I want the secret pill to allow me to do what Regie says on p. 287, "Have more energy for teaching and advocacy is to have a life outside of school." It seems that many of us spend many hours at school and home focused on school. Do our students benefit from this? I think to some extent they do.
I do know that my family suffers because I want to do all that I can to be the best teacher for my students and I can't seem to do all that I need to do during the school hours. Therefore, I must spend time out of school on school work. Instead of it getting easier, it becomes more challenging for me each year.
I like the chart on p. 282 (Secrets of Good Writers). This would be a great chart for my classroom and maybe even have the students come up with their own list.
Another issue that I'm going to revisit in my own classroom is on the topic of DOL. I have been using this, but Regie makes a good point that it would be more meaningful if we were to work with the students' sentences.
What a great book! I am so glad that I've read it and am amazed at all the tips, research, ideas, etc. that was in it. By reading it and having conversations about writing, it has made me really think about what is taking place in my room now and what I want to take place in the future. I am already feeling much better about teaching writing!
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Chp. 11 Build on Best Practice and Research
Highlights from this chapter for me:
*Once again, Regie mentions that the schools that do well with their assessment scores, are having their students write every day.
*Reading and writing go hand-in-hand.
*"Effective teachers are constantly reevaluating and rethinking their practices..." p. 267
* We need to look at best practices to help us be the best teachers that we can be.
*I really believe in what the subtitle says on p. 270, "You achieve what you believe." This goes for us as teachers, as well as for our students.
*The lists on p. 272-273 will be a great resource if we decide to focus on writing as a grade level and/or for our Building Action Plan.
*"It is essential that we teachers advocate strongly that all our students participate in read-alouds and shared language experiences." p. 277 I had a few students that were out of my room during writing, then as I was reading this book, I decided to take a chance and beg for them to go at another time. It worked, and now they are back in writing class!
*Change happens one person at a time, one school at a time, but when it's lasting change, change brought about by hearts and minds working together as knowledgeable, caring colleagues, it has a very large ripple effect." p. 280 Let the change begin!
*Once again, Regie mentions that the schools that do well with their assessment scores, are having their students write every day.
*Reading and writing go hand-in-hand.
*"Effective teachers are constantly reevaluating and rethinking their practices..." p. 267
* We need to look at best practices to help us be the best teachers that we can be.
*I really believe in what the subtitle says on p. 270, "You achieve what you believe." This goes for us as teachers, as well as for our students.
*The lists on p. 272-273 will be a great resource if we decide to focus on writing as a grade level and/or for our Building Action Plan.
*"It is essential that we teachers advocate strongly that all our students participate in read-alouds and shared language experiences." p. 277 I had a few students that were out of my room during writing, then as I was reading this book, I decided to take a chance and beg for them to go at another time. It worked, and now they are back in writing class!
*Change happens one person at a time, one school at a time, but when it's lasting change, change brought about by hearts and minds working together as knowledgeable, caring colleagues, it has a very large ripple effect." p. 280 Let the change begin!
Chp. 10 Make Assessment Count
"There is lots of writing assessment going on these days, but little of it actually improves the quality of students' writing," p. 238, was such a powerful sentence to start out this chapter, it made me want to read on.
Here are a few things I have highlighted in this chapter that I either agree with or am going to try in my classroom:
p.239-"Looking at students' writing over time, for purposeful communication to real audiences, is far more valid."
"Placing students on a writing continuum has the potential to be helpful or a waster of time, based on teachers' knowledge." We are still trying to decide if the continuum we use is beneficial. I believe that it would be more beneficial to implement the suggestion found on p. 249, which is to take a sample of writing from each student at the beginning and end of every school year, with the same prompt. Wouldn't this be cool to see the growth over time? I believe that the students and teachers would both learn much more from that than we do from the continuum.
p.243-"It is not advisable to apply rubrics to all writing nor to score all writing." Thank you, Regie! This is an area where we have had discussion on as well, so I think we will feel a little more at ease and be able to focus more on creating good writers. Tom Newkirk's wise thought was quite appropriate, "It's not what the writing has- it's what the writing does."
p. 247- I thought the idea on helping the students visualize the reader/rater/scorer was excellent too, especially for those grades that are giving state writing assessments.
p. 250-It is nice to showcase a collection of student work to show improvement over time for individual students, but the idea on this page was to showcase longitudinal displays for Pre-K- 3rd gr. in our bldg. That would be such a fun display to be enjoyed by all.
p.252- Grading was addressed on this page, which stated 80% of student writing shouldn't be graded and that we need to do more with informal assessments and self-evaluations. I do believe that self-evaluation is a wonderful piece of assessing writing, but for some reason I haven't had my 3rd gr. students do this even though I had done this previously when I taught 6th graders. One more thing that I want to try with my class before the end of the year and then continue this at least once every 9 wks. in a school year.
Here are a few things I have highlighted in this chapter that I either agree with or am going to try in my classroom:
p.239-"Looking at students' writing over time, for purposeful communication to real audiences, is far more valid."
"Placing students on a writing continuum has the potential to be helpful or a waster of time, based on teachers' knowledge." We are still trying to decide if the continuum we use is beneficial. I believe that it would be more beneficial to implement the suggestion found on p. 249, which is to take a sample of writing from each student at the beginning and end of every school year, with the same prompt. Wouldn't this be cool to see the growth over time? I believe that the students and teachers would both learn much more from that than we do from the continuum.
p.243-"It is not advisable to apply rubrics to all writing nor to score all writing." Thank you, Regie! This is an area where we have had discussion on as well, so I think we will feel a little more at ease and be able to focus more on creating good writers. Tom Newkirk's wise thought was quite appropriate, "It's not what the writing has- it's what the writing does."
p. 247- I thought the idea on helping the students visualize the reader/rater/scorer was excellent too, especially for those grades that are giving state writing assessments.
p. 250-It is nice to showcase a collection of student work to show improvement over time for individual students, but the idea on this page was to showcase longitudinal displays for Pre-K- 3rd gr. in our bldg. That would be such a fun display to be enjoyed by all.
p.252- Grading was addressed on this page, which stated 80% of student writing shouldn't be graded and that we need to do more with informal assessments and self-evaluations. I do believe that self-evaluation is a wonderful piece of assessing writing, but for some reason I haven't had my 3rd gr. students do this even though I had done this previously when I taught 6th graders. One more thing that I want to try with my class before the end of the year and then continue this at least once every 9 wks. in a school year.
Monday, April 14, 2008
Chp. 9 Conference with Students
Wow! I learned so much from reading this chapter on conferencing and can't wait to try some different ways to conference. I too many times feel the need to have the one-on-one conference with the students, which means that I don't always get to every student that needs that conference on that given day. A couple of types of conferences that I can't wait to try are the Quickshares and Roving Conferences. These are a perfect way to reach every student in a short amount of time!
I also need to remember to model what I expect to happen from a peer conference, as well as remember to do some shared writing on conferencing and editing. Do my students know what I'm looking for when I conference with them? They still have a very difficult time doing their part as a writer to revise and edit their own papers. They say they have, but it is evident that they haven't. I need to remember to have them use a different color when they revise and edit papers so that I can see that they have really attempted to do this before we ever meet or before they meet with a peer. I have had them use colors to identify the ways they have started sentences, but not when they've edited their own paper.
This is a chapter that I will revisit many times to help make my conferences more meaningful.
I also need to remember to model what I expect to happen from a peer conference, as well as remember to do some shared writing on conferencing and editing. Do my students know what I'm looking for when I conference with them? They still have a very difficult time doing their part as a writer to revise and edit their own papers. They say they have, but it is evident that they haven't. I need to remember to have them use a different color when they revise and edit papers so that I can see that they have really attempted to do this before we ever meet or before they meet with a peer. I have had them use colors to identify the ways they have started sentences, but not when they've edited their own paper.
This is a chapter that I will revisit many times to help make my conferences more meaningful.
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Chp. 8 Organize for Daily Writing
I found a lot of great tips and ideas to implement from reading this chapter. I know that I need to continue to model writing in front of the students and have more conversations about writing ( I really like the "turn and talk" idea) in order for their writing to continue to improve. Sometimes I am so anxious to get them writing that it is tempting to forget these important pieces.
I also liked what Regie says on p. 197 about writing short pieces as well as the guideline to publish at least one piece of writing a month. I have recently been doing poetry with my students for National Poetry Month. They have really enjoyed learning the different ways to write poetry. I also know that a few of them have been able to write several poems a day because they can complete one fairly quickly because it is a shorter piece of writing. Even the struggling writers have found success in writing poetry. The list of short writing projects on p. 198 will come in handy when planning .
Another idea that I can't wait to try at the beginning of next school year is the Snapshot writing that was discussed on p. 199-200. What a great way to get to know your new students, as well as an automatic bulletin board for your classroom! I also think this would be fun to do as a staff to put up at the front of the building for the students and their parents to see.
A lot of great ideas to try to get the students engaged in writing in this chp.
I also liked what Regie says on p. 197 about writing short pieces as well as the guideline to publish at least one piece of writing a month. I have recently been doing poetry with my students for National Poetry Month. They have really enjoyed learning the different ways to write poetry. I also know that a few of them have been able to write several poems a day because they can complete one fairly quickly because it is a shorter piece of writing. Even the struggling writers have found success in writing poetry. The list of short writing projects on p. 198 will come in handy when planning .
Another idea that I can't wait to try at the beginning of next school year is the Snapshot writing that was discussed on p. 199-200. What a great way to get to know your new students, as well as an automatic bulletin board for your classroom! I also think this would be fun to do as a staff to put up at the front of the building for the students and their parents to see.
A lot of great ideas to try to get the students engaged in writing in this chp.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Chp. 7 Be Efficient and Integrate Basic Skills
I also agree with Regie when she said, "We've been overfocused on standards, rubrics..." on p. 141. I know that I have always wondered what was the best way to teach writing as well as engaging the students at the same time. The more that I read this book and have been to Tamara's Writing Workshops at ESSDACK this school year, I am feeling more comfortable in the way that I am incorporating writing into my curriculum without just focusing on a specific trait and teaching from whole-part-whole. My students and I are now excited to write everyday!
Voice- "Voiceless writing is like soup with no seasoning," p. 147. I agree with this quote, but I do find voice to be one of the more challenging traits to perfect with students. It does tend to be more evident when a student is writing on a topic that they are really engaged in, and I believe that many of my students are making progress as we continue to write. As a teacher, I need to do a better job of when we are celebrating writing to point out voice when I hear it, as well as pointing it out during our class read aloud and reading groups.
Revising-The pages on revision were helpful, but it is something that is still very difficult for my 3rd graders to do on their own. They seem to be able to revise with me during shared writing, but it hasn't carried over to their own writing as much yet (looks like we need to continue to focus on this during our shared writing time as well as me modeling revising my own writing in front of them). They still believe after they reread it that it is just perfect!
I also liked the list of Proven Strategies for Writers Who Struggle on pgs. 169-172.
Voice- "Voiceless writing is like soup with no seasoning," p. 147. I agree with this quote, but I do find voice to be one of the more challenging traits to perfect with students. It does tend to be more evident when a student is writing on a topic that they are really engaged in, and I believe that many of my students are making progress as we continue to write. As a teacher, I need to do a better job of when we are celebrating writing to point out voice when I hear it, as well as pointing it out during our class read aloud and reading groups.
Revising-The pages on revision were helpful, but it is something that is still very difficult for my 3rd graders to do on their own. They seem to be able to revise with me during shared writing, but it hasn't carried over to their own writing as much yet (looks like we need to continue to focus on this during our shared writing time as well as me modeling revising my own writing in front of them). They still believe after they reread it that it is just perfect!
I also liked the list of Proven Strategies for Writers Who Struggle on pgs. 169-172.
Saturday, March 8, 2008
Chp.6- Reading-Writing Connection
I also agreed with Regie on the importance of the reading and writing connection and how integrating them can result in higher test scores. After reading this chapter, I knew I had to try to get my schedule changed so that my two students that left every day during writing time for intensive reading assistance would no longer have to miss out. I'm proud to announce that my mission is accomplished! Even though we do write at other times in our day, they were missing out on some specific writing skills.
The written response to reading ideas on p. 125 were also helpful. I can see how the students
writing book blurbs and placing them in the room somewhere would benefit both the reader and the writer. I would like to try this. The students really do value their peers opinions.
Oh, I also enjoyed Gary Paulsen's simile, "Read like a wolf eats..." My students would love this since they are always listening for similes as we ready orally.
Another good chapter!
The written response to reading ideas on p. 125 were also helpful. I can see how the students
writing book blurbs and placing them in the room somewhere would benefit both the reader and the writer. I would like to try this. The students really do value their peers opinions.
Oh, I also enjoyed Gary Paulsen's simile, "Read like a wolf eats..." My students would love this since they are always listening for similes as we ready orally.
Another good chapter!
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