Writing Workshop

We've kicked off our writing workshop recently. In intermediate, the suggested unit to start with is "Launching the Writing Workshop." The work is to get students to learn different strategies to generate narrative writing. Additionally they begin to learn the routines that go along with the writing workshop- mini-lesson, writing time, conferencing as needed, and sharing at the end. Two weeks in, where are we?

As a whole, it is better than it was my first year. As I stated previously, I have a greater understanding of the trajectory in each unit being taught. I also think I am living the life of a writer more than I did last year. Some of my mini-lessons fell short last year because I was not actually writing enough alongside the kids. This year I am generating those stories along with them, or in advance so that students can see a demonstration. If I write prior to our writing time, we talk about the qualities we see in the writing that can be utilized in student writing.

But I need a greater commitment to some of our routines. In particular, I need to get back to ensuring our atmosphere fosters a commitment to writing. How so you say? Well I am inconsistent in my use of background music. When there is something playing, students are often calmer and write longer. I also am not being consistent when students are talking during our writing time. I find myself giving some students multiple reminders, a clear sign that they need some help. In recent days, instead of thinking about why students are off-task, I've focused on getting kids quiet and back to work. Bad practice! Ugh. Tomorrow we'll try to wrangle those few who are off-task, and potentially work in a small group. I might also leverage student role models to have them share work with those in need of support. We'll work on it tomorrow... not soon, but tomorrow!

Integration in Year Two

First off, I am making a conscious effort to blog more. Hence the uptick in posts. Yesterday I mentioned how I was moving towards a narrative writing project with my kiddos as they've been reading about geographic features of the US. As I think ahead to tomorrow, and likely next week, I can't help but think about last year.

At this point last year I was keeping my head above water. While I felt highly capable, I was also trying to adjust to the way 5th graders work and new curricular materials. This year is an entirely different feel. Probably most striking is the fact that I am seeing the cross-curricular connections, and the integration is relatively seamless. As I look across the content area objectives, I am looking at how to teach it as a reading text. What reading standards will I hit, and what questions will help my kids get there? Additionally, I'm consistently thinking about how I can be less helpful. What I mean by that is I want to move the intellectual heavy lifting onto my kids' backs. Instead of asking kids content area questions with guideposts, I'll ask them questions like what is the main idea of a particular section and why is it important? Last year I would have led them along to the concept of importance, creating a less dynamic environment comparatively.

Back to tomorrow. We're going to integrate more explicit writing instruction into social studies. Last year it was more of an afterthought. They had a task to accomplish, and I was focused on the utilization of content. Instead we are actually going to focus on how to write a small moment, narrated as though we had experienced it. It will dovetail off of some of their favorite social studies experiences: 4th grade's Lewis and Clark work. Totally different feel in year two.

Progress Monitoring

One new wrinkle this year is that I have kids bringing their own notebooks. Last year we had social studies journals that were included with our new curricular materials. We had the option of getting them as consumables, and we were to provide input to our administrator about getting them again. I opted against it, seeing the journals at 2-4 dollars a piece being a massive outlay that was unnecessary.

Why was it unnecessary? While some of the pages were great, I opted to teach social studies as a study in reading. Instead of simply searching for content, questions like "What was the main idea of section 1.3?" end up being more effective. I still use some of the content area questions, but I help the kids less. Instead of "Label the landforms above," which corresponds to the EXACT SAME picture in the book, I ask them to "Name a landform related to land (not to be confused with those by water), and describe what it looks like." Kids then need to do one of two things:
1) examine the non-fiction feature carefully to determine what exactly makes a mountain different than a plain or basin...or
2) read the text carefully to determine what the actual definition is.

Either way kids are asked to do more with the reading they are doing. Combine that with instruction around main and supporting ideas (again, not included in social studies journal/consumable) and you've got a better forum for practicing non-fiction reading.

On Friday we'll actually start a 2+ day exploration into narrative writing by having kids think about the landforms of the US, and use their 4th grade experience with Lewis and Clark to write about how they would travel across the United States (1800's). There is a piece of writing in the social studies text they'll use as well. But it should be fun... a little foray into creative writing while applying content area knowledge.