Well, I didn’t get as far as I hoped in reading my book this
week. There were five chapters in this
section and I only made it through three.
I guess not bad considering I spend most of my time in my classroom
these days.
Chapter 5 was about Establishing
and Managing a Writing Workshop.
I am sure every teacher has their own way about how the writing workshop
should run however there are some things that all teachers need to do to make
things go smoothly, and that is establish rules. Carols rules are simple:
1. Stay in your seats.
2. When I stop by your desk, I want you to tell
me what you are writing about.
3.
Work Quietly
4.
Write in pencil and illustrate in crayons, markers or colored
pencils.
These rules sound simple enough, however what if you cannot
see the word wall. What if you want to
look at a book for an idea. You can
avoid all the what ifs if the children find what
they need before the writing begins. My
students have their own dictionaries as well.
Each week they add the weekly spelling words to their books. We also add important names and other
vocabulary words too.
Carol also has some great rules for large group sharing:
1. Look at the person who’s talking.
2. Keep your hands still.
3. Be very quiet.
4. Listen carefully.
5. Think of any questions you have.
I am going to make two charts for my class. As we are writing I am going to have the
writing rules on the bookstand and as we are sharing I will display the sharing
rules. This will be a gentle reminder
of what the expectations are. I already have a banner I found last year that is similar to this that I use in my classroom. I just love it. I refer to it all the time. I found it a First Grade Fever and here is a bonus....it is free.
Throughout Chapter 6,
Mini-Lessons: Helping Children Craft
Their Writing, Carol give lots of examples of topics for
mini-lessons. She has an amazing list on
P. 112, 113 and 114.
The point she made that really stuck out in my mind was how
she started with story time first and used that book as her lead into her mini
lesson for writing. This is a great idea
because I always feel like I am short of time. All literature will have some type of mini
lesson embedded in them. I am going to
incorporate this into my daily schedule.
After lunch I always read my class a story, I am going to find stories
that will help reinforce my writing mini lessons.
Another great suggestion that Carol makes in this chapter is
show not tell.
She demonstrates most of her lessons through her own
writing. She often writes something
ahead of time and has the students give suggestions which generally lead to the
point she was trying to make. She
models for her students good questions to ask and it pays off in her mini
lessons when they ask her questions about her writing.
Chapter 7, Listening and
Responding, caught my attention the most. I am guilty of having long conference lines
and at times I don’t get to the kids for weeks at a time. At one
point last year I had a stack of stories and I was reading snowman stories at
the end of Spring. Carol tries to stop by each child’s desk daily. After her mini lessons she walks from desk
to desk and gets down at eye level with the child and they have a discussion
about the piece the child is writing about. Wow! I
need to more of that. She carries a
notebook with her and makes notes of who/what she conferences about. I want to make a grid with each child’s name
on it and make sure that I make some kind of notation about where they are in
the writing process. Carol has a system
that works for her on P. 148. I may
start with her system and see how it goes.
Carol views her role as the teacher to first listen
to what the children have to say and second respond
in a gentle, caring way that will help lead the child to the next level of
writing.
The three chapters I read were a great reminder
to let the children guide the mini lessons you teach. You have to wait and see where they are and then guide them from there. I do
have some homework this week I have two charts to make for writing workshop and
a grid to make for observations.
