Write You Own Ending

The last paragraph on page 190 sums it all up for me. Writing is at the heart of our teaching. It is about poetry and the stories of our lives. It is about thinking and celebrating success. Don't settle for anything less!

I don't know about you, but I'm ready to fly as a writing teacher. Let's float through the clouds and soar to new heights. Let's give our students wings by teaching them how to write, process, think, and persuade. Yes, it will take work and collaboration as a team to come up with the best ideas and activities; but the flight will be worth it. If we travel together and help each other, the journey will have less turbulence. Then let's look out the window of the plane and see the fields of success growing all around us.

Make Every Minute Count

Most of this chapter was just good common sense. I liked Routman's comment on pg 286, "Ask yourself, How did what we do help students become more competent, confident, and independent as literacy learners?" I believe all good teachers reflect on their teaching to improve their practices, and that is what Routman is wanting us to do here.

In addition, I like her advice to live your life and have a life outside of school. If we don't have our own lives, then we don't develop experiences. Writers without experiences are dull and lack voice and ideas. How can we model excellent writing, if we are dull and lifeless.

"I have seen no research that shows that educators who work the longest hours get the best results," Routman states on pg 287. I agree. Teachers have to take time out to refresh themselves otherwise they become burnt out and unsatisfied with their work. Once again just good common sense.

Build on Best Practices

I remember a college professor making the same statement about education as Routman, "We are not taken seriously and our voices are silenced if we cannot back up our beliefs and recommendations with solid research." In today's educational world teachers do not always have the time or resources to read and conduct research. I believe this is why so many things are pushed upon teachers by those who are not in the classroom. As educators we need to take the time to analyze the research. We also need to conduct our own action research. However, for that to happen; we need to be given the time to do so. Could this be a grade level PLC project? If so, we would need to be given the time during our meetings to do so.

I remember ten or twelve years ago, when every library in our district housed professional magazines such as "The Reading Teacher." I think it is time we started demanding that this type of professional reading return to the shelves of every library in our district.

Furthermore, I liked Routman's list of Characteristics of High-Performing Schools on page 273. The very first one is ongoing professional conversations and study groups. Could we conduct a study group and a blog such as this one among our PLC teams. This could led into some professional research by the team. How would Rick defour see this as a tight but lose situation. Maybe the leaders of the district could suggest several books for us to study; then the team would get to choose the book. (The tight) The team would be left to read, analyze, and conduct their research. (The lose) Of course, they would need to be accountable for their efforts. (The tight) Does a blog show that accountability? I am learning through my Intel class that it would be considered a type of assessment. Just a thought.

In addition, I liked the statement about teaching kids to be courageous writer on pg 278. It is my belief that persuasive writing is very authentic. Also, kids need to learn that their words are powerful and it only takes one person to make a change. As a 5th grade teacher, I think I need to spend the last 9 weeks focusing on persuasive writing. This will better prepare them for the 6th grade local assessment and adulthood.

Make Assessment Count

On page 245 Routman states, "Research shows that high achievement and high test scores result when what is tested is woven into daily teaching and challenging curriculum in a relevant manner. So much time teaching to the test exhausts teachers and students and makes everyone anxious." I would agree with the author on these two points. Lots of time is spent across the United States teaching to the test. What is tested must be woven into our everyday practices not a separate curriculum. With NCLB teachers are exhausted and student develop anxiety about test taking.

Also, I love her idea on page 247 about picturing the person who is going to be assessing your writing. I think this makes the assessment more authentic.

Conferences With Students

Yeah for Buhler teachers! We are doing something right when it comes to conferencing. I didn't know that whole class sharing was considered a type of conference. I have been doing this for years, and my colleagues are too. I know that my colleagues are doing this because my students come into 5th grade knowing how this process works.

This chapter confirmed for me that I was doing conferencing correctly because I use the different conferencing techniques in my classroom.

One thing I did learn from this chapter is that modeling a peer conference is important. I have never thought of that before, but it makes sense. I will try this in the future.

Organize for Daily Writing

I liked Routman's ideas for nonfiction writing on page 196. I would like to be able to write lots more nonfiction pieces with my students. However, with a state assessment that focuses on assessing a narrative piece, I feel I have to put most of my efforts on fictional writing at least until February. This year I have had students write nonfictional, short pieces in science and social studies though; so that makes me feel somewhat better.

I would also like to know how others are organizing their writing time. I have about thirty to forty minutes a day for writing. Some of this time includes a mini lesson on the first day and sharing our work and discussing on the second day. As far as procedures go, mine are sharpen your pencils and begin. Often, I do turn on quite background music.

I also have a question about journaling. I haven't done a lot with journaling this year. How do I fit that into my time frame? It feels like most of my day is already scheduled for me: 1 hour for reading (a set time that can't be adjusted due to Title I) , 1 hour 20 mins. for math, 45 mins. for band, 45 minutes for lunch and recess, 35 for music and PE. Hummm, How much time do I have left to teach writing, science and social studies. Oh and I can't forget intergrating technology, the counselor on Wednesday, and teaching life skills-like being kind to others. Too much to do and not enough time! Maybe it's just that time of year, and I'm feeling overwhelmed.

Be Efficient and Integrate Basic Skills

Now, some of you may want to continue the debate about teaching skills. I say let's end that debate and move on to what this author is really saying. I don't think that Routman is telling us to throw skills out. In fact, she is saying teach the skills just embed them into whole pieces of writing. However, the big picture that she is trying to get across is let's teach kids how to think!!!!! Go back and really look at that second grade example on page 151. This kid is thinking at a higher level. He is evaluating his work as he revises. He is also using critical thinking and making complex choices about his writing. That's what I want my 5th graders to do!

I would like to see us move forward in our work with students. Above all, I want students to learn how to think for themselves. Wouldn't it be awesome if we worked as a team (building or PLC groups) to establish what we want students to be able to do at each grade level; then build activities to achieve that goal. Just think about how powerful that would be. Our students would learn how to really examine and evaluate their work. Moreover, they would learn how to think! And no one can debate the fact that thinking is a much needed 21st century skill.

Capitalize on the Reading-Writing Connection

It makes sense to me that "children that read literature-well written folktales, narratives and trade books-become better writers than children who primarily read basal reading text." (123)
Often times the basal stories are dry and lifeless; therefore, if we want student to write well they need to be reading dynamic stories.

This week I had my students write book reviews. I got a load of picture books from the library, read one aloud and modeled the process of writing a book review. These were short and to the point. Students had to give a brief summary of the book, tell the author's purpose, and recommend the book to another group of readers. Some of these turned out very well. Others needed much more practice before creating a presentable product. Overall, I do think it was a worthy activity.

I also like the idea of note taking especially for older students. Since my students have been doing much more online work this year, I have utilized this strategy. I have found that it does engage the learner, and they do learn much more.

"Assign writing that enhances the reading-that requires careful reexamination of the text." (125) I have to say here, the best thing that I've done to connect reading and writing this year is blogging. When my class read Blood on the River, they had to respond to the text by blogging. They loved it. It was very interesting to examine their thought processes as they blogged. They also loved the fact that they had a real audience. I think blogging caused them to think about the text more. Every classroom needs a blog for this purpose.

Do More Shared Writing

I think of shared writing as something that primary students and teachers do; therefore, I had to really dig deep into this chapter to discover the purpose for upper grades. On page 87, the author writes a summary over the book Holes. At first, I thought okay, so what! Then on page 88, I found out why you might write a summary with students as a shared writing activity.

"Use your professional common sense. Choose interactive writing if it's the best way to meet your student's needs." Discovery number one! The state reading assessment assesses summarizing. Before I have had students read a passage and write me a summary. Never have I written an example of a story summary with them. That would be an excellent shared writing activity to do during a guided reading activity.

Then on page 90, I found my second discovery. "Having a repertoire of writing strategies is a necessity for writing well. Although we may demonstrate what writers do, that does not guarantee that students will use these techniques in their own writing." The strategies that writers use are constructed, not transmitted."

To me this is a powerful statement. We model and read examples of what we want students to write. However, students often imprint our writing techniques. Yes, they are writing better examples; but are they constructing their own purposeful meaning about writing or transmitting our behavior? So to me this statement is saying focus on the craft of writing. What are real authors doing? How are they beginning their pieces; ending their pieces; constructing characters, plots, and events; writing to inform, and etc.

To summarize, I'm thinking I will concentrate on the craft of writing, during a shared writing time with upper grade students. Maybe we can take a novel we are studying and examine the author's craft. Then look at a small piece of writing and make it better by using the example the author used to improve a piece through a shared writing experience.

Raise Your Expectations

I think we need to set some school wide and grade level expectations for writing. This seems like a good way to improve our state assessment scores. Setting grade level expectations would establish what good writing looks like at that grade level; however, building expectations would increase student improvement over time. I know of a school that has an expectation that every student has the same heading at the top of their paper. The expectation is started in first grade. Every year thereafter, students have a heading on their paper written in the same manner. The next year's teacher doesn't have to teach it. Just think what would happen to writing, if we set writing expectations: Your story has to have a hook, handwriting has to be neat, did you check your spelling and reread your work. Rereading is a big expectation because most upper grade students don't reread. If they would just do that, students would catch a lot of their errors.

Share Your Writing

This week I took an idea from page 45 and had my class write about the secret life of a 5th grader. I modeled the writing first in front of my students by writing about the secret life of a 5th grade teacher. I wrote about my addiction to Post It Notes. In my writer's journal, I reflected on my writing. I learned that I was rereading my work often as I was writing. Also having a stack of Post It Notes in front of me, as I worked on the story, helped me come up with details to add to my story. I did make a few notes to get myself started before writing in front of the students.

I really liked this writing prompt. Several of my students improved their voice with this piece. In addition, most of the student stories really gave me an insight to their lives. One little girl wrote about having to care for her brother and sister in the evening. Another wrote about disobeying mom's punishment of no T.V. for a week and how she and her sister kept it a secret. One boy wrote about breaking his mom's bedroom window with a BB gun. As you can imagine that didn't stay a secret for very long. Others wrote about their bad habits and addictions like I did.

Here is a great student example: My one requirement was that they had to use at least one simile in their story.

I have a secret a filthy little secret about myself but you mustn't tell a soul. I am addicted to Starbucks. It's a place where you can buy coffee and tea.
only there's one little problem. The coffee and tea is not very healthy. The coffee isn't very healthy because it has a lot of sugar in it. The tea is healthy, except I like mine sweetened. So there's sugar in that too.

I'm not worried that I will get as fat as a hippo because I'm a kid and kids shouldn't worry about their weight. They should just be a kid.

What I'm worried about is my health. I mean their is so much sugar and other bad things that aren't healthy in coffee and tea.

Whenever I go to Starbucks I can just hear that scrumptious coffee and tea calling my name so I get a coffee or a tea and slurp it down like a pig.

I just can't stay away from it! I guess I have a Starbucks problem. yes, it's true I am addicted to Starbucks. Are you?

Start with Celebration:

Hum.... This chapter makes me questions my techniques.

Q. Do I celebrate writing enough?
A. No.
Q. How can I celebrate more while preparing for a state writing assessment?
A. Conduct a writing show and tell. (As well as the author's chair I do now.) Copy good examples of student work, then share with the group; instead of analyzing and rating for the 6-traits so much. Display student work with big star stickers that say-Great Hook or Excellent Word Choice.
Q. How can I use everyday events as a teaching tool for writing?
A. Keep my own observation journal; then use these events for writing prompts or topics.

Simplify the Teaching of Writing

I agree with the comment on page five schools are "under focused on thinking, communicating, inquiring, and exploring language." Therefore teachers must establish their own beliefs, so they can focus on what is important to student learning. Otherwise, they become overwhelmed and burnt out. These are my beliefs about writing:

1. In order to become a better writer one must write.
2. Writing and Reading are connected.
3. Conferencing and modeling make a difference.
4. Becoming a good writer takes time and practice.
5. Writing for an audience is important because it attaches meaning to the work.
6. Writing is a craft to be developed.
7. Writing is work that some students embrace while others dread.

As I reflect on the comment on page 15 writing should be whole to part to whole. I thinking this is a model for writing. The whole is a picture book, advertisement, brochure, or etc. The teacher uses the piece as a model of writing by reading it aloud and writing his or her own example of the piece-this is the part. The final part is when the student writes their own example of the piece. When this happens we have gone from whole to part to whole.