Writing Conversations
An excerpt from a piece of student writing:
Homestead Act
In may 1862 the Homestead Act opened up settlement into the western territories. It let every free person ask to get a claim for 160 acres of free land. They could get a trial on the land, but they had to meet these requirements. 1) They cannot have fought against the government. 2) They had to be 21 or older. 3) They had to live on the land and improve it within 6 months. 4) They had to have a home with crops. 5)They also had to show that they lived on the land. By the end of the civil war, 15,000 claims had been established. The Homestead Act encouraged people in the overpopulated areas to move West. It also gave a chance for freed slaves to get a home and have a new life in the West. If anyone of the people trying to get land was a freed slave then the land would be free, but farmers had to pay a small price for land. We pushed all of the Natives out of the west land. The new land they had was hard to grow stuff on unless they were around the Rocky Mountains. It was hard to live in the plains because there were very few trees and water was scarce. There was almost no natural vegetation which made it hard to grow crops and raise cattle. There was a lot of wind and many plagues. Then there were blizzards, so the Western land was pretty much unlivable -- until Thomas Troy invented the Troy-bilt snowblower. (written by a student in fifth grade)
Did you have a chuckle there at the end? We sure did during our sharing and learning in our intermediate writing conversation. It felt so good to be reminded there at the end, that we teach children.
Our writing conversations have been accomplishing exactly what we set out to do...and even a bit more.
Our goal professionally:
"The grand purpose for meeting to analyze writing/learn teaching strategies is for you and your colleagues to talk and think about student work and about your shared expectations for that work, doing this in ways that bring you together into a community of common practice."
I know we have each taken away different 'nuggets' from these conversations and our work together is raising our shared understandings and thus, our practice as writing teachers.
I had an 'aha' moment during conversations at the intermediate level. Students at the intermediate level have been doing some historical research and writing about what they are discovering about history. It struck me that as an Expeditionary Learning school our Case Studies are often centered around current events with a bit of history sprinkled in to support background knowledge.
It's important for our students to have exposure and some base level knowledge about the world. It also struck me how 'naturally integrative' learning about history (and science) can happen in the realm of our Reading and Writing Workshops. This is one way we can achieve that exposure for our students. I always find myself having a little chuckle at their interpretation of historical events, what information they find interesting and important, and how they synthesize that information. I love how reading their writing is a window into how they think, and what they think about. When you read a piece of student writing, do you step back and consider that before diving into the coaching of the writer?
When teaching our youngest students the acquisition of literacy, listening to them read and problem solve is one way into observing how they think and process. That process goes 'underground' as they get older and we lose that 'window'. Writing is that window at all grade levels.
I also noticed how vocabulary development is naturally integrated this way. We see them apply the domain specific vocabulary they are studying and we see them snatch a few vocabulary words right from the research. One could say they are plagerizing - but are they? Maybe they don't yet have a voice of their own with which to talk about this new learning? Maybe they need to borrow that vocabulary to adopt the voice of a historian or scientist? Sometimes, might they have to 'steal the words of others' until they use it enough to make it their own? And we've also discovered that this is one way of guiding researchers to know that they still don't know enough about something to write about it yet.
What a celebration to have a goal of lifting our writer's and also discovering that we have lifted their learning is some unexpected ways!
Over and over these past weeks I keep coming back to one important thing. Blooms levels for learning. If we don't see direct transfer - the application from a mini-lesson - perhaps that student is still at the level of knowing and understanding? Or maybe at the level of identifying this new learning? After those two levels comes application...and only then, are they able to analyze and evaluate.
Be kind to yourself. Know that your mini-lessons matter - and that you have kids in a variety of places on that learning continuum. I wonder how you could intentionally figure out which kids you might expect to apply these lessons, and which are still learning to know and understand these new pieces of learning? Embrace and celebrate approximations - those are big! Have fun with this! I know we are passionate and dedicated to raising our writers...and writing might potentially be the funniest thing to teach! Embrace those tender moments you interact with writers.
With this knowledge, we see yet another reason why we need to keep our mini-lessons within that precious 10 minutes, so the bulk of our reading and writing time is devoted to doing just that. As any workshop, the learning is in the work of doing. Students must have blocks of sustained time to read and write.
Calendar:
February 27 - March 3rd:
Tuesday:
* MTSS 7:30 a.m.
Wednesday:
*PD 1:30 p.m. Functions of Behavior Part II
* Artist's Edition of Life Is Art 4:00 p.m.
Thursday:
* Deborah out - admin. mtg (Our Performing Arts featured at Admin. Mtg!)
Saturday:
* Life Is Art 6:00 p.m.
March 6 - 10th:
Tuesday:
* MTSS 7:30 a.m.
Wednesday:
* PD: Personal Plan Time
Thursday:
* Teresa's Crew field work
Saturday:
* Musical Theater Work Day
Because time spent writing is so critical, and the quantity of writing is so important, nothing is worse than a kid who can't get started. Sometimes, that's because they are struggling to get an idea. Writing prompts can help. Sometimes, just putting some up on the board, or a list of ideas in a folder, can be a place for a kid to find that jump start.
Remember, we all have days where you just can't get started, and having an intriguing prompt gets you past the writer's block!
Star Wars writing prompts (some for all genres).
Fantasy writing prompts.
Historical fiction photo writing prompts.
There's a ton out there! Let me know if I can help you find some good ones if you are in need.
Have a wonderful weekend!
Deborah
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