Writer's Workshop Ch. 7-8, 19

I really enjoyed these chapters because it talked about the fears and doubts that I have had along with the idea of a writer's workshop. For starters, how is the room not in total mayhem if the children are allowed to just write freely?! Chapter 7 discusses ways to manage distractions in a writers workshop. These methods not only seem doable for me as a future teacher, but I actually see them in the classrooms that I have observed. The best way that I have seen to manage a distruptful student in a productive way is proximity. By simply standing closer to the student he or she begins to behave without having to be explicitly asked. This has worked in both my pre-k and fourth grade classroom and works for me as a college student. Rey says that by having presence in the classroom, we are showing children that we expect them to be involved. I think that this is a really good point. If a teacher is circulating around the room looking for children's work and discussions, the children know that this is what they are supposed to be doing at that time.

Rey goes on to talk about transitions and the distractions that these can present in a classroom. The best way that I have seen this managed in my pre-k classroom is with daily routines. My teacher has set aside the beginning of everyday for writers workshop. By now, the children know that they should come into the room, but their things in their cubbies, and sit down at their tables to being writing and drawing. They are allowed around 30 minutes. They are reminded when they have a few minutes left to work and then a timer goes off when it is time to clean up. The children know that they should have all their materials put away and be seated on the rug by the time the timer is done going off. For young children, setting these expectations through routines is so crucial.

I think that Rey is spot-on when she says that teachers struggle to force children to write. We have no problem making them do worksheets but writing seems so different. Rey says that it should be no different than any other subject. Athough the writing is flexible and the content is left to choice, the actually writing is not optional. I believe that the best way to get children to write is to allow them to write about something that interests them and to let them get comfortable. Writers workshop can be a time of the day where the children are in control. They have the freedom to write what they like and sit where they choose. This control is hard for some teachers to give up but I think that it will help create children who love to write and take ownership in what they do.

Lastly, the idea of publication is interesting to me. Rey says that publication is not optional. No ifs, ands, or buts. This surprised me because the whole writers workshop process seemed so flexible. Can we really make children share if they don't want to? What if they cry and decide they hate school because we embarass them so much?
I agree with Rey that it is important to publish for children to complete all of the steps of the writing process. Although I'm hesitant about making children share if they do not want to, I believe that anxiety about publication can be reduced by telling the children up-front what is expected. Take our LLED class for instance. I'm nervous about reading something that I have written aloud to the whole class but I would probably freak out if I got to class one day and Beth told us to pick something to share that day. Now, we have time to prepare and think about what we want to share. I won't be stuck writing a personal story only to find out that I have to share it infront of all of our peers. Putting ourselves in our student's situation can help create a comfortable and enjoyable writers workshop for everyone.

A recipe for conferencing...

Recipe: Conference Cake

Serving: 2, student and teacher

Ingredients:

 Heaps of paper

1 Pencil

1 classroom of open, creative minds

1 student

1 Teacher

¼ cup research

¼ cup decision

¼ cup teaching

¼ cup making a record

Directions:

Preheat the classroom to a comfortable setting.  Get a large mixing bowl. Mix first 3 ingredients until well-blended.  Pour in one student.  This should yield a writing student.  Add in one supportive teacher.  In a smaller bowl, add in ¼ cup of research and mix.  Slowly stir in ¼ cup of decision.  Sprinkle in ¼ cup of teaching.  Immediately whisk in ¼ of making a record.  Combine the two mixing bowls into one conference.   Place in the oven for 2-7 minutes or until writing has improved.  ENJOY your writing student!

Writer's Workshop Ch 14, 15, 17

These chapters of the book were interesting because they hit on the one thing that teachers fear the most: the unpredictable. Personally, I agree with Katie and enjoy the idea of talking with students. Never knowing the things that are going to pop out of their mouth's is one of the things that draws me to teaching day after day. Still,  I had been unclear as to what conferencing consisted of before doing the readings for this week. I did not know how to keep it concise or productive. Talking with kids is easy, but  getting them to say the things that you want them to say is isn't always as simple.
We have learned alot about wait time when asking children questions. I think this concept is difficult for teachers because silence can sometimes seem forced and awkward. Ray talks about how important this concept is in conferring. Rather than continueing to ask children questions that they are not answering, give them time to think about things and give a thoughtful answer. This is something that I would really like to work on as I get closer to becoming a teacher.
Ray goes on to talk about the different types of share that children can participate in while doing writer's workshop. I really like this because it can work for any students. some students are more eager to share their work and would enjoy talking infront of the entire class. Others are more shy and would never volunteer to read or talk in front of their peers. Student's like this can benefit from a partner share. Here they can talk to their friends and be heard, but do not necesarrily have to do anything that they are uncomfortable with. Also, letting children talk demonstrates that the teacher is not the only one in the room with valuable ideas to share. The earlier chapters talked about making a writer's workshop a place where the students and the teacher are all one as writers. Allowing students to takl to their peers and learn new ideas help show that everyone has good ideas and that there is no right or wrong way to be a writer.
The last chapter on assessing changed the way that I thought of assessment. I always thought of it was something that I had to do. Ugh, keeping records and seeing what my children know...again! This chapter offers the idea of assessment from a different perspective. Ray explains that asking questions is a large part of assessment. This is true. She goes on to say that the questions that we ask people help to form the identites that they form for themselves. I have never thought of it like this before but I could not agree more. I'll use an example of this from my job at Chilis. I have worked there waiting tables for a few years. Often we get new people and they need help. When I was still new and people asked me questions about how to do things, they would stop, realizing that I was new and probably did not know these things. They did not expect it from me, so I did not expect it from myself. Now, when people ask me questions I feel like they look to me because I am knowledgeable. It makes me feel good about myself and what I have accomplished at work. I wonder if people had asked me questions earlier if it would have changed what  I thought was expected of me.  Now I see assessment as an important part of creating self-assured students rather than just something I need for a job.

Writers Workshop: Ch. 9-10, 13

Today, like every morning in my pre-k classroom, we started the day with my teacher’s version of a writers workshop. She gave every child a piece of paper and crayons and encouraged them to write words that they saw around the classroom.  This prompt alone would have been very difficult if it had not been for the environment of the classroom.  It is colorful and organized and helps promote learning, especially writing. For instance, the children’s names are written clearly on large strips. This helps them to practice the letters in their names. The colors are displayed across the top of the wall like a border. Using these things as a reference, many children wrote the colors in the corresponding crayon color and all of the children were able to write their names.  I agree with Ray and see the importance that “children are surrounded by things to learn from (Chapter 9).”

When I was first introduced to a writers workshop I thought that it was simply a time set aside every day for children to write freely. I enjoyed reading about the strategies that help build writing in a writers workshop. Going back to what Ray said in the beginning of the book, I think that it is important for children to see that there are not simply people who can and cannot write. These strategies can help anyone become a better writer, even the teacher. In the book, the teacher admitted to using the strategies and even shared her work with her students. I think that sharing work with students is a great way to get them to open up to you and become more comfortable as writers.

Chapter 13 continued with the idea that teachers need to be partners in writing. Ray says that teachers should be “ a writing mentor and fellow writer, not just someone telling kids what to do.” I think that this idea is so important, but difficult for many teachers to do. Teachers are constantly seen as the authority figure and it is difficult to put yourself on the same level as your students. Yet, if students can see that someone that they look up to values writing but also faces struggles they may be more motivated to write.

Maybe it really is sunshine and rainbows after all

I love Pre-k. That’s right, I said it. I never thought those words would come out of my mouth but they couldn’t be more true. The past couple of days in my field placement have been truly wonderful. I have a great mentor teacher, a bubbly parapro, and 20 adorable kids.

The other day one of our UGA professors told us that she truly believes that there are no bad kids…. that no child wakes up with intent  to set the world on fire. She said if children are acting out there must be something wrong and it is our responsibility as adults and teachers to help them. I loved that she said this and I couldn’t agree more.  Yesterday in Pre-k one of the children came in with difficulty. He was crying and wouldn’t leave the door to join circle time. Rather than get angry at him and yell at him to join the rest of his classmates or threaten to take away his tokens, the parapro approached the situation with love and care. She walked up to the boy (just recently 4 years old) and said, “Oh ____, you must be so tired from your long day yesterday. Let me give you a big hug. Let’s get ready for breakfast and you’ll feel so much better.” 

Pre-K, or at least my classroom, is the most loving school environment I have ever seen. We love and encourage kids and they are so eager to please us.  The attitude in the room is so bright and positive that I can’t help but leave at the end of the day smiling.

So, lastly, a few things I am learning from this experience so far:  1. If I love to teach 4^th grade and I love to teach pre-k I have decided that I just love to teach in general and that makes me happy and confident for my future.  2. The perks of having another adult in the room (our parapro) should not be underestimated. It is awesome. 3. Make friends with every teacher you can because they have so much to teach you and having friends at school makes the day fun.  This can be done by hanging out in the teacher workroom during naptime J

My Pre-k debut…

Today I started my first day in pre-k at Timothy Elementary School and I would be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous.  I walked through my classroom doors and was met with smiles by my mentor teacher and parapro ( who had no idea I was coming, oops). The day got off to a quick start. Morning meeting consisted of the children going around the room and telling their names and something they loved to do. My heart was already beginning to melt. Next it was time for centers. My favorite center is “dramatic play” aka dress up. Little girls put on heels 3 times too big for them and pranced around while boys wore firemen hats and played with dinosaurs. The day is a blur between singing, dancing, playing, reading, recess and eating. Oh, and an hour for nap.

I want to be best friends with my mentor teacher already so that’s a bonus. She made me coffee during nap time and is eager to teach me the ways of pre-k. She is sweet and encouraging and great with the children. She and the parapro run after school and they invited me to go with them on Thursdays and Fridays so I’m starting tomorrow and I can’t wait. I feel so lucky to have such a good placement. I can’t wait to see what the rest of pre-k has to offer!

Writers Workshop Ch. 1-5

I liked how the book opened with a scene in a 4^th grade classroom. Having spent last semester working with fourth graders, this scenario was easy for me to relate to. I witnessed firsthand the struggle that children faced with topics that they did not understand or weren’t interested in. I think it is so important for children to be able to write about something that they value and have choice in.

 I find it interesting that Ray encourages at least 35-45 minutes of writing every day for children to gain experience. The children in our children got nowhere near this amount of time to work on their writing. The writing is integrated with other subjects, as Ray talks about.  The only time they had over thirty minutes to write was when they had a graded writing prompt. They were forced to pre-write, rough draft and final draft all in one period.  If they did not finish, they could not go to recess. Not surprisingly, the children dreaded this assessment.

I agree with Ray that there should be time set aside for writing, rather than just having it integrated with other subjects. Ideally, there would be time for social studies and science everyday also. Unfortunately, the school is not an ideal situation anymore and there are constraints out of teacher’s control. The most obvious constraint is time. My question with daily writing workshops is how is there time every day with the strict schedule already placed on teachers?

To hold the students up to such rigorous writing standards, I think it so important when Ray suggests that teachers also take the time to develop as writers. This is another thing that is rarely seen in elementary schools. Some of my best teachers have demonstrated their own writing to the class before expecting us to write. Amy, our other LLED teacher, always writes with us when she gives us a writing task. I love this. I think that this would be a good thing to do with students. When students see their teacher writing they are more likely to value the importance of it.

All of this talk of writing workshops could not have come at a more perfect time. This week I began my pre-k placement at Timothy Rd. I walked in on Thursday at 7:30 to a classroom of 20 4 and 5 year olds working away at their desks. The teacher informed me that this was their writers workshop. I had never been in a classroom that had writers workshop and was shocked to see it in pre-k. The kids were given 25 minutes to write or draw about anything that they wanted. Many wrote their names and drew pictures of their family members or favorite toys.  I think that this time to write is crucial for young kids. It was a good way for them to build confidence in themselves in writers and students and it was a perfect way for them to express themselves.