Final Reflection

Teachers with teachers; We were our own keynote speakers.
How to have an orderly fire drill.
Getting to write.
Creating blogs.
Reading blogs.
Community of writers
Humor amidst anxiety
Digital Story telling--Macs Rule?
Writing ideas from coupons!
Nurturing Marigold seeds--a writer's metaphor.
Goodbye Rodney?
Border collies, sheep, catnaps.
Bird Walking--a novel term.
Make your own salads.
I am from . . .
We are going . . .

What I learned from presentations to take to classroom.

1. 6+1 Traits by Megan: I learned the "language" of the traits to use. I learned how to use picture books to model 1 trait at a time.
2. Writer's Notebooks by Lupe: I learned how to buy and prepare a writer's notebook for each student. I also learned some strategies for how to organize that notebook.
3. Journaling by Shannon: I learned about buying and presenting a journal to each student that they claim ownership of by covering and decorating themselves. I was given some writing prompts to write in the journals or have student write in. I was given ideas for grading and setting up routines.
4. Potpourri for Beginning Writers by Audrey: I was given black lines and opportunities to practice using some of them. I will take them with me in my toolbox in a notebook.
5. Content writing around 1 book by Cheryl K. Practical incremental example of a writing unit series of activities around 1 book. Some helpful concrete ideas to apply to any book.
6. Using music to inspire writing by Cheryl F. I was reminded about using song lyrics as take off for writing. I loved the idea of listening to music portions, stopping, drawing, then listening and drawing again. Writing can be added later.

Rubrics

Rubrics do not replace good teaching
Students help design rubric.
Revise the rubric as the year goes by, deleting, adding,
Rubric needs to be subject, development level appropriate


A rubric clarifies goals
A rubric designs instruction
A rubric communicates goals
A rubric guides feedback
A rubric guides the final product

A rubric can be used for
self evaluation
peer evaluation
teacher evaluation
ongoing evaluation
high lighted evaluation


Is the rubric valid?
Is the rubric reliable?
Is the rubric equal?

And yea for rubric web sites!!!!!!!

Did I hear behavior rubrics?


50 years ago my cousin said,
"All I learned to do in school today was stand in that stupid old line."

Hmm. Put that into a rubric?

Emily

Intentional. That is the word I would use to describe Bonnie's presentation on
test writing preparation and integrating that into the writing curriculum.

The teacher needs to be intentional in helping reluctant students learn to write on a daily basis or in writers workshop. The teacher must then be intentional in teaching students about real writing and test writing.


The teacher needs to be intentional in preparing students for test writing by using a simple writing prompt or idea to write in different genre. He or she must be intentional in teaching the process of how to take almost any writing prompt and use it to write in different modes and genre.

The teacher must be intentional in teaching children and practicing how to access writing strategies both in writers workshop but also in test writng practice.

The teacher must deliberately tell the students that this is "test writing" but that they can do it using strategies they already are practicing.

The intentionality is what I came away with. Also the process of teaching good writing but then also providing scaffolding exercies to prepare students for test writing.

Sound of Writing Second Third

In the second section of her book, Julia has "moved" from green New York to arid
Taos. She begins comparing aspect of the dry heat and scortched earth to the stalemat,or blocked creativity, or perfectionist inner cencor that a writer encounters.
With each vinette she gives either a creative writing prompt or a prompt to identify life-style areas that might help push through the "dry" time of a writer.

I found that this was practical for me. She mentioned things like write a list of 5 things that are being put off. Do one. Make a list of 5 things that are indirectly related to your work. Make a list of 10 things that you hope will happen. Put your fiath in God (a great Someone who cares for you)to believe you are being guided and are uniquely special. Husband yourself. List 3 things in 10 areas that you can make small changes to husband yourself. Do one.

What I have appreciated about Julia is that her prompts are both practical (transactional) and poetic. The implementing of the transactional writing, gives energy for the poetic writing.

At this time or during this season, I find her both firmly planted in my reality but also encouraging to expand it to include more writing.

Virginia Elliott
NIWP 2010

Things I Have Learned About Revision

1. Let the student read
2. Ask the student where they need help or what they think
about what they have written?
3. Separate writing fluency from conventions.
4. Work on one type of revising strategy at a time.
5. Have student peer share?
6. Ask student what he/she others would ask about the writing? What questions might they have?
7. Grade the process mostly, not just the finished project.
8. Publishing can mean many things—reading in front of the class, reading to someone.
9. Basic revising strategies such as types of questions, snapshot, thoughtshot, explode a minute shrink a century, and make a scene.
10. Have students self edit and then bring back again. He/she can use color to analyze what he is writing—snapshot, thoughtshot, exploding and scene.

Calkins Chapter 14 learning to Confer

This last week led me to a new feeling of freedom about "conferencing" with myself and then our son.

I realized that I had always felt obligated to accept all criticism or improvements in a paper. I then in turn felt that I was equally obligated to carefully edit and "correct" students' papers as I had been taught, and as I had thought I was supplosed to help children.

When I tried this "its your paper, you red it" with my family, it was amazing how our son became more animated. He read his job application, told me where the problems were and then was ready to go the next round on his own.

He especially like the leniency part, which meant that he didn't have to accept all input, but only that which felt like his. That liberated him.

4 pairs of lenses with glasses. I could get glasses from the dime store and actually put them on. Might be a good way to remind me and students what we are doing that day.

content glssses, Cream
design glasses dragon orange
process glasses green
assessment glasses aqua

I can see this making a difference not only in the classroom but in our home.

Bonnie Warne

I appreciated the affection and respect Bonnie showed towards her students and the honoring of her community.

She was refreshing in her approach to balancing the requirement for students to be prepared to do well in formal testing with the need to empower students to want to write to expand their futures.

She created practical tools which she explained with leniency in such a way that we were empowered to use this and adapt.


The article on the slinky which I envision as green and pink is a graphic picture of the process of writing. That concept is visual to use with students too.

There were resources she mentioned such as "E pal" that were new to me. It was a gratifying to be able to explore them before entering a school.

I was tantalized by the experience Bonnie has had learning to communicate to parents and others her intentionality in writing fluency and assigning grades. She would an invaluable resource if I ever had to think through how to balance the two.

Harper The Writer's Toolbox

First, again I recognized names like Nancie Atwell and Linda Rief--something I could not have done two weeks ago.

Second, I am so relieved to find someone who actually compared Writer's Workshop and Toolbox to an actual toolbox. Since I married a farmer, I have had to learn all about toolboxes. I have had to learn to know which tool was used for which purpose and heaven help you if you weren't able to supply the appropriate tool. I have learned to keep the tools in good working order and to keep the lid closed and locked so that the tools wouldn't fall out and get lost.

I liked the images attached to each of the tools: question is question mark, thought shot is thought bubble, explode a moment is a stick of dynamite, snapshot is a camera. Also I am drawn to the idea of actually having objects like tools to take out and put in a tool chest. I think this could have some variations.

The suggestion of a colored highlighter for each tool to mark the corresponding part of a journal writing is helpful and practical. I an easily see myself using this.
Also to think of the four equal fourths representing the four tools and making sure all are about equal. Very concrete, visual and easily applied.

Lucy Calkins chapter 13 Conferring

Lucy Calkins states that teacher student conferences and peer conferences are at the heart of teaching writing. It is through them that students learn to ask themselves questions about their own writing. The teacher models to the student how to interact with their own writing to revise it. The students eventually

A teacher's first priority is to know their students before knowing their writing.
This is tricky. The questions initially should be about the process that writer experienced to produce this writing. How is the writing going? How long has it taken you? What do you think about it? What part was difficult

These "research" questions should lead into more conversation about the child himself and hopefully lead to some ideas about what the student needs next. The teacher sifts through the options and then teaches the one thing that it seems the student needs next-a strategy to implement.

The motto is: Produce a better writer, not produce a better writing.

I find this a new way to think of conferencing and asking questions. I would like to explore and read more ways to ask these "research" questions.

Lucy Calkins: Art of Teaching Writing, ch. 11 Predictable

This reminds me of a refrigerator.

1. I have to have a frig.
2. My frig should have certain compartments, shelves, categories.


I have to have the frig. What if someone takes over most of it, or it goes on the blink or I am told I can only have it certain days a week. Yet I cling to having that frig. I may need to get another frig, or reduce the space I have, or rearrange it, but I hang onto it.

One has to hang onto a time for writing. Distill it down to what can be the most predictable time and amount of time you have. Then hang onto it.

Second, now that you have your frig, no matter how small it is or how limited the space, decide what is most essential to put in that frig. There are the dairy products, the meat products, the fresh fruits and vegetables and the created recipe dishes and the leftovers.
.
So now you have your "time for writng", in that time there should be components of writing. There are minilesson, time to write, time to confer, time to respond, time to share,and time to celbrate or publsih.

Linda Rief What's Right with Writing

First, how gratifying it was to read the list of names on page 34 under Quotable Quotes and actually now know who some of these people are and also know a little bit about their contribution to the writing field.

If I write down as "Important" what I summarized in the margins of the article,
this is what I wrote.


Writing is thinking--thinking deeply and wisely. Not only my thinking but as a teacher more importantly the thinking of the students.

Writers need to care about their topic. How the students feel about the topic will
spark the emergence of their individual voice.

Writers need to hear constructive responses. Not just "good job" on the paper, but at the least "one perceptive question" that moves the writer forward.

Sheryl Lane: Reaffirming the Writing Workshop for Young Adolescents

Having heard the term Writers Workshop repeatedly, been part of the process in the classroom, but never been "taught myself" I was grateful to finally begin to have some overview.

By having to make a poster child of this article, I began to internalize and finally have a comprehensive view.

The Mini lesson is the head and the conferencing is the heart. There are writing tools that the teacher provides and then "products" that the students produce.
Like an apprentice and a "master" craftsman (no one is every quite there), the work that the student is producing is mentored, expanded upon, guided by the teacher, but the work still belongs to the student.

I also appreciated the perspective of the author that the fundamental principles of the Writers Workshop can be kept, despite other methods and teaching philosophies coming along.

Barry Lane After the End chapter 7

Here are my "top 10 so far." I need to keep adding.
Reading further articles on conferencing is beginning to add some depth to these.


1. Ask students what is most helpful thing for teacher to do for you in a conference.
2. Conferences are not for fixing the student’s work. Revise my relationship with the student. It is their work, not mine.
3. Put the student in charge of the revising process.
4. Give 1 direction and define it.
5. Students go away from conference, filter everything, keep what is “them”

Barry Lane chapter 6, 7

Moment mapping and then rearranging.

This activity had appealed to me. By doing it in class I realized how much energy, time and thought it takes.
It is an extremely invigorating exercise, but for that reason, also cannot be rushed.

If this were a minilesson, 15 minutes might not be enough. It might take two mini lessons.

If it were part of a writer's workshop, still to honor the process, a teacher might need to scaffold it carefully being careful to honor the students and give adequate time.

The same applies for the cave mapping. In addition, with the cave mapping, the process of taking words to pictures involves a winnowing of thoughts. What is it I really want to say? These rough cave sketches might take more time than a teacher would anticipate or might create a "block" which needs to be worked though. Also it would be important to "model" the sketch so that artistic students be able to keep a balance between wrting and drawing.

I appreciated being able to practice these skills in our classroom. By putting on a student hat, I could begin to understand how a student would feel.

PS to Barry Lane chapter 1-5

I an still ruminating on the first 5 chapters.

I think that I want to practice more with the concept of snapshot and thought shot in my own writing.

I like the idea of mastering each separately and then putting them together, after thinking through where the "pivotal" moment to insert a thought shot is most effective.

I have begun a writing piece that I would like to pursue that combines these two crafts of writing.

After the End , Barry Lane; chapter 1-5

Of all of these chapters, the one newest to me is "snap shot" and "thought shots."

Ask questions that yield leads.
Notice the leads that give you a hungry feeling to write

Add details. Wear things, act things, ask things/
Make others want to run to the window and look.

Snap shots and thought shots. Learn to write them separately and then choose when to blend them together.

Create a scene. I understand this but find it hard to summarize.

Explode a moment. See writing as a series of mountains. Find the place in the mountains you want to dwell. Write from there. Shrink a century. Charlotte's Web
and early summer/

Non Magical Thinking by Emig

I was marinating this article on the way home, trying to come up with a graphic concept.
I thought of the organizer of a 3 legged stool.

When a teacher is ready to begin writing, imagine that the child sits on the stool.
The research on developmental stages is one leg and its practical application to this child, is one leg. The research implications for an intentional learning environment are the second leg.
Finally the third leg is the teacher deliberate teaching actions based on personal experience,
observation of pupils and a fully dilineated model of the writing process.

The child hopefullly will be able to sit on this stool and write, while not tipping over due to a missing leg.

To be honest, this seems daunting. That does not mean it is not worthwhile.

I am from . . .

I am from rice cookers
With chopsticks and green tea
I am from a blended household of Africa and Asia
with creaking hardwood floors, white walls and straw mats
I am from annually nurtured tomato plants
And the fragrant purple honeysuckle,
Whose long gone limbs I remember
As if they were my own.

I’m from Sunday gatherings and vigorous conversations
From a duo of brothers and a quartet of sisters.
I am from sunup steaming coffee and afternoon frosty ice tea.
And from visiting relatives that sleep on the floor.

I’m from A Child’s Garden of Verses and The Golden Children’s Bible Story Book.
From my mom who says, “It’s okay to be poor, but you don’t have to be dirty.”
I’m from rocking chairs on front porches watching the evening.
From the Appalachian Mountains of East Tennessee
And the volcanic hills and rice paddies of northern Japan.
From seaweed-wrapped rice balls and cornbread with honey.

I am from Great Grandma Bowman weathering the depression
On 25 cents a day, a vegetable garden and a milk cow,
And from a wooden Hokkaido bear head
From my mother’s heart to my wall
A 25-pound item lugged through San Francisco customs
A gift for my mother, her 5-year delayed gratification.
Now she gives back to me as she seems to say “Well done.”

By Virginia Noell Elliott

The Sound of Paper: Starting From Scratch by Julia Cameron

Julia has written her book as she was in two places during two seasons--
green spring New York and arid summer New Mexico.

She states that there are 3 life skills that she uses as a writer. If she is in New York but longs for New Mexico, these help her reconnect with New York. If she returns to New Mexico, but is thinking about the sophistication of New York, these skills get her back in touch with New Mexico.

1. Handwrite 3 pages every morning, about anything and everything to PRIORITIZE THE DAY.
2. Take yourself once a week on a festive outing called an Artist Date. This is a place to "romance" yourself, to indulge in a mystery. It could be a museum, a fancy shoe store, a new park, a new experience.
3. A twenty minute walk at least 3 times a week, but can be more frequently, to nudge habitual thinking and link mind and body.

I seem to have picked up these 3 habits since my early 20's and the writing prompts at each chapter's end are in sinc with my "own life from scratch."

Britton

When I wrote my wrote my personal statement for taking this class, I included that I needed to learn a philophy or philosophies of teaching writing.

As a result of reading first Moffat and then Britton, I am beginning to get the beginnings of that foundation. I am being stretched past my comfort zone, but that is good.

To have to think about Britton's 3 types of writing, expressive to transactional or poetic was a new landscape for me. I have a lot to chew on. Not sure yet how I learn and attain knowledge, but writing this a start.

Moffat, I, You and It.

To help remember and teach the 4 steps of Moffat, I would create a poster with clip art and the 4 verb endings: It is happening, It happened, It happens, and It could happen.
The clip art would depict 1 person, 2 people, a letter being sent and received and a person writing a book.

By each child having this, then we all would start at the same place--it would be out there on the table.

To keep myself and the students purposeful and focused, I might want to display a horizontal diagram of the school year showing how "we" will be starting with our comfort zone, like an oval rug and then adding to this "braided rug", oval by oval reading and hearing different types of writing, and then trying it on our own.

Since most K - 3 classrooms have reading rugs, it might be fun to have a model reading rug posted and add the types of writing "rings" to that rug so that we can see what we have added,
incrementally all year.