Another day of growing as a teacher of writing. I began my day with Monique Knight. We were able to experience another Writer’s Workshop. She delivered a mini-lesson and I rapidly took notes. I again saw how she Connected us to the lesson by referring to Those Shoes by having us think about what the author did in the writing so that we could apply that strategy to our writing. In the Teach, she had us do inquiry - to name what the author had done that was powerful, explain why it was powerful, and explain how the author made it powerful. For the Active Engagement, in partnerships, we found another point in the book where we were able to pull out what was powerful, why that particular piece was powerful, and explain how it was powerful. With the Link, she sent us off by reminding us of the teach point and we went off to try it ourselves.
She then went around and conferred with us again today. She ended our writing time with the Share - we learned about how Writing Partners can give feedback - students can learn from each other - ties in with what Amanda Hartman said Monday - I tweeted:
We then were able to practice creating our own teach points.
My other takeaways from my morning with Monique were:
- When thinking about your charts - have the skill on top and the strategies below.
- Writing Checklists should be used in science, social science, homework, etc. so that students are referring back to their learning of writing throughout the day.
The Key Note Speaker was Mary Ehrenworth. I very much enjoyed how she shared with us how her son’s teachers helped him become who he is today - The Child that Teachers Built: Lessons from Great Practitioners. She explained the ways in which teachers helped him become a stronger student and writer by:
- Think of talk as rehearsal
- even when our students cannot/do not write, have them talk about their experiences and talk with them as if they are writers - develop kids’ discourse
- Reach for high expectations fearlessly and relentlessly
- see what students can do with guidance and expect students to work hard
- Protect brave topic choices
- Support their writing choices
- Nurture friends as partners in risk
- honor that especially in writing, it is easier to open up, share, and take risks when working with a friend
- Begin to actively question social injustices all the time
- easily done with opinion writing
- try to do this in narrative and informational writing too
Mary ended with how students carry us, teachers, with them as they grow as learners.
We were able to learn with Amanda Hartman again. She focused on mini-lessons and conferencing.
We hook kids in the Connect. We can tell a story or metaphor, refer to a conference or student writing, or connect to another part of the school day.
She showed us a video of a mini-lesson and we discussed what we noticed about the mini-lesson. I was reminded of what I heard from the morning with Monique, as the teacher, we control pacing of the mini-lesson, so we must contain the student participation. Students are participating while working in writing partnerships and we are walking around and checking for understanding by listening to conversations.
When we moved to learning about conferring. She showed two videos of conferring. We were to name what we noticed and I saw her listening - I was reminded of Lucy’s talk about really listening to the writer - I saw Amanda restating what the student had said and then she moved onto to the teach point.
After, teachers asked, “How do you know what to teach?” Amanda offered a suggestion: take a few pieces of writing home and look through them, thinking, “What can be a teach point, or two, when I meet with this student tomorrow?” That way we go prepared to the conference.
I also saw how she (and Carol Anderson from Monday) pulled out a mentor text to use when conferring with the writer.
She also shared that we want to ask questions that we do not know the answer to - “How do you know you are done? What revisions have you made? What do you plan on doing next?”
We then focused on assessments - use the rubrics and the points found on them, allows teachers and parents to see growth. For instance, a student may still be a “3” but has grown in point value in particular areas. This is helpful when wanting to show growth when meeting with parents.
I ended my day by learning from Angela Baez - Revision Isn’t a Unit, It’s a Habit - that was her title and a huge takeaway for me.
She explained that we (teachers and students) need to be sure re-envision revision. We want to be sure to look at revision positively. We want to embrace, acknowledge, and celebrate revisions when we notice students doing the revision work. Revision is done all throughout the writing process, not just at the end. Remember - Revision Isn’t a Unit, It’s a Habit!
She also showed us some books that explicitly mention the revision process in their stories:
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