Over the next few days I have a ton of stuff to do. Essentially I have two weeks of freedom before professional development starts in my building. Having just been in two days of instructional materials (writing) training, I am a bit worn out. That being said, I am also excited about the possibility of further integration of writing into my Social Studies/Literacy block.
Kids do a ton of writing when they come through my room. They write down notes, and responses, to what we are reading in Social Studies. They also write down responses to literature we are reading. We do weekly current events summaries as homework. Our wiki gets used on a regular basis, and is a great chance for kids to communicate their understanding of the concepts we are learning.
All of that being said, my actual writing instruction during this block was far from optimal. Part of this lies in my mental concept of writing instruction: a writing block (writer's workshop) where kids are actively working on pieces of writing that may of may not be related to other curricular areas. I utilized the Units of Study materials, and enjoyed them (as a sidenote, I'm hoping to go to the Teacher's College next summer to do some of their PD). What I need to eliminate are the walls between writing and my social studies block. I plan to use the materials I was just trained to use to improve my kids' writing, seeing the materials as a concrete bridge to improved paragraphs, summaries, sentences, etc. Will I do away with my writer's workshop? No. I see room for both to fit in my instruction.
There is quite a bit to be done.
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