Struggling 5-7 and CCGPS (3rd grade)

The different theories on effective spelling have always fascinated. I have a friend who writes and receives grants for his profession, but he is a terrible speller. He is extremely articulate and loves to read. When it comes to spelling, he really struggles. Thus, he has several people read his writing before the submission deadline.

Invented spelling: It's hard for some writers to use made-up spelling because while they know their spelling is incorrect, they are unsure how to correct it. This is an effective strategy if writers have the skills and patience to go back and discover the true spelling of the words they invented. Oftentimes that is a frustrating practice which does not build the confidence poor spellers need.

The analysis on page 117 about how "Good spellers have a sense of spelling as a system" illustrates the massive struggle writers have to learn spelling conventions. It's hard for me as a teacher to keep a lighthearted, "This is one of those words that doesn't quite fit the normal rules" attitude when I watch students become increasing irritated when they learn their spelling of a word was once again incorrect. I fight to show them that as long as the reader understands his/her message, the spelling can just be a part of our editing process. I also try to encourage them that we all have weaknesses, and they simply need to allow enough time to figure out the spelling after the ideas are fully formed.

The CCGPS standards for 3rd grade were interesting for me to read. I moved from being a 3rd grade paraprofessional last year to a 5th grade long-term substitute at the beginning of this year. The shifts in 3rd grade curriculum were subtle. Students will still produce writing from the narrative, persuasive, and informational genres. However, there are more specific guidelines as to the effectiveness of their pieces. For example, in narrative writing they should "establish a situation and introduce a narrator and/or characters." Narrators were not included in last year's writing. In general, I feel the standards are more sequential and build on each other throughout the year in a more logical way. The expectations of teacher/student knowledge is explicit which I appreciate. Honestly (and not to have a cop out answer), I would have to teach with the standards for a month or so to really judge them effectively.

Struggling Writers Ch. 1-4

I completely agree with the authors’ point that writing instruction should be frequent, intensive, explicit, and individualized. So many teachers assume that writing workshop is a hands-off time where writers sit wherever they want and write whatever they want with no accountability. This is just not true. I would argue that writing workshop is more hands-on because you as the teacher are meeting with each child at an appropriate level for them.

I started the list on page 6. This would make a great mini-lesson on the purposes for writing. While reading the suggestions, I saw a poster titled, “Why do we write?” If given enough think time and maybe prompted with some well-phrased questions, the students could come up with most of these reasons. If they have ownership over their purpose for writing and a voice in their writing, I see all writers succeeding at a higher level.

I also really appreciated the sample lesson plans. Sometimes writing workshop seems very complicated and chaotic. Reading her plans assuage several fears and inspired me to embrace the idea of empowering writers to create in their own way.

Ladybugs 9-10

The simplicity of making connections is my favorite thing about teaching. I love when a student blurts out their connections because they are so excited they can’t keep it inside. I don’t like the blurting, but I thoroughly enjoy when students understand the connectedness of our world. Social studies is often a time when students see the network of knowledge. The idea of leading them through guided inquiry projects excites me. Maybe I’m naïve because I haven’t experienced 160 days with the same students, but the potential of classroom set up in the Ladybug lounge way with students discovering and exploring topics of their choice is thrilling. Portfolios of student work and the other assessment ideas seem so logical. I’m drawn to the simplicity of this organized chaos and look forward with anticipation to the day I can foster this kind of learning with my own students.

Ladybugs 5-8

I LOVE teaching with "I wonder?" posters. This idea is something I learned my first time through Ladybugs and found to be highly effective. I recently started a Civil War unit with my kids with an “I wonder?” poster on the SmartBoard. Throughout the few weeks I taught the class, we added questions. When we were reading, doing group projects, or researching through independent study, they took notes of answers they found along with page numbers. We added their answers to the SmartBoard document. If they had other questions, we wrote them on the Board as well. At the end of my time in that classroom, I glanced through the document and had a WOW! session of all they learned. It was a fantastic organizational strategy.

Alexia’s Starfish on page 97 was such a personal example. I was a parapro in third grade last year. I rotated between the five 3^rd grade classrooms and provided an extra set of hands. One of the classrooms was the ELL room, and I saw my students’ faces as I read this example. We did a similar project with animals. They chose an animal, did some research in the library, and created a brochure. While this wouldn’t be my first choice of products, I remember watching the bilingual students whisper in Spanish about how to write their sentences in English. I wish. I wish. I wish! I could have led the students through that project. It has such potential, but the highly-control brochure was really difficult for them.

Ladybugs 1-4

These chapters had so many ideas I cannot wait to use in my classroom. The use of thumbs on your chin instead of raising hands is brilliant. I often will call on students who raised their hand simply because they saw other students raising their hands and didn’t want to be seen as not knowing the answer. The only potential issue was that I might not see the thumbs of some students. It is similar to the issue of kids who raise their hand at chest-level though.

The dialogue on page 48 was so inspiring. I was thrilled to see how the teacher used a common occurrence (students making something and wanting to show it off) to scaffold her writing by encouraging her to immediately seize the moment and write a short story. This “teachable moment” can be life changing for students. 

Even the way the teacher said, “You know how to end a sentence, so you can do that yourself” empowers the child to independently write what she can without the expectation that the teacher will do it for her. It is a fairly common struggle for teachers to patiently wait for a student to write something that the teacher could write much faster (like fixing punctuation). HOWEVER... speed and efficiency is not the point of teaching! We already know how to write exclamatory sentences, so taking over a student's work is counterproductive! If a student can do something, take a step back and let them do it. [mini-rant over]

I also enjoyed reading the chapter on launching readers. Although not much was brand new information, I like the reinforcement of ideas/techniques. When authors I trust agree with each other, I feel more justified in my pedagogy and more certain of the expression of these ideas to administrators.