing and how they are progressing in their writing skills in my classroom. I do see a need for me to work on some way to find out what the classroom teachers are doing with their writing time and to let them know what I am doing. At the moment there is not a lot of communication going either way due mainly to time constraints. We have eighteen classrooms in my building so I have a lot of teachers to try to communicate with. When I meet with other Resource Room teachers they have similar concerns, so if I can come up with a way to foster communication they would be grateful if I would share it.
Lastly,Calkins also talks about the environment for writing in the classroom. She talks of a library corner, tables, and a gathering area. There would also be a place to display student work. I will have to give some thought to how I can accomplish this. I did get some comfort from her statement that the classroom environment is created with relationships and the structures that support them. That I know I can provide.
This article and Lain’s article covered some of the same material in regard to the writer’s workshop but each approached it a bit differently. Calkins addresses the predictability, structure, and gives a general overview of the components while Lain addressed these in depth and the types of writing. I do appreciate that Calkins does address the interruptions that prevent writing from happening in our schools. She states, “It is only by cleaning out some old things that we can give time and space to new ones”. She urges teachers to set aside an hour each day for writing. I could connect with the “cha-cha-cha” curriculum that she mentions. The hour a day won’t be possible for me as a supplemental program, but I can offer my students part of this hour. The classroom teaching is supposed to be providing the core instruction in writing for all students, but I don’t think this is happening in all classrooms. At times I feel like the teachers don’t want to take the time to differentiate the curriculum to help the struggling students in writing. This puts me in a bind because I don’t have any authority to tell them how to teach. I don’t really have any good ideas how to change this other than sharing the student work done in the Resource Room with the classroom teacher so that they can see what their students are capable of doing and how they are progressing in their writing skills in my classroom. I do see a need for me to work on some way to find out what the classroom teachers are doing with their writing time and to let them know what I am doing. At the moment there is not a lot of communication going either way due mainly to time constraints. We have eighteen classrooms in my building so I have a lot of teachers to try to communicate with. When I meet with other Resource Room teachers they have similar concerns, so if I can come up with a way to foster communication they would be grateful if I would share it.
Lastly,Calkins also talks about the environment for writing in the classroom. She talks of a library corner, tables, and a gathering area. There would also be a place to display student work. I will have to give some thought to how I can accomplish this. I did get some comfort from her statement that the classroom environment is created with relationships and the structures that support them. That I know I can provide.
Response to Sheryl Lain's Article: Reaffirming the Writing Workshop for Young Adolescents
Lain’s article offered me some good information on the structure of a writing workshop, writing modes, conferencing, and journals & folders. I think her comment that skills need to be taught in the context of the students’ own writing is an important one. Skills taught in isolation and randomly really don’t get processed well. The implication for my classroom is that I need a better plan for the educational assistants that I work during writing. At this point I can see some sort of collaborative model. We have talked about it before, but I can see it happening with the writing workshop. It would be an effective way to work side by side with the EA’s so that I could model effective teaching and they could help with the conferencing. The only obstacle I can think of with this change is the scheduling issues with our students.
Another implication of this article was the section on poetic writing. My district uses Step-Up to writing at the elementary level. After reviewing the teacher’s manual I was reminded that it does not include any poetic writing. Poetry offers the structure and “word play” that I think would be important for my students to experience. The patterns of poetry just lend themselves to scaffolding beginning writing skills. Many of my students lack confidence in their ability to produce good writing. Poetry is manageable and would allow them to produce finished pieces within a shorter amount of time. I do agree with Lain’s requirement that her students produce one poem and one other piece of writing per day.
The sections on journals, writing folders and publishing gave me more to think about. I have traditionally furnished a journal for each student but I am not sure that they were always used as I would have liked. I currently do not teach all the students writing, so with the Writers Workshop model I can make this happen. I currently do have folders to keep examples of student work, but they are not accessible to the students because they have sample of all the subjects they are served for in them plus assessments and notes. Next fall I plan to have student writing folders so that they can look at their writing whenever they want. Publishing happens in the form of final drafts and they are displayed in the classroom. I want to see more sharing of writing, but will have to work on a protocol for this. My students will need to learn how sharing looks and practice sharing for this to be a productive and effective experience. I can see that sharing will help with their self confidence in writing but also in the area of social skills.
My last thought is that we just need to do more writing. I need to establish a routine for writing fluency complete with word count. Reading fluency has been monitored with my students, but I hadn’t thought of writing fluency. I think the students will enjoy keeping a graph of the number of words they write and it will motivate them to write more.
Another implication of this article was the section on poetic writing. My district uses Step-Up to writing at the elementary level. After reviewing the teacher’s manual I was reminded that it does not include any poetic writing. Poetry offers the structure and “word play” that I think would be important for my students to experience. The patterns of poetry just lend themselves to scaffolding beginning writing skills. Many of my students lack confidence in their ability to produce good writing. Poetry is manageable and would allow them to produce finished pieces within a shorter amount of time. I do agree with Lain’s requirement that her students produce one poem and one other piece of writing per day.
The sections on journals, writing folders and publishing gave me more to think about. I have traditionally furnished a journal for each student but I am not sure that they were always used as I would have liked. I currently do not teach all the students writing, so with the Writers Workshop model I can make this happen. I currently do have folders to keep examples of student work, but they are not accessible to the students because they have sample of all the subjects they are served for in them plus assessments and notes. Next fall I plan to have student writing folders so that they can look at their writing whenever they want. Publishing happens in the form of final drafts and they are displayed in the classroom. I want to see more sharing of writing, but will have to work on a protocol for this. My students will need to learn how sharing looks and practice sharing for this to be a productive and effective experience. I can see that sharing will help with their self confidence in writing but also in the area of social skills.
My last thought is that we just need to do more writing. I need to establish a routine for writing fluency complete with word count. Reading fluency has been monitored with my students, but I hadn’t thought of writing fluency. I think the students will enjoy keeping a graph of the number of words they write and it will motivate them to write more.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Reflecton on after The End/Chaps 1-5
Response to Chapters 1-5 :
after The End : by Barry Lane
July 12, 2010
At the start of his book Barry Lane states that asking good questions is the basis of good writing. He spoke to the gardener in me when he said that each read is like a seed of revision. The analogy of the potato plant also held significance to me. He states, “When I think of writing I think of a potato plant. Most of our writing is simply the leaves and the stems of the plant, but as we revise more and more we dig for the right potato. A large part of writing is simply trusting your own instincts and asking questions that will help you dig deep enough.” I made a connection with this and what Anne Lamott wrote in her book Bird by Bird. She stated that there are hidden treasures in our writing. Life is messy and clutter in life and writing can yield “treasures”. Revision helps us find those hidden treasures or potatoes if we just give ourselves time to read and look for them.
Another important theme in this book is the element of detail. Lane states that detail is the best tool that writers have to bring writing into focus and find deeper meaning. Digging deeper and looking at our writing with a closer lens can help us find this detail.
Additional important components include the idea of snapshot, thoughtshot and exploding the moment. The techniques of snapshot and thoughtshot can be use to “explode the moment”. Lane makes the analogy that writers are like photographers, they have a giant zoom lens that can zoom in and pull back to make detail and sweeping generalizations. One supports the other. Thoughtshots “frame” the snapshots. They place events in context and according to Lane give readers and writers a reason to be interested.
The technique of exploding the moment lets the writer focus on a moment in time, in depth. Adding details adds interest and paints a picture for the reader to better experience that moment. Students can be taught this skill and use it as part of their revision. Most of my students use very little detail and just don’t know how to go about adding it. Explode the moment will give them a strategy for selecting a part of their writing and adding in those details to really let the reader see and experience that moment in time. They do not have to think up a new scenario, but rather embellish something they already have started in their writing.
The implication for the classroom is that these techniques (snapshot, thoughtshot, and explode the moment) can be taught at any grade level. Lane feels they need to be taught in isolation initially. I would model and practice these skills with my small writing groups. Conferencing during Writer’s workshop might be one place where conversations about using these techniques might occur.
after The End : by Barry Lane
July 12, 2010
At the start of his book Barry Lane states that asking good questions is the basis of good writing. He spoke to the gardener in me when he said that each read is like a seed of revision. The analogy of the potato plant also held significance to me. He states, “When I think of writing I think of a potato plant. Most of our writing is simply the leaves and the stems of the plant, but as we revise more and more we dig for the right potato. A large part of writing is simply trusting your own instincts and asking questions that will help you dig deep enough.” I made a connection with this and what Anne Lamott wrote in her book Bird by Bird. She stated that there are hidden treasures in our writing. Life is messy and clutter in life and writing can yield “treasures”. Revision helps us find those hidden treasures or potatoes if we just give ourselves time to read and look for them.
Another important theme in this book is the element of detail. Lane states that detail is the best tool that writers have to bring writing into focus and find deeper meaning. Digging deeper and looking at our writing with a closer lens can help us find this detail.
Additional important components include the idea of snapshot, thoughtshot and exploding the moment. The techniques of snapshot and thoughtshot can be use to “explode the moment”. Lane makes the analogy that writers are like photographers, they have a giant zoom lens that can zoom in and pull back to make detail and sweeping generalizations. One supports the other. Thoughtshots “frame” the snapshots. They place events in context and according to Lane give readers and writers a reason to be interested.
The technique of exploding the moment lets the writer focus on a moment in time, in depth. Adding details adds interest and paints a picture for the reader to better experience that moment. Students can be taught this skill and use it as part of their revision. Most of my students use very little detail and just don’t know how to go about adding it. Explode the moment will give them a strategy for selecting a part of their writing and adding in those details to really let the reader see and experience that moment in time. They do not have to think up a new scenario, but rather embellish something they already have started in their writing.
The implication for the classroom is that these techniques (snapshot, thoughtshot, and explode the moment) can be taught at any grade level. Lane feels they need to be taught in isolation initially. I would model and practice these skills with my small writing groups. Conferencing during Writer’s workshop might be one place where conversations about using these techniques might occur.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Response to Non-Magical Thinking by Ganet Emig
Response to Ganet Emig’s article
July 13, 2010
The concept of “Magical Thinking” is so apparent in many schools today. Perhaps it there because of a desperate need by educators to know that they are teaching students what they need to pass the state assessments. When I step back and think for a moment, it does seem a bit simplistic to expect that students learn what teachers teach and all will be well. I personally have always felt a tremendous responsibility to try to decide what students need. As Emig point out, in her explanation of “Non-Magical” thinking, we need to provide experiences from which children can choose what they need to know. The implication for the classroom is that I need to provide a safe, structured learning environment where students can have private time to explore. There needs to be a variety of materials such as stories told, books and playthings. Adults or older peers need to encourage make-believe activities during play. In my mind, there needs to be a special effort to provide a play time as part of the schedule each day. It has been said that play is a child’s work and yet so often due to time constraints, it is not happening in our classrooms. When I taught Kindergarten some of the best language development opportunities were happening at the sand table or the play kitchen. These experiences, which can enrich language development among other things. Most children want to draw or write to share experiences. When spoken language is in place, and they are in a language rich environment, this can happen.
I could make a connection with Chukovsy’s theory that between the ages of two and five children are linguistic geniuses. One year my Kindergarten students came to school mostly speaking other languages. Their families were from all over the world and although their parents spoke English, they were encouraged to speak the family’s native language as their first language. They were immersed in English when they came to Kindergarten. What I discovered was that by Christmas they were doing very well with speaking English. They were one of the noisiest classes I have ever taught. The play kitchen and doll house were favorites during play time because they were engaged in what they needed-talking! This group did very well in advancing in their literacy skills in English that year. I was humbled when I watched them. Oh, if I could only grasp a second language as easily!
Another implication for the classroom is that there should be the opportunity to practice writing in a more “playful” way. A classroom writing center where paper, markers, crayons and word banks are there to use privately has been an effective way to address this need. My Kindergarteners and first grade students loved our writing center and frequently chose to use it.
Currently my district uses a published writing curriculum. It offers some good graphic organizers to help students learn organization. These templates for writing have been helpful in writing with my Special Education students. They do feel some success in being able to use the structure to get their ideas down on paper. I do feel that often voice is a trait that is missing when writing is taught this way. As a teacher I have the responsibility to provide a variety of experiences, so I try to use many tools when we write.
Lastly, I need to remember that writers work as frequently from wholes to parts as from parts to wholes.
July 13, 2010
The concept of “Magical Thinking” is so apparent in many schools today. Perhaps it there because of a desperate need by educators to know that they are teaching students what they need to pass the state assessments. When I step back and think for a moment, it does seem a bit simplistic to expect that students learn what teachers teach and all will be well. I personally have always felt a tremendous responsibility to try to decide what students need. As Emig point out, in her explanation of “Non-Magical” thinking, we need to provide experiences from which children can choose what they need to know. The implication for the classroom is that I need to provide a safe, structured learning environment where students can have private time to explore. There needs to be a variety of materials such as stories told, books and playthings. Adults or older peers need to encourage make-believe activities during play. In my mind, there needs to be a special effort to provide a play time as part of the schedule each day. It has been said that play is a child’s work and yet so often due to time constraints, it is not happening in our classrooms. When I taught Kindergarten some of the best language development opportunities were happening at the sand table or the play kitchen. These experiences, which can enrich language development among other things. Most children want to draw or write to share experiences. When spoken language is in place, and they are in a language rich environment, this can happen.
I could make a connection with Chukovsy’s theory that between the ages of two and five children are linguistic geniuses. One year my Kindergarten students came to school mostly speaking other languages. Their families were from all over the world and although their parents spoke English, they were encouraged to speak the family’s native language as their first language. They were immersed in English when they came to Kindergarten. What I discovered was that by Christmas they were doing very well with speaking English. They were one of the noisiest classes I have ever taught. The play kitchen and doll house were favorites during play time because they were engaged in what they needed-talking! This group did very well in advancing in their literacy skills in English that year. I was humbled when I watched them. Oh, if I could only grasp a second language as easily!
Another implication for the classroom is that there should be the opportunity to practice writing in a more “playful” way. A classroom writing center where paper, markers, crayons and word banks are there to use privately has been an effective way to address this need. My Kindergarteners and first grade students loved our writing center and frequently chose to use it.
Currently my district uses a published writing curriculum. It offers some good graphic organizers to help students learn organization. These templates for writing have been helpful in writing with my Special Education students. They do feel some success in being able to use the structure to get their ideas down on paper. I do feel that often voice is a trait that is missing when writing is taught this way. As a teacher I have the responsibility to provide a variety of experiences, so I try to use many tools when we write.
Lastly, I need to remember that writers work as frequently from wholes to parts as from parts to wholes.
Monday, July 12, 2010
Book of Choice: Bird by Bird/first third
Book of Choice: Bird by Bird by Anne Lamontt
Three Big Ideas
Bird by Bird offers some down to earth advice applicable to both my personal writing and writing in the classroom. In Part One: “Writing-Short Assignments” Anne Lamontt offers some good advice on keeping it small. She tells of her one inch picture frame which sits on her desk as a reminder to think small. She says this reminds her that she only has to “write as much as I can see through a one inch picture frame”. Thinking in terms of a very “small” place to write is more manageable than a world of choices. My students that I work with in the Resource Room context usually have a huge story to tell and they tend to do it with few details and with just a few sentences. If I choose to have them narrow their focus and write with a closer lens, I know they can be encouraged to include more details. In my own personal writing, the closer lens will give me the opportunity to focus on detail as well.
In “Shitty First Drafts”, she shares something a friend shared with her. The first draft is the down draft—get the writing down on paper. The second draft is the up draft—fix it up—say it more accurately. The third draft is the dental draft—check every tooth and inspect them well. The implications for my classroom would be that my students need to see the writing process modeled. I need to “talk” though the process as it is modeled. They also need to have opportunities to revise their work to become good writers. The implication for my own personal writing is that I shouldn’t get discouraged if it doesn’t go well the first or second writing. There may be some part of a writing that I can revise and expand into a new writing. The important thing is that I am writing.
The section on perfectionism offered some good advice. I agree that perfectionism could ruin your writing. Some of my students just can’t get a start on their writing. They will just sit and think. They are their own worst enemy. Just getting the words on paper is what they need to focus on. As Ann Lamontt shares, “Clutter is wonderfully fertile ground—you can discover new treasures under all those piles”. One change I need to make in the writing program in my class is that I need to implement student portfolios. I currently keep folders of student work samples, but they are pieces I select and keep. I want the students to have access to their own portfolios so they can see their own growth and revisit their work. It would also work well to have them take a section of a previous writing and expand it as a future assignment. I also need to keep a portfolio myself for the same purposes.
The first third of Anne Lamontts book has offered a humorous look at the writing process. I love her stories about her family and her writing experiences. I look forward to hearing the rest of her story.
Three Big Ideas
Bird by Bird offers some down to earth advice applicable to both my personal writing and writing in the classroom. In Part One: “Writing-Short Assignments” Anne Lamontt offers some good advice on keeping it small. She tells of her one inch picture frame which sits on her desk as a reminder to think small. She says this reminds her that she only has to “write as much as I can see through a one inch picture frame”. Thinking in terms of a very “small” place to write is more manageable than a world of choices. My students that I work with in the Resource Room context usually have a huge story to tell and they tend to do it with few details and with just a few sentences. If I choose to have them narrow their focus and write with a closer lens, I know they can be encouraged to include more details. In my own personal writing, the closer lens will give me the opportunity to focus on detail as well.
In “Shitty First Drafts”, she shares something a friend shared with her. The first draft is the down draft—get the writing down on paper. The second draft is the up draft—fix it up—say it more accurately. The third draft is the dental draft—check every tooth and inspect them well. The implications for my classroom would be that my students need to see the writing process modeled. I need to “talk” though the process as it is modeled. They also need to have opportunities to revise their work to become good writers. The implication for my own personal writing is that I shouldn’t get discouraged if it doesn’t go well the first or second writing. There may be some part of a writing that I can revise and expand into a new writing. The important thing is that I am writing.
The section on perfectionism offered some good advice. I agree that perfectionism could ruin your writing. Some of my students just can’t get a start on their writing. They will just sit and think. They are their own worst enemy. Just getting the words on paper is what they need to focus on. As Ann Lamontt shares, “Clutter is wonderfully fertile ground—you can discover new treasures under all those piles”. One change I need to make in the writing program in my class is that I need to implement student portfolios. I currently keep folders of student work samples, but they are pieces I select and keep. I want the students to have access to their own portfolios so they can see their own growth and revisit their work. It would also work well to have them take a section of a previous writing and expand it as a future assignment. I also need to keep a portfolio myself for the same purposes.
The first third of Anne Lamontts book has offered a humorous look at the writing process. I love her stories about her family and her writing experiences. I look forward to hearing the rest of her story.
I am from...
I am from
I am from glass milk bottles,
From Nestles Flavor Sticks and five cent candy bars.
I am from the view of Mt. Rainier in the picture window
At 7443 South 128th Street,
with hardwood floors my father carefully laid
and covered with wall -to-wall carpet.
I am from the blueberry bushes transplanted from their Kent orchard home,
the cedar tree carefully smuggled in a paper sack as a seedling from Mt. Rainier National Park
whose long gone limbs I remember
as if they were my own.
I’m from summer vacations at the Frank L. Motel in Grayland and busy bees,
from Al and Rita,
I’m from cleaning on Saturdays and visiting grandparents after church on Sundays,
and from playing Bean Bag Toss at picnics.
I’m from “You love to tease and he loves to fight!” and “No!”,
and Moon River.
I’m from chicken barbecued on the rotisserie until crispy done.
I’m from Seattle and Germany
Shoo Fly Pie and clam fritters made from just dug razor clams,
From my grandfather Poppy’s prank of teaching me to plant lollipop sticks
and waking up to find new ones grown.
I’m from my grandmother’s scar on her neck
from where her goiter was removed.
I treasure my mother’s white satin wedding dress with the long train, dad’s army uniform, and my yellow little chickadee recital costume.
Digging deeper there is an afghan of colorful squares crocheted by my grandmother, Mimi, and a wedding quilt, hand stitched and filled with wool from the neighbor’s sheep.
There are baby dresses of the type that needed to be ironed and wool shorts with suspenders,
all tucked in the warm wood cedar chest in the basement bedroom and in my heart.
By Audrey White
July 11, 2010
I am from glass milk bottles,
From Nestles Flavor Sticks and five cent candy bars.
I am from the view of Mt. Rainier in the picture window
At 7443 South 128th Street,
with hardwood floors my father carefully laid
and covered with wall -to-wall carpet.
I am from the blueberry bushes transplanted from their Kent orchard home,
the cedar tree carefully smuggled in a paper sack as a seedling from Mt. Rainier National Park
whose long gone limbs I remember
as if they were my own.
I’m from summer vacations at the Frank L. Motel in Grayland and busy bees,
from Al and Rita,
I’m from cleaning on Saturdays and visiting grandparents after church on Sundays,
and from playing Bean Bag Toss at picnics.
I’m from “You love to tease and he loves to fight!” and “No!”,
and Moon River.
I’m from chicken barbecued on the rotisserie until crispy done.
I’m from Seattle and Germany
Shoo Fly Pie and clam fritters made from just dug razor clams,
From my grandfather Poppy’s prank of teaching me to plant lollipop sticks
and waking up to find new ones grown.
I’m from my grandmother’s scar on her neck
from where her goiter was removed.
I treasure my mother’s white satin wedding dress with the long train, dad’s army uniform, and my yellow little chickadee recital costume.
Digging deeper there is an afghan of colorful squares crocheted by my grandmother, Mimi, and a wedding quilt, hand stitched and filled with wool from the neighbor’s sheep.
There are baby dresses of the type that needed to be ironed and wool shorts with suspenders,
all tucked in the warm wood cedar chest in the basement bedroom and in my heart.
By Audrey White
July 11, 2010
Friday, July 9, 2010
Book Choice-Three Big Ideas
Audrey White
July 9, 2010
Reflection on Bird by Bird
First Third: Determine 3 Big Ideas
Identify for each: a comment, elaboration, quote, or example
Short Assignments: Starting small.
Lamott writes of the importance of writing something short, rather than a novel or play.
Quote: “I go back to trying to breathe slowly and calmly, and I finally notice the one-inch picture frame that I put on my desk to remind me of short assignments”. P17
Shitty First Drafts: You have to start somewhere
Here she discusses how to get down to business and start writing.
Quote: “Almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts. You need to start somewhere.”p23
Idea of first draft=the down draft (get it down on paper), the second draft=the up draft (you fix it up), and the third draft=the dental draft (you check every tooth to see if it is loose, or cramped, decayed, etc).
Perfectionism: It will ruin your writing.
You can discover “treasures” in your writing that will take you down another path if you just let them.
Quote: “Clutter is wonderfully fertile ground-you can still discover new teasures under all those piles, clean things up, edit things out, fix things, get a grip.
July 9, 2010
Reflection on Bird by Bird
First Third: Determine 3 Big Ideas
Identify for each: a comment, elaboration, quote, or example
Short Assignments: Starting small.
Lamott writes of the importance of writing something short, rather than a novel or play.
Quote: “I go back to trying to breathe slowly and calmly, and I finally notice the one-inch picture frame that I put on my desk to remind me of short assignments”. P17
Shitty First Drafts: You have to start somewhere
Here she discusses how to get down to business and start writing.
Quote: “Almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts. You need to start somewhere.”p23
Idea of first draft=the down draft (get it down on paper), the second draft=the up draft (you fix it up), and the third draft=the dental draft (you check every tooth to see if it is loose, or cramped, decayed, etc).
Perfectionism: It will ruin your writing.
You can discover “treasures” in your writing that will take you down another path if you just let them.
Quote: “Clutter is wonderfully fertile ground-you can still discover new teasures under all those piles, clean things up, edit things out, fix things, get a grip.
Britton Reflection
July 9, 2010
As Britton notes, young children soon realize that writing is speech written down. This is what their writing looks like. This is also true of many of the students I work with who are chronologically older, but just emerging in their writing skills. The classroom implications of Britton's theories for me are that I need to design lessons that help my students understand the concept of purpose and audience in their writing. First,they need to experience transactional, expressive and poetic writing by listening to and reading rich examples of these types of writing. They also need to discuss, think about,and contrast & compare the examples in a small group setting with the teacher scaffolding the learning.
In terms of actual writing activites I think offering opportunites to write letters to experience expressive writing, poems for poetic writing and a "news" release about something happening at their school for transactional writng(perhaps what their class is studying in science), would be good places to start. The important thing is that they need to begin having a sense of what the purpose of the writing is and who it is written for.
As Britton notes, young children soon realize that writing is speech written down. This is what their writing looks like. This is also true of many of the students I work with who are chronologically older, but just emerging in their writing skills. The classroom implications of Britton's theories for me are that I need to design lessons that help my students understand the concept of purpose and audience in their writing. First,they need to experience transactional, expressive and poetic writing by listening to and reading rich examples of these types of writing. They also need to discuss, think about,and contrast & compare the examples in a small group setting with the teacher scaffolding the learning.
In terms of actual writing activites I think offering opportunites to write letters to experience expressive writing, poems for poetic writing and a "news" release about something happening at their school for transactional writng(perhaps what their class is studying in science), would be good places to start. The important thing is that they need to begin having a sense of what the purpose of the writing is and who it is written for.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Reader Response: I, You, and It-Moffett
Moffett’s I, You, It:
July 8, 2010
Reader Response
When I read Moffett’s article, “I, You, It”, I first focused on what a complex set of skills writers must have. In addition to all the mechanics of writing, Moffett tells us writers need to be able to summarize experiences, classify information to include or exclude it in their writing, and rename moments so that it becomes clear how they are alike or different. These are all very sophisticated and higher level thinking skills. Since I work only with struggling writers, this made me cringe. I was able to recover when he assures us that “Proper writing assignments can lead the students to good generalizations”. My job is to discover what those “proper writing assignments“ will be for my students each year. I appreciate his comment that a series of writing assignments is a series of thinking assignments. The implication for my classroom is that I need to model how good writers “think” through some group writing experiences and build in more time to conference with my students regarding their writing so that I can asses their thinking and check for understanding.
Another aspect of this article that called out to me was when he commented that too much writing about reading “freezes” the student at one end of the abstractive spectrum. This last year I felt somewhat successful in having an intermediate group of struggling writers respond to the literature they were reading and using that to work on the skills they needed. Although I do not in Moffett’s words believe this experience “impoverished” their education, it did not allow them to develop much voice in their writing. I will be careful to include more variety in their writing assignments next year.
July 8, 2010
Reader Response
When I read Moffett’s article, “I, You, It”, I first focused on what a complex set of skills writers must have. In addition to all the mechanics of writing, Moffett tells us writers need to be able to summarize experiences, classify information to include or exclude it in their writing, and rename moments so that it becomes clear how they are alike or different. These are all very sophisticated and higher level thinking skills. Since I work only with struggling writers, this made me cringe. I was able to recover when he assures us that “Proper writing assignments can lead the students to good generalizations”. My job is to discover what those “proper writing assignments“ will be for my students each year. I appreciate his comment that a series of writing assignments is a series of thinking assignments. The implication for my classroom is that I need to model how good writers “think” through some group writing experiences and build in more time to conference with my students regarding their writing so that I can asses their thinking and check for understanding.
Another aspect of this article that called out to me was when he commented that too much writing about reading “freezes” the student at one end of the abstractive spectrum. This last year I felt somewhat successful in having an intermediate group of struggling writers respond to the literature they were reading and using that to work on the skills they needed. Although I do not in Moffett’s words believe this experience “impoverished” their education, it did not allow them to develop much voice in their writing. I will be careful to include more variety in their writing assignments next year.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)