Crafting Writers Chapters 10, 11, 12 and Wohlwend Article

  

             In chapter 10 Elizabeth Hale focuses on teaching the conference. Relating this chapter to how my own conferences might go, I can predict a couple of things. I think as a teacher it will be important to know a lot of specific crafts. I think it will be difficult to be on the ball with finding the strengths in everyone’s writing. I want to make sure what I am pointing out is actually something useful to the child not just some vague in order to move onto something to improve. I am worried that I will not be able to relate their strengths to the “next step.”

          I really like the idea of having the student say the strengths back to me after the conference. I have noticed that while working with children they often pretend like they know what I am talking about. When I come back to check on their work they have not used the specific skill that I taught. I think this is one way to ensure the student understand the skill, or if they need more explanation. I love the wording she uses when teaching a child something new. I know I will use the phrase, “one thing I think you are ready for as a writer is….” This is a very positive way of giving them different strategies to try.

          I also like the idea of keeping a record of our conferences. I think it is important for the child to be included on the record keeping as well. The reason for this is because as a child when a teacher was writing about me I got nervous. However, if a child is part of the process,(perhaps recording their strengths) they will understand that keeping notes is nothing threatening.

          In chapter 11 Hale brings up some good points about group conferences and management. She brings up the point that during the day teachers may be pressed for time. In this case it may be a good idea to bring a group of students together that are struggling with the same topic. After the conference it is important to still have the children say the teaching point back. One idea I have is for them to each write the teaching point down and then say it. This will ensure that it is their own thinking and they are not just repeating what someone else said. In the primary grades these conferences may be more about the set up of writing (spacing, periods) and as they get older more focused on craft skills.

         It is important to have a layout in the room that supports the group conferencing and teaching on mini lessons. It may be good to get them out of their desks and away from distraction. It is also important to start off the year showing children what will happen in conferences and letting them practice.

        Hale brings up a good point about giving children an intermission during writing time. A big distraction for children is when they are off task. This uses up valuable time during writing time. If you let children know that they will have a chance to chat then they will be more willing to write for a certain amount of time.  It is also important that they find comfortable spots around the room to write.

     In chapter 12 Hale talks about assessment. A great way to assess a students writing is by using a rubric. It is important to use a new rubric for each new unit of study. I think it will be important for me to look at other rubrics that were created in the past for ideas on how to word and what to include in a writing rubric.

   I think it will be important for the student to understand the rubric. This will ensure that I use “student friendly wording”. I am still a little unsure of the point system that should be assigned to each section of the rubric and how much a piece of writing should be worth.

          Karen E. Wohlwends article, “Dilemmas and Discourses of Learning to Write: Assessment as a Contested Site, makes some good points about the struggles teachers face with trying to keep children up with standards. At the end of the article she makes a very good point about how hard it is to point out certain child’s strengths when they have to be labeled as “at risk.” For teachers it is tough when they are trying to get all of their students to meet the goals of the elementary education system. I found it sad when she talks about Jamal and how he was shunned at the writing table. One reason for this shunning was because he had to physically leave the classroom to work on special skills. The kids that would not allow him to participate in game where phonetic proficiency were needed because he did not have this skill.

        I also found it disturbing that a test determines if you are up to par with your teaching. There were specific skills that the students needed to be able to complete in order to move up in grade level. Just because a student held a pencil a certain way stopped her from meeting criteria. Overall, I think it should be the teacher’s decision to whether a student can move on. However, I do agree that opinions can vary from teacher to teacher and some requirements are needed. It can be a struggle for teachers to allow students to experiment and learn at their own pace when they have the high demand of meeting certain standards. 

Crafting Writers Chapters 7, 8, & 9

          In chapter 7 of Elizabeth Hales, “Crafty Writers”, she talks about teaching craft lessons. I thought it was interesting how she related good teaching to thinking about the person on the receiving end. I totally agree with this concept as I think about how I am training with a new member of my bike team. Since I was new to the team last year, I can understand exactly what she is going through, and what I found difficult to understand about riding. She recently told me that I was a great teacher and that she really feels comfortable with me rather than Caroline (our bike captain) because I can relate to what she is going through and explain things better. It is important for the teacher to think about how she would take in these new concepts that she is teaching and what others may find difficult to understand.

              I also liked how she talked about using lessons to actually teach new things. I think it will be important as I am making up lessons to ask myself: What exactly am I teaching, and how will this lesson help students to become better writers. I can relate to what she said about having students do something with what they are learning. From my own experience as a student, I listen much more when I know I have to do something with the material. My favorite “try-it” method is the writing journal. This way they will have a written list of exactly what they have learned.

       In Chapter 8, Hales focuses on looking at strengths in a writing conference. When I think about conferences, I imagine my teacher pointing out and circling all of my spelling mistakes. I think Hales approach would be a much more beneficial for students. I love how the boy, Jonathan, ended up choosing writing for his favorite class. In the beginning he dreaded this class but because his teacher saw strengths in his writing, he did as well.

          I  like how she pointed out that students use craft methods they have never been taught (like the echo method). They use these crafts because of the types of literature they have been exposed to. This shows that it is beneficial for students to be exposed to all types of reading material.

          Finally, it is important to point out something good about the students writing. It doesn’t matter how primary it may be. Even if it is a craft that you have never thought of before, pointing out something will help the student to feel good about their writing and continue to grow.

Finally, in chapter 9, Hales talks about what issues teachers can address in conferences. Working in a school right now I can see that children in the classroom are not all at the same level.  I am guessing that within my own classroom this will also be the case. It is important for the teacher not to teach on where the student should be. By this I mean it is not beneficial for the teacher to throw 50 things at the child to fix in their writing.

         I really like how she emphasizes to use the Childs writing as an actual starting point and to look at situations where you can introduce craft because it would fit in perfectly. It is also beneficial to look at all the things that could possibly be taught and to focus on one. 

Crafting Writers Chapters 4 & 5

Students who are exposed to reading and like to read usually receive high appraisal on their work. Students who are not as strong in this area often just received comments on how their writing could be corrected/improved. Teachers can create a new mindset and atmosphere in the classroom by introducing craft.

Teachers can use craft by first naming the specific craft. Giving an example of where the student used this craft, and finally explaining why it was good. Students should be introduced to these crafts and see them modeled by a teacher or in literature. Using craft instruction can help students enhance the craft they are already using and help them elaborate.

Some of the different crafts include; the five senses, show not tell, dialogue, sentence variety, and word choice. Students may use these concepts, but it is not until the student teacher conference that children will elaborate. For example, the student may write about how the shoes were pretty. It is not until the conference with them that the teacher will find what they were recalling, and really thinking about the shoes. In reality they might like the green sparkle the shoes had. You can offer the suggestion that when the student is talking about clothing items they can add a couple sentences describing the item. This will help them in the future when they write about the same topic.

An important writing craft for students is sentence varitiy. In order to assist children with this, it is important to introduce lots of different types of writing.  One way to so this is introducing the idea of starting sentences with different words and using different sized sentences. To make sentences longer (without making them run-on), it is good to use the combination words, while, as, during, before, and after.

Punctuation is a part of writing that may not be empathized right away. Students will start to experiment with punctuation by putting certain symbols randomly within their writing. They may also need reminders to use punctuation, as they understand how to use it but forget to put it in their writing. It is important for the teacher to describe why punctuation is needed.

Students will start to see punctuation such as parentheses used in the books they read. Students should understand that they could use commas to add more detail to a sentence without making it confusing. For example, rather than using “things” in a sentence, you can describe what this things are using commas (shoes, hats, rings, scarf’s).

Teachers can support a student use of punctuation in a variety of ways.  They can set aside time for students to explore punctuation. One example of this is having students look for how authors have used punctuation in their writing and why they use these punctuation marks. Another way to encourage students to use punctuation during independent reading time is to set aside a few minutes at the end to set down their pencils and re-read what they have written adding in any missing marks.