What do you think of the author's ideas about the role of teachers? What do you see as your role? Which of the Eleven Elements of Effective Adolescent Writing Instruction from Writing Next does the author address? How does your own role as a writer fit into your classroom practices? How or where do you find the time to do it all? Remember each of you needs to post here this week. Your post may be a part of a conversation with other classmates or a general response to this article.
Wow, Shirl is AMAZING! My hat is off to elementary school teachers. When I read an article like “Raising Writers” which mention topics like, “Shirl has planned to incorporate writing into various content areas by having students write in learning logs—recounting how they solved a math problem, recording what they learned in social studies, or describing outcomes of a science experiment,” I always think, “Wow, that’s right. Those guys have to teach reading and writing AND everything else in the world that these kids have to know to be successful in school and life.” You all are incredible people, and I want to thank you for your hard work every day that makes my job with Juniors and Seniors possible.
ReplyDeleteOf course the author is right, teachers teaching writing are all those roles, simultaneously. In my AP class, I find the role as coach most effective because the class culminates in the College Board-administered test that the kids take in hopes of scroring well enough to earn college credit. This shifts the dynamics of the entire class, as I become the coach, training kids for the big game as it were. This is useful because seniors, who are often checked out, can at times be sluggish at best and oppositional at worst. I then can be seen as the coach who is helping the kids succeed, not the mean ol’ biddy English teacher trying to fail kids and keep them from graduating. Come to think of it, I should cross apply that role to my other classes, as well. As soon as we can cast ourselves in that light, helping kids gain the skills to succeed in whatever it is they finally decide they want to do, and convince the kids that what we have them do in the classroom is relevant, we’ll have it made. I think the system demands us to be “Assessors”, which even kinda sounds like the bad guys in a science fiction movie, more than we would like or even more than we effectively can be.
It seems Shirl uses every one of the 11 instruction strategies except maybe word processing, which isn’t specifically mentioned. I don’t know, when do elementary kids start typing their papers?
I wish Shirl was in this class so we could ask her some specific questions about how she plans her lessons, what she does when things don’t go as planned, and so on. It’s interesting to note that a lot of these techniques, both from Writing Next and this article, apply to all writers, from first grade to doctorate students.
I loved reading this article, Writing Next. The way to article separated all the roles of the teacher was very enlightening. It was so interesting to read about the roles of the teacher in that way. To be honest, I have always struggled while teaching writing, especially in the way of modeling the writing process with my own writing. I often don't think of how my own writing can influence how I teach writing.
ReplyDeleteReading these articles just brings home how much more time I'd like to have to teach writing. I always feel so terribly rushed during writing instruction. I just finished a writing unit where my students had to write a character analysis using text evidence. Once we'd broken down the prompt, brainstormed, done our pre-writing, looked at models, and watched me write a sample introduction, we were almost out of time to do the actual writing of the actual paper. I find, too, that if I really want all of my students writing, I have to plan for mostly in-class time to work on an assignment. Otherwise, I'll get back an unacceptable number of papers, so students had class time to turn in rough drafts. Once the rough drafts were in, I read them and commented on ways to revise. Then they went back to the kids for the revision process. After revising, it was time for editing...at this point in time, there was no time left! Every paper is like this and it is so frustrating. I never get to peer evaluations; I never get to self-evaluations; I never get to goal setting. ARRRGGGHHHH!!! (Forgive me for the all caps--I don't think expressing frustration at myself violates netiquette protocol)
ReplyDeleteHere's what I need. I need two class periods for each of my classes. One to teach reading and one to teach writing. In the Lower Kuskokwim School District, where I taught for 8 years before coming to ASD, we had separate classes for these subjects. It was fabulous. Now that I am in ASD and I am trying to teach both in one class period again, I am recognizing how fantastic it really was. Of course, individual reading and writing classes are a pipe-dream in most districts...so I will keep muddling through. But it is so upsetting to know what you need to be doing and to not have the time you need to do it.
Stacy, what do mean you run out of time? Do you mean you run out of class time in a day, or that your planned unit takes more days than you had planned? What I find with my juniors especially is that spending the amount of time it takes to really perfect writing is often beyond their ever-shortening attention spans. I agree with you that making writing assignments homework often is counterproductive. One thing that has worked for me is having the kids have a parent proofread their work for them and sign it. It gets the parents involved, a bit, and makes the kid slow down some and revisit their work. Sometimes it seems they try a little harder if they think someone other than me--a parent, a peer, etc.-- will be reading their work.
ReplyDeleteWhen I first read Writing Next I thought about all the fun new things I could do with my students. My highest writing group is made of three students that have a hard time imagining what to write. I can give them ideas, but 9 times out of 10 they are at a loss as to what to write due to their disabilities. This has caused me to stick with what works and have based a lot of my writing over the past several years on journal writing. We write for 15-20 minutes. The students set the timer as to how much time they think they need. Topics are always open so they are interested in what they write. I open up my journal and write along with them. We focus on just getting our ideas down on paper.
ReplyDeleteThey are welcome to use the computer but that slows them down so they like paper and pencil. Since my best writers write at a 1st or 2nd grade level, but are 17 to 20 years old, this is a huge challenge for them. Their thoughts are like teenagers but their skills are very low. After the timer rings, they have 2 minutes to read through their fast writes and ask for help with spelling and make sure they can read what they have written.
The next thing I do is require them to read their writing, (unless it is very personal) to the class. After they have finished reading out loud, they need to ask questions about their writing to each student in class and at least one adult. I read my journal last. I feel it is important for them to have a role model as to story telling, sentence structure, organization of thoughts etc. They like it when I share my writing along with theirs. They also know that people can’t be critical about anything they write, but they can say nice things. This helps with their self esteem as writers.
This week I tried some activities I got from Writing Next. I put secret things in a fancy pillow case and gave the case to a student who would in turn verbally describe what they felt. It was fun to watch them grow as describers of things they couldn’t see but could feel. The other students had to write the description of the secret item and then try to draw it. One student was lost in the activity, and just made guesses as to what he thought was in the bag. One girl really liked the activity and I got more writing out of her than I have gotten in one day for the past 5 years. In the end, they all got it and enjoyed the activity.
After that I had them work together and write out how to make a peanut butter sandwich. It is a simple concept but they soon realized it took the 15 sentences to do it right. (They never write that many sentences at a time.) They loved the group activity and had fun making sure punctuation was correct in the end. We wrote it on the board. I started and they took turns finishing it.
When the bell rang, they left happy and asked to repeat the lesson again. I hope in this class that we find lots of new lesson ideas to share with each other. It would be wonderful.
I have to sympathize with Stacey about feeling rushed all the time. As a kindergarten teacher I am always trying to juggle my time. If I spend the 90 minutes required in the reading program, by the time you allow for all the pull out classes I always feel that other subject areas are being shorted. Of course I try to integrate writing throughout the content but in kindergarten much of your time also has to be spent in handwriting instruction as well. I'm sure everyone feels the pressure of trying to fit it all in.
ReplyDeleteYour comments on reading and sharing writing are so important, Linda. Thanks for sharing what you did. I agree with Linda that sharing lessons that work is a good way to respond. First the application is so important and we all want to leave this class with a bag of ideas to draw upon as we structure our writing classes. I think your ideas work not just for ESL but for many levels. My college students write directions for creating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with a partner, and we then compare the diverse approaches to the assignment.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Carla and give a "hats off" salute to elementary teachers - they do so much in one day. My school is very small and I get a strong sense of what is and what is not covered in the lower grades (particularly 4 and 5). I'm inspired to share with that teacher just how much I do appreciate all the time she spends on reading and writing. Since I teach both social studies and language arts, her efforts allow me to hit some content hard. I'm always saying that it takes a village to raise a child, usually to a parent, I’m going to make a point of extending that to include the elementary teachers.
ReplyDeleteSome of the teacher roles listed in “Raising Writers” come very easy to me – I plan, I coach, I assess. After reading, I now know that I need to do more writing and modeling with the students. I’m good at the off-the-top-of-my-head three minute sample that may or may not make sense, but models the skill. This week, my goal is to write more with the students – I’ll do fast writes with the high school. The 8th graders are working on biographies of dead European royals – I might be able to squeeze one out, too. This brings up the reason I don’t write – time – how can I find time to research and write while helping the students?
Another comment of Carla’s that resonated with me was to be the language arts coach, rather than the mean ol’ biddy. As “Because Writing Matters” states repeatedly, we need to teach writing to help students “convey complex ideas and information in a clear, succinct manner”. I’m going to hold on to this idea because I think as we progress through this course, I will have more coaching reasons and phrases to share with my students. I prefer the coaching role, but have been known to remind some students that they must pass language arts.
When I read articles such as “Raising Writers,” I can envision the cute elementary students diligently and happily working on their writing, receiving the “Target” for the day and applying it in their writing. Then there are my students! Actually, I have an active group of middle school writers. They are at various levels, but they seem to enjoy writing and produce some delightful pieces. But my high school students!! Some of them would rather poke their eyes out with a sharp pencil than write anything with it! My biggest hurdle is getting them to realize that writing is a process and not just an assignment to get done and turned in. “When’s it due? How long does it have to be? There, I’m done!” I’ve had success teaching them to use the rubric to assess their own writing. They evaluate themselves before turning it in, and if they score themselves less than proficient in a trait, they need to revise it before I will score it. I’m always looking for ideas to motivate my high school students to write.
ReplyDeleteI was really interested in the Goldberg article. The last section of the article where is talked about not limiting your writing to a specific thing and letting the words come out as they do was very interesting.
ReplyDeleteI have always given my students a specific genre or topic to write on and I don't often allow or enchorage free writing. I don't know if it is because my students need the specific topics or if it is because I am afraid to let them have the independence of choice. My students are very scared writers and unsure of themselves, are their any suggestion to enchorage their independence and help them to become less reserved in their writing?
Coaching, assessing, consulting, planning. The role of a teacher in a classroom is all this and more. My role is frequently that of a consultant for my high school students. For better or worse at this stage of my teaching career, I tend to focus on using writing as a tool to learn content material. Which, actually, was one of the eleven elements that I didn't think the author focused on. Their focus seemed much more directed at the inquiry, process, and modeling roles of instruction.
ReplyDeleteMy own writing doesn't really exist these days, it hasn't since I started teaching and began to feel like I was running out of time for things like journaling or written reflection. As a student, in college and graduate school, I enjoyed writing as an academic communication. What time I have now is used to read books for my own enjoyment, but rarely for writing.
After reading the articles and your posts, I am so eager to start up a new writing group with my students with writing goals on their IEPs. I have two high-schoolers who come over at the end of the day to read with two of my fourth-graders, and I want to have them participate as well. I want to start out by reading the Goldberg page to my students. I am going to give them a prompt (nothing too specific, but something to get them going) and see what happens in ten minutes. I hope that my students with Dyslexia and ADHD will not find this to be too painful! We have a word wall, but I now see the importance of adding to it daily with newly learned words. They need to be encouraged to attempt to spell unknown words as well. (I find that one of my students in particular is such a perfectionist, and yet such a low reader, that he would rather act out than try and “fail” at anything.) They will write for ten minutes. Then I will teach a mini lesson. (Or maybe the other way around.) Then, we will discuss what we have learned. I love Rickards’ idea of having them reflect on their writing, exploring “their efforts, their successes, and ways they can improve their work.” I want to always read something beautiful to kick off the lesson: lyrics of a song, a nursery rhyme, a riddle, a book. (After reading it once to them with their eyes closed, I will project the page with my Elmo, so that they can see the words and pictures. We can then read it again, together.) In this way, I hope to inspire them to write. I will track their progress by counting words, words spelled correctly, and correct word sequences. This data I will graph, to encourage them to improve. When they have a short passage that they are proud of, I will let them type it. They love to use the computers for anything, and they need to know how to use Microsoft Word, of course. This is going to be so much fun!
ReplyDeleteIn addition, I am going to begin tutoring a 4th grader after school for one hour, four days a week, in reading. I believe it would be worthwhile to begin the hour with this kind of quick writing lesson. It may be a good way to unwind after a busy day. Then, we will spend 30-45 minutes on Direct Instruction in reading. The boy I will tutor is very well-behaved, so I think this will be really good practice for me teaching these lessons, which will help me teach my rowdy groups of kiddos with ADHD the next day. Woo-hoo!
The guideline ideas presented in the Goldberg article made me think of how I set the stage for writing in my classroom. I particularly like the idea to lose control, don't think and just let your pencil keep moving across the paper. My thought with this is that those students who always say they have nothing to write about it will free them to find those ideas they have a passion for.
ReplyDeleteRaising Writers: The Teacher's Role
The idea that stood out most for me in this article is the idea on how skills were taught "target practice" and incorporated into mini lessons. Then focusing on the target skill in their writing.
Re: target practice. I like this idea of zeroing in on the particular skill. When I teach the 6 traits, I take them one or two at a time, and have the kids practice writing where I am assessing only those two. It's later in the year that I incorporate all 6.
ReplyDeleteThis year I haven't really focused on the 6 traits. I've been teaching literary elements recently though, and find that really honing in on a skill like creating metaphor is just as useful. The kids know what I'm focusing on, and they are comfortable with zooming in on just that skill themselves. They are not so worried about other writing techniques, and so their metaphors are creative and fresh.
The Goldberg reading really inspired me to re-jump-start my own writing by creating a blog. I do my "10 minute free-write" in a document, and then I can decide what to post. This week didn't yield any results, but I'm hoping during the next week or two, I'll post another short piece. I love reading Goldberg's advice about writing, but it's a huge deal for me to "publish", to put myself out there.
Some of my students are finding the same thing. Now that the classroom blog is up, most of them love reading and commenting on one another's writing. Some, though, would rather not put their pieces out there for others to comment on. Still working on creating that trusting atmosphere where learners are also collaborators.
There lived a young man whose university teachers described him as "both unable and unwilling to learn." He dropped out and joined the army. There he began writing a lot and networked with other young men.
ReplyDeleteAt home he taught children who couldn’t read and write. The man would tell them to write, and they would yell at him and tell him to write himself. The man would start writing, saying out loud what he was putting on paper, and that would get children interested. The children would come over to the table, look over his shoulder, and tell him what to say next, what to change, and eventually surround him and get involved in the writing process.
The man kept writing a lot and one of his letters was read by a young Indian lawyer in South Africa. The lawyer decided to change his life.
Later, a young minority clergyman across the pond read one of the man’s papers. He, too, decided to look for the Kingdom the man described.
Leo Tolstoy gained fame and recognition in his long life, a small part of it being his model of one of the first democratic schools that taught writing process, which I see resurrected in the article.
Natalie Goldberg’s writing practice techniques reminded of a book review that I read years ago. The book was Steinbeck: a Life in Letters by John Steinbeck, edited by his widow, Elaine Steinbeck, and his publisher, Robert Wallsten. The book consists of 850 letters that Steinbeck wrote throughout his life. It was published posthumously. The book has been on my “I’d like to read this list” since I read the review.
ReplyDeleteAs I recall, the reviewed described these letters as Steinbeck’s technique for warming up prior to beginning the day’s writing on his current novel or story. He often would discuss problems with story or character development in his letters. The reviewer quoted a paragraph from a letter that Steinbeck wrote describing the previous day’s work: the famous turtle crossing the road intercalary chapter from The Grapes of Wrath. Steinbeck thought the sequence was moderately good, but it needed more work.
Ms. Goldberg’s writing practice technique is a bit like writing boot camp for my taste, but what she describes is what good writers do. Writing, like physical exercise, needs preparation and focus. Goldbergian writing practice and writing letters to friends are both excellent tools for getting past distractions and temptations to procrastinate. We’ve all heard the writer’s axiom that there’s nothing more terrifying than a blank page. Good writers develop techniques or coping mechanisms to banish being caught up in poet Matthew Arnold’s “...thousand nothings of every hour” in order to start lubricating the mental process of writing.
If the warm up process is properly successful, the writer can slide over to the real work at hand and has a better chance of reaching that wonderful state of being so focussed that happens when one loses the present reality and the words jump from mind to page or screen. Much like an athlete who is “in the zone,” the writer begins producing a quality of work that transcends his or her typical writing.
Incidentally, while verifying the title of Steinbeck: a Life in Letters on amazon.com, I noticed another promising and similar book, Journal of a Novel: the East of Eden Letters. It’s a day-to-day account of creating Steinbeck’s epic novel through the letters that he wrote during his writing process. It also appears to be not only a good read, but a fascinating look into the how a master used the writing process. I’ve added it to my must read list.
Nicole, I find it difficult to inspire prolific writing in children who lived through various traumatic events. Elaborating on a topic about scariest moment of their life, or family inner workings, may require a legal counsel. I usually advise them to disclose to a school counselor or our nurse anything private that would make them embarrassed in front of their peers.
ReplyDeleteThere are many events in life that are “safe” to describe to anyone, usually something that everyone can relate to. For example, instead of sharing with class that their uncle was arrested dealing drugs, it is much easier to share a story about a torn boot on a snow day that felt cold and wet, or any other “wardrobe malfunction” story with a personal twist. By the time I am done describing melting snow in my socks, I see sparks in the eyes, followed by lots of writing in silence, and the endeavor to induce editing of the drenched hosiery saga.
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ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading about how Goldberg encouraged free writing. I often go into my writing with a goal to write about a specific topic and find myself floundering to stay on topic during my blog writing or attempt to keep my focus when "free writing". In that sense, it's not really "free" now, is it? I've found myself getting really excited to get back to the classroom and begin writing notebooks. I like the idea of finishing a notebook a month, and I think that idea would be motivation for my students to continue writing, even when they think they have nothing to write. I've always structured my HSGQE class's writing responses, much like Nicole said she has done in her room. We both work with similar groups of students, only mine being quite a bit older.
ReplyDeleteLena: I understand what you say with regard to students experiencing traumatic events; however, I've found that many of my students find it first-nature to be very open about their experiences. I think the best way to approach these subjects might be to preface the writing process and free-writing experiences with the conversation about confidentiality and disclosure of any information to school counselors and other individuals if there is something that might need further investigation. I had students at my last school that truly found that free-write session about bad experiences very liberating and a means of communicating with their psychs and counselors, an opportunity to communicate without talking.
Lena,
ReplyDeleteI like the story you shared about the Leo Tolstoy. It's amazing how infectious the writing process can be when touched by another writers ability to truly convey passion about a specific topic. My mother was a closet writer, always signing my grandmother's initials and maiden name every time she wrote. She was modest about her ability to relay her thoughts and feelings in writing. She was a beautiful writer and truly an inspiration to me from when I was too little to remember an age. My sisters and I used to fight over the blue "Doogie Houser" screen of Word Perfect, that my mother had on a computer in the xray room of their in-home office. My sister would write when she was upset about my mother sneaking cigarettes after quitting "cold turkey" and it was where I thought I'd become a famous writer some day.
I guess what I'm trying to say is I never really acknowledged where my love for writing came from until beginning this class. I need to thank my mother for this emotional outlet I take advantage of on daily basis. Furthermore, I need to continue writing to relay my love for it so as to motivate another person into writing for love, for life; and not just for an assignment.
-The story about the woman killing her husband with a leg of lamb Lena was thinking of is an old favorite of mine by Roald Dahl "Slaughter of the Lamb" which is truly wonderful and filled with subtle humor.
ReplyDeleteI think so many of us are closet writers. I like the tribute to your mother, Brielle. Inspiration comes from so many places. I think my mother's love of reading, even though she did not write, inspired me to write.
Goldberg style freewriting has worked well for my students of all ages and for me. If we give students some freedom in what they write, we may solve the dilemma Lena mention of not wanting to write about things that pain them. Some will chose to write about the pain while others will avoid that. Some of the most honest writing I have ever received has been painful and yet therapeutic as mentioned already. I like to give them the option during free writing to write about a topic I suggest or to, as I say, let the topic find them. Great discussion!
Brielle and Sondra,
ReplyDeleteAfter teaching editing process and explaining the significance of polishing a piece, I was summoned by a student in foster care to edit their free-write. It was a court statement they've been tasked with, that detailed parental abuse resulting in incarceration, to which I wasn't privy. The principal told me not to read it and send the student to a counselor who handled the file.
Before reading the “First Thoughts” from Natalie Goldberg, I used to compare writing with riding a bike: “The more you ride after you learn how to do it, the better you get at”, I taught my students. However, Goldberg’s analogy of writing practice to running is more accurate: I have to force myself to do it; it is good for me; when it becomes a routine, I will enjoy it immensely... Also, it was very motivating to realize that there are others, besides me, who have to combat laziness to get down with both physical exercise and writing.
ReplyDeleteGoldberg’s encouragement for writers to give themselves permission to write “the worst junk in the world” to free one’s mind and senses is truly inspirational. However, the “filters” start working: my “written junk” will be read by someone else!
Writing “a lot without a destination” is another helpful idea from Natalie Goldberg. It is very seldom that I give myself any time and space to practice anything. I just have to do it! Most of my writing is job-related, for specific purposes and particular audience. Hopefully, this class will give me an opportunity to “stay present”, and keep my “hand moving”.
I have tried to follow the author’s recommendation to commit myself to brief writing sessions. I have noticed a difference when typing on the computer and writing in long hand. It appears that typing takes away the “practice” aspect, forcing the pressure of immediacy of the task to be completed -the words dull and mechanical. Writing in cursive, to me, seems to be more organic, transforming thoughts into sentences on paper.
Reflecting on the “The Teacher’s Role”, to make the writing instruction effective and to keep students’ motivation high, combining all five roles is necessary. I believe it is true for any exemplary content teacher who considers the subject matter and the literacy development to be the integral, interweaving components of essential teaching/learning.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was reading about Shirl’s first grades, I was reminiscing about my 9-12-graders at Robert Service High. Several years ago, I taught three levels of English (Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced), World History, U.S. History, US Government, and Economics to English language learners there. Ten minutes of “free writing”, similar to Goldberg’s “Keep your hand moving”, was a regular routine in all my ESL classes. Now it makes me smile when I think about those students, in history and government classes who “reminded” me, with persistent consistency, that it was “not a writing class”. Free writing , dialogue journals, learning logs, and curriculum- based creative writing helped them improve not just their writing, but speaking and reading skills altogether.
Writing proficiency takes the longest to attain. Even in the native language, improving writing is the life- long endeavor. As the reading suggests, managing all five roles in writing instruction is very challenging and time consuming. With English learners, it takes even more time and patience, and, like with any students, their successes are most rewarding.
"If every time you sat down, you expected something great, writing would always be a great disappointment." - Goldman, Writing as a Practice
ReplyDeleteOf all the readings we had this week, the one that made me think about writing and how it fits into my life (let alone my classroom practices) was Goldberg's "First Thoughts" about getting all of your ideas out. It is so hard for me to just get it out, to not consciously think about what I am writing and automatically sensor it as I go. I found her ideas of writing regularly and training your mind to cut through all the thoughts of resistance so helpful - now all I have to do is just get started! (Perhaps I can take some of the sections I found paticularly motivating and post them near where I write, to help keep me going...)
I found the Raising Writers article a little overwhelming, because it seems as though I will never be able to do all of the things that Debbie and Shirl do. There was a quote at the end though that did give me some hope:
"Excellence in writing instruction takes time and practice, as does excellence in writing. Managing the five roles of the writing teacher is challenging work, but with patience, perseverance, and passion, we can help our students become active, effective writers."
The “Raising Writers” was very informative and helped me to grasp the overall picture of writing instruction. I think those five roles, 1) modeling, 2) coaching, 3) assessing, 4) planning, and 5) consulting, are also essential in teaching other subject areas such as reading and math. Between the mandatory reading and math programs that are mostly scripted and have pace charts, I often feel my role of just being the time-keeper and the moving-on-er. I do need to work on being a better planner. During my week, I have time for a lesson, but not enough for uninterrupted writing and for responding.
ReplyDeleteI've tried to post this comment a few times last week; just when I think it's worked, I check and it's not there... Here it goes again...
ReplyDeleteRaising Writers: The Teacher’s Role
The last few weeks have been overwhelming for me. CahRayZee busy, in the front line trenches with no relief on the way. Teaching can be an intrinsically rewarding profession, but can also be overwhelming in the many roles expected of you. For the most part, I have determined time to be the elusive enemy. I have a 45-minute class period in which to teach reading, writing, and speaking to a multi-graded classroom of bilingual students.
In “Raising Teachers,” the authors point out that “teaching young writers is a complex process that requires teachers to play five important roles: model, coach, assessor, planner, and consultant.” Shirl seems to transition between these roles with much ease and success. Was it always this way for her? How did she get to this point?
I try to have an Author’s Circle at the end of writing assignments, allowing each student to read his/her work from his/her unique perspective as an author. After a student has read, then they choose the direction of our circle of comments in which peers make a positive, specific comment on the piece read. I’ve found most students feel this is the best part of the writing process. Comments at the beginning of the year are only positive, but still need to be specific (no “I like the title”), such as “I specifically liked your choice of words in describing…. “ or “I can relate to your topic as I, too, had a similar experience with…” etc. Later on in the year, after trust has been established within the class, we move on to “constructive” criticism—emphasizing on building the author to a higher level, not tearing he/she down. I am always amazed at how insightful the comments can be.
Early in the year, with the help of a bilingual aide whom I directed to read with the rest of the class, I was able to conference individually with students for the assessment part of the writing. They had to first self-assess with our writing rubric, allowing for opportunity to revise in categories scoring below their goals, then we’d talk about where they placed themselves and why. This lessened my role as judge and allowed them to evaluate their own work and point out areas of strengths and weaknesses. I found this style of conferencing very successful and more effective than taking papers home, writing comments on them---including notes like “see me re: this” only to never hear from that student. Conversations about writing are definitely my preference. As much as I would like to do this for more assignments, I no longer have the support within the classroom to manage conferencing on a regular basis.
Natalie Goldberg’s “Writing Down the Bones” is one I’ll copy and share with one of my classes. Inspired by our Virtual Writings for this class, I’m hoping to have at least one class keep a Writer’s Journal the last quarter of the year.
Responding to previous comments:
ReplyDeleteStacey: “but it is so upsetting to know what you need to be doing and to not have the time you need to do it.” Oh, how can I relate! This often keeps me up at night, with my gears grinding, contemplating all that needs to be done…
Joyce: “But my high school students! Some of them would rather poke their eyes out with a sharp pencil than write anything with it!” Some of my freshmen/sophomores are the same way! The JH love to write, as do the juniors and seniors… but oh, the freshmen and sophomores! I struggle motivating some of them to “dig deep” and respond thought-full-y.
Jenny: re: your classroom blog. I need to set this up for us here. The students seem magnetized to the computers, though not as much as to their cell phones! When we get ours set up, I’ll have to let you know and perhaps we can have school-to-school responses on writing.
Once again, I am way behind in all of this, and am using my Spring Break to catch up. Surely better than sitting on the beach in Mazatlan, right? It's all OK, I couldn't afford the trip anyway. So about writing. I absolutely loved Goldberg's description of writing and her "rules", which were actually more "unrules". BYt eh time kids are in fifth grade, (my grade) they already have opinions about themselves as writing, and what writing should and shouldn't look like and I find more often than not, these opinions and preconceived notions interfere with their development as writiers. I have one very brilliant student who tells me simply, "I'm not good at writing" and truly his writing is not good. BUt its more because he isn't motivated to improve it in any way because he feels the end result will not be magnificent as is all his other work in other areas. I've had many writing conferences with him and he continues to only do the specific things I suggest and makes it obvious he just wants the whole thing to go away. And I must admit that after awhile, a long while, I find myself accepting writing from him that I know is far below what he could be capable of. I want to share Goldberg's rules with him and my entire class.
ReplyDeleteThis year my school , school wide, is focusing on writing in our goals for improvement. We have all taken a six-traits writing class and are attempting to use rubrics and writing assignments that are consistent school wide. We are striving to get two pieces of writing per quarter per student that have gone through the entire writing process and are saved digitally in an electronic portfolio that follows each student through all grade levels. It is an ambitious goal, to be sure, but has started our school towards a consistent and worthwhile plan for writing instruction.
I fins the teacher as planner to be one of the most important roles from Rickard and Hawe's article. If I don't plan for writing time it doesn't happen. Yes, its difficult to "fit it in" with everything else we are expected to do at the elementary level, but its importance can't be underemphasized. After reading this article , I'm thinking of revising my morning routine. I usually have 5 Math problems, 2 sentences to proof and correct, and two Geography questions for the students to answer. I'm thinking that instead of the two sentences I may ask for one paragraph about something they want to share using a target skill for the day such as strong verbs, or dialogue, etc. This would be a great way to incorporate even more writing into theri day beyond the 45 minutes of directed, product oriented writing that we do 4 out of 5 days in the week. Also after reading these articles I am again reminded of the importance of modeling, and sharing my thought processes as I do my own writing with my students.