Writing process and my students

In reading Routman Chapters 7 and 8 this week, I am thinking of the differences between writing to prompts for WASL expectations,district standards and rubrics and with the kind of classroom that Routman is describing. Routman talks about having writing be meaningful for students and engaging students by teaching first and labeling writing later. In other words, we should let our teaching and our students get "hung up" with the terminology.(Routman,Ch.8,p. 195) I have noticed in my dyad placement with 5th grade students that my master teacher has a journal for each subject, science, math, writing and reading. Each one of these journals have table of contents and organizes both handouts which are glued into the journals, but lots of their own notes that they can refer to later on. At first, I thought of this as a great way to organize their work for these subjects, but after reading Routman, I can see that this also helps their writing for non fiction. By keeping these individual journals, the students get to use their own writing as a means to expose them to the notion of expository writing without the label. "Starting at kindergarten students should be introduced to nonfiction text with features such as table of contents, captions, headings, labels, diagrams, charts, drawings."(Routman,Ch 8, p.196). This is exactly what my 5th grade students are doing in their science journals. They are meeting that writing standard without really realizing it. Using state reports, research and writing journals to meet some of the state prompts; my master teacher is providing a framework for students establishing writing that is more meaningful to them.

In chapter 7, Routman talks about keeping standards in perspective. We can become exhausted trying to cover all the requirements. Routman tells teachers," I will teach your students how to do all that is required, but the easiest and most efficient way to do this is to first engage students in writing about topics that they care about for a reader who matter to them."(Routman,Ch 7, p.149) In using many modes to learn writing, letters, book reviews, journals, memoirs and non fiction writing; students will develop their writing stamina over time. You can use whole class sharing of good conventions and voice to elaborate on the standards that you are trying to meet. In my main placement with 2/3 grade students by giving the students time to read and write each day, the students are building their reading and writing skills. They have written letters, researched a topic that they were interested in and did a poster with collage and writing, wrote a short paragraph about their triorama on a read aloud book. My master teacher uses shared creation of word walls for these writing assignments. She is then serious about the students using the well placed word wall in their writing and has expectations that students will spell those words correctly. All these strategies are helping these kiddos to become better writers.

Does assessment do more than rank our students?

In reading both Elbow and Routman, I begin to understand how much is loaded into the difficult job of teaching and assessing writing. Elbow seems to  be questioning the whole aspect of ranking students with grades and rubrics. He argues that "ranking leads students to get so hung up on these oversimple quantitative verdicts that they care more about scores than about learning."(Elbow,p.190)  In a system where ranking students leads to better classes, AP and Honors Programs, and often better teachers, in the high school years; Elbow says this ranking has lead to so much confusion by teachers that there is "the tendency to think that if we renounce ranking and grading, we are renouncing the very possibility of judgment and discrimination." (Elbow, p. 191) H e leans towards evaluation and liking writing, and lots more time for students to free write each day which is not evaluated. This goes along with my experience with students this year so far. Most recently with Juanita 2nd graders when we were given the students' Dragon Stories to work on with very little guidance. Almost immediately without knowing or understanding, I started to work on editing conventions with my 2nd grader. I was certainly not inspiring her to create interesting ideas or conferencing with her to help her to find her voice. This kind of repeated correcting with red hash marks and stabbing in the dark at writing, was my own personal writing experience as a child. It will be a challenge to learn a new way, but ultimately worth it.  Routman takes another approach, which seems to be end up at the same place but gets there in a different way. She wants us to prepare the students for high stakes testing. In the course of your writing curriculum, you make a place and time for preparing students to do on-demand writing to a prompt. " Writing on demand is a fact of life. Students need to be able to write essays and respond to prompts on required tests..or as job seekers on applications" (Routman, p. 248)  Routman suggests that as teachers we keep this perspective. We prepare the students for tests by reducing their anxiety and helping them to be "test wise". This is just a part of overall writing curriculum. By collecting writing samples in the students portfolio and having students writing everyday, teachers have a chance to show parents multiple examples of students' writing and be more humane about grading and assessments in general. Routman wants us to be realistic about the atmosphere we find ourselves in as teachers, to work within the given system and to try and have students take responsibility for their own writing and learning. This is where both Routman and Elbow agree. They both want students to peer conference and take responsibility for their own quality writing. Routman wants her students to aim high, " we want students to be asking: did I do enough, have I done my best, have I met the criteria, will my writing engage my reader, have I communicated clearly?" ( Routman,p.255) In creating a classroom that takes into account meeting the current testing requirements while establishing a safe community where writing is taking place everyday, not always to be published, sometimes just for the fun of writing; the hope is to establish students who write for the love of it, because they have learned to write from their heart. No easy task!

Helping Students to write independently

As I read over Routman Chapter 9, Conference with Students, I think of writing with my 2/3 graders at the beginning of the year. I can see that I took too much control of their editing and didn't give them a chance to work on their own stories. I think this comes from trying in vain to help my own children with their writing as they were older. I would be their editor. It would become a case of lots of marking through and rewriting, all in an effort to help them be better writers. I don't think I accomplished that! I can see parallels in our work on our own literary vignettes as students. By learning what it is to be a writer ourselves going through the stages of rough drafts, reading our work aloud in small groups and rewriting, we too can learn more than if we were told to write and then received our first attempts returned filled with red marks. Using whole group, small groups and peers to help with the process of writing, we help the student writer to feel more independent and competent. " Keep in mind that our goal is to have students monitor their own writing and problem solve independently so they can eventually draft, rewrite, revise, publish, and edit mostly on their own."(Routman, p.235) I can see more clearly reading Routman how to practice my responses to be more helpful, but to continue to place the editing responsibility back to the student.

Tuning out KFKD

In reading Lamott, I am constantly reminded that her story is not just about writing, but about living. I love the chapter on Radio Station KFKD.  The author is alluding to the stream of messages that play in our ears that can get in the way of writing, creating or for that matter doing any work that is purposeful to you. " Out of right speaker in your inner ear will come the endless stream of self-aggrandizement...of how much more open and gifted and brilliant and humble one is. Out of the left speaker will be the rap songs of self loathing."(Lamott, pg 116) This flow of input is certainly not helpful to reaching inside to find where your true story lies. In our experiences working on our literary vignettes over the past few weeks; I have noticed that the more we include our honest selves into our writing, the better the writing becomes. You can hear that true voice of the writer and even not knowing much about the process, we can realize that voice when we hear it. Writing about your true feelings and your real experiences and reading them out loud to someone one else, for goodness sake, feels vulnerable.  I think that is what the writing process is all about. By listening to our true voices we are aligning ourselves with our story. " This is what it means for us, for writers, is that we need to align ourselves with the river of the story, the river of unconscious, of memory and sensibility, of our characters' lives, which can then pour through us, the straw. When KFKD is playing , we are at cross purposes with the river."( Lamott, pg 121)  I think we can see this as readers, writers and teachers. If we can tune out the flow of negative self talk; we can hear so much more.

On learning to make messes

When reading Lamott and thinking about writing, I can't help drawing parallels to making visual art. In teaching elementary students art, I have often run into the fear of messy. You might think this would only happen with 4-6 graders, but I have seen this as early as kindergarten and through out all of K-6 over the years. Some students just don't like to get messy. Give them an open ended project with plenty of creative choices and they are likely to break down in tears. For some, the messier the project the worse this becomes, paper mache is a great example. I think we all like to have parameters in our life, especially in our schooling. Tell me what you want and I will do that. Is that what you wanted, Mrs. Byrne? If we truly create our own idea and go with it, what is the worst that might happen? We might make a mistake. Now, we get to the real dilemma. Lamott says, "Perfectionism means that you try desperately not to leave so much mess to clean up. But clutter and mess shows us life is being lived."(pg 28) I have had many times in my life where I felt if only the clutter was all straightened out, that life would somehow get much better. I have never found it to be true. My piles of books, notebooks of ideas, paintings, postcards and pictures all over the wall of my studio, inspire me every day. Students need this kind of inspiration too. Lots of books to read, pictures on the walls, magazines and art work on the walls. Maps and atlas and globes nearby. They need fertile ground in which to create. Lamott tells us the Kurt Vonnegut said, " When I write, I feel like an armless legless man with a crayon in his mouth." She says, " So go ahead and make big scrawls and mistakes. Use up lots of paper. Perfectionism is a mean, frozen form of idealism, while messes are the artist's true friend...as children we need to make messes in order to find out who we are and why we are here, and by extension, what we're supposed to be writing."(pg.32) I think Lamott is on to something here. We need to create a space for students to feel comfortable enough to make messes and risk mistakes.

Literacy Week 4

Writing Essentials Chapter 2:

All students, especially those who begin school with limited literacy skills, need to think of themselves as readers and writers, see the processes as meaningful, and have positive attitudes about literacy before they can successfully engage in literacy practices? (p. 34). How do you respond to this quote? What connections can you make between this quote, your field placement, and/or your own experiences?

Do students need to think of their reading and writing processes as meaningful and have positive attitudes about literacy before they can successfully engage in literacy practices?

In the past decade, the teach to the test mentality of teaching writing has been my three children's' experience in elementary school. They were taught the Six Traits of writing, scripted, expository,and persuasive paragraphs. Somewhere in the middle of all this emphasis on writing; we gave them journals, books and fostered a love of reading and writing from the beginning of their lives. All three of my children see themselves as writers and write creatively on their own. How can I translate my experience to have some perspective of what a student with limited literacy skills must go through to feel successful as a writer? In my dyad classroom, we have quite a few ELL students in the class. I see them in various stages of reading and writing. I can see their struggle and I can only imagine how long it would take me to learn the nuances of their language and to try to write in a non-native language.

I can see how engaging my ELL students in writing to someone or about someone or something they care about would engage them more fully. Routman says that" if students write for readers they value, if they put their minds and hearts into their work; if they are able to choose their writing topics...they will become lifelong writers."(Routman, Ch 2, pg 34) In my own field placements I can see how true this can be. When students get to write about a "just right" book that they have chosen, they are more engaged in their writing. Some can't wait to write a book report to share with the rest of the class. Having more choice in topics that have interest to them seems to be one of the keys to getting them to enjoy their writing much more and become more successful writers.These kinds of experience build confidence in their writing which in turn, helps them to find the writing process a bit more fun and enjoyable the next time around.

Literacy Week 3

Fox Chapter 2:
Fox identifies seven ways children demonstrate sound awareness. Choose one of these and then select two activities (also from chapter 2) that support the development of this sound-awareness skill. What is the focus of the activity? What are the directions? What would you be looking for to let you know the children are using the targeted skill (assessment)?

In reading Fox, Chapter 2, the author identifies phonemic awareness as a way that children demonstrate sound awareness. When children learn to identify single sounds, called phonemes, they begin an important step towards reading and writing. Children develop phonemic awareness by learning to isolate sounds, segmenting sounds, manipulating sounds and blending sounds. Two activities that support the development of blending sounds are Finger Puppet Talk and Arm Blending.

In Finger Puppet Talk the focus of the activity is for “children to listen to the finger puppet say words sound by sound and then blend sounds together to pronounce the word” (Fox, Ch 2, pg 53) The directions are that teacher uses a finger puppet and introduces this puppet as one who only talks in sounds. The finger puppet pronounces the word man as /m/-/a/-/n/. The children say the whole word. The teacher would be looking for the children to say the whole word after the finger puppet sounds the word out. Teacher might go over several words and then repeat three to four as an assessment to see if the targeted skill of blending is being used to say the whole word.

In Arm Blending the focus of the activity is for children to use their whole arm as “ a kinesthetic approach to blending that they can use whenever they are reading.” (Fox, Ch. 2, Pg. 53) The directions are that the teacher can have the children imagine that they use their arms to blend words. They use their shoulder, crook of their arm and wrist to blend words. They say the word as they slide their hand from their shoulder to their wrist. Then the children say the whole word again. By using their arms they can remember placing the sounds in the right order. The sweeping motion from shoulder to crook of the arm to the wrist is a tactile way to remember what their sound like as they blend the word.

Both of these activities can be powerful ways for children to develop phonemic awareness and to learn blending sounds.

Literacy, Week 2

Sulzby & Teale:
Think about classrooms you have visited. What aspects of emergent literacy have you observed in young children? How have you seen teachers support the growth of young children's literacy?

While reading Sultzby and Teale's article about Emergent Literacy; I reflected on my experience in my main placement in a 2/3 multi-age classroom. I saw various levels of emerging readers and levels of fluency. I especially liked the way my master teacher set up her literacy block. The second grade team is collaborating this year using the ideas from The Daily Five by Gail Boushey and Joan Moser. The reading starts out each morning with students finding their reading basket filled with 4-5 "just right" books for them. They know to find a comfortable spot either at their desks or on the floor with a comfy pillow to read silently for 25-30 minutes. Voices are quiet and students are arms length from their neighbors. This was modeled during the first few weeks and stamina was built together as a class as norms were set. This is the time that ELL and Title 1 students are pulled out for extra help. Some days students are reading aloud in partner groups and sometimes they are writing about their "just right" book. I really enjoy this kind of literacy development. Students are finding quite a bit of reading independence through this pedagogy. They are so excited about what they are reading!