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by
Rebekah E. Piper , Laurie A. Sharp, Ed.D. , Roberta D. Raymond, Ed.D.
is a valuable treasure for getting to know your students as writers and to encourage them personally in their writing endeavors.
No matter what---students should be writing EVERY DAY! Again, this doesn’t have to be huge! In fact, quick and easy writing opportunities are more motivating and allow students of all levels to feel successful and a sense of accomplishment. Short bursts of writing can be done using the applications of Twitter, Padlet, or even class discussion boards through
Blackboard or Google Classroom.
Regardless, the writing we assign kids should be meaningful! Lucy Calkins is often quoted as saying, “We cannot teach writing well unless we trust that there is a real, human reason to write.” This linked blog is full of authentic, meaningful writing ideas! One fantastic meaningful project is called the Slice of Life challenge. This project is very motivational for even the most reluctant writers. The Slice of Life challenge can be completed in various ways. Classrooms can complete in the month long challenge, weekly challenges, or daily challenges. The month long challenge occurs during the month of March each year. During this time students are encouraged to write or blog each day. What they write is 100% their choice. They can share about daily events, major events, questions they might have, or even just share about themselves. The goal is to write! Once students have recorded their thoughts, they are then provided opportunities to share them with others while they also get to read and comment on what other students have written. Students can participate daily online with students from around the world in blog format. Students could also participate on a local level by creating a closed blog within the school structure. A third option would be to create print journals that could be brought to class daily. With this, students could be given five minutes before class begins to share with each other and write comments. For teachers who wish to participate in these challenge weekly or daily, this same format could be applied.
We believe that the ideas we have shared are helpful for even your most reluctant readers. Further, we feel that if you’ve done all of these writing ideas we’ve just shared...you’ve already earned your A’s!
A is for Authentic, Across the Curriculum, and Assessment.
Remember, you don’t have to grade EVERYTHING! Writing is a process! Use formative assessment to give feedback on their writing throughout the process. Use summative assessment when they’ve polished and published their writing. For additional rubrics for many writing activities we recommend looking into Daniels et al. (2007). Content-area writing: Every teacher’s guide. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. Ruth Culham (2016), mentioned earlier, also has numerous rubrics and scoring guides for writing designed for individual grade levels.. Some are linked here.
Authentic--Choice makes writing meaningful, connects to relevant learning, and makes learning personal. All of the ideas we’ve shared have presented authentic ways of getting your students to write.
Across the curriculum--Nearly every one of these writing strategies can be used within any content areas including math, science, social studies, and the arts.
Assessment-- Writing assessment can be done through rubrics, scoring guides, written or verbal feedback. Authentic writing deserves authentic assessment. It is not necessary to do worksheets or paper/pencil activities. Consider these questions when assessing writing: What are you looking for? What are the strengths/weaknesses of the writer’s piece? Perhaps focus on ONE SKILL and assess it within the piece. Allow your students to assess themselves, too.
We’ve shown you ideas for helping your writers to feel successful daily in finding their voice through choice. So, make it your goal...starting tomorrow...to give your writers opportunities have voice and choice every single day!
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or two or more years. During data analysis, four categories emerged that characterized reported preparation practices. Below, we provided an overview of each category and included verbatim quotations from respondents.
Preparation Practice #1: Use of Media
Our findings showed that the use of media was a common way for respondents to provide preservice teachers with models for specific aspects of literate classroom environments. For example, respondents used still images as instructional resources during lectures delivered in university-based coursework. Respondents shared “pictures of classrooms” to show different classroom configurations and “samples of schedules from model classrooms” to present examples of how to structure the timing of activities to maximize student learning. Respondents also used literacy-focused videos and video clips as illustrative examples of desired teaching practices. Once respondent explained:
Before the [preservice teachers] enter their field experiences, we examine several videos that model classroom setup. The [preservice teachers] critique how different classrooms may work and not work for students. This exercise helps them understand effective ways to arrange a classroom.
Preparation Practice #2: Facilitate Class Discussions
Our findings also showed that the facilitation of class discussions was a customary way for respondents to foster preservice teachers’ understandings about literate classroom environments. Class discussions occurred within the context of university-based coursework and encouraged instructor-to-peer and peer-to-peer interactions through discourse related to specific aspects of literate classroom environments. Example discussion topics included:
● “the benefits of grouping both homogeneously and heterogeneously and benefits of each configuration for literacy instruction”;
● “classroom rotations for stations, small groups, and independent work”;
● “the variety of classroom configurations that can address differentiated literacy instruction”; and
● “routines to support literacy instruction.”
Respondents noted that they launch class discussions by presenting hypothetical scenarios, posing questions, or encouraging preservice teachers to share their learning.
Preparation Practice #3: Design Instruction and Physical Spaces for Literacy Learning
Additionally, our findings highlighted commonplace course-based assignments that respondents used to provide preservice teachers with opportunities to apply what they learn about literate classroom environments. These assignments involved preservice teachers in designing instruction and physical classroom spaces to promote literacy learning among their future students. With respect to designing instruction, example assignments required preservice teachers to “describe motivational, engaging techniques that foster a love of reading and learning,” “create differentiated lesson plans” for “small group and whole group teaching,” and “develop multi-tiered learning activities.” With respect to designing physical spaces, example assignments required preservice teachers to “design their own classroom” and “create models of literate classroom environments.” In their models, preservice teachers “developed floor plans,” “designed their own classroom library,” explained “routines,” or illustrated “types of furniture/room arrangements.”
Preparation Practice #4: Participate in Field Experiences
Lastly, our findings demonstrated that field experiences play an integral role in developing preservice teachers’ understandings about literate classroom environments. Respondents noted that requiring preservice teachers to complete observations during early field experiences provides them with “multiple opportunities to see [literacy] professionals in action” and “take note of literate [classroom] environments.” In later field experiences, respondents indicated great benefits associated with providing preservice teachers opportunities to practice “skills learned in class and perfect them” with real students in actual classrooms under the supervision of an experienced professional. By participating in field experiences, preservice teachers “experience and learn how to effectively work with a variety of children,” “utilize routines and procedures to effectively transition from one activity to another,” and “implement organizational concepts to see how classroom layout can help or limit instructional strategies use.” Respondents emphasized the importance of exposing preservice teachers to a “wide range of field experiences” in order to familiarize them with “the challenges of various environments.” However, respondents pointed out factors that may adversely affect the quality of field experiences. For example, one respondent shared:
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