I am going to continue the pattern set by Emily and Laura! Below are some questions to guide our Week 3 discussion. You do not need to respond to all of the questions, and you are welcome to add any other helpful or interesting information!
-How do you celebrate the end of a unit? -How do you employ writing checklists in a student-friendly way? -What are your favorite mentor texts for narrative writing? -How will you support students in practicing storytelling? -Have you ever had a teaching point yield unexpected results?
To celebrate the end of writing teaching books, Lucy suggests bringing students’ writing to an audience outside of you and their classmates. The example in the book is to invite an older grade (in this case 5th graders) for 10-15 minutes. I like the idea of students rereading their chosen work multiple times to different visitors, but I feel a bit intimidated by the coordination it would require to invite an older grade. Has anyone tried this with a first grade classroom or even another kindergarten classroom?
When using writing checklists, I try to be very heavy on the visual aids. This past year I started taking pictures of my anchor charts and printing them out for students to use as a checklist. This way they have had repeated exposures to the content of the checklist and can be more independent in recognizing their strengths and needs.
My students LOVED Creak! Said the Bed as a mentor text. Any time we returned to the book for a mini-lesson they would want me to read the entire book again.
So many of these beginning narrative writing lessons emphasize practicing storytelling orally before sending students off to write. I like how in session 12, the teacher models telling a story that really happened to the class (a fire drill) and then had the students practice telling the same story. In session 13, the students physically turn the pages of a booklet as they practice touching the page and telling one part of their story. Students can then transition into planning pages across their fingers. I love how these supports in oral storytelling help students feel organized and prepared to put their stories into writing.
I just have to share a story about some confusion that arose when I used the teaching point from session 14 that writers try to write stories in a way that the readers feel right there with them. Some students in my class took this LITERALLY and inserted me into their stories. I was eating spaghetti at one student’s house, taking a nap on the couch with another student’s mom, and playing soccer in a student’s backyard. We had to revisit that mini-lesson!
Kylie, That story is hilarious!! Oh my gosh, I just laughed out loud! One of my students wrote about the mini lessons for several days. I thought he was confused at first, but he was just choosing to write about Writer's Workshop. Helps to remind us that they are so little! Too cute!
I also love the idea of taking pictures of your anchor charts. This is a great tool and strategy for students that take a little longer to get started on writing. Plus, they LOVE to have something special they get to keep with their own supplies. I will definitely do this this year!
Kylie, It's great to hear that your students loved Creak! Said the bed. I did not use that this year, but plan to next year since your students had such a positive reaction to it!
Taking photos of anchor charts as checklists is a great idea! I've never done that, but I bet it is really a great reminder for the students as they are working.
I love the idea of celebrating by students reading their work to other classes, but I agree that it can be very hard to organize. I have brought my class together with other classes in the past, a couple times with my buddy Kindergarten class and this past year with a UPK class. The planning was 100% worth the effort!! My students really enjoyed showing off their work and talked about it for a long time afterwards! It was also a group experience that we could refer back to in discussions and in writing even!
I really try to make all of my anchor charts as visual as possible so that my class is as independent as possible and can refer to the charts all on their own! However, some of the concepts I want to convey are harder than others to turn into pictures and some end up looking pretty wonky! Luckily the students are a part of the chart creation process and are there when I attempt to draw the pictures so they usually understand what they mean!! Kylie, I really like your idea of taking pictures of your anchor charts so every student has actual copies of them!
I think for me the big key to teaching narrative writing is in the beginning being very explicit in what narrative writing includes and the differences between stories and teaching books. On page 90, I like how on the second reading of a story (Creak!), the teacher reads it a little at a time then stops and discusses with the class what the author is doing and directly compares it to teaching books. (“I hear characters talking. We didn’t hear characters talking in our teaching books…”). Another big key for me is filling writing time (as well as times before and after official writing time…all throughout the day!) with chances for students to hear and tell stories….orally peer to peer, listening to a read aloud, retelling an event or a story….anything and everything to make storytelling become natural for students.
Your key teaching points are great. It is important to slow down during the transition of units and focus on the differences in the types of writing. It was difficult for my students to transition out of How To writing this last year. I think part of the reason was because the How To writing unit was quite long. Once they got the hang out of it, most of them flew through the books and wanted to create more and more. When we transitioned out of How To writing, some students kept telling me that How To writing was their writing topic and kept asking (or scavenging) for How To writing paper. I will have to remember to take more time on the transitions this year.
Some kids seem to have mastered the oral storytelling part! :) I have found that they have a hard time writing what they say down on the paper. After they tell me about the topic, and I say "Great, write exactly that on your paper" they look at me like I'm crazy. Planning across their fingers has worked (with repeating the sequence a couple of times before they write) and they are super motivated to write books across 3-4 pages.
Lisa - I also really liked that explicit teaching section on pg 90. I think kids need to hear that! They need to know exactly what to do, what is expected of them, and see it modeled for them. Since this is their first experience with Writer's Workshop, and most of them do not have any sort of background in writing, seeing what they are supposed to do prior to doing it on their own, helps to make them successful.
I really wish I would have had my students read their writing to students in another class this past year. We had little celebrations throughout the year that just consisted of sharing published work and giving special writing pieces as gifts to other students in our class. The students really enjoyed it, but I really want them to have the experience of sharing with others outside of our class this year. Alissa shared writing paper that included simplified student-friendly checklists with me. I would not have thought of this idea on my own and was very thankful! The checklists included things like "does it look right (with a picture of an eye), does it sounds right? (picture of an ear), spaces (finger pointer), popcorn words (popcorn)." The students checked off the boxes that they used in their writing. The writing paper was also DI for the students to work their way up to checking off all the boxes. It was very effecient. When students would read their writing to me, we would have a brief discussion about it and then I would ask them about what areas they checked off and why. They would tell me and then find the evidence in their writing. I would let them highlight or color code their evidence. Students were very honest when they did not have an area checked off. For example, they would tell me "I did not use spaces, so I didn't check it off. That is what I need to work on with my next piece."
I did not use Creak! Said the Bed, but wish I had. I will use it this year. I incorporated our Shared Reading and or read aloud books to help students understand narrative writing. This worked for me. We practice retelling all the time and I think that yields to supporting students in their own story-telling. However, we know that our kids LOVE story-telling whenever they get the chance! Ha, ha!
I love how reflective some of your students were. It is awesome that they were able to explain and show evidence where they did and did not include the elements on the checklist. I like the idea of putting a checklist right on the paper. In the past, I have taped copies to their writing folders.
That is a great idea! Kim, I sort of did the same thing with my writing checklist that I created a couple years ago. The only difference is that I laminated one for each student and let them keep it in their writing folders. I'm happy to share it if anyone would like it. I could also put a small version of it in the corner of a writing page if anyone is interested. Then I could email it out. Let me know if anyone would like this!
I love the idea of using checklists like Lucy talks about. I did not use these this year with my K class, but I did use them when I taught 4th grade special ed. I had checklists to use for first, second, third and fourth grade since the students in that classroom were at varying levels of instruction. I was somewhat surprised as to how motivating they were for these students to use. One of my most reluctant writers actually began to write without as much assistance because we were able to use the checklists as check in points for him. He would take ‘x’ amount of components on the checklist to work on each day. This was beneficial for both him and me because I could see how he was progressing and there was an ‘end point’ for him to get to. I definitely plan to use checklists next year in writing with K students. I like where Lucy says “Remind them that they are looking for something to work on.” (page 83) I think this makes it more of a ‘challenge’ or a ‘game’ for students to find something that they need to edit, instead of having them just think they are done.
As others have already mentioned, I also liked the idea of having students of different grades come into the classroom and having them listen to K students’ reading. I did not use this during this year, but I plan to next year. I like how Lucy split up students in the classroom for the share based on the topic of books they wrote. I thought this was helpful because then visiting students could go around the room and perhaps listen to one story of each topic.
On page 92, Lucy talks about having students work in partners to tell a story. Partner 1 would tell the first line, then partner 2 would tell the second and so on. The first thing that came to my mind was that all students would be engaged and involved in this activity. I like that she has students use a common event that everyone in the class has experienced so that students are able to provide sufficient details in their storytelling.
One final thing that I picked up from this reading selection was how Lucy uses different colored post-it notes to flag students who have similar needs. It is such a simple idea, but could be used in every subject area and would serve a beneficial purpose!
I have not invited other classes to a writer's celebration, although it sounds like the kids would love it. For our summer school writing celebration, I'm trying out the app Padlet during our gallery walk of our teaching books as a way for the kids to share compliments on their friends' work. We'll see how it goes! :)
On that note, our PD this summer is centered around Lucy Calkins. Sue C. did the most recent PD and said if there are sections of the workshop we would like more ideas/assistance with, to email her. It sounds like the PD during the year will be more specific to teachers' needs in certain areas than just a general overview of the workshop method. So if you need more ideas on effective conferencing, minilessons, etc. that is what she is looking for.
In the past, I taped a checklist to each student folder. It worked ok for me, but I also like the idea of it copied onto the paper. I would leave a space at the bottom for my notes on next steps, or what the student was going to work on when they went back to writing, etc. It was mostly for me to remember next time I had a conference with the student, but a reminder for them too.
Usually, my class marked the end of a unit by sharing their writing with our class. I have not celebrated the end of writing unit by having students share their work with another class. I like that idea because it would help to get them excited and more confident about their writing. Similarly to what others have mentioned, when I use checklists/anchor charts in a student-friendly way, I also try to rely heavily on visuals to help students become more independent when using them. This year, after introducing a n editing checklist, I gave each student a small laminated writing checklist to use. The students were able to self-monitor their writing and quickly refer to it in writing workshop to help them remember each component. Kylie, I am going to try your idea next year and take a picture of our anchor chart and give them to students use as a reference. I have not used Creak! Said the Bed, but I am excited to hear that Kylie’s class really liked the book. I will definitely plan on using that book to help teach narrative writing next year. I liked how Lucy Calkins read Creak! Said the Bed! in one session to introduce narrative writing and then reread/revisited the story to demonstrate how writers plan page by page. I help support students practice in storytelling by having them orally tell their story to their learning target partner. I find doing this helps with students understand the structure of a narrative story as well as planning out their next writing piece.
I have celebrated the end of a unit in different ways over the past few years, with another kindergarten class, on our own, and even reading to middle schoolers. Middle schoolers used to make picture books as a home and careers project, so it was a great opportunity for sharing writing. I love the idea of having my students read to children from other grade levels, and I would love to get back to that.
I find checklists very helpful and my students really enjoy checking things off. I have used checklists printed off that the students can do with their partner and later independently. It's great because I can adjust one part of the checklist at a time, so it evolves with my teaching points (to check both content and conventions). I have also taped checklists to their writing folders, and sent them home with a note attached for parents. Kelly mentioned that Alissa showed her some writing paper that includes a checklist. I love this idea! It's easily accessible, won't get lost, and is a nice reminder while the children are writing. I like to also have a poster or anchor chart up in the room that matches the checklist.
I have found that students really excel at storytelling. I agree with Kim that it can be hard for them to then put it down in writing. I also have my students use their fingers as they tell their story, and I find they get really good at using descriptive language, sounds, dialogue, etc. Children who are more confident in their writing can tranfer it right to their writing. Those who are struggling may need an opportunity to have some of their ideas dictated or do some shared writing before they can do it all on their own.
I had a teaching point yield unexpected results this spring when I was teaching persuasive writing for the first time. My students started creating signs and petitions directed at specific students as a way of tattling. For example, "(Student's name), you should not cut your hair..." I had some challenging behaviors in my class this year, so some of my students had lots of ideas! I had to nip that in the bud and help their writing be more constructive.
I also love how Lucy adds to anchor charts as she adds teaching points. I emailed a couple of anchor charts at the start of the study. Feel free to share any that you have made too!
Oh Emily, I can see your group using their writing to point out (help?) their classmates with their struggles. I have also noticed like Kim and Emily that sometimes students are great oral storytellers, but have a hard time getting the story on paper. I really like Lucy's example on page 107 where she chooses a student who had told a great story, but left many details out. Then, walks him through adding all of the fun details that make you feel like you were right there in the story with him.
Haha! Emily, the same thing happened to me during persuasive writing! I had a student who wrote a poster about using walking feet in the hall. The student suggested taping next to one child's seat in our classroom so he could see it all the time! Lol! I quickly persuaded him into thinking how much better it would be if more students could see it and could use it as a reminder to walk in the hall. Lol!
I really enjoyed Lucy's mini lesson on stretching a story over several pages. I love how she calls a story on one page "scrunched up"-she has great kid friendly language. I also liked how she actually put booklets in each students' hand so they could touch pages along with her. I have not used celebrations with other classes as much as I would have liked in the past. So, it is definitely a goal for me this year. I can see the value in sharing work with an older class, but I like that Lisa also had them read to pre-K. They must have felt very grown up!
Alissa, I thought this was a great part too! I also love how she gives the kids booklets and really lets the kids take part in the mini lesson and practice what she preaches!
I also really like the lesson where Lucy writes three different events in one book. I love the language that she uses and how she shows the class how to reorganize the papers and turn them into their own books. I have students do this all the time!
Alissa and I have made writing paper with checklists right on the paper. We would be happy to share those when we return to school because it is saved on the school computer. We use the same pictures that we use on an anchor chart poster posted in the room. We start with a couple things for them to check and gradually add more. It is a great way for them to self-check their work. Sometimes you have those students who just go through and check and don't really look. I will have a little mini-conference with them and point out how they checked the box and then go back into their writing to look at what they need to fix. His has been successful with many students.
I am going to continue the pattern set by Emily and Laura! Below are some questions to guide our Week 3 discussion. You do not need to respond to all of the questions, and you are welcome to add any other helpful or interesting information!
ReplyDelete-How do you celebrate the end of a unit?
-How do you employ writing checklists in a student-friendly way?
-What are your favorite mentor texts for narrative writing?
-How will you support students in practicing storytelling?
-Have you ever had a teaching point yield unexpected results?
To celebrate the end of writing teaching books, Lucy suggests bringing students’ writing to an audience outside of you and their classmates. The example in the book is to invite an older grade (in this case 5th graders) for 10-15 minutes. I like the idea of students rereading their chosen work multiple times to different visitors, but I feel a bit intimidated by the coordination it would require to invite an older grade. Has anyone tried this with a first grade classroom or even another kindergarten classroom?
ReplyDeleteWhen using writing checklists, I try to be very heavy on the visual aids. This past year I started taking pictures of my anchor charts and printing them out for students to use as a checklist. This way they have had repeated exposures to the content of the checklist and can be more independent in recognizing their strengths and needs.
My students LOVED Creak! Said the Bed as a mentor text. Any time we returned to the book for a mini-lesson they would want me to read the entire book again.
So many of these beginning narrative writing lessons emphasize practicing storytelling orally before sending students off to write. I like how in session 12, the teacher models telling a story that really happened to the class (a fire drill) and then had the students practice telling the same story. In session 13, the students physically turn the pages of a booklet as they practice touching the page and telling one part of their story. Students can then transition into planning pages across their fingers. I love how these supports in oral storytelling help students feel organized and prepared to put their stories into writing.
I just have to share a story about some confusion that arose when I used the teaching point from session 14 that writers try to write stories in a way that the readers feel right there with them. Some students in my class took this LITERALLY and inserted me into their stories. I was eating spaghetti at one student’s house, taking a nap on the couch with another student’s mom, and playing soccer in a student’s backyard. We had to revisit that mini-lesson!
Kylie,
DeleteThat story is hilarious!! Oh my gosh, I just laughed out loud! One of my students wrote about the mini lessons for several days. I thought he was confused at first, but he was just choosing to write about Writer's Workshop. Helps to remind us that they are so little! Too cute!
I also love the idea of taking pictures of your anchor charts. This is a great tool and strategy for students that take a little longer to get started on writing. Plus, they LOVE to have something special they get to keep with their own supplies. I will definitely do this this year!
DeleteKylie, It's great to hear that your students loved Creak! Said the bed. I did not use that this year, but plan to next year since your students had such a positive reaction to it!
DeleteTaking photos of anchor charts as checklists is a great idea! I've never done that, but I bet it is really a great reminder for the students as they are working.
DeleteWhat a funny story! Lol
DeleteI love the idea of taking pictures of your anchor charts too! What an awesome idea! I would love to implement that this year too! 😃
I love the idea of celebrating by students reading their work to other classes, but I agree that it can be very hard to organize. I have brought my class together with other classes in the past, a couple times with my buddy Kindergarten class and this past year with a UPK class. The planning was 100% worth the effort!! My students really enjoyed showing off their work and talked about it for a long time afterwards! It was also a group experience that we could refer back to in discussions and in writing even!
ReplyDeleteI really try to make all of my anchor charts as visual as possible so that my class is as independent as possible and can refer to the charts all on their own! However, some of the concepts I want to convey are harder than others to turn into pictures and some end up looking pretty wonky! Luckily the students are a part of the chart creation process and are there when I attempt to draw the pictures so they usually understand what they mean!! Kylie, I really like your idea of taking pictures of your anchor charts so every student has actual copies of them!
I think for me the big key to teaching narrative writing is in the beginning being very explicit in what narrative writing includes and the differences between stories and teaching books. On page 90, I like how on the second reading of a story (Creak!), the teacher reads it a little at a time then stops and discusses with the class what the author is doing and directly compares it to teaching books. (“I hear characters talking. We didn’t hear characters talking in our teaching books…”).
Another big key for me is filling writing time (as well as times before and after official writing time…all throughout the day!) with chances for students to hear and tell stories….orally peer to peer, listening to a read aloud, retelling an event or a story….anything and everything to make storytelling become natural for students.
Lisa,
DeleteYour key teaching points are great. It is important to slow down during the transition of units and focus on the differences in the types of writing. It was difficult for my students to transition out of How To writing this last year. I think part of the reason was because the How To writing unit was quite long. Once they got the hang out of it, most of them flew through the books and wanted to create more and more. When we transitioned out of How To writing, some students kept telling me that How To writing was their writing topic and kept asking (or scavenging) for How To writing paper. I will have to remember to take more time on the transitions this year.
Some kids seem to have mastered the oral storytelling part! :) I have found that they have a hard time writing what they say down on the paper. After they tell me about the topic, and I say "Great, write exactly that on your paper" they look at me like I'm crazy. Planning across their fingers has worked (with repeating the sequence a couple of times before they write) and they are super motivated to write books across 3-4 pages.
DeleteLisa - I also really liked that explicit teaching section on pg 90. I think kids need to hear that! They need to know exactly what to do, what is expected of them, and see it modeled for them. Since this is their first experience with Writer's Workshop, and most of them do not have any sort of background in writing, seeing what they are supposed to do prior to doing it on their own, helps to make them successful.
DeleteI really wish I would have had my students read their writing to students in another class this past year. We had little celebrations throughout the year that just consisted of sharing published work and giving special writing pieces as gifts to other students in our class. The students really enjoyed it, but I really want them to have the experience of sharing with others outside of our class this year.
ReplyDeleteAlissa shared writing paper that included simplified student-friendly checklists with me. I would not have thought of this idea on my own and was very thankful! The checklists included things like "does it look right (with a picture of an eye), does it sounds right? (picture of an ear), spaces (finger pointer), popcorn words (popcorn)." The students checked off the boxes that they used in their writing. The writing paper was also DI for the students to work their way up to checking off all the boxes. It was very effecient. When students would read their writing to me, we would have a brief discussion about it and then I would ask them about what areas they checked off and why. They would tell me and then find the evidence in their writing. I would let them highlight or color code their evidence. Students were very honest when they did not have an area checked off. For example, they would tell me "I did not use spaces, so I didn't check it off. That is what I need to work on with my next piece."
I did not use Creak! Said the Bed, but wish I had. I will use it this year. I incorporated our Shared Reading and or read aloud books to help students understand narrative writing. This worked for me. We practice retelling all the time and I think that yields to supporting students in their own story-telling. However, we know that our kids LOVE story-telling whenever they get the chance! Ha, ha!
I love how reflective some of your students were. It is awesome that they were able to explain and show evidence where they did and did not include the elements on the checklist. I like the idea of putting a checklist right on the paper. In the past, I have taped copies to their writing folders.
DeleteWhat a great idea to include a checklist right on their writing paper!
DeleteThat is a great idea! Kim, I sort of did the same thing with my writing checklist that I created a couple years ago. The only difference is that I laminated one for each student and let them keep it in their writing folders. I'm happy to share it if anyone would like it. I could also put a small version of it in the corner of a writing page if anyone is interested. Then I could email it out. Let me know if anyone would like this!
DeleteI love the idea of using checklists like Lucy talks about. I did not use these this year with my K class, but I did use them when I taught 4th grade special ed. I had checklists to use for first, second, third and fourth grade since the students in that classroom were at varying levels of instruction. I was somewhat surprised as to how motivating they were for these students to use. One of my most reluctant writers actually began to write without as much assistance because we were able to use the checklists as check in points for him. He would take ‘x’ amount of components on the checklist to work on each day. This was beneficial for both him and me because I could see how he was progressing and there was an ‘end point’ for him to get to. I definitely plan to use checklists next year in writing with K students. I like where Lucy says “Remind them that they are looking for something to work on.” (page 83) I think this makes it more of a ‘challenge’ or a ‘game’ for students to find something that they need to edit, instead of having them just think they are done.
ReplyDeleteAs others have already mentioned, I also liked the idea of having students of different grades come into the classroom and having them listen to K students’ reading. I did not use this during this year, but I plan to next year. I like how Lucy split up students in the classroom for the share based on the topic of books they wrote. I thought this was helpful because then visiting students could go around the room and perhaps listen to one story of each topic.
On page 92, Lucy talks about having students work in partners to tell a story. Partner 1 would tell the first line, then partner 2 would tell the second and so on. The first thing that came to my mind was that all students would be engaged and involved in this activity. I like that she has students use a common event that everyone in the class has experienced so that students are able to provide sufficient details in their storytelling.
One final thing that I picked up from this reading selection was how Lucy uses different colored post-it notes to flag students who have similar needs. It is such a simple idea, but could be used in every subject area and would serve a beneficial purpose!
I love the post-it note idea too!
DeleteI have not invited other classes to a writer's celebration, although it sounds like the kids would love it. For our summer school writing celebration, I'm trying out the app Padlet during our gallery walk of our teaching books as a way for the kids to share compliments on their friends' work. We'll see how it goes! :)
ReplyDeleteOn that note, our PD this summer is centered around Lucy Calkins. Sue C. did the most recent PD and said if there are sections of the workshop we would like more ideas/assistance with, to email her. It sounds like the PD during the year will be more specific to teachers' needs in certain areas than just a general overview of the workshop method. So if you need more ideas on effective conferencing, minilessons, etc. that is what she is looking for.
In the past, I taped a checklist to each student folder. It worked ok for me, but I also like the idea of it copied onto the paper. I would leave a space at the bottom for my notes on next steps, or what the student was going to work on when they went back to writing, etc. It was mostly for me to remember next time I had a conference with the student, but a reminder for them too.
Usually, my class marked the end of a unit by sharing their writing with our class. I have not celebrated the end of writing unit by having students share their work with another class. I like that idea because it would help to get them excited and more confident about their writing.
ReplyDeleteSimilarly to what others have mentioned, when I use checklists/anchor charts in a student-friendly way, I also try to rely heavily on visuals to help students become more independent when using them. This year, after introducing a n editing checklist, I gave each student a small laminated writing checklist to use. The students were able to self-monitor their writing and quickly refer to it in writing workshop to help them remember each component. Kylie, I am going to try your idea next year and take a picture of our anchor chart and give them to students use as a reference.
I have not used Creak! Said the Bed, but I am excited to hear that Kylie’s class really liked the book. I will definitely plan on using that book to help teach narrative writing next year. I liked how Lucy Calkins read Creak! Said the Bed! in one session to introduce narrative writing and then reread/revisited the story to demonstrate how writers plan page by page. I help support students practice in storytelling by having them orally tell their story to their learning target partner. I find doing this helps with students understand the structure of a narrative story as well as planning out their next writing piece.
I have celebrated the end of a unit in different ways over the past few years, with another kindergarten class, on our own, and even reading to middle schoolers. Middle schoolers used to make picture books as a home and careers project, so it was a great opportunity for sharing writing. I love the idea of having my students read to children from other grade levels, and I would love to get back to that.
ReplyDeleteI find checklists very helpful and my students really enjoy checking things off. I have used checklists printed off that the students can do with their partner and later independently. It's great because I can adjust one part of the checklist at a time, so it evolves with my teaching points (to check both content and conventions). I have also taped checklists to their writing folders, and sent them home with a note attached for parents. Kelly mentioned that Alissa showed her some writing paper that includes a checklist. I love this idea! It's easily accessible, won't get lost, and is a nice reminder while the children are writing. I like to also have a poster or anchor chart up in the room that matches the checklist.
I have found that students really excel at storytelling. I agree with Kim that it can be hard for them to then put it down in writing. I also have my students use their fingers as they tell their story, and I find they get really good at using descriptive language, sounds, dialogue, etc. Children who are more confident in their writing can tranfer it right to their writing. Those who are struggling may need an opportunity to have some of their ideas dictated or do some shared writing before they can do it all on their own.
I had a teaching point yield unexpected results this spring when I was teaching persuasive writing for the first time. My students started creating signs and petitions directed at specific students as a way of tattling. For example, "(Student's name), you should not cut your hair..." I had some challenging behaviors in my class this year, so some of my students had lots of ideas! I had to nip that in the bud and help their writing be more constructive.
I also love how Lucy adds to anchor charts as she adds teaching points. I emailed a couple of anchor charts at the start of the study. Feel free to share any that you have made too!
Oh Emily, I can see your group using their writing to point out (help?) their classmates with their struggles. I have also noticed like Kim and Emily that sometimes students are great oral storytellers, but have a hard time getting the story on paper. I really like Lucy's example on page 107 where she chooses a student who had told a great story, but left many details out. Then, walks him through adding all of the fun details that make you feel like you were right there in the story with him.
DeleteHaha! Emily, the same thing happened to me during persuasive writing! I had a student who wrote a poster about using walking feet in the hall. The student suggested taping next to one child's seat in our classroom so he could see it all the time! Lol! I quickly persuaded him into thinking how much better it would be if more students could see it and could use it as a reminder to walk in the hall. Lol!
DeleteI really enjoyed Lucy's mini lesson on stretching a story over several pages. I love how she calls a story on one page "scrunched up"-she has great kid friendly language. I also liked how she actually put booklets in each students' hand so they could touch pages along with her.
ReplyDeleteI have not used celebrations with other classes as much as I would have liked in the past. So, it is definitely a goal for me this year. I can see the value in sharing work with an older class, but I like that Lisa also had them read to pre-K. They must have felt very grown up!
Alissa, I thought this was a great part too! I also love how she gives the kids booklets and really lets the kids take part in the mini lesson and practice what she preaches!
DeleteI also really like the lesson where Lucy writes three different events in one book. I love the language that she uses and how she shows the class how to reorganize the papers and turn them into their own books. I have students do this all the time!
Alissa and I have made writing paper with checklists right on the paper. We would be happy to share those when we return to school because it is saved on the school computer. We use the same pictures that we use on an anchor chart poster posted in the room. We start with a couple things for them to check and gradually add more. It is a great way for them to self-check their work. Sometimes you have those students who just go through and check and don't really look. I will have a little mini-conference with them and point out how they checked the box and then go back into their writing to look at what they need to fix. His has been successful with many students.
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