Chapter 12

Chapter 12 discusses ways to make every minute count in the classroom when it comes to writing instruction. I loved the idea of taking daily oral language exercises and re-writing them to incorporate students’ names, lives, and interests, making it more meaningful. I do daily oral language in my classroom at the very beginning to review grammar rules. I feel that my students are stronger when it comes to the conventions of their writing. We only spend 2 minutes on it at the very beginning of class. Then we jump straight into our writing focus of the day.

            I need to remember to spend less time on skill teaching and more time just letting the students write for extended periods of time. However, once I see students needing work on a certain skill, I can pull them and do a little mini-lesson on that skill with them. Another way to make writing meaningful is to have students write to real audiences, in other words, make their writing experiences authentic. When students are writing for a real purpose and audience they are much more apt to try new things and go out of their comfort zones.

The picture below illustrates a reminder to have students do authentic writing by writing for a real audience.

Chapter 11

            Chapter 11 focuses on the best practice and research findings when it comes to teaching writing. The research states that students must have writing time daily. I connected this to what I read in chapter 10. Students also need to connect their reading to their writing. I think a great way to do this would be to have students journal about what they read. I have tried doing this as part of DEAR time, but it has never lifted off the ground the way I would like it to. I think that by allowing students time to share their writing with peers, they will be more willing to journal about what they are reading.

            The research also says that students need to have some choice when it comes to their writing. I am a true believer in choice. Students are so much more motivated to work hard and try their best when they have a sense of ownership over their work. I start students off with an general area that their writing must focus on, but then after that, they get to choose their specific topic. We are getting ready to start our persuasive writing unit and students will be writing advertisements for ridiculously expensive products out of the Nieman Marcus Christmas catalog. The students are so excited to select their products next week!

I have included a picture of one of the items students may be selling! It's a Customized Cupcake Car for the bargain price of $25,000!

Chapter 10

Chapter 10 focuses on the use of assessments and how to make them meaningful. The chapter suggests talking in your building about your writing assessment scores and deciding as a building and grade level how students should be progressing as writers. I cannot remember the last time I have talked to my grade level team about student development in writing and I don’t remember having done this as a staff either. So much of our time, as I’m sure many other building’s too, is spent discussing students’ progress in reading and math. Even though we are assessed in writing, there is never as big a push in preparation as there is before the reading and math assessments.

            Also, as I was reading, I found myself making several connections between reading and writing instruction when it came to writing fluently. Writing fluently, is very similar to reading fluently. The chapter suggests giving students 20-30 minutes each day to have silent-sustained writing time. I immediately connected this to silent-sustained reading time or DEAR time as we call it in my classroom. I never give the students’ that much time to write silently because we have so much to get through in our day. Yet the students do have 30 minutes of DEAR time each day. We have been talking a lot about building stamina when it comes to reading at my school, and now I think it’s time to transfer that focus to building stamina when it comes to writing. I believe that students would benefit from this in both reading and writing.

Below is a picture of writing journal to remind me to give students silent-sustained writing time each day.

Chapter 9

Chapter 9 discusses how to conference effectively with students and the various formats of doing so. One of the best ideas I got from this chapter was the idea of roving conferences. So often during writer’s workshop, I feel like I’m cornered at my desk helping students that come up to me with concerns in their writing. This greatly limits the number of students I am able to interact with during workshop time. I love the idea of roving conferences because this would allow me to interact with all 24 students during the writing time. I especially liked the anecdotal notes chart that was included in the text. This is a great resource to organize and determine which students are on what step, what they are needing more guidance with, and what their strengths are. I can use this information to form small group mini-lessons, individual mini-lessons, and even a whole group mini-lesson if needed. Roving conferences also allow me to take a peek at everyone’s writing and provide them with specific feedback.

I also liked the idea of at the end of a one-on-one conference getting input from the writer as to what their goals are for the piece and what they would like to see happen with it. So often, I feel like I’m on autopilot when I’m conferencing, since I am trying to get through so many in a timely fashion. I need to slow down and listen to the students and gain more input from them.

Chapter 8

Chapter 8 discusses how to organize and set up daily writing through writer’s workshop. In the chapter, it says, “Do what you can to have a peaceful writing time.” In order to establish a peaceful and productive writing zone in my classroom, we dim the lights and I turn on classical music that plays through the speakers in my room. I have a conferencing area in my room so that way students can go to this area to discuss in pairs, this way other students who are writing are not distracted by conversations. I spend a long time at the beginning of the year modeling what writer’s workshop looks and sounds like. I even have the students act out the incorrect and correct ways it should look. They love doing this!

As I was reading this chapter, I was also reminded of a writing workshop field trip we did at Kaleidoscope this fall with our fifth graders. During this, they had an author speak to the kids about his process in writing. He gave the kids a great motto to use when writing, “always keep your pencils moving!” He said that when you get stumped, don’t set down your pencil, instead, draw swirls on the side of your paper to help keep your brain active. I thought this was a great message to give the kids. This is now one of our guidelines during writer’s workshop!

Chapter 7

Chapter 7 discusses the best approach to teaching writing through a whole- to part- to whole concept. As I was reading this, I couldn’t help but thinking how much of my writing instruction at the beginning of the year is isolated skills work. After reading, this chapter, I now see that I need to set a purpose for writing, let the students have the freedom to write freely. Then as students are writing, I can look for what they are needing work on and do a small mini-lesson on that. Mini-lessons can be one-on-one or in small groups, they don’t have to involve the entire class.

I made a text to text connection when reading the part about teacher’s modeling aloud their “voice” in writing to students. This reminded me of the chapter we read on shared writing. I think that shared writing would be a perfect way to practice and show the power of voice in our writing. I also liked the idea of modeling the continual revising pattern aloud with students. I spend so much time modeling peer conferencing, yet I need to focus more on the writer continually revising their writing as they are working on it.

Chapter 6

Chapter 6 focuses on the reading and writing connection. The better students are a reading, the better they will be in writing. Students need to have meaningful interactions with texts and need to be given purposeful ways to respond to it. A quality writing response is one in which students have to re-examine what they have read. This reminded me of a writing project I just had the 5^th grade do shortly after winter break. We have been focusing a lot on identifying cause and effect while reading, so I read “If You Give a Moose a Muffin” to the class. Then I had them go back through the text and identify the causes and effects and think about how they were related. Students quickly realized that it loops. The effect leads right in to the next cause, and so on. I took this activity to the next level by incorporating writing with it. Students then wrote their own versions of an “If You” story. They had to identify and map out all of the causes and effects, along with the narrative elements that would be present. I was so excited to see the enjoyment and enthusiasm across the room as we worked on writing and publishing these stories. I felt like students got so much out of this writing experience and that this project really capitalized on the reading and writing connection.

Below is a photo of one of my students “If You” books, titled "If You Give a Monkey Some Pancakes."

Chapter 5

Chapter 5 discusses the importance and value of shared writing. Shared writing provides opportunities for students to feel enjoyment and comfort when it comes to writing. The students who have the greatest benefit from shared writing are English Language Learners, Special Education students, and Low-Income students. As I was reading about Shared Writing, I kept asking myself, “Why don’t I do this?” It seems that we spent so much time learning how to teach reading in college, that we didn’t get many opportunities to focus on the teaching of writing. I’m very familiar with shared reading and do this daily. However, I do not do shared writing.

As I read about shared writing, I was generating some ideas of when I could use this in class. The first idea I had was to use it when teaching students about the RAFT projects we do so often. I give the students an audience, format, reason, and strong verb along with a prompt that they must respond to. What a great way to teach students this process through shared writing! Another time I can use shared writing is when we get ready to write our Secret Knowledge of Grown-ups class book that focuses on the trait of ideas. Each student is given a page and they must create a rule and explain the “true” meaning of the rule. I can also use shared writing to teach persuasive writing. The final project in this unit is to have students select a ridiculously expensive product that they are in charge of writing a persuasive ad for. However, I love the idea of introducing students to the project by having each class write a persuasive ad together through shared writing. The picture below shows a page out of this year's "Secret Knowledge of Grown-ups" class book.

Chapter 4

Chapter 4 focused on high expectations and raising the bar for students when it comes to writing. I was able to relate to the part that stated minority students often have lower expectations. I teach in a Title I and ELL building. About half of my class is made up of minority students. Yet, I have very high expectations for my students. They always rise to meet those expectations. Then, I take the bar and raise it even higher. I remember as a student, I always learned so much more in classes where the teacher had high expectations and would continuously challenge us. It felt so good at the end of projects or challenges to know that I made it through successfully. This really builds up your confidence level and self-esteem. I follow this same philosophy with my own students. We work our tails off each and every day. They are constantly being challenged, and at the end of the day, they can say, “wow! I made it. I can do this!” Just because they are considered minority students, does not mean they cannot be successful and work hard. They might have to work much harder than other students, but they can succeed.

The text also said that students need to know failure is not an option. I make it very clear to my students that they will meet my expectations. It might take some longer than others, but eventually they will all meet them. Certainly, some students writing assignments may look different from other students’, but they are all required to complete each writing project and activity.

Below is a photo that reminded my of the power of high expectations and challenges- it is from my ESU graduation in May 2009.

Chapter 3 Response

            After reading chapter 2 I decided I wanted to have some type of writing sharing session the last five minutes of each class. During chapter 3 I got the idea to call it “Snapshot Writing” as it was referred to in the book. The chapter also stated that “good writers are good readers.” I connected this statement to the DEAR journals I have my students write in after they read each day. I love seeing their writing about books because they share their thoughts and it is a place where the child and I can easily write back and forth. It’s like I’m reading 23 books at once!

            The chapter also suggests having students read aloud their writing in the peer conferencing stage. This is a requirement in the writer’s workshop in my classroom. Students have to read aloud their writing to me and two other students, which we refer to as the “audience.” The audience then has to ask the “author” at least two interview questions about their piece. I find that students are very engaged when they are conferencing and interviewing their peers. The interview process also gives authors ideas of more details they need to add to their writing.

Chapter 2 Response

As I was reading the 2^nd chapter, the phrase “celebrate risk taking” was a new idea to me. With my writing lessons being only 30 minutes each day, I often feel so rushed. We don’t get a lot of time to have discussions about our writing. I like the idea of have a 5 minute debriefing at the end of each time to share out what risks we took and what things we are going to try for the next day. My students have DEAR journals that they make entries in each day and then we have a “walk and talk” session afterwards to spark interest in other students about the books we are reading. The students really love having this chat time. I am thinking I could do something similar with writing.

            The chapter also mentioned about writing with a real purpose and to a real audience. I love this idea! It would be taking the RAFTS activity to the next step! Instead of it being fictional, students would be writing for a genuine purpose. I am thinking maybe students could write to state representatives about education funding and how their lives are currently being affected by the budget cuts. Talk about a passionate letter!

Chapter 1 Response

As I was reading Chapter 1 from Writing Essentials by Regie Routman, I was able to connect it to my 5^th grade classroom. This is our first year of departmentalization in 5^th grade and I am teaching writing to the grade level. Last year I was really overwhelmed when it came to teaching writing and didn’t feel like I was very effective. I really enjoy departmentalization because it is allowing me to become more specialized in writing.

I have been using a lot of children’s literature to teach writing. The chapter discussed working with an expert teacher. I would consider authors expert writers. The students love reading the children’s books and then for their independent practice they complete some type of extension activity over the trait we studied. I have also done class books this year. I connected this to the phrase “celebrate the writing” because students absolutely love sharing their writing with their peers and take great pride in it. I love hearing my students come in excited and motivated asking, “what book are we reading today?” or “are we going to share our writing today?” By using children’s literature to teach writing, I am able to think aloud from the perspective of the author.

I also made a connection when reading that students need a purpose and audience for writing. This immediately made me think of an activity called “RAFTS.” We do this often in writing, the R stands for role, the A stands for audience, the F stands for format, the T stands for topic, and the S stands for strong verb. A few examples that I have done with RAFTS are “Write a letter to the principal about whether or not you want student uniforms” and “You are a teddy bear who has been mistreated by your 5 year old owner and are writing a letter of complaint.” I absolutely love reading their RAFTS pieces. It is hilarious to hear their voices and read the creative statements they come up with to express their opinions.