Introduce your classroom to us and your demonstration idea!
We’re so glad you’ll be joining us this summer.
First…Please share a paragraph with us about your classroom. What are you proud of in that room? What do your students do while they’re with you?
Then…Please share a paragraph with us about what you’re considering as the topic for your 90-minute demonstration lesson. What’s your background with this topic? How did you decide (true enough, you may still be deciding) that this was the best topic for your demonstration?
These paragraphs will be discussed in small groups at our retreat at Granlibakken. Please include enough details in each paragraph so that those who read your words can formulate some deep-thinking questions to ask you.
Kim Cuevas - Multigenre Research
I no longer have a classroom of my own, but when I did, I was proud of the fact that my students always did a lot of writing and a lot of different type of writing, even when the school where I taught really only thought that students should do literary analysis. Having my students find their voice and write from their heart was very important to me, and I was often proud of the writing they accomplished. I loved being the teacher who allowed a lot of free choice in writing in my classroom because that was not the norm in my early years of teaching, so I guess I was proud to be a bit of a rebel.
My demonstration is titled, “Multigenre Research: Traditional Research in Non-Traditional Formats.” When I took the ISI, one of our required readings was _Writing with Passion_ by Tom Romano. He discussed multigenre research in his book, but he had done it with senior AP students and college freshmen, and it was a very open project. I loved the idea, but I taught high school freshmen, and I knew I would need to create a much more structured assignment for it to work. I was very proud of this because after I did it, the idea really took off at my school, and it became a standard research project at both our freshman level and sophomore honors level. Personally, I like the idea because I think that it is a great way to teach research skills and formats while still allowing students to keep their voice and self-expression, and it is completely adaptable in any content area and grade level.
Can’t wait for this summer!!
Kim
Jodie Black here. I teach kindergarten at Rollan Melton ES. I have been teaching in an all day tuition-based kindergarten for the past five years. My students are with me all day, I have 23 of them and their parents pay for this service. When my students are with me, we do everything! And I mean everything. But I do spend quality time teaching my children how to write and assisting them with having success in and around writing. My number one concern, each and every year with each and every child is that I don’t make them hate doing anything before they were ever supposed to be ready to do it in the first place. Writing, for a child who is still grappling with holding a pencil, needs to be a delicate and deliberate process.
My presentation is about just this idea. A five year olds ideas about story often outstrip their skills in writing. In “Talk the Talk: Building Brick Houses in Kindergarten Composition,” I hope to demonstrate to you how I harnessed my students incredible creative capabilities in a way that allowed them to compose satisfying stories using the important story elements. No matter what your teaching assignment, I think you will find the ideas in my presentation useful and at the very least, thought provoking. I was so happy to meet you all and look forward to us getting to know each other better at our retreat. I present on Wednesday morning of the retreat and maybe like you, I’m a little bit nervous!
Barbara Surritte reporting… I currently teach Language Arts at Shaw Middle School in Sparks. My classroom reflects my personality, packed with books (mostly non-fiction as I consume those like their pieces of chocolate), very colorful and lots of student work posted on the boards. I have three pieces of art hanging in the front of the room of faces staring back at you with inspirational sayings and picture books lining the rim of the dry erase boards. Literature, words and creativity own every space of my cinder block walls. I work hard to inspire, yet hold my children accountable by being firm, fair and consistent. I am very passionate about writing, but sometimes feel inadequate as my degree is in general education, not English (hence the collection of non-fiction pieces…). I love approaching my subject with a creative eye, which leads to my presentation topic.
Vocabulary Rehab… Amy Winehouse currently has a song out about rehab-well, I’d like to rehab vocabulary instruction and am working on it one classroom at a time. My medium: music. My method: introducing reality based genres into the classroom. Starbucks, MTV, Newspapers, Picture books, music and a variety of other student friendly, high interest literature pieces will be used. My support: Isabelle Beck and her FABULOUS book about vocabulary titled, “Bringing Words to Life: Robust Vocabulary Instruction.”
Hopefully you’ll be inspired to purchase a copy, I promise you it’s better than chocolate!
After spending the day with you on Saturday, I’m truly excited about working with you and for you through this one-of-a-kind experience. As I work to prepare my presentation, know that I’m equally as nervous yet anticipatory… I know that I’ll give my presentation, but learn so much more from each of you. Thank you again for the opportunity to peak in the window of your classroom.
AMY MANISCALCO IDEA: I love my classroom! I currently teach 7 grade English at Shaw Middle School. This current school year I have the theme of Hollywood- “Reach for the Stars” for my classroom. I take pride in my classroom because I want my students to feel they are in a welcoming and exciting environment. I have over 350 books in my classroom library that range in genre and I am constantly working to do my best at teaching writing. I mix my teach strategies regularly and do a lot of pairs and groups. I consistently keep up with my educational research to ensure that I am providing the best research practices that will help my students be successful.
Presentation idea: My students do not read as writers. They do not take notice and pay attention to the “stylistic” devices that authors use. I want students to read through the eyes of a writer to evaluate writing and therefore produce quality writing. Using inquiry into many different authors will engage students in learning to write from a writer. I have many research articles to support my presentation and am using the book Wondrous Words: Writers and Writing in the Elementary Classroom by Katie Wood Ray to establish the format. I am new to this idea but I thought I would jump right into this idea. The bigger ideas that my presentation connect to are differentiated instruction, reading and writing connections, community building, and the writing process). The focus will be the style of wording within a writing piece. The only concerns I have at this point are gathering work samples. I am at a standards based school and so I must teach the final two standards of the year. I will do my nest together the work with also staying the limits of what I must teach this quarter. I feel this idea is perfect for me because I have a strong background in reading and can now help my students and MYSELF learn from reading to be better writers.
Hi,
I am presently teaching 4th grade for my 8th year. I love 4th grade. My room is full of songs and poems for the curriculum which right now is electricity. I also have a narrative and a process grid for writing. These are all GLAD pieces.I have 2 librarys: a content area one that I change as we move along and a general one. I also have lots of exciting student work up. We just finished with 3 book projects, all very different so each student wrote a book, created a “Realebook” and made a Mother’s Day book.
My idea for the presentation is to share song writing and poetry writing in the content area with you. I have written a number of songs and poems for the social studies and science and math and writing areas and the students, (many are ESL) can learn vocabulary from/through them. If anyone wants a preview, there are some on writingfix.com. The Guided Literacy Acquisiton and Development (GLAD) is being taught throughout elementary schools these past few years and it is from it and brain research that I am supporting my idea for my lesson. Looking forward to all the presentations,
Terry
REBEKAH FOSTER–PEER RESPONSE LETTERS
This is my fourth year teaching ninth grade Honors English at Reno High School. I love the curriculum, the students, and my classroom. What I have come to love about teaching is that with every new year it is a fresh start, and with every new group of students I have the chance to try something that I haven’t done before. Finally I am comfortable switching up my curriculum and adapting at the last minute. My classroom abounds with books and I try to shift my bulletin boards to reflect what texts we are focusing on in class. I have a new “I LOVE WORDS” board that I have been playing around with this year, and I have enjoyed using it. My students are excellent students, who for the most part come from success building backgrounds. I love writing, and had always wanted to become a famous writer, so I attempt to incorporate a love of writing in my classroom. I want my students to see that because they love reading and are good readers, they can be and are good writers. I have allowed more freedom and choice with writing this year, and I am amazed at what I have read.
The idea for my demonstration started last year after reading Ralph Fletcher’s “A Writer’s Notebook.” I quickly changed my summer assignment to have students keep a writer’s notebook for the summer. At the beginning of the year, I put them in writing workshop groups, where they remained for the semester. At the beginning of the second semester, they had more voice in creating their groups, and that (surprisingly) has worked well. In these groups, they have done everything from share simple journal writes to collectively completing an analytical essay. One constant through the year has been the use of Peer Response Letters as a technique for responding. I have tried to instill in students the belief that because they are well read and are generally good readers that they know what good writing is and thus they are truly capable of responding to each other’s work in meaningful ways which ultimately will impact the author’s choices. I have students take home each other’s work and write letters as their response. What I would like to do for this presentation is find a way to better instruct students in the art of letter writing, responding, and using a workshop effectively. I have several books about a writing workshops and am currently looking on more information regarding response letters and effective peer response techniques. The best part of this year has been that because of their increased skills at peer responding, my grading time has decreased as their final drafts have improved in quality. What I think I want most is for them to not only own their own writing but to own the process of writing as well.
Hi! Julie Leimbach here. I am currently the writing teacher for grades 3 – 6. This is the first year that our school has had a writing teacher. It was definitely a learning experience for me and one that I enjoyed very much. I don’t have a specific classroom assigned to me. I camp out in the back of one of our fifth grade classrooms. Let me tell you that has been an interesting experience. This past year, I have spent most of my time in the 4th and 5th grade classrooms. I focused primarily on writing traits and constructed response. However, I did spend time with grade 3 and 6 focusing on constructed response skills. Now that testing is done, I have turned some of my attention for the primary grades. I am most proud of the fact that we have made writing fun for the students. We have writing contests, sharing our writing in the classroom, a couple of writing activities presented by Corbett Harrison, and lots of writing conferences. They really like the visits from Corbett. At the beginning of the year, the students greeted me with contorted faces and grumbles. Now, the students are excited and asking me when I am coming to write with them again; their faces smiling. I am also proud of the fact that we have inspired many of our reluctant writers. A few even write at home and bring in their writing to share with us. My biggest challenge this year has been to develop organized writing instruction and adapt my lessons to each classroom teacher’s style. I am only guaranteed my position for two years and I want to make sure that all our teachers are comfortable enough to continue the writing focus even after I return to the classroom.
The topic for my demonstration is making a home to school connection with writing. I recently held a Family Writing and Scrapbooking Night. Families brought pictures and using the Important Book writing frame they wrote what was important about the scrapbook page they had created. It was a success and I really enjoyed working with the parents. In addition to holding various writing nights throughout the year, I also want to introduce a few writing activities that are from the classroom to home. My goal is to create more awareness in the home of the importance of writing. It’s not just something student HAVE to do at school.
I am looking forward to this summer and can’t wait to get started. See you all at the retreat!
INTRODUCTION TO MY “CLASSROOM:”
Hola. I’m Tim Casper. I am the Writing Coordinator at Anderson ES. I work with grades K-6. I teach students directly, model and plan lessons with teachers, develop and plan school writing activities, conduct trainings on early release days, track data, etc…. I fell lucky to have my job. This is the first year I’ve done it full-time, after two years part-time. Prior to the writing thing, I taught upper elementary grades and special ed. I feel good about the fact that writing is being taught in every classroom at Anderson on a daily basis, or nearly so. Most of all, I like to read what kids write. I have found that when writing is de-schoolified a bit, many kids really love it. My goal is to become 33 1/2% more effective in my job next year.
DEMONSTRATION IDEA:
Anderson has a high population of students who qualify for ESL. As a school, we have come a long way in terms of students being able to write their thoughts and ideas on paper. However, the ideas of many students do not come through clearly due to poor conventions and the lack of a foundation in the basics of English, such as what makes a complete sentence, subject/verb agreement, spelling, etc…. Metaphorically speaking– many of the students are trying to build a house but don’t know much about using a hammer. I want to develop some daily conventions-oriented activities that can address some of these issues, but without moving toward worksheet like grammar instruction. I hope to present 2 or 3 of these activities in my demonstration. I might call my demonstration Authentic Conventions, or Meaningful Conventions, or something similar.
Caroline Hatcher- INTRODUCTION
Hello! As I mentioned before, I am a wanderer and thus, have spent just one year at Reno High, where I currently teach 9th grade English and 11th grade Strategies (Proficiency) English. One of the upsides of working in many different places is the ability to learn new teaching strategies with each variety of learner. I’ve come to realize that good teaching is simply that and though students may come from completely different economic and social backgrounds, my philoshophy of teaching has come to be that it is about the process, the “why and how” rather than the “what.” I take this idea into the classroom, and I want my students to know how and why they are learning the books we read and the papers we write, and not just merely because “It’s what the curriculum says we need to do.” My freshmen are moldable, eager, energetic ‘barely out of middleschoolers,’ and they make me smile because there is still some spark of innocent curiousity about things in life. My juniors, on the other hand, let’s just say I have scratched a million ideas and lessons with them for failure to launch or blow all 14 of them away….currently I am in the process of implementing more free writing with them in connection with CATCHER IN THE RYE, and it’s working wondefully- it took months to discover, but I really believe that journaling is their outlet; There is a little bit of Holden Caufield in each of them.
Lesson: So, at first I didn’t know how I would go about using this lesson on writingfix.com which inspired me, but now that I am in stage 4 of the lesson, it has become so completely detached from how it began that I am enjoying the metamorphosis of “I NEVER KNEW THAT!” My writing lesson began with an idea from Corbett Harrison about writing to a parent/loved one in an attempt to learn something new about him or her. This emulates Harper Lee’s style in chapter 10 (To Kill a Mockingbird) where Scout and Jem’s ‘boring father’s’ talent as “One shot Finch” comes to fruition. Several letters, one narrative and a multi-genre writing lesson later, I have something that has worked, so well in fact, that I have adapted it with my juniors using CATCHER IN THE RYE and finally, it has become my own. I am looking forward to continuing this work with students, building on the parent/child relationship and trying something new. I did read the article in the BREAKTHROUGHS book which focuses on parent and student communication, and I plan on using it for my research. I look forward to writing with all of you this summer and learning new ideas- we all have so much to learn from each other. As the Chinese proverb says,
“Teachers open the door. You enter by yourself.”
RESPONSE TO AMY MANISCALCO:
HI Amy! I, too, did some similar units to yours while working for San Diego City Schools, and I wanted to suggest an amazing researcher, Janet Allen. You may already know of her, but she has some fabulous ideas in her research integrating reading as a writer. I have most copies of her books, but I am sure the LRC would have them as well. Another thing I just saw at Sundance Bookstore is a children’s book that AVI put out with a snail on the cover- it is a new book that teaches writing through reading the story- haven’t read it, but it did catch my attention, and it looked fun. Stephen King also has an great book about writing, and many of my inspiring writers have read through it- just wanted to throw it out there for you….I always enjoy getting feedback and ideas.
TERRY STELLE FEEDBACK:
I love the idea of incorporating music into writing in any content area. In the few times that I have done anything like that I have found that students retain the information better and are more engaged in the lessons. Getting students to write and understand poetry is always a struggle so I cannot wait to see how you incorporate music. I don’t think I will go on writingfix, I want to be surprised!
My classroom is not that of a “typical” teacher, if there is such a thing. I coach teachers, therefore, my classroom is made up of teachers, or if they want me to model a lesson, then I go into their individual classrooms. What I do is try to always form lessons with a comprehensive lesson design to include an objective, applicability to their real life, vocabulary, reading, writing and a form of assessment.
In my classroom I highly value setting students or teachers up to succeed. If the learner is not being successful both in and out of the classroom, then I am not doing my job correctly. As a way to improve this success, I am constantly working to improve my conversations with colleagues and students I encounter in order to determine their needs and better meet them.
Additionally, I hope that the teachers can approach me to become not only better teachers, but more efficient learners, as well. Upon doing so they should grow in their own knowledge and understanding of how to make learning better and more effective for their students. When my students (teachers) are with me, I see them adapting what I have presented to them to ultimately fit their own teaching style and finding what truly works for them in the classroom.
Since writing in every classroom is an expectation I have for all teachers, than, the question becomes, how can I best disseminate the most effective way to teach writing in all classes. This question came about from discussions I had with several of the teachers here at school. I had asked them how I could support them and this is one area they mentioned. One way is to show teachers how they can make writing personal not only for themselves, but their students as well.
Who wants to read the same paper over and over again? The question, “How can you make a general writing prompt more personal” becomes a topic I would like to explore and prepare to teach teachers.
In order for students to become more successful, with the use of various writing assessments they are expected to master, how we as teachers can address the need for them to make their writing more individual and special and not just another question to answer, becomes a concern in the classroom.
I would like to address how to make writing more personal through the use of visuals such as pictures. For example, writing captions, a paragraph or turning that into a story after discussing the pictures. One could also ask the students “Tell me what this makes you think of.” Or, a teacher might look at a movie clip, mute it and ask, “What do you think is going on here?” From there, having the students respond in writing with their own personal voice.
Through more examples also, one could show what not to write about versus what to write about. Additionally, with the use of music, one may incorporate other strategies to make writing more personal. I believe that showing students how to make writing personal using the five senses is one way to approach their own writing. And, as an Instructional Coach, I hope to give teachers ways to teach this.
Sandy Madura
First you must know that I adore my life as a teacher. Every day I have the wonderful experience of sharing my day with nine- and ten-year-old children at Florence Drake. Together my students and I read, write, and problem solve all day long–there is no better fun than this. I relish my students’ comments, their views on life, and their lovely and painfully honest assessment of me and our classroom community. We are currently at the tail end of a study of Nevada’s ecosystems and the animals that share our environment. For the last two years, I have been involved in the Student Learning Facilitator training program run by our own Carol Gebhardt, Corbett Harrison, as well as Kindra Fox. This training has shaped me into a strong standards based teacher. Our unit of study on Nevada’s ecosystems represents the sum of my two years learning to be a better teacher with Carol, Corbett, and Kindra as my mentors. Of course, research and writing has taken center stage for this fourth-grade learning journey.
As part of my final assessments for the inquiry questions we’ve used to study Nevada’s ecosystems, I have asked my student to respond in a constructed response format. Teaching my students to accurately and creatively write to a prompt has been one of my big goals this academic year. I have used a structured paragraph format to provide a frame that my students learn and then vary from as they gain confidence. This is the topic of a new presentation I am putting together for this summer’s institute.
The Invitational Summer Institute is an event I look forward to with great joy. I thrive on the energy, the creativity, and the common focus of becoming better writers so we can better understand ourselves and our students.
Response to Barbara Surritte:
I am so excited to learn more about your presentation. I absolutely love learning new ways to teach vocabulary. I feel like I do a good job with using different strategies to reach many learners, but then I hear of a new idea like yours and remember, I can always become better. Also, I enjoy music a lot and forget to bring it into the classroom. It will be nice to see some research based strategies to combine the two. With the increase of student learning through the use of music, I think this will be very effective for any level. I can’t wait to see what your end product is.
Response to AMY MANISCALCO:
What a fun idea to have a “theme” of the year, and to have this at the middle school level is fabulous. It sounds like you have a very literacy rich environment, I am wondering if I can visit your classroom before the end of the school year? I love your presentation idea, it sounds like you have already done a lot of research-wow! It incorporates a lot of things that we should all be focusing on on a regular basis. I am excited to see how you pull it all together. Additionally, I have not heard of the book you mentioned, but am excited to learn more about it. Also, I too am struggling with the student sample piece (as I am out of the classroom). Thank you for sharing one of your difficulties and being authentic. See you soon,
Kristina
Response to REBEKAH FOSTER–PEER RESPONSE LETTERS:
I want to be a student in your classroom (I am glad I will have the opportunity to learn from you this summer). I want to come see your classroom also-how fun! When I was reading your post, I found so much of myself in your writing. I too want to write and you are so inspirational. I can’t wait to learn more from you. Also, I am interested in reading the book you are basing your project on. Additionally, it sound like you have such a welcoming environment and I am glad to hear this.
Hi!
My classroom is at Truckee Meadows Community College, and my students have just graduated from high school, never graduated from high school, or haven’t been in school for a long time. I help them learn the skills that they need for college-level writing. Many of them are strong writers when they come to my class–they write fabulous personal narratives! They don’t get to write many narratives in their classes, though, so I have to help them learn how to present and support an argument, how to analyze a variety of texts in a meaningful way, and how to synthesize evidence from several readings. This is difficult for my students–they don’t always know how to read closely and critically enough to recognize or infer that evidence that they must use to support their theses. We work hard in my class (some people call it “writing boot camp”)–but we have fun, too, through collaborative activities. I love watching my students discover what fine writers they are, and seeing their confidence go right through the roof by the end of the semester. And they are so diverse that I learn a lot, too!
For my presentation, I’m looking at the use of think-alouds to drive close reading. I don’t quite have a title yet, but I know that one will evolve. One of the big elements of this is the how the reading/writing connection is an essential part of their future successes. I do believe that effective readers are effective writers are effective readers. I’ve modeled think-alouds for my students; for example, when I introduce a new unit, I use several pre-reading strategies to get them into the readings. After that, I think-aloud through some of the passages to let them see how they might interact with the text to fully understand an author’s thesis, purpose, and audience. I have had them bring in song lyrics that could stump me when we do a music unit, and they think it’s pretty funny when I try to think-aloud through some of the more difficult passages! I had my current students engage in a think-aloud paired activity last night, and then asked them to write a response to what they discovered. They were amazing! They unpacked deeply embedded ideas within a heavily metaphorical piece, and found so many connections to their own experiences that they almost didn’t have enough time to complete the writing portion.
I’m glad that I had my students do this–I’ve wanted to try it for a long time. I wish I’d used it at the beginning of the semester, but now I will every semester! I hope you all can find some value in my presentation!
Response to REBEKAH FOSTER–PEER RESPONSE LETTERS:
Hi Rebekah! I do the same in my classroom–I help my students see that they do know what good writing looks like, and so they are reliable sources of feedback for their peers. One writing workshop technique that has worked well for my students is exactly what you do–they take their partners drafts home as homework so that they have time to really read the essays and think about their responses. I have them each write at least one question about their drafts that concerns them–perhaps about their theses, flow, grammar, supporting evidence–at the top of their drafts, and I include a space in their peer review worksheets where they can respond to their partners’ questions. They like being able to ask their peers to look at a specific concern, and I like giving them opportunities to own their work. That said, I’d like to give them more opportunities to write what they’d like to write, but the semester is too short and the department requires specific tasks. Still, I’m going to find more ways to let them create our classroom.
Hello, it was really nice meeting you all, and I am super excited about working together. Like Kim & Carol, I don’t have a traditional classroom at the moment, but I used to teach science at Galena High School, where my mantra was “I teach people, not a subject.” For me, this is the essence of Differentiated Instruction; it is philosophy about diversity of teaching and learning tat values the needs of the people rather than the scope and sequence of the curriculum. That being said, if you had walked into my classroom, you would have been energized by the multi-sensory stimuli protruding into the atmosphere from, the students, walls, ceiling, and the speakers attached to my computer. My goal was for my room to be a place students looked forward to coming (and of course a place that motivated me to do my best). One of the areas I have always know to be a weakness was writing. I am not proud of my use of writing in my classes. I never felt comfortable assessing the writing or giving constructive feedback. Hence when I did incorporate writing, the results were not very encouraging. This brings us to my demonstration idea.
My demonstration will fit into two big picture ideas: differentiation and brain compatible teaching. Both of these larger concepts involve considering student learning styles when planning instruction. You have to engage them before they can achieve. My demonstration will involve using several pod casts as mentor texts that will inspire students to take action to improve the health of our oceans. The students will write “This I Believe Essay’s” that they can record in an audio file or post on a blog. After reading a few articles and books on the Millennial Learners, I feel using a form of technology this group of learners is comfortable with will be exciting and motivating. I am trying the lesson out in the next week; this will give me some student samples and a better idea of how to tweak it for my demo.
I love my classroom because I get to have my students for two consecutive years. I think that this is great because we have the opportunity to develop some depth to our relationships. The hard part of this is that at the end of the two years (like right now) we are struggling with an impending loss and that presents its own challenges. I create a variety of learning experiences for every type of learner: I have activities to keep my kinestetic folks moving around, creative opportunities for my artistic kids and one homework project per quarter that integrates writing with science content and gives my students a learning experience that allows them to be themselves. While not every assignment may be meaningful to every student, I hope that I create enough variety that each student has the chance to find a part of science that appeals to them.
My demonstration is not yet titled, but will be about the science notebook. All of my students keep a journal, but I find that I lose focus during busy parts of my year and we get off track. I am looking for a renewed vision for my notebooks. I really want to stimulate engaging and informative writing from my students and I think that this may be the key. I have not used the Writer’s Workshop in this context, but I have recently found a new book that may help me refine my creative writing assignments (”Diary of a cell” and others) and suggests some methods focused in science.
I am extremely interested in your topic. Reading science is often very challenging for students because it is a bit like another language. I think that quite often my students “read without reading”. I try to integrate active reading into the classroom, but it takes a lot of time from other things. I am anxious to hear more about think-alouds and develop some new techniques.
KAREN LAMB- INTRODUCTION/DEMONSTRATION IDEA
My classroom is centered on comfort. It is my belief that unless you are comfortable in your environment then you cannot succeed within its requirements. So, with that in mind, I try to make my classroom and inviting and respectful place where students feel comfortable to learn and have a little fun. I like that my students can sit in their desks and look around the room and see all of their achievements, as well as those of their fellow classmates. I have many examples of student work, pictures, newspaper articles, and memorabilia from our school. As far as my classroom practices, I vary these depending on the students I am teaching but first thing, there is a routine. Students always know to come into my room, not be late, complete the warm-up, and move on. I try to mix things up everyday while always hitting vocabulary, writing and reading. The newest element in my room is reading something of choice and writing about it. I love to see them reluctantly pick a book and then light up after a few days because they are so excited to read it. Then, when I read their responses to these books I love that for some of them the book has moved them. I want my room to facilitate this spark in each one of them, so they appreciate and see value in reading and writing.
My demonstration idea is centered on the idea of making writing personal. My project is titled WRITING SOS: Writing that Saves our Souls. In this last year, my students have completed many different types of writing. But, when I had the students perform writing that they had a personal connection to, there was not only more energy behind it, but also the writing was of a higher quality. I began looking into how I still have the students read the books and complete the assignments but do this with a personal connection. Making their writing more narrative based made it more enjoyable for them, and in turn more enjoyable for me to teach them and grade. The two big connections we made are from the book “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien and “The Hazelwood Trilogy” by Sharon Draper. These are both books I used in sophomore English, but one was for developmental students and the other for higher students. The kids use these books as a starting point for their own writing. To take this even further, as a final writing project I used the idea behind many different films to inspire the kids to write about their lives and moments that inspired them.
Response to Julie Leimbach
Hi, Julie! I’m very interested to see what you do with “meaningful conventions” for ESL students. I often teach the bridge writing class for our ESL students, and there must be some more effective ways to help them with grammar so that their ideas do present clearly. The only activity I’ve used (outside of worksheets) is to work through passages with specific grammar issues as a class. They enjoy it, but I’d love to learn more ways to help them understand and apply the conventions.
Dawnne
I can’t believe I did that–this response is to Tim!
So here it is again–Hi, Tim! I’m very interested to see what you do with “meaningful conventions” for ESL students. I often teach the bridge writing class for our ESL students, and there must be some more effective ways to help them with grammar so that their ideas do present clearly. The only activity I’ve used (outside of worksheets) is to work through passages with specific grammar issues as a class. They enjoy it, but I’d love to learn more ways to help them understand and apply the conventions.
Dawnne
Response to Dawnne-
Dawnee,
I understand your need to building reading and writing strategies into your classroom at TMCC. It always amazing me how much students need at that level. I am sure that you have found many research articles in the area of think-alouds. Part of my masters was creating a thesis on a reading strategy and I focused on think-alouds. Please let me know if you need any resources, I have a ton of books and articles. I am not sure why I saved them but I did. I am excited to hear your presentation to gain a different perspective on something that is so beneficial to students and adults. Your topic is wonderful for all kids at all levels.
Response to Rebekah Foster-
I am very excited about your presentation! I have never used the writer’s workshop, but am starting to think that this may help me finesse what I read from my students in their science journals. The idea of having students keep a journal over the summer is a great one from my perspective because I have the same students for two years. I bet that I could see a lot of growth over the summer. I am also interested in reading the book by Ralph Fletcher. I also think that the use of the peer response letters will be great for my kids because peers are so important to adolescents.
Response to Sandy~
I am very excited to see what you have for your presentation. One of the weakness that we have identified at our school is our Constructed Response questions. I took a (wonderful…) class this year that focused on instruction in this topic. However the feedback I received from my Administration about the techniques I was using was not positive and so I feel as if I am headed back the the drawing board. I am very excited to see another way to approach this topic which is turning into a bit of an obsession for me!
Hi, I’m Robert Munson (“Hello Robert”—sounds a bit like the beginning of an AA meeting)…Well, I am currently teaching Read 180 and Freshman English at Wooster High School, so I have two classrooms—my English room that I share with a French teacher (having work posted around the room in both languages really creates an interesting atmosphere) and the Read 180 Lab. For this process I will focus on my English classroom; however, to further complicate matters, I’m only teaching one of the two English classes because I have student teacher who recently took over one of the classes. So let me tell you a little about my classroom environment and my approach to teaching. I really believe it is important that students feel comfortable in the classroom and so I allow them to choose their seats. I give them a few days to try out different areas of the room and then on a predetermined day, I walk around and set up my seating chart based on their choices. I very seldom have to move students, but periodically as student will ask me if he or she can be moved. If the newly desired seat is already occupied, I have them negotiate with the person who “owns” the seat. I have found that this demonstrates to students that I respect them as individuals and puts the responsibility on them if a change needs to be made. I also set up appointment clocks so that they aren’t always discussing things with their friends, but instead get a chance to interact with a variety of partners. I have a very diverse group of students and on any given day 20% of them are absent—attendance is a big challenge. I (like most of us) have students of varying ability (from 1st grade reading levels to post high school), so I attempt to differentiate instruction as much as possible and give students multiple ways to meet the standards. I spend the first half of the year focusing on short stories and the elements of a story, using some of the approaches in the SIOP model. I focus on character motivation and the internal/external conflicts that drive the story. I use a lot of anecdotal stories to help students make connections. I also use journaling to help students make connections to literature and think about what they are learning. Journals are 20% of the final grade and it is an area that students can earn extra credit if they go beyond the requirements. I use open ended prompts such as “If I were Romeo…”; “If I were Doodle’s brother…”, or “Of the characters in Animal Farm, I most/least resemble…because….” Students often share their journals and we all learn. Students are free to go wherever the prompt takes them, knowing that I’m not going to be looking for any particular response. We read and discuss numerous examples which culminate in the students writing their own personal narratives. I love reading these because they are as diverse as the students and even students who have a difficult time with writing want to tell their stories. Students read their final papers to the class and I enjoy hearing kids asking other kids about an event in a narrative. One kid was even showing off his scars to the other students at the end of class. I believe this also validates my students because they become the subject of study. It also strengthens their desire to read because they begin to see how they connect to the stories we read. The second semester I focus on the novella (Animal Farm), poetry, and tragedy/drama (“Romeo and Juliet”). We focus on more expository writing, however, students also put together a persuasive opinion piece after reading Animal Farm and discussing how people are manipulated.
My Presentation
Well, I feel a little bit behind because I’m struggling here. I had a couple of ideas, but it’s so close to the end of the year and I’m in the middle of teaching “Romeo and Juliet”, so I feel really constrained by time and my sudden lack of creativity. I always complete this unit by having students create a poster board Newspaper based on the play. I have students create a main article and two supporting articles. I give extra credit for creative layouts, pictures, illustrations, and extra pieces such as horoscopes for characters and advice sections. I tell students to be as creative as they would like, but capture something important that stood out to them. They generally, at this point in the year, feel comfortable with my grading (and they get the rubric upfront), so they know that I’m not going to penalize them for taking the project where it leads them. When I first moved to high school from middle school, students had a problem with me because I gave too little direction and they wanted more structure—I hate being constrained when I’m writing or working on a project because I have always believed rules to be “nice guidelines” rather than rigid practices. However, I have learned to give my students a solid, but very flexible structure. I have read most of Breakthroughs and have one article that sort of addresses this topic, but I am still researching support for it. I had to re-design my project and assign it without the research because I had to give students time to complete it. I’m sure that I will revise it based on research I find.
I truly apologize for writing very long and verbose paragraphs, but if you made it this far, it can’t be too bad!
Hello all. My name is Sonia Joy and I am in my 5th year of teaching at Agnes Risley. I am currently teaching 2nd grade in a team teaching situation. LOVE team-teaching! I have the most wonderful team partner in which I have learned more in the past two years, than my 4 years as a college student. I come from a highly data driven school where benchmarking, color coding, and assessments are an everyday occurrence.
What are you proud of in that room? I am extremely proud of all the student work displayed in my classroom. My first year of teaching, I went to the PTA store often in search of all those cute posters, bulletin board displays, and attractive wall art. However, I quickly realized that my children weren’t buying into all those motivational posters like I had thought, but when I put up student created materials, they were invested. They took ownership of the classroom and walls. They can truly say “this is MY classroom.”
What do your students do while they’re with you? Have fun of course!! It is my goal to make my students laugh EVERYDAY. If it is by accident, on purpose, or even during an administrator walk through. I enjoy hearing them talk, giggle, laugh, and enjoy their classroom community and peers. I love to share the joys of life with my students and I have found that creating a classroom community rich in trust, communication, laughter, and cooperation, can create powerful students.
Response to Caroline Hatcher:
I also enjoy teaching The Catcher in the Rye! I have taught it numerous times and my students really enjoy the book. I can’t wait to hear how you adapted your lesson to this novel.
I had one student in summer school admit that he had never finished a book before, but had “borrowed” a copy and finished it in one night(we completed the reading in class and books weren’t checked out). I always worried that only a small portion of the class would find it relevant, but that wasn’t the case. At the end of the novel, we discussed why it was on most of the major “ban lists” and we ended with students choosing sides–to teach or ban this novel–going to one side of the room or the other. Then the teams would come up with arguments using specific themes or content from the text as support.
The only problem I encountered was that the majority of my students (and in some cases all but one or two students)felt it should be taught, so I had to choose some students to argue against the novel. The debate was always interesting and lively.
Thanks for sharing,
Robert
RESPONSE TO KRISTINA: I agree that it is a challenge for students to develop personalized pieces of writing when given prompts. One thing that I found at my school was that when given prompts, students initially were really only concerned about writing what was “expected” or the “right” answer. I’ve tried to teach the students to blend fact and fiction, to make things up. When writing a personal narrative, some students were reluctant to write something unless it actually had happened in their lives. They didn’t understand that, in writing, it’s OK to fabricate and exaggerate.
Presentation Introduction: Memoirs: A Slice of Life
Carol Gebhardt
I spent 12 years teaching in upper elementary school classrooms. Writer’s Workshop was one of my favorite times of the day because my students were able to work at their individual ability levels and accomplish authentic writing at their own pace. In my room my students were allowed to choose most of their writing topics and they decided which pieces they wanted to put through the writing process. Sometimes we would work on a specific genre of writing and then they would be required to write for that genre. We also did response writing during our literacy block. Occasionally students would choose pieces from our response writing that they really liked and take that piece to their writer’s workshop folders to put it through the writing process.
Since I have been out of the classroom, one of my projects was to put together a guide for the Northern Nevada Writing Project titled Going Deep with Compare and Contrast Thinking. The purpose of the guide was to integrate writing with Marzano’s strategies from the book Classroom Instruction that Works. In the introduction to the guide, I explain briefly how frustrated I became with my students because their idea of comparing two characters on a Venn Diagram was saying that one character was a boy, and the other character was a girl. I say frustrated with my students’ comparisons, though really I knew I was the one who needed to make the change in how I was teaching compare and contrast. The guide includes tools, written response ideas and lessons that actually teach students to make high level thinking comparisons and then write. During this quest of putting together a guide for compare and contrast I made two important discoveries. The first discovery was that asking students to compare and contrast did not always mean they were thinking at a high level. The second discovery I made was that having students compare and contrast can set them up with valuable skills and background information that make a difference in their writing.
One of the lessons created by Kim Bronk, a fifth grade teacher at Whitehead Elementary School, was about having students write memoirs. I decided to use Silver, Strong, and Perini’s approach to using the strategy of Compare and Contrast while teaching Kim’s lesson to a group of 4th grade students at Florence Drake Elementary School. Kim’s lesson was my inspiration and then I applied the four steps from Silver, Strong and Perini to help students connect their knowledge of writing to writing memoirs. My presentation is about how to use the strategy of compare and contrast to have your students prepare to write about a certain genre or any topic that fits your classroom setting. I learned a lot about compare and contrast just by using this lesson with these fourth graders at Florence Drake Elementary. I can’t wait to share what I learned with you on June 16th, our first day at UNR.
Response back to Amy: Oh, yes, thank you for the offer of resources! I would love to have more to look through!
Response to Karen: I truly like The Things They Carried, and have often wondered how I might include it in my classroom. I’m excited to learn from your presentation other ways of helping students make connections with their writing through their writing. I agree that their writing is more alive when they know it is their own–that they wanted it and that it is part of them.
April Doerr’s Introduction and Presentation Idea:
I’m that MATH teacher in our writing class. I like my classroom well enough but I’m always wanting to make it better, which is one reason why I’m taking this class. I teach grades 10-12 at Fernley High School, and our curriculum is pretty awesome because it incorporates so much reading and writing into the study of mathematics. If you open a math textbook in my room, it is covered in paragraphs (yes, in letters), not proofs. It is an integrated curriculum that leads the students to discover theorems and mathematical relationships for themselves. I use flexible grouping in pairs and individuals, but most of the time I have my students work in groups of three or four. My students use each other to learn the concepts through discussion, heated discussion, summary for the kids who were absent, and blatant teaching and learning. My students generally think my class is easy and say that I explain things well. When I put my mind to it, I’m quite good at emphasizing vocabulary and graphic organization.
My idea for my presentation explores the parallels (sorry, I couldn’t help myself) between teaching math and teaching a second language. Teachers: can you translate Math into English for your students? Students: can you learn mathematical concepts in English and apply them to Math? Important concepts in second language acquisition include speaking and writing to remember, and using the key vocabulary in connection to the first language. I would like to incorporate these essentials into my classroom through the use of graphic organizers, creative ways to emphasize vocabulary, and writing responses as part of assessment.
Response to Karen:
I like how you strive to make your classroom comfortable. I was wondering if you noticed a difference in attitude in your at-risk students, or shy students, or female students in your classroom versus elsewhere in the school. I would imagine that such a safe environment would make students able to let their guards down.
I also wanted to ask you if you feel that such a comfortable environment affects the classroom management in any negative way. I know that a small amount of nervousness or stress enhances learning because it pushes the students to their potential. Do you find that they are too laid-back to be pushed? I wanted to ask your opinion because that is a balance I am trying to find in my classroom. Thanks.
Response to Jen,
I’m glad you chose the science notebook for your topic. I think it will be great to develop quality assignments/ideas for student note taking. I always like to make sure students complete each unit with a quality product and a well designed notebook sounds like a great one.
Terry
Response to Julie,
I think there will be a deep personal sharing between parents and children both as a result of the writing and the unintended result of just spending time together without the TV, the rest of the everyday stuff that goes on at home. Looking forward to our class.
Hi Julie, I want to applaud your efforts to extend writing to the parents and to students beyond school work. That’s how they will begin to make writing a meaningful part of their lives like all of us have.
Terry Stelle
Response to Amy,
Reading with a writer’s eye sounds like a fun focus. In elementary we still read aloud daily and so have a lot of opportunity to share writer’s techniques as we come across them.
I think it is a great link for our budding writers to look at the methods good writers use and use their frameworks. A lot of great starters on Writingfix.com. We’ve had great fun with several already.
Looking forward to seeing what you’ve chosen.
Terry Stelle
RESPONSE TO ROBERT:
You and I are alike- I honestly did make it to the bottom of your “novel,” (:>) because I knew exactly what you were talking about every step of the way, specifically the lack of creativity part! That happened to me with Catcher in the Rye this semester, and add trying to teach in a 50-minute period, I barely made it. So, I do have an idea of how I would have done my presentation with them, but never fully initiated it- I did initiate it with my freshmen, and it’s due Monday, so we will see!
Digression! Regarding lessons with parents, I did a fun activity with Romeo and Juliet involving parents again(this really works for me) and I had the students write about an ideal mate for them, while the parents wrote about their ideal mate for their student on another piece of paper. They had to share and discuss this (Montague vs Capulet style) with their parents- yes, they had to talk - and then the students had to write up about the conversation. Maybe you could try it out next time? End result: The apple either falls right next to the tree or way down the hill in an orchard far, far away! Looking forward to your presentation!
Caroline Hatcher
Hi, I’m Desiree and I am the 7-12 literacy trainer at RPDP. Previous to this assignment, I was a 7th and 8th grade English and U.S. History teacher at Pine Middle School. I love middle school students, especially the struggling ones. I was known for taking the hardest to manage/most difficult to teach students under my wing and getting them to be excited about writing. I am not a perfect writing teacher by a long stretch but I have great passion for reading and writing. In the strengths finder inventory from the book, _Now, Discover Your Strengths_ by Marcus Buckingham and Donald Clifton, my results indicate that my top strengths are empathy, input, context, achiever, and harmony. What does this mean? I am all heart; I look to the past to guide my present decisions (I’m my own Jerry Springer episode). I love to read and collect information…I am driven to reach my own personal goals but I abhor conflict and avoid it at all costs. I can be terribly idealistic and I believe with all my heart that we can make a real difference in the lives of children by our actions and our talents.
One of my goals this year has been to try to find my place in the training world and discover and cultivate my own voice. This goal led me to my presentation idea, “Finding Voice through Creatively Journaling.” Too often journal writing becomes a task used to kill time at the beginning of class periods…It is my intention to create a presentation that gives practical and realistic ideas on how to make writing into a practice in which students can define their own voices and explore themselves and the world around them. Sadly lacking in most writing assignments is student interest and excitement. Creative journaling allows for personalized writing in multiple formats arranged in ways that support individuality and choice. As teachers of writing, we want students to take what we present and offer them and use it to find meaning in their personal lives. Of course, besides the therapeutic value and the practice of journaling, writing standards (especially voice) are supported bu creative journaling.
Hi, I’m Greg. I teach freshmen, juniors and seniors at Reno High. This is the end of my fifth year at RHS and twenty-third overall. My classroom can be an exercise in contradictions. It can be formal and yet casual at the same time. It can be a tremendous amount of work, but it can also be a great deal of fun. It can be quiet and orderly, but at times it can be maddeningly chaotic. Hopefully it is also challenging, thought-provoking, eye-opening, and rewarding. I enjoy a good discussion about literature. I try to get students to open their minds and listen to what others have to say. I have to admit that I am fairly old-fashioned. I don’t use much technology in my classroom. I believe that discussion and sharing ideas is still a good form of education. I love to read, and I hope that my enthusiasm for reading rubs off on my students so that at least reading is not just a horrible chore but a chance to enrich their minds or the doorway to many fantastic worlds.
My presentation is something that has been in the works for most of my teaching career. Since the beginning I’ve noticed that many students struggle with writing, particularly organizing their thoughts. I realize that many students are lazy and prefer to just start at the top of the page and end their efforts when the run out of things to say. While this type of stream of thought allows young writers to creatively dump their thoughts onto a page, it sometimes creates difficulty for those of us who try to decipher the ramblings of the teenage mind. I discovered early on that the more instruction I gave, and the more foundation I set up, the more likely I was to get what I wanted in return. So this presentation is the culmination of the trials and tribulations of an English teacher struggling to create some kind of order in teenage minds.
Response to Caroline and Robert:
I, too, love Catcher in the Rye, and I love the ideas you have suggested. Both are terrific and thought provoking for students of all abilities. I plan on integrating both into my portfolio for next year. This exchange is just making me more excited for the sessions to begin!
RESPONSE TO YVETTE DEIGHTON–DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION WITH IPOD. I love how you are focusing on current technology for millennial learners as well as using writing as a way of connecting to a subject other than English. I find it fascinating how other disciplines incorporate writing; furthermore, I think that your topic is timely and important for youngsters to develop not only an understanding of but also an opinion about. I hope that your lesson went well and that you have the samples you were seeking. And while I might not have my classroom set up the way you do, I can visualize how comforting and energizing your room would be.
RESPONSE TO JEN GARRETT
I have just spent the last few weeks madly grading my students’ writer’s notebooks and I am so pleased that I did what I did this year with them. With that in mind, I think it would be fantastic for you to have them journal over the summer between the two years. It worked fairly well for me, but I know that if I had my same students next year and I had them keep a notebook, they would be pros at it and their writing would be superb. In most of the cover letters they wrote to me, my students commented on how much they loved, utilized, and grew from the peer response groups and the peer response letters. I think that with your science curriculum, you could easily find a way to have workshops and something they turned in at the end which showed all elements of the types of writing scientists (or budding scientists) write. Can’t wait to talk more at the retreat.
REBEKAH FOSTER–UPDATE
At this point, I am in the middle of changing my focus for the presentation. When I was looking at my samples, I noticed that the larger picture was with the writing groups themselves and how through peer response letters and consistent writing groups and consistent writing time, I helped create a community of writers. In their cover letters from the writer’s notebook projects, several, several students commented on how neat the response letters were because they ultimately provided a “writing family” as one astute students noted. Reading that and seeing how the students valued the response letters and their group helped me to rethink my presentation focus. And while I still contemplate the ins and outs of my demonstration, I am heartened by what one writing group decided to do. They each had one more piece to work on for the final project, and in a flash of brilliance, they decided to try to write one story (one single plot line) but from four different perspectives with four different flavors/genres. Their idea was brilliant and the final product(s) were amazing. All because of the power of the writing family they had created! I love teaching!
Response to Caroline
What a great idea to draw in the parents! I love that! I can’t wait to try that next year…I may even move Romeo and Juliet to first semester. There is nothing better for young students than to see their parents modeling good behavior. It’s great for students to see their parents reading and writing!
RESPONSE TO GREG FERRERO
Though I have only been teaching for six years, I too feel like a traditional teacher in the sense that I don’t use much technology and I attempt to incorporate discussions about the literature as much as possible. Much like the philosophy that understanding can come through writing, I also believe that understanding can come through discussion. And while not every class is capable or able to discuss at ease, some classes are and then it becomes even more worthwhile. As for your presentation, I can’t wait to see and try out some techniques you’ve been building up over the years on how to understand/organize a teenagers mind. I agree with you that they sometimes feel that once they have everything on the paper they are finished; I work hard to have them see the value of revision.
Response to April:
It is so refreshing to see a “non-English subject teacher” who appreciates the reading and writing factor built into every subject, NOT just English! Often many teachers don’t realize that if the kids can’t read very well, how are they supposed to be able to understand the concept?! This applies to all students, but especially ELL students.
I am glad you are taking this class- I quite frankly have never heard a math teacher use the word “graphic organizer,” and had I, I myself may have gotten so much more out of math when I was in high school.
When I worked with literacy peer coaching across the curriculum, one pattern of success I saw repeatedly were classrooms filled with student-generated math charts. When a student can chart and explain the concept to others, they will retain 90% of this information, versus retaining 10% by just listening to a teacher’s explanation (that always fascinated me!). Also, I think it’s great that you have kids teach other kids who are absent- again, this proves the above, and BOTH students can benefit from this. I am looking forward to this summer with you!
Response to Desiree-
I love the idea of using journaling to find a person’s voice. Through this class I have found that having to do the three writing pieces is really allowing me to find my style and voice of writing- especially the writing piece that is a gift.” I am excited to see your presentation and see the possibilities of how to incorporate journaling into a busy curriculum-packed day. I agree with you when you say, “journaling allows for personalized writing in multiple formats arranged in ways that support individuality and choice.” I can’t wait to see your presentation and explore the research behind it!
RESPONSE TO CAROL:
I recently did a unit on compare and contrast with a group of sixth graders. I chose to focus and similes/metaphors and eventually many students came up with some fun to read pieces of writing. I’m looking forward to hearing more about the methods you used at Florence Drake.
Tim Casper
RESP0NSE TO APRIL
I always though incorporating writing into math was an interesting idea. One, students generally have strong feelings about math, and two, ariculating about a math concept has got to help a student develop an understanding of it….? Plus, I think it might be good as an informal assessment…such as explain what a fraction is. Isn’t Marilyn Burns big into this type of thing? I’m looking foward to your presentation.
Tim Casper
Response to April
I think that the think-aloud idea would work well with math, especially those “story problems.” I did find one example of a math think-aloud, but I didn’t find any that were responses to mathematical equations. Aren’t math and music both languages of their own? Your question has had me trying to think of an answer–how might I teach math as a second language? How would I articulate a derivative or some number to the 40th power? If I look at an equation, what does it say and what does it mean? (I love math–I took two semesters of calculus–it was fun!) It would be fun to try to write an equation in words, have it be creative, and have it make sense!
Response to Greg
I agree that discussions can be a powerful way for students to learn from themselves and each other. I sometimes have difficulty getting my students to engage, though–at least at the beginning of the semester. They have to learn that our classroom is a safe place to exchange ideas and that all ideas are valid. Of course, they have to support their ideas by anticipating all those “why” questions.
Do your students seem to focus their writing more after a successful discussion of a topic? I know that my less-strong readers write more confidently and effectivley after class discussions of readings. I’d like to do better facilitating discussions because successful ones do encourage the students. I need to learn how to ask better questions!
Response back to Tim:
I just wanted to say thank you for the idea of Marilyn Burns. I had heard her name before but it had not yet come up in research. I just Googled it and found four killer articles that I can use. I like this whole BLOG thing because maybe in our research for our own topics, or in our experience as teachers, we come across something that will help someone else. You did that, so thanks!
RESPONSE TO ROBERT
I totally understand what Robert is saying when he says that he hates to put constraints on writing. This year, I felt that I had to put so many requirements that the focus on the writing was lost. The most interesting part is that my students are so used tlo it that when I do something different they become mildly frustrated. We have trained them to work towards a page limit, with a certain amount of citations, and this exact format…but have we really taught them about writing? The impact it has and how it can change and express. Robert, I am totally interested in your rubrics and I commend you on standing your ground to value students and their work.
Response to Yvette:
Hello! I wanted to tell you that I’m really looking forward to your demonstration. My roomate took a Japanese class at UNR this semester and had assignments involving using technology such as Photo Story, Win Movie Maker, and Google Page Creator. The instructor had them create websites and post projects to their websites, which were reviewed and graded by the instructor, and also made available to other class members. The technological aspect of the class was cutting-edge, and many of the students made highly entertaining Japanese “movies” that even I, a non Japanese speaker, thoroughly enjoyed. You said “you have to engage them before they can achieve.” I think your use of technology has the potential to motivate students to do amazing work.
RESPONSE TO APRIL
First, to answer your question about classroom management, I feel like I truley have to find a balance. If I have a class of students that can’t handle the environment I have to sometimes pull int he reigns. Overall I have found that while then environment is laid back the students still pay attention because I demand it. One students said to me recently that I was the “cool teacher who wouldn’t let you sleep in class”. I am approachable and undestanding, but there are rules and I follow them as will they. I don’t accept tardiness, cellphones, attitude ect. The students know that I will take action if required and that keeps them alert.
As for your presentation, I am so excited about learning the connections between different subject matter. When all of our subjects link I only believe that it will enhance students learning and value in what they are learning. I also love math and I love that my love for math and English can be connected…I am looking forward to all you have to teach!
RESPONSE TO JEN GARRETT
First, I have always wondered if having students roll up with you canbe a double edged sword. For me, I think that it would present that challenge of not have a “fresh start” with some lower level kids. But in many ways I think I would love to stop the two weeks of “you know where to turn things in and you know you need a bathroom pass” and just jump right into what we have already done.
Notebooks are part of my goal for next year. Something that they have with them that they are constantly adding to and that they use to help them in class. I am looking forward to seeing new ideas to keep this going all year, since that is something that I struggle with as well.
Response to Barbara:
I really look forward to the rehab vocab.
I have tried numerous ways to teach vocabulary over the years and I haven’t been too happy with any of them. I have used the Vocabulary Cartoon Books and had kids work in pairs and use the words to write creative paragraphs which are sometimes fun to hear them read to the class. When the kids realize they can be as whacky as they want as long as the words are used correctly, I find they can be really creative. However, I don’t really believe that many of these words are retained in the long run. I have also had students choose a given number of words from each chapter of Animal Farm and look them up and then use them in either sentences (lower level students) or paragraphs. I give students extra credit for any extra words they look up and use—some students really go all out to bring up their grades. Again, I have had some success, but I don’t believe the new words really stick.
I was one of those kids who never looked up words (or rarely at least) because I figured if I couldn’t get the meaning from the context, it wasn’t that big of a deal. Really, in a novel, how important can one word really be? It wasn’t until I had to write papers analyzing poetry, which is condensed and every word is important, that I started expanding my limited vocabulary. In college I came to realize that words had power and that recognizing them and being able to manipulate them was a skill I wanted to develop. So on one level I am able to relate to my students, but I also want to spark in them the desire to know and manipulate language that took me so long to discover.
Again, I really look forward to hearing about your ideas and I will probably buy a copy of Bringing Words to Life.
Response to Dawnne:
It’s great to hear that Think Alouds are effective at the community college level because I often use them, but struggle with getting kids to begin using the techniques I’m modeling or even knowing for sure that students are gaining from them. I also use anecdotes all the time as a way of demonstrating my ability to connect to a story, a character, a situation, problem, theme, etc. My students often have a hard time connecting with a story, but often mention that they could relate to the anecdote. Many of them want to share their own anecdotes and before long students are excited about the story or at least beginning to make connections to the common themes.
I also model paraphrasing aloud, especially when reading Shakespeare. By the end of the play, most of the kids are able to paraphrase it on their own.
Response to Desiree:
The hardest trait for me to teach is Voice. I love reading my kids’ journals because they have so much voice and once they realize that I actually read it (I put smiley faces and little comments periodically), they begin to open up and I learn so much about them, their lives, and what they like and what they hate. I use open ended topics and my kids quickly learn not to ask what I mean by a topic because I tell them to just write about whatever it brings to mind. At the end of the first quarter my prompt was: My first quarter…. I had some kids write about the first quarter (25 cents) that they remember getting or saving. Some write about how a quarter isn’t worth much today and that the prompt shows how “old” I really am. Others write about the first 9-week period. When I ask them to share and some students realize that they should have written about the first 9-weeks and are upset or embarrassed, I spend time discussing why they were all right on track and that I don’t want them to write the right answer. I also get more than the ½ page I require because I offer extra credit for going beyond the requirement. Students soon realize that if they have nothing to say on a particular prompt, it’s okay because they can just write twice as much on the next prompt and they still get full credit.
So, I love their voice in journaling, but I don’t know how to carry that over to their papers. I also find that I don’t use the Journals in any other way and that I might be able to use them for further writing ideas.
I can’t wait to see your presentation
Amanda Mawson-Introduction
My classroom. This year my classroom has been a haphazard catch-all. It was my first year at North Valleys High School and my first year of having a student teacher. Both of these firsts inspired a lot of attempts on my part to try new things, remind myself of old things, and figure out who I am as a teacher and who my students are in my room. It meant many a tried and failed lesson, the remnants of which I just removed from my walls and cleaned out of corners, and very few successes. I always have lots of student work and student art/gifts hanging around. However, this year it just did not feel like it represented me and what my students and I worked on. So currently it is a blank slate and I am excited to reinvent myself!
As with my room, my lesson is still in the works. When I was at Reno High I did a “Magnetic Poetry Revision” lesson. Students took one of my essays (very humbling) and literally tore it up. I had them cut out chunks with scissors, rearrange passages and sentences and words. I had them use markers and draw arrows and lines. They loved it. It was the first authentic revision I felt my students had shown me. They asked probing questions and got “into” my essay. At this point I am not sure if it is the fact that it was my writing that they were tearing up or if they liked the physicality of it or both. So, I am hoping to center my lesson on that idea, but I am really not sure where it is heading…Ahh, the mystery!
Response to Karen:
I can’t wait to see what you have in store for your presentation. I am planning on teaching “The Things They Carried” next year and doing some sort of episodic writing with the reading. I would love to chat with you about how you go about it. Do your students appreciate the guts behind the writing? Do they appreciate the writing? My students also devour the Hazelwood trilogy. That is a pairing I never would have thought of…
Response to Desiree:
I took a class last summer in Concord, MA on Thoreau and teaching about place. We talked a lot about his use of his journal and how it was basically a rough draft. We had to practice by sketching and clipping and pasting in our own journals. There is a great book about it–categorized under “nature journaling.” However, it is super and I will pass it along to you if you would like…
Response to Rebeckah:
It is interesting that the students guided you to your presentation topic. I wonder what role the letters played in the creation of the “writing families”? How often did you have the peer groups meet? How did you determine who was in each group? Were there any less than stellar groups? How did you set it all up in the beginning of the year? How might you tweak this for regular ed. students and/or ELL and Sped? I really want to work this into my classroom next year…
RESPONSE TO ROBERT or ANYONE:
Robert, have you had any luck finding research or ideas (organization, development, etc) on writing non-fiction for high school students? I feel like there is a ton out there on fiction writing, but in preparing my students for college, I am desperate for more, trying to move beyond Jane Schaefer. Just wondering…I was thinking about this when you were writing about voice, because I do believe that comes into play with character and literature analysis, as well. Thanks.
Response to Caroline:
My community college students write non-fiction essays. They read a series of articles or essays on a particular subject, and then they craft an essay that synthesizes evidence from the readings and evidence from their own experiences. If you would like, I’d be happy to share my rubric and some student samples. We work on organization, voice, paragraph development, focus, supporting details, everything…
Response back to Robert:
The difficult part of all of this is getting them to actually read more than just the words on the pages of those assigned readings. I’ve used other techniques, too, to help them engage with the text, and I think that I like the think-alouds best. Next semester, I’ll start this at the beginning to get them more used to working through text together–and to practice identifying writing technigues that work (and why!), and so many other things.
Response to Gregg Ferrero- by Yvette Deighton
Hi Greg, your struggle with helping teens organize their thoughts is a familiar one. As a science teacher I was never trained in teaching writing, and like you have been very frustrated trying to decifer the point as I read short answer essays or other writing assignments. In my recent work with teaching writing I found the use of a graphic organizer very helpful. The students were guided to decided on the key ideas and organization of thier paper before writing. I had used G.O.’s for understanding concepts, but not writing, and I really liked it. I can’t wait to hear what ideas you have for this problem. Yvette
Response to April Doerr’s demo- by Yvette Deighton
Hi April. It will be nice to see you again this summer (our professional development plans keep crossing paths.) I would agree that teaching math is synonomous with teaching a second language. Students have to translate symbols and equations into words and back again. This is really challenging since both language and equations are so abstract. Like math, science has a language of its own. Teaching vocabulary with gusto is essential; apparently one needs numerous interactions with words to begin to understand them and the relationships they have with other words. This must be true of math symbols also. I also am really excited to hear about you assessment ideas. Yvette
Response to Kristina Wulfing- by Yvette Deighton
Hi Kristina, I love your idea of helping students find thier voice through writing prompted by different sensory stimuli. I think this appeals to me especially because of our science background, but also as I think of how the brain works. We have to capture one’s background knowledge before we can ask them to learn anything new; our brains store information that is linked to our senses, so this is a great way to connect the old and new. I also love the idea because we know the majority of our students love music and are highly visual. I look forward to participating in the lesson. Yvette
Response to Barbara Surritte,
The book you suggest “Brining Words to Life: Robust Vocabulary Instruction” is a great book. I have used it in my classroom for a couple of years. My daughter attended Shaw and she knows the tiers discussed in the book like the back of her hand (much to her dismay). But, she is a stronger reader and writer due to the techniques she learned. I really look forward to your presentation! Reaching the students through their interests should help a great deal. I believe vocabulary instruction is something that every teacher knows is important and needs attention, yet in practice it doesn’t quite get the attention it needs to be successful.
Response to Sandy~
I am looking forward to hearing your ideas on constructed response. Constructed response has been a source of concern at our school. We have given instruction on how to respond to a constructed response question, but we have a long way to go. I have used a graphic organizer to help the students extract the information that they need for the response, but I am looking for different strategies to help them succeed. Thank you for addressing this issue!
Response to Tim~
I too have a similar problem with students not understanding conventions. However, I find that at our school it is not strictly the ELL students that struggle with conventions, but most of our students are struggling with conventions. I also found that they are struggling with organization. I look forward to your Authentic Conventions presentation. It would be very nice to help our teachers move away for depending strictl on DOL.
Terry,
I am really looking forward to your presentation! I have witnessed how effective your chants and songs have been for the students. I have even had the privledge of vidoe taping other classes using your content songs. The students love to read, sing and preform them. You make it seem so easy. I can’t wait to learn how to do it myself.
RESPONSE TO AMANDA MAWSON
Wow…lots of questions…I might have some answers. First, let me talk about your presentation. I think that you are on the right track. At the beginning of the year, I used one of my own fictional pieces from high school to teach students how to make warm and cool comments and a quick reminder in revision. It worked quite well, but I love the idea of the tactility of your demonstration. In teaching the traditional analytical essay style, I often have students piece together a previously cut up body paragraph, so I believe that working with the concept of revision and the essay is a spectacular idea!
Okay, on to your questions for me…..at the beginning of the year, I had students tell me what they thought they had mastered in grammar and had yet to master as well as what their best writing traits were. I put them in to groups of three, four, or five and had them work all semester (and in some cases all year) with the same group. They wrote response letters for anything major that was turned in..essays, fiction pieces, etc…and they were constantly in writing roups when we did in class revision techniques. For the first semester, they had to bring two copies of their response letters–one for the writer and one for me; also for the first semester I handed out guidelines on what could and should be included in the response letters. By the time we arrived at second semester, they were pros at it–I didn’t provide any specific guidelines and I didn’t collect any copies. For the second semester I handed out a schedule of working days and a list of what needed to be accomplished, and for the most part it worked. As for adapting…I think it is amazingly possible. For a non honors class, I would give more time to write and turn in the responses, probably some response letter writing practice with a draft of mine and a letter to me, time in class to do the writing (I allowed the letters to be hand written if so desired and that helped to have everybody complete them), and time after school or when possible for me to sit with a struggling student and help them write their response letters. Yes, I think that the response letters were a large part of creating that family–as well as constantly working in those groups. For the second semester, I asked students if they wanted to change groups (and to not choose based solely on friendship) and most groups remained the same or had small changes. Yeah, less than stellar groups occurred, but everybody ended up writing letters and everybody talked about how effective the groups were..even if a few people in those groups weren’t as effective as others. Okay, that’s quite a bit for now….I’ll see you later.
RESPONSE TO BARBARA
I too am quite excited for vocab rehab. I feel that is my weakest area and yet I LOVE words. I’ve done a bit better this year, but I am always eager for more strategies and specific ways I can improve instruction.