Make Every Minute Count

Limit the work you take home...I appreciate this comment. Teachers need to be able to spend as much time and patience with their own family as they do with their "school family." In order to do this, we might consider having students write more often, provide ongoing feedback as they are writing and not feel the pressure to rubricize every piece of work the students do. We can do this by building in table, peer, and individual conferences. I remember in my fourth grade classroom, I had a "Writer's Workshop" set up with structured routines and procedures. I knew the components that needed to be in place, but looking back I think I worried more about the procedures being in place than just supporting my writers! I would conference with Tom, Jerry, Susie, and Sean on Tuesday because they were scheduled for that day instead of relaxing and just supporting my writers through table conferences, peer conferences, and individual conferences when they were NEEDED.

One thing Regie mentions in this chapter is the elimination of daily worksheets and isolated exercises. I completely agree with this section. I agree philisophically, but I also saw with my own children, how the isolated worksheets didn't transfer to real reading and writing for them!

Build on Best Practice and Research

Regie discussing the National Writing Project's summer institute in this chapter ( page 267). I haven't been involved in such an intense writing opportunity, but I would love to. She mentions that she spent five weeks of intense writing and study, learning about her own writing processes. I would love to see a staff take part in just writing about what matters to them for five weeks. I realize that this blog wasn't motivational for many because the participants didn't necessarily write about what "matters to them". It was probably a huge "chore" for those who don't like to write. I am going to reflect on this and possibly change the focus next time we do this book study (if you have any suggestions...I would love to hear them).

One thing that I appreciate about Regie's book is her "Try It and Apply It" sections. On page 268, she lists several practices of highly effective teachers. Working with Buhler Teachers for the past few years, I would have to say that most (if not all) of those practices are in place in most classrooms. The first one, engaging in ongoing professional conversations with colleagues about effective writing and literacy practices, occurs monthly. This can sometimes be very difficult, however, because conversation doesn't always "produce" something and teachers can feel that it is a waste of time because there isn't a product. It can be hard to believe that CONVERSATION IS ACTION!

Make Assessment Count

"There is lots of writing assessment going on these days, but little of it actually improves the quality of students' writing." (pg. 238)

"In too many places students are being "rubricized": every piece of writing is scored against a rubric, sometimes even in first grade." (pg. 243)

"Expect your students (from grade one on) to be able to write a whole page of text in twenty or thirty minutes.

"When we put too much emphasis on grading, we spend our time looking to justify the grade rather than helping students learn how to become better writers." (pg. 252).

Do we really expect our students to be able to write a whole page of text in 20-30 minutes? We often talk about fluency in reading, but how often do we talk about fluency in writing? Can students fluently write? If we give them ample opportunities to write and support them at their developmental stage, then I believe they should be able to. Without the support in place, there is no way that students should be expected to do this. High expectations with teacher support = SUCCESS. High expectations without teacher support = FAILURE.

Conference with Students

I believe the important thing to remember about this chapter is that there are many ways to confer with students. It doesn't HAVE to be so structured that you only meet with one or two students a day and inflexible to where students who really need to have a conference, they can't because it isn't his/her "day".

Some teachers have "triads" in their writing classroom. They put three students in a group to support one another throughout the writing process. The triads become a community. The teacher then confers with the community and supports the group as they write. This structure might work well for those who have tried peer editing and didn't have much success.

Organize for Daily Writing

"The only way to "fit" writing in every day is to write all day across the curriculum. Don't separate "writing workshop" from other writing. Writing is writing-in math reading, science, and social studies; in journals, writing folders, or notebooks; on papers, charts, the computer." (pg. 184)

I love the saying that "WRITING CEMENTS KNOWLEDGE." That is the reason I always tried to make time for writing, even though I never felt as if I a proficient writing teacher. I seemed to shy away from shared writing because I didn't feel very confident as a writer myself. After reading this book (for the third time) , I take risks. I am a writer. I will continue to write and improve my writing skills!

Be Efficient and Integrate Basic Skills

"Imagine having all the pieces of a large jigsaw puzzle on the floor in front of you but never seeing the picture on the lid of the box. That's what learning is like for kids when we start with the parts." (pg. 142)

I completely agree with this Regie. Too many classrooms isolate basic writing skills such as grammar, spelling, and punctuation that students don't always see the connection between these skills and their success in reading and writing. Yes, some students can learn by having all the parts because they can make the connections themselves, but many students...especially the ones who struggle...don't. We must show them the puzzle. As they are reading and writing, help them understand why commas are used and how it helps us better communicate with the author or the reader.

So...how do we make this happen? Some Buhler teachers I have had the opportunity to work with have determined what skills they believe all students should be able to do well in their writing. They have made mini lessons for these skills. These short, 5-10 minute mini lessons can be used anytime throughout the writing process.

Capitalize on the Reading Writing Connection

"I've found written summaries are too demanding for most students before grade 4. In kindergarten through grade 3, I focus on retelling, oral summary, and shared-writing summary of texts we've read together." (pg. 128)

I wonder what others think of this. It seems like we ask students to write summaries and the quality is low. Shared writing opportunities is a necessity if we want students to write comprehensive summaries.

I did a shared writing experience the other day in a second grade classroom that seemed to work really well. I laminated "who, what, when, where, why, and how" cards. I wrote the a very basic paragraph on a piece of chart paper. The students worked in pairs and I gave each pair one of the question cards. Their job was to ask me a question using those question cards so that we could add more "detail" to our writing. The powerful thing was when we were finished, I asked those questions about my story so the students could see the connection between the reading and writing process. Later that day, I used the same cards during a guided reading lesson, helping students understand that strategic readers ask themselves questions as they read. It was powerful. I have attached the question cards on my blog if you are interested in trying this strategy.

Here is a reading/writing connection site.

Do More Shared Writing

Shared writing was always a little intimidating for me. I never viewed myself as a good writer. I worried (still do) about conventional errors and unfortunately, that sometimes gets in the way of my message. So...as a third and fourth grade teacher, I'm not sure that I did enough shared writing. I believe in the Optimal Learning Model and tried to follow it as I taught, however, I would always write out everything I was going to "model" in front of the students. I did my struggling students such a disservice considering I didn't model mistakes or how I handled not knowing what to write.

I love Regie's teaching tips on page 89 of Writing Essentials to refer to as you implement Shared Writing in your classroom.

Raise Your Expectations

"Kids become writers by writing every day, not by completing excercises about writing. Students who are excellent writers write a lot." I appreciate Regie mentioning that if we are grading everything students write, they aren't writing enough. Having them involved in free writes, daily writing with self-selected topics, writing for real purposes and audiences, and writing to learn and think across the curriculum will only encourage life-long writers. I do like the idea of having school-wide expectations. I believe grades 2-6 at Buhler started this process by creating the one-page guides. So..."WHAT WOULD YOU ATTEMPT TO DO IF YOU KNEW YOU COULD NOT FAIL?"

Share Your Writing Life

I love the "snapshot writing" idea. I am a believer that in order to become a great writing teacher, one must write! Since this is the second time reading this book, I was excited to see that my writing practices have improved. I now write in a prayer journal, write a letter or email to a friend at least weekly, and have been working on a book that I would like to get published. Before I read this book, I only wrote when I had to...for work or a shopping list. I am looking forward to continuing to add to my "writing practices."

Start with Celebration

Teaching skills in isolation does not make students writers; neither does teaching to the test. And breaking writing into bits and pieces robs children of the joy of writing." This quote on page 21 stuck with me as I read the second chapter of Writing Essentials. We need to allow ourselves to celebrate writing. It does rob the children of the joy if all we do is focus on conventions. Yes, we need to help the authors in our classrooms become proficient writers, but make sure we don't focus too much on the mechanics. Enjoy writing! Be a writer yourself! I truly believe that if we have students write for authentic audiences and purposes, they will become lifelong writers. As a teacher, that is my main goal!

Simplify the Teaching of Writing

"The older I get, the greater effort I make to get rid of the clutter, literally and figuratively." I love this quote on page 16 of Writing Essentials by Regie Routman. We do need to reduce clutter in our teaching lives, but the hard question is...how do we do it? It is easier said than done! As a teacher, it is extremely hard to prioritize because we feel so much pressure to "cover" the curriculum and do well on those assessments. The sad thing is, in many schools we are creating GREAT test takers, but not necessarily, great readers, writers, and thinkers! Can we have both? I believe we CAN! We just have to start working smarter, not harder and creating literacy environments where students WANT TO and are ABLE TO read, write, and think! Embedding test preparation into daily instruction is one way to work smarter. The reality is that we are held accountable for scoring well on the tests. Students will do better on those assessments IF we trust ourselves and embed test-taking prep into our everyday instruction. Another way to work smarter is to collaborate. I recently worked with a group of second and third grade teachers from Buhler, KS and they created mini lessons for each of their "BIG IDEAS" for writing. After about 4 hours of total time spent on creating them, they had over 50 mini lessons they could utilize in their classroom. Instead of going and buying an expensive book where they might use 1/3 or 1/2 of it, they worked together to create short lessons to do with their students. I love how she encourages us to bring joy back into our work, but I do believe we have to work together to figure out ways to work smarter!

Writing Study Group 2008

In order to receive college credit for this course the requirements include:

1. Read each chapter and post one blog entry per chapter. This entry can be any of the following:
• reflections
  
• implementation efforts
  
• personal connections
• synthesis of learning
  
• key points
• interesting ideas
• ideas to share with one another
  

2. Read and respond to at least three other participants' blogs each chapter.
3. Attend all of the face-to-face meetings, participate, and share your expertise!

Meeting Dates (3:45-5:00 @ESSDACK)
January 16
February 25 (Discuss Chapters 1-5)
March 10 (Discuss Chapters 6-9)
April 16 (Discuss Chapters 10-12)

Becoming Writers

Regie Routman states in her book, "Writing Essentials," that we need to become writers ourselves if we have the desire to teach writing well. Writing hasn't always been my favorite "subject". In fact, that is probably why it wasn't my favorite. It was always viewed as a "subject" and not a life skill. I don't remember writing for enjoyment. Writing for a real audience. Writing and collaborating with others. Writing about something I truly cared about.

Before I knew about the "best practices," I knew that I wanted to create an environment in my 4th grade classroom where students had the desire to write. Where students collaborated with one another as authors. Where students were confident in their own writing ability and took risks because they felt safe. I believe I created that atmosphere. We wrote everyday. Even with best intentions, looking back, I wish I would have allowed my students to write for an authentic audience more often. I tried to plan purposeful writing opportunities, but I remember doing a lot of writing that just "fit" with my units and I'm not sure it always moved my writers forward....but it was fun! We did, however, write monthly parent newsletters which included interviews, stories, poetry, charts and digital pictures. At the end of the year, we also collaborated on a class yearbook which included lists, stories, interviews, and digital pictures depicting highlights of the year. We published stories by posting them on the wall or typing them into a book, but I don't remember ever truly publishing them into a REAL book or having them share those stories with a REAL audience.

One thing that has become clear to me since my time in the classroom is how important it is to share your own writing life with your students. I completely agree with Regie...they need to see us as writers. They need to see what we write, who we write to, why we write, when we write, where we write, and how we write!