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.

Ray 14, 15, 17, 19

The chapter on conferences was so enlightening, especially the idea that we “can’t plan ahead” because a conference is “in response to” the student’s work. It goes back to our pride as a teacher and the “rightness” of teacher. It’s reassuring that I can just take my “small fist” and as the student’s work develops so can my knowledge to challenge them further because “everyone needs teaching”.

Instead of having a classroom of writers, I want to be part of the group of writers. The perspective that we are all writers and can help each grow is powerful for students (and teachers too!) in a world of changes. Where else do they hear “Your work is valuable and worth paying special attention to”?

I really emphasize character in my classroom. Instead of saying, “I can’t write well” I teach (or try to teach) my kids to ask who/where they can find help for their “I’m stuck” moments. Ray says that when she makes the rounds doing conferences, her students know that “if they run into difficulties, they will just have to solve them on their own.” That’s awesome, and I follow that principle as well. However, what do you do with the student who sits for the entire writing period with his/her hand raised and sighs because it’s not his conference day? She says that “we have to deal with them about this issue,” but I’ve never been in a classroom long enough for students to see that I’m serious when I say they have to figure it out. They haven’t realized that my expectations for them to produce writing includes them struggling through their issues like every writer does.

Part of my reading strategies is to put a set of quotation marks in the margin of a text when the author says something I think is phrased well for the actual classroom. I quote Ray a lot in the margins. I love her writing style and the way she includes questions (like pg. 165-166) in the text. Replicating her real conversations with students helps me visualize how her classroom runs. Likewise, the topic ideas on page 180 about how to make share time better were helpful.

One specific quotation I made was the bulleted list on page 255. I wrote in the margin, “Such a good break-down. I bet this would help older students understand the flow of writing.”

I have no idea where I was the first time I read this book. Maybe I didn’t have the maturity to read for depth and application. Maybe I was so overwhelmed by how different writing workshop was that I couldn’t fathom its function. I’m not sure, but what I do know is that Ray’s book encourages my teaching pedagogy because I love the ideas behind her classroom and the value she places on her students. 

Ray 11-13

One of my favorite things about blogging is the ability to go back and view what I wrote about a topic years later. If I had my reflections in a class notebook, they would be packed in the back of my closet with all of my other undergraduate notes. I'm saving them for the day when I have a classroom and need to find "that idea we talked about in that class that day".

However, having the ability to view posts from yesteryear allowed me to see the things I was pondering as I read through Ray the first time. I liberally mark up my textbooks with notes in the margins, boxes, underlines, double underlines, and the rest of my complicatedly organized system. One of the questions I had all throughout my notes and blogs is how does this work in real life? Reading about it is inspiring but training students to write about this that matter, fill their own time, write for an audience, etc. seems daunting.

The second time through I was surprised at how much I missed the first time. Maybe I was too busy or reading too quickly. Either way, I love how Ray gets really practical with her advice. While it used to overwhelm me, I think picking from a huge list of options is easier than creating something from theory. Asking students to "simply carry on with the writing lives and projects they have going, carrying with them what they have learned in the lesson" is awesome! That solves the differentiation issues completely. I'm meeting the students where they are as writers, coming from the perspective of another writer, and challenging them to reach further with advice centered around THEIR writing instead of my topic.

My only remaining issue is how does this fit with the time-intensive ELA common core standards? Does writing workshop need to be completely separate from the CCGPS ELA time? Is that possible?

I'm also mulling over the idea of doing writing workshop as a Daily 5 rotation. It could work because I could do my focus lesson at the beginning of the period instead of the CCGPS mini-lesson. The students have choice over their time (except for a scheduled guided reading group for one rotation period). If every rotation is only 20 minutes though, I worry that they won't get in a grove in that short amount of time. Also, when will I conference? I have about two days per week when the guided reading group is more of an independent literature circle. Maybe I could conference with writers during those two days and do guided reading groups the other three? Scheduling writing has to be a priority, so I'll just need to remember that when I set my daily classroom schedule.

Ray 1-4

"where they have been as writers and on where they are going."

As a teacher, this is the hardest part for me. I can teach mechanics all day long, dozens of different ways until someone gets it. I struggle to teach how to think about writing. For me, and I think most, those thoughts come through practice. I wrote, then I thought about it. The more I wrote, the deeper I analyzed. The deeper I examined, the better I wrote. I'm not claiming to be close to the world's best writer, but I do think about my words and challenge my choices.

My favorite thing about writer's workshop is that it's not another version of the 5 Step Process with a 5 paragraph essay at the end. Ray says, "When I say, 'I'm writing,' my husband knows what that means." We all have a style of writing. Mine is semi-chaotic. I start with a list (if even that) then write everything related to those topics in paragraphs. I revise for excessiveness [there was a huge sidenote here that was too ironic to leave], and finally edit for grammar and mechanics. My teachers hated my process, but I understand the kids who says, "I can't think of what to put in my bubble map." 

How do I as a teacher encourage that student to pursue their own writing process and trust that they will produce quality writing? I guess that's the whole writing workshop deal... letting them go and advising along the way instead of dictating every pencil scratch.

The questions of Katie Wood Ray

Although I would typically organize my thoughts about a group of chapters by discussing them one at a time in paragraphs, I analyzed in more of a themetic way as I read Chapters 5-10.

I typed out a list of phrases I found interesting or important. Then I organized them on my classroom SmartBoard during specials. I saved them, and as I came back to the lists and moved and categorized and processed and moved these ideas again, I came up with the following organization. This isn't an exhaustive list, but it shows how I interacted with the text this week.

Teacher Goals:

ritualistic

eachdayness

junior-high-type, fifty-minute-a-day schedule

negotiated... gotten rid... give over

beauty in repetition

peace of knowing what to expect

lose the comfortable feeling of directing

Teacher Hurdles:

specific teaching and inquiry

beyond our control and a little messy

[feeling] beyond our control is a litmus test

easy trap of assumptions

can't know it all

give as much responsibility to students

balance

passively accept

Student Goals:

highly productive writing

thinking time for themselves

writing is something you do

craftspersons

more possibilities...than time to talk about

work that interests

do what writers do

worksheet slacker

finding material out in the world

accomplished and acclaimed writers... still learning how to write

Classroom Set-up:

things that teach

surrounded by things to learn from

carry my notebook to every conference

real power of homework

three red markers that smell like strawberries

more sophisticated in use

rooms equipped like real places

projects/plans

don't need to learn... before [they start]

workouts