Chapter 4 Reflections

“I have never worked in a school or classroom where the expectations for students are too high,” states Regie Routman at the beginning of chapter 4, “Raise Your Expectations.”  Come to think of it, I, too, have never worked at that kind of school.  I bet you could ask any teacher that same question and their response would be the same.  These powerful words set the tone for the entire chapter.  “Why are our expectations for what our students can achieve so low?”  “Why is a “proficient” score on a standardized test considered to be okay?”  As Routman noted, our students will surprise and amaze us with their capacity to learn if we give them the opportunity.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that Routman maintains that we must raise our expectations when considering conventions, handwriting, and editing.  (So many times, I think teachers use the excuse that we’re working with children, and that they will eventually learn to do these things correctly.)  The example she shared about first graders writing I as i and my as mi grabbed my attention, as well.  I have a list of “No Excuse” words displayed on our word wall.  (These words have been sent home for children to practice with their families.) We review one or two words every day and talk about the “tricky” part of the word and the correct spelling.  We also take turns using the words in sentences that we extend.  Also, I have taught my students a few quick, simple songs on how to spell words such as “they” and “because”.  In regards to raising our expectations for handwriting, our staff has worked together to make a push toward providing more handwriting instruction.  Even at mid-year, I realize that I still need to take the time to demonstrate slow careful letter formation, word spacing, and spelling strategies.  Additionally, I agree with Routman’s stance that work published should be as perfect as possible, even for first graders.  Fortunately, I have assistance in my classroom during our writing time so we can both help students proof-read their finished product before displaying or publishing it.

Routman discusses the optimal learning model that leads to excellent instruction.  I believe that I base my instruction on this model for the most part, but now I am much more aware of the importance of each component which leads to more explicit, effective instruction.  The 4 stages of the model include:

1.    Demonstration – The teacher or expert shows precisely “how to do it” by initiating, modeling, explaining, thinking aloud, and writing aloud.

2.    Shared Demonstration – The teacher is still in charge, but now the children collaborate on the writing as much as they are able to.

3.    Guided Practice – The student is now in charge and attempting to apply what has been previously demonstrated and practiced with the support of the teacher and/or group.

4.    Independent Practice – Finally, students have developed enough competence and confidence to be able to choose their own topics, problem-solve, and monitor and set goals for themselves with little assistance. (Writing Essentials, pgs. 71 & 72)

I experienced a bit of a “shock and awe” moment when I was reading the section describing how Kelly’s mid-year first grade writing was deemed “exemplary” at her school.  As I was looking through and commenting on my students’ December journals today, I would have considered one of my young learner’s writing to be “top-notch”, as well.  (It’s amazing as to how similar it is to Kelly’s story about her cat.)  I am finally beginning to see what “exemplary” or “top-notch” writing should look like.   

Example of "Exemplary" Writing?  (Although the piece is good, she was cautious in only using words she knew how to spell.   Love her Picture!!!)

In conclusion, I loved reading the section on “Building Early Success for All Students, Including Writers Who Struggle.”  The success story that Routman shared about the young boy named Cory was truly inspiring.  It makes me think about a struggling first grader I have in my room this year.  I will never again approach him at the beginning of our conference with what he needs to change.   (Wow! I can’t believe I had to read this chapter to understand what an impact that made on this little guy.  I guess I felt that I needed to help him with everything that was wrong with his writing very quickly because we had a limited time to work together and fix it all up.  Sad, but true.)  From now on, it will be nothing but a positive comment when I begin each conference with my students.  Ultimately, we must find ways to help our writers as opposed to concentrating on what might help the writing.  As educators, it is our job to convey to them that failure is not an option.

Chapter 3 Refections

Chapter 3 really helped me understand that if we are to teach writing well we need to see ourselves as writers.  If we haven’t experienced writing in a positive light, how do we expect our students to develop a passion for writing? I thought the ideas that Routman shared about writing together as a staff would indeed increase our writing confidence and make us more aware of how we teach writing in our classrooms. 

The Optimal Learning Model noted below is the structure that I intend to use in my first grade classroom:

1.    Demonstration (mini-lesson/teacher’s thinking aloud and writing)

2.    Guided Practice of the specific strategy or activity (students’ writing/thinking aloud/conversations with peers/conferencing)

3.    Independent Practice

4.    Celebration and Sharing

I am also going to create a “My Writing Practices” list to share with my students.  (I love this idea!)  On Friday, I added my first type of writing to that list.  I showed my class the sympathy card that I would be sending to our former neighbor’s husband who had recently lost his wife to cancer.  I told my class what I planned to write in the card, and why it was important for me to send a sympathy card.  On Monday, I will share the card again and read what I wrote inside.  I will also show them the stamped, addressed envelope that it will be sent in.

Sympathy Card 

Questions:

1.    What do you think about having the staff write together?  Would your teachers be open to this idea?

2.    Do other teachers feel that having students complete a graphic organizer before writing is effective? I have my first graders occasionally fill out an organizer before writing a story.  Many times they add more details to their stories because they have thought more deeply about the topic before they began writing.

Chapter 2 Reflections

 When and how do I celebrate my students’ first grade writing?  Honestly, I can say that I have not taken the time to celebrate the achievements that my young authors deserve.  Regie Routman contends that the celebration of children’s writing needs to be an essential teaching goal.  Due to time constraints, I usually read aloud the students’ writing before displaying them on a hall bulletin board.  As mentioned in my previous post, I intend to utilize the author’s chair (as I had when I began Writer’s Workhop many years ago) so my students can sit while reading their writing aloud to the other children. 

Our New Author's Chair!

Another important point that she discusses in chapter 2 is the idea of celebrating and pointing out the risk taking of students.  We need to ask questions such as “Who tried something new?” or “Who has a great lead for their story?”  This communication amongst the students is very beneficial to their learning.

I read through the section on choosing your topics carefully with great interest.  Routman recommends that you pick a story topic that is easy for students to relate to, appropriate to share with students, important to you, and lets students know more about you.  As I was modeling my writing on Friday, I shared the story about how our oldest son, Matt, told me that he needed $3620 for his spring college tuition.  I told my kids that I was flabbergasted when I heard the amount - $3620 – that’s a huge amount of money!  The students right away asked what tuition was and how would I come up with that much money and would I still have enough money to pay for food for our family?  Their comments were very funny and thoughtful.  I proceeded to tell them the whole story before I wrote it down on chart paper.

My writing that I did on Friday in front of my students.

As I was thinking about this writing experience and what I learned in chapter 2, it made me realize the importance of sharing our life experiences in a meaningful, personal way.  In the past I had been cautious as to what I wrote as my students watched.  Maybe this is why many of the stories my children wrote were pretty dry and boring, as well . . .

Chapter 1 Reflections

One of the main ideas that I gathered from Chapter 1 is that as teachers we need to make teaching writing easier, more manageable, and more fun for both our students and ourselves.  One of the greatest gifts we can give to our students is to help them become motivated and confident writers.  How do we accomplish these goals? The first thing we need to do is focus on the writers we are teaching as opposed to the pressure of preparing our students for state assessments.  I know that many of my colleagues agree that our students struggle when it comes to higher-level thinking skills, communicating, inquiring, exploring language, and problem-solving.  Do we want our students to act as robots where they simply memorize the information that we teach them to pass a test?  Does a “proficient score” on a test show a child’s true achievement and ability? 

New schedule allows for 45 minutes of Writer's Workshop.

Many years ago when I received training on Writer’s Workshop and the writing process, I felt that I was a teacher that made writing fun for my second graders.  It truly was my student’s favorite part of the day.  My children were engaged while writing about topics of their choice, revising and editing their stories, and publishing their favorite stories.  The best part of the day was “sharing time” where four or five students took turns sitting on the coveted author’s chair to read their personal stories.  The author’s peers were encouraged  to ask the young authors questions or share comments about their writing.  Although Writer’s Workshop is still scheduled in my day, it feels like I have squeezed out the joy in writing.  Instead of a 45-minute writing time, 20-25 minutes is allotted daily for writing.  What do I need to do to create the positive, engaging atmosphere that I had in Writer’s Workshop years ago?  It is time to examine my beliefs and make the necessary changes to ensure that my students become passionate about writing; this is what leads to excellent writers.