Response!

In my limited time as a teacher, reading response seems to be a literacy skill that is lagging behind for my kiddos. For me, reading response is interacting with the text by writing connections you've made to particular pieces of text evidence. You might compare your own experience to a character and explain why. You might also discuss why you feel like you are similar/different compared to a character. I use it in my novel study FQR (fact/question/response) work, giving kids a menu of questions to choose from and respond to.

My kids can verbally make connections. Most kids can verbally make connections, most commonly done through a "one time I..." type of story. When it comes time to turn those stories into writing, I've seen them fall flat. To stem that tide, I used some student work as my basis for modeling responses. A few had made giant run-on sentences, while others responded to BOTH questions with simple one sentence responses. Neither were in the ballpark of what I was looking for, largely because it lacked any deep reflection or connection to the reading.

With my first two groups I opted to let them start on the response section with some support from me (and modeling). But as we went I pulled pieces under the document camera for the whole group to see, opting for that route instead of 18 mini-lessons or conferences in each group. This involved my own writing and connection- and the change was great. Most really got it as it was intended while a few others will need more support. The last group I went ahead and adjusted ahead, opting for my guided work and support throughout the process. Based on their writing previously, I determined that letting them float along wouldn't be prudent (particularly with the information gathered from my first two groups). The hope is that this pays dividends later when we start our novel study work.

The more you write, the more it grows

I thoroughly enjoy teaching writing. I don't consider myself to be much of a writer, but I do enjoy putting my own thoughts down, and I try my best to pass that enthusiasm along. Last year I felt like my teaching was fairly successful for the first and second graders I had. I certainly had some that I hoped to push further, but I felt like most of the kids got excited about Writer's Workshop.

Looking at my practice this year, I feel like I am coming back around. My first day or two of the workshop weren't what I had hoped for, but the kids persisted anyway. As I have started to model more clearly, and ask clearer questions for shoulder partner discussion, our writing sessions have gotten crisper. We've started the journey from "watermelon" stories, those stories that are "and then, and then, and then," to seed stories. Case in point was one who wrote about when she got her cat.

"The cat reached through the cage, almost as if to say 'Take me! I've been here for years.' "

Before the writing included some detail about the color of the cat, and her being excited to get the cat, but little about how that experience was. She was really focusing in, and getting to the essence of that moment, which was the purpose. Additionally the kids are able to identify if their own stories are watermelon or seeds, and working towards re-drafting (one of the stories we've written, not all).

Lastly, all my kids have technology skills of some sort. Each can use their personal login (to the network), each can type fairly proficiently, they can do most of the basic Word functions, etc. This gives me hope for my desire to start a class blog. I'd use the 10 computer/21 kids to do a weekly rotation. One set would blog and the other would comment, and continue to rotate. This would work for about a month before changing up groups and/or having them all responsible for a weekly/bi-weekly post and comment. I just need to find out what I need to do in order to get clearance/permission. Big plans are in store.