Writing Discussion Topic Possibilities

Since we are all at different places in our understanding of teaching and learning in the area of writing, I don't think there will be one topic alone all teachers want to discuss.  So I thought I would list some specific areas I would like to learn more about from other teachers in my building.  I truly believe we can all be resources to each other.  Although the Barry Lane, Lucy Calkins and 6+1 Traits books can be helpful, learning from the teachers I work with about more specific writing lessons has been the most powerful learning to impact my classroom recently.  I don't want to throw these resources out.  I just want to know how other teachers are teaching writing in their classrooms.  

1. More lessons with story boards (helping students to plan for more detail in the middle of the story by diving the middle frame into four parts)

2.  Using common graphic organizers for non-fiction text

3. Planning for writing across the year  (What GLCEs do we do well already?)

4. Planning for writing in science (Julie talked about this at retreat I think)  

5. How are teachers modeling for writing?  What are some effective ways to model?  (Charts, computers, using a notebook, using student work) How can we do a better job of modeling specific parts of writing?  

Please share your thoughts

I think David and Vickie developed a great mini lesson's template similar to the lesson worksheets used in the 6+1 Traits books.  There are a variety of ways they have used it to teach everything from grammar to how to give good names to characters.  

Summer Opportunities

We have so few opportunities as educators to talk during the school day.  All of us, so focused on our students and our families, neglect to meet our own personal needs of intellectual growth.  The idea of professional learning communities, may seem like just another education trend.  I think in our wold of multitasking we sadly need an official decree to validate how critical it is to hold meaningful, teaching and learning related conversations with other educators.

In a world of facebook, email, twitter and skype, teachers have the opportunity to take the summer and talk to each other as they learn about social technologies that will directly effect the classroom and the way people communicate in our changing world.  This is a win/win situation.  It just takes a few teachers to reach out to other teachers just like we reach out to our students, in a non-threatening exciting new way.  

So this summer, I hope to develop a more personal relationship with other teachers through reading and writing in hopes that it can lead to direct and explicit teaching about reading and writing in our classrooms.  I think that teachers need more time to develop their own understanding of themselves as readers and writers in order for change to happen in their classrooms.  

My hope is that others will see this blog as a possible forum to discuss and reveal their own journeys as readers, writers, teachers and learners.  Even if you are not an educator, many of you may be parents. This role serves a valuable perspective about reading, writing, teaching and learning.

Please post your thoughts!

Contributions

Yesterday I read a quote posted on Will Richardson's site taken from Gary Hamel about the value of writing in the blogosphere. He said,

Contribution counts for more than credentials. When you post a video to YouTube, no one asks you if you went to film school. When you write a blog, no one cares whether you have a journalism degree. Position, title, and academic degrees—none of the usual status differentiators carry much weight online. On the Web, what counts is not your resume, but what you can contribute.

What luxury and power we have now - immediate access to the general public. Still the desire to compete for an audience on the printed page exists. We are still finding value in the newspaper despite recent public discussion regarding it's inevitable demise. Even as we mourn the loss of an organized representation of our democratic voice in paper form, there is hope. Will the big newspaper names continue to dominate in electronic media forms maintaining a prominent place in public opinion? After viewing the commentary this last sunday morning by Josh Landis and Mitch Butler on CBS, it sounds as though history is continuing to repeat itself. According to Landis and Butler, during the time of Benjamin Franklin, there were reporters called "pamphleteers", circulating papers similar to blogs. These beginning newspapers even contained their own pages in the back devoted to individual commentary similar to the posting we do in the context of a blog, Watch CBS Videos Online.

It will be fascinating to see how our our information sources evolve and emerge. What will be the next "New York Times"? Will it be the Times? The Post? The Tribune? Or will there be a news organization rising to the top of our Bookmark list without the credentials of the New York Times but just as valid a voice?

Even though Will Richardson has established himself as a reputable voice in the blogoshere, his commentary stems from a well-respected newspaper. Gary Hamel may say it does not matter what the credentials are of the voice. Yet, in this instance the vehicle of the Wall Street Journal still holds the prowess of verbal power today.

Writing More Than One Piece at a Time

This is my first experience with writing something over time I really care about. It's interesting that I care about it so much, I don't always feel inspired to add to it, but I know I need to write daily. So, I started something else. Then the second piece became my "just for fun" piece and I didn't feel so stressed that it was not perfect. It was amazing how writing the second one was still an outlet for creativity, yet not one that I cared for more than getting ideas down in words. I wonder what implications this thinking has for the way I teach writing in the classroom. I suppose I feel like kids need some guided writing opportunities and free writing opportunities going on at all times. They should be challenged to write in a way modeled for them, whether it be a specific type of writing or genre. But, also, they need to know their own personal voice, whatever this may be, is valued in the classroom just as their own choice for reading is valued. I also know now what it feels like to need to stop in the middle of an unfinished piece and dabble in something else for a while. Humf? Who knew?

The Writing Process Breakththrough

My staff has been having a continuing conversation about writing since the beginning of this school year. It has been such a wonderful, deep-growing conversation. It has become organic. There has been so much I have learned from the teaching of my colleagues Now, each of our staff meetings has an element of teaching in it because we get so fired up watching each other teach.

Lately, we have been talking a lot about the complexities presented when trying to teach children about revising their writing. As adults, most of us have access to a computer. Word processing is so seamless in this environment. But, with a lined-paper-notebook-and-pencil environment, there isn't as much flexibility. After our most recent meeting, the staff came up with some concrete ideas to help children create more structure for revision. This last week I really concentrated my modeling energy on the benefits of skipping lines and using an asterisk like a footnote to a section added in later pages. Then after students wrote, I very quickly scanned their writing and drew an asterisk in a place I where I thought there could be more description. I went to a new page and wrote the title of the story at the top with the asterisk. Then after they told me what they were going to add they went back to writing it. Finally, they came back to me again and I reread the whole piece including the new details through to the end. I made overheads of two samples to show the kids. This was my next lesson - showing them how other children changed their writing.

I need to constantly remind myself about "The gradual release model" Regie Routman talks about in all of her books suggesting students move from dependent to guided to practice to independent with new learning. I also need to remember, as a second grade teacher, my children may only be able to reasonably perform in the dependent and guided categories while they are with me. As older elementary students they may be able to practice and work independently. This is why it is so critical we connect as teachers across grade levels to communicate about the explicit lessons we are offering students so the next teachers in the link can continue the work.

Here I am on a snow day. The ultimate teacher geek! Who does this - reflecting about teaching on the first day of Christmas vacation? I must be totally certifiable!

The New Professional Development: The Network

In December of 2006 I wanted to quit teaching. I was so frustrated with the walls that kept defining my classroom while my mind soared beyond. Blogging has changed that forever. Now, it is becoming an integral part of how I survive knowing there are others in the network who think the way I do. Even though I still long to connect within my building with others on this level, knowing there is a presence of minds to support my thinking and continued learning puts me at ease. I’m still adjusting to the type of new professional relationship that develops in this space. It continues to be far more than any static, prepackaged, one-size-fits-all PD. Now, I hope someone in central office can get a taste. Soon.

This was in response to a posts on weblogged.

Keeping Track of my Learning as I Learn to Teach about Learning

What a struggle all this information is in my head. How can I organize my thoughts? According to my colleague, I am a digital immigrant and not a digital native like my students will be and my own children are. I feel like I am constantly translating my linear thinking into a new framework, flowchart, web-like reality. I want to promote change in my school and my district at the same time pushing myself to go further in my own learning and the way I teach in the classroom. I think there are many people who think that because we teach lower elementary there are not going to be significant changes to the way we teach. I can imagine the teachers in early childhood thinking that web 2.0 possibilities could not possibly effect classroom instruction, assessment or their own learning for that matter. It does feel like jumping off a cliff into the unknown in many ways. So how can we stay grounded to our research based best practices and expand them into this new way of thinking, working, living?

I like the way Dean Groom has organized his thinking about teaching and learning on his blog. It is giving me a model. First, looking at his blog has given me a structure for how to record my thinking. I want to reflect in a purposeful and authentic way for future use for myself and possibly other educators. I want to record the authentic projects I create for my classroom. Dean Groom has created a visual file cabinet of his ideas. Why can't I start this way?