Question: What type of record-keeping system are you using?
Quote/Application: "Conferring can give us the force that makes our mini lessons and curriculum development and assessment and everything else more powerful. …. And, it gives us laughter and human connection the understanding of our children that gives spirit to our teaching."
Comment/Connection: I feel I prepare well using mentoring text and mini lessons, but need to improve my record-keeping system and teaching my students to become more independent writers.
My record-keeping is primarily "rubric" oriented and is not powerful in helping students develop skills as thinkers and writers. I can see how conferring with students as they develop small -focused writings can be much more effective.
I would like to have access to the CD Roms that are a part of this series.
Quote/Application - page 9 - "Weigh whether you want to accept or alter the child's current plans and processes. Decide what you want to teach and how you will teach it" - This is something I feel when teaching writing to a "younger" grade level can be tricky because they are not only graded on content but also on their spacing, spelling, punctuation, ending marks, etc. So even though we constantly repeat "do you have a capital letter? etc" they start to get confused on what they are focusing on - appearance or content. I know that we cover our bases with the first write, rough draft, and final - but I still see the frustration in my students when they are writing. I like the quote " What can I teach this child that he can immediately begin incorporating into today's work, but that also is a skill of process he will be able to draw on with independence in subsequent writing?"
Comments/Questions - I wish there was 40 hour days so we could fit in an actual individual "conference" rather than a skim and read, then check and come back. I feel time management and writing is an area I need to improve on, because again with young writers it seems their checklist is extremely long that an actual conference isn't feasible-
My original thoughts disappeared when I went to submit. This is "Take 2."
Quote: "The challenge for us as teachers is to notice a very specific way in which the child has succeeded, and then to phrase a compliment in such a way that the child knows it is something she should carry into her writing work in general." P. 9
I smiled reading this because I thought about former students who were "pleasers" and would try to force something that was complimented into another piece--it may or may not have worked.
Question: How much time do you have devoted daily to writing? I know that writing can be across the curriculum, like reading, but workshop seems more involved. I noticed that the text mentioned an hour long session.
Comment: I liked the idea of generalizing management to writing skills. Equipping students with the idea that you can be a good problem solver in life, like you are in your writing. I know when we started with anchor charts and a common language in reading, I started using, "Good readers . . . . " quite a bit.
Comment: I really liked the emphasis on questioning by building on what a student was doing that was good and almost doing as a point of growth and self- realization. I also liked the discussion of helping them become more self-sufficient and solvers of their own problems. I thought it was interesting that she would invite students to follow along with her and listen in on the conferences. Developing all the students abilities to teach, question and think deeply about writing touches every subject, doesn’t it? Quotes: “My best teaching is when I teach into a learner’s intentions” “If you can slow your eye down, your heart down, your mind down, you’ll give yourself the opportunity to see what’s really there.” “We need someone who sees what we are doing and what we are trying to do.” “Can you tell me what you’ve been thinking and what’s giving you trouble?” Application: I would like to adapt Mary’s writing rubrics and make a list of all the essential writing goals for 4th grade and keep it on one clip board, in one place!!!
In the overwhelming task of managing and supporting a classroom of students as they write,I thought these words were important to remember-"Sometimes, we need to lessen our attachment to all sorts of worthy goals in order to have the opportunities to teach toward these goals." It may be hard at first to see growth, but the level of what children are able to do on their own WILL RISE.
Question: What type of record-keeping system are you using?
ReplyDeleteQuote/Application: "Conferring can give us the force that makes our mini lessons and curriculum development and assessment and everything else more powerful. …. And, it gives us laughter and human connection the understanding of our children that gives spirit to our teaching."
Comment/Connection: I feel I prepare well using mentoring text and mini lessons, but need to improve my record-keeping system and teaching my students to become more independent writers.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteMy record-keeping is primarily "rubric" oriented and is not powerful in helping students develop skills as thinkers and writers. I can see how conferring with students as they develop small -focused writings can be much more effective.
DeleteI would like to have access to the CD Roms that are a part of this series.
Quote/Application - page 9 - "Weigh whether you want to accept or alter the child's current plans and processes. Decide what you want to teach and how you will teach it" - This is something I feel when teaching writing to a "younger" grade level can be tricky because they are not only graded on content but also on their spacing, spelling, punctuation, ending marks, etc. So even though we constantly repeat "do you have a capital letter? etc" they start to get confused on what they are focusing on - appearance or content. I know that we cover our bases with the first write, rough draft, and final - but I still see the frustration in my students when they are writing. I like the quote " What can I teach this child that he can immediately begin incorporating into today's work, but that also is a skill of process he will be able to draw on with independence in subsequent writing?"
ReplyDeleteComments/Questions - I wish there was 40 hour days so we could fit in an actual individual "conference" rather than a skim and read, then check and come back. I feel time management and writing is an area I need to improve on, because again with young writers it seems their checklist is extremely long that an actual conference isn't feasible-
My original thoughts disappeared when I went to submit. This is "Take 2."
ReplyDeleteQuote: "The challenge for us as teachers is to notice a very specific way in which the child has succeeded, and then to phrase a compliment in such a way that the child knows it is something she should carry into her writing work in general." P. 9
I smiled reading this because I thought about former students who were "pleasers" and would try to force something that was complimented into another piece--it may or may not have worked.
Question: How much time do you have devoted daily to writing? I know that writing can be across the curriculum, like reading, but workshop seems more involved. I noticed that the text mentioned an hour long session.
Comment: I liked the idea of generalizing management to writing skills. Equipping students with the idea that you can be a good problem solver in life, like you are in your writing. I know when we started with anchor charts and a common language in reading, I started using, "Good readers . . . . " quite a bit.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteComment: I really liked the emphasis on questioning by building on what a student was doing that was good and almost doing as a point of growth and self- realization. I also liked the discussion of helping them become more self-sufficient and solvers of their own problems. I thought it was interesting that she would invite students to follow along with her and listen in on the conferences. Developing all the students abilities to teach, question and think deeply about writing touches every subject, doesn’t it?
ReplyDeleteQuotes: “My best teaching is when I teach into a learner’s intentions”
“If you can slow your eye down, your heart down, your mind down, you’ll give yourself the opportunity to see what’s really there.”
“We need someone who sees what we are doing and what we are trying to do.”
“Can you tell me what you’ve been thinking and what’s giving you trouble?”
Application: I would like to adapt Mary’s writing rubrics and make a list of all the essential writing goals for 4th grade and keep it on one clip board, in one place!!!
In the overwhelming task of managing and supporting a classroom of students as they write,I thought these words were important to remember-"Sometimes, we need to lessen our attachment to all sorts of worthy goals in order to have the opportunities to teach toward these goals." It may be hard at first to see growth, but the level of what children are able to do on their own WILL RISE.
ReplyDelete