Entry 4: Using mentor texts to introduce genre

 This week, I want to focus on how I will use mentor texts in the future to teach genre. Before introducing each genre, I want to expose my students to a variety of mentor texts so they can inspire and scaffold the genre for young writer's. 

Entry 3: Enhancing writing instruction for future learners

Richard and Hawkes (2006) argue that teachers need to make explicit connections between reading and writing by focusing on components of author’s craft. Focusing in on one strategy across the reading, writing, and letter parts of a lesson helps students link the isolated components of balanced literacy.

As I start to look at my own teaching practices and I am noticing that I have put a larger focus on teaching reading strategies because of how many novel studies I have integrated into the school year. I am a 6^th grade special education teacher in a 6:1:1 setting for students who struggle with emotional/behavioral disabilities. The skills of my students usually differ greatly from one another. This year in my class of 5 students, I have a child reading at a Fountas and Pinnell Level Z equivalent to a high school reading level sitting next to a child who is a level K (Grade 2). In the past, I have gotten very caught up with students responding to literature through writing prompts/questions. As I progress through this class, I know where I will make essential changes to help students become better writers. I will incorporate the six traits of writer’s craft into my instruction. According to Tompkins, the six traits of writer’s craft include ideas, organization, word choice, fluency, conventions, and presentation. Currently I teach ideas and organization well. I read aloud often and offer students an opportunity to engage with different types of text. The mentor texts I select have well developed ideas that demonstrate the trait that I’m focusing on. I also focus a lot on organization and do a lot of work around drawing diagrams (BME structure), collecting effective leads/endings, and paragraph building. These 2 traits are easy to focus on with my students because I have a lot of diversity in terms of skill in my 6^th grade special education classroom. I want to focus more on word choice and fluency with my future students. I am absolutely adopting Tompkin’s (2016) “dollar words” in my classroom. Students need to learn that good writer’s use words effectively. I plan to provide my students with mentor texts where they can explore word choice. Using reading to make themselves better writers. Rickards and Hawes (2006) highlight quite a few minilessons that would have benefited my students in the past. I could have tied in the minilesson “What words or phrases grab your attention?” in my zoo research project. During this project, students researched whether zoos were a good or bad thing. They collected evidence to make a claim and wrote argumentative essays. This specific lesson would have tied in great because their work is meant to be well researched and persuasive. 

References 

Rickards, D. & Hawes, S. (2006).  Connecting reading and writing through author’s craft. The Reading Teacher, 60(4), 370-373.

Entry 2: Digging into my past practices

I can still remember the silence of my 3^rd grade classroom as I looked around the room during Writer’s Workshop. I always had too many ideas or absolutely no idea what to write about. I often needed teacher or peer support during the planning/brainstorming process. I think it was due to my lack of confidence. My elementary school years were very awkward years. The Harry Potter glasses did not help. During my K-12 instruction, I was exposed to Writer’s Workshop Kindergarten thru 8^th grade. Writer’s Workshop seemed to “die off” in my ELA classes by 9^th grade when we started reading Shakespeare. Writer’s Workshop instruction from K-8 always included independent writing, sharing, minilessons, and read alouds. The amount of sharing during Writer’s Workshop decreased as I got older and I really wish that wasn’t the case. The sharing aspect of Writer’s Workshop always helped my confidence in my writing abilities. The focus on celebrating completed writing projects, not on revising the compositions to make them better made all of the difference (Tompkins p. 19).

During my second year of teaching, I sat among my colleagues for a professional development opportunity titled “Lucy Calkin’s Writer’s Workshop.” I remember sitting in this conference and making constant connections with my own K-12 learning experiences. My own childhood experiences in Writer’s Workshop made implementation easier as a teacher. During the PD, we were allocated a budget of $150 to purchase Writer’s Workshop supplies. My school district agreed with Tompkins (2016), arranging a classroom for Writer’s Workshop activities is essential during the implementation process. I purchased an easel and Mr. Sketch scented chart markers so I could create anchor charts for every mini lesson. After creation, I would hang them around the room as a visual resource for students that used to get stuck like me. I also purchased a Writer’s Workshop supply station and indicated that it was for student use only. This wooden countertop shelving unit was the home of their Writer’s Workshop Folders. These folders consisted of 3 pocket folders glued together with 6 pockets. Pockets within the folders were labeled in sequence- prewrite, draft, revise, edit, publish, on hold. I designed folders this way so students could physically move a piece of writing through the writing process. Students were always so proud when they were able to put their first piece into the publish pocket. These folders helped with organization and independence during independent writing time so I could conference with students. Hattie (2009) indicated that feedback as one of the two most effective methods for accelerating learning. With a class of no more than 6 students in my special education classroom, teacher-student conferences were happening often. Each child sat with me a few times a week and it showed in their writing. No “Writer’s Workshop Student Only Supply Station” is complete without some fancy office supplies. Sometimes some special ink gel pens and clickable highlighters is all a student needs to get into the writing process. My favorite addition to my Writer’s Workshop classroom upgrade was the addition of an Author’s chair at the front of my classroom. The antique hand painted chair provided an opportunity for students to share their personal writings and celebrate the writing process with their peers. One thing that my Writer’s Workshop lacked was protected time to write. Caulkins and Ehrenworth (2016) state that an ideal Writer’s Workshop includes 10 minutes of whole class instruction, followed by at least a half hour for writing time, and ending with 5-10 minutes for sharing/goal setting. My ELA block was only 36 minutes and my students often struggled with transitions/disruptive behavior. I had to designate a day for each of those steps.

The next time I implement Writer’s Workshop it will include all of Caulkins and Ehrenworth’s three elements of good writing instruction: protected time to write, choice over their topics, and response from a community of writers.

References

Calkins, L. & Ehrenworth, M. (2016).  Growing extraordinary writers:  Leadership decisions to raise the level of writing across a school and a district.  The Reading Teacher, 70 (1), 7-18.

Entry 1: Reflecting on my own reading and writing processes

With 4 years in the classroom under my belt, reflecting on my own reading and writing processes was more challenging than I thought it would be. I have always been a better writer when it came down to it. I liked it more growing up because it always felt more expressive. I still have countless journals laying around my apartment. The process of prewriting always came very easy as I am the master of ‘every day’ lists and brainstorms. I actually installed a small white Ikea desk behind my teacher table to harbor my sticky note idea boards. After reading Tompkins, I was able to reflect on my own writing processes. When it comes to composing a piece of writing, I sometimes get stuck before I even start. Putting ideas together in the drafting phase often feels permanent even though I teach young minds differently. I also often revise as I draft, and this probably contributes to the amount of time it takes me to get my ideas on paper. It takes forever! Tompkins gave me the meaningful reminder that the drafting phase is about dumping ideas on paper and not worrying about everything being perfect. Difficult to say to someone who can sometimes be a perfectionist 😊 When I prewrite, I often do consider the audience in which I’m writing for. Over the past few years, most of my writing has been just for myself. Professionally my writing has been for IEPs and for developing plans for struggling kiddos in my classroom. It’s very structured and data based. My audience is a special education team, parents and often heads of districts. I also almost always consider purpose when prewriting. When I write for myself, I often write with the intention to make sense of a very difficult situation. I work with children that have had significant trauma so it’s important that I hash out things and make my own sense so I can walk in the next day with a good head on my shoulders. When I write for others professionally, I have to consider data, my own personal beliefs and the collaborative thoughts of the team when constructing writing.

I am excited to embark on this blogging journey this semester just so I can start writing for more audiences and purposes than I talked about above. I’m looking forward to following each step in the writing process and exploring my own brain. Prewriting has become second nature but the dumping of ideas in the drafting phase (without going back and revising every 2 seconds) is something I’m looking forward to working on.

When it comes to the Genre Pieces Project, I will begin to prewrite/plan in a dedicated notebook. I have found this to be difficult so far. I have found that talking about writing before prewriting very helpful. The social component of this step has always been essential to me. I’m hoping that we will be able to chat more about this project as a class and maybe get some examples of ideas rolling.