Face-to-Face+Discussion+Notes

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 // DISCUSSION FROM CHAPTER ONE //   ** QUOTES & IDEAS THAT HAD AN IMPACT **

“Write what makes you happy” “You don’t know what you’ll write until you write it.” “Read a lot and write a lot” “Read like a writer”

 ** GOOD IDEAS **  · Teachers who write with kids  · Doodling – drawing as a thinking tool  · Kindergarten – record ideas to help them get their ideas down  · Worry about revising before editing – in other words, help students develop their writing and develop a love for writing before delving too deeply into making each piece perfect in conventions.  · Strategy – bring pictures from home to use as writing ideas  · Talking with teacher and others about pictures  · Allow for think time before they begin to write  · Make it your own: allow students to begin with an idea provided by you or someone else – just help them to make the piece their own  · Write with them – model all aspects of writing

** YES, BUTs… WORRIES…ROADBLOCKS ** <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; margin-left: 67.5pt; text-indent: -0.25in;"> § Do you make students go back and redo because it doesn’t make sense, when it was good that they got it done in the first place? Are we hurting them? <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; margin-left: 67.5pt; text-indent: -0.25in;"> § District Writing Assessments need to be rethought, restructured, redone <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; margin-left: 67.5pt; text-indent: -0.25in;"> § Curriculum – guidelines have to be there, and new teachers need to be provided with clear direction on what they need to introduce and what to teach to mastery. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; margin-left: 67.5pt; text-indent: -0.25in;"> § What if a skill (such as conventions in kindergarten) isn’t assessed? Will it be taught? How can we assure that skills and concepts are taught? <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; margin-left: 0.25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"> § Teachers do a lot of the work in writing. Giving examples causes students to copy teacher’s work rather than make it their own, but they often need some support <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; margin-left: 0.25in; text-indent: 0in;"> § “Rushing in too soon to save” Allow for wait/think time. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; margin-left: 0.25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"> § Lack of student ownership of their writing notebooks

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; margin-left: 0.25in;">** TO DO/TO CONSIDER/TO FIGURE OUT ** <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; margin-left: 0.25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"> o Match assessments to the most important aspects of writing. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; margin-left: 0.25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"> o What is our definition of good writing? <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; margin-left: 0.25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"> o Tie writing to read aloud time <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; margin-left: 0.25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"> o Concerns – longer writing time every day <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; margin-left: 0.25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"> o Journals – are there some that we could find to fill up? (fewer pages than a regular notebook) <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; margin-left: 0.25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"> o Build fluency and stamina through writing every day <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; margin-left: 0.25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"> o AIMS WEB has been helpful in building fluency and stamina in writing <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; margin-left: 0.25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"> o Go from having two notebooks to having one <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; margin-left: 0.25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"> o Organize the Writer’s Workshop during the summer – the syllabus for what they need to accomplish during a certain period time <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; margin-left: 0.25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"> o Move totally to Writer’s Workshop where the writing is student driven – including the genres of writing