The first step is educating them about the content that they are going to write about. I see this done in my placement classroom when students are assigned a writing topic, then told to research it on the internet when they go to the computer lab. Although this is one way for students to find out more information on a topic, there are many other rich ways that students can explore new information. Some of the suggestions in the Gibbons chapter include building a semantic web, list student questions, use pictures to enhance and teach vocabulary, and compile a word wall.
The next step that Gibbons suggests is modeling the text. This gives students an opportunity to understand the purpose behind writing with a particular genre or using a specific structure. I have never seen the students in my placement go through this process, although they are expected to write for different purposes. At one point, one group of students was expected to describe what happened on a field trip to a student who was not able to go along. One of the pieces of writing I collected to bring to class earlier this semester was an informative piece that a student wrote about conducting a science experiment. One of the suggestions that Gibbons gave for giving students practice organizing different text structures was text reconstruction. Students are provided with jumbled sentences that they are to reorganize in a way that makes sense with the genre of text.
The next step to explicit writing instruction is called "joint construction". During this phase, teachers and students write together. It is important to understand that this does not consist of the teacher "thinking" their writing aloud and writing it down as an example for the students. It is intended to be a collaborative time, where the teacher guides a group of students in the compilation of an interesting piece of writing. I have never seen anything resembling this practice in my placement classroom.
After the previous three steps are completed, students are able to progress to the independent writing stage. This step could initially be completed in pairs so that students receive additional support, but eventually students should be expected to compose their thoughts individually. This is where a lot of the information from the Tompkins chapter would be helpful. Now students would go through the pre-writing, drafting, revising, and editing stages. It is important to note that students will still need to be helped through these processes, especially ELLs and students with disabilities. However, helping students master their writing skills is an essential step in their journey to become literate, educated citizens.
I wish that I could have had more opportunities to be involved in the writing development of my students this year, but I have really only been able to be a part of it a few times. I was able to help one of the students with her report on volcanoes, but only took the editing role during the writing process. One thing that all of the students in my class participated in was the Calbery Writing Contest, a writing competition open to Lansing students in fourth and fifth grade. Students were expected to complete a fiction, poetry, or non-fiction book to give to judges who scored their books based on their text, form, and presentation. The week that these books were due was crazy in my placement classroom. I know that most of the students did not go through a pre-writing stage, and very few of them made it past the first draft of their book before it was due. If my MT had taken more time to go through the writing process with these students, it would have been a much more valuable experience for everyone involved. I was also able to participate in the editing stage for the students who had completed enough of their book for proof-reading. It was interesting to read the varied and interesting ideas of the students; I wish that they were given more time to engage in the writing process to maximize their learning.
An example of student writing:
I agree that the articles about all of the possibilities when it comes to writing have been very interesting! I have seen my placement classroom perform many writing assignments, but they are always very formal compositions where they go through an intense editing process. They are also always writing first-person narrative essays and never any other forms, which I know is something I want to emphasize in my future teaching.
ReplyDeleteThe Gibbons ELL reading sounds like it would be very beneficial - I may have to check it out! I read the other chapter of Tompkins and really enjoyed it as well. It was about the usage of reading and writing in content areas, specifically in science and social studies. There were a lot of really great ideas for different types of genres and forms to explore.
The writing contest sounds fun, although I can see your frustration with the MT's process. It definitely takes a couple days if not a full week to put together a full product. The editing in particular can be difficult, which I've experienced in my placement as well.
Related to that book competition, I did something similar when I was in grade school and really enjoyed it - we put on a Young Author's Fair every year where students would make a creative book or poetry collection and have it "published" and bound for a night where parents and community members would come to the see the authors and their books. It was something everyone always looked forward to and had fun preparing for - I hope that the school I teach at has something similar or I can help establish something like it. Every kid was encouraged and felt special.
At my placement I am there to see a nice amount of writing, but the writing process is not used much. I am in a first grade placement and their writing is still very minimal. Most of their writing assignments are prompts given by the teacher where students answer the question given. They usually produce two to three sentences with several spelling errors. There is never a huge effort by the teacher to go back and help students correct those errors, but at this age the most important concept is that they are learning how to organize their writing. On the other hand this lack of correction could be due to the fact that there isn't enough time for the teacher to go to each student and help them correct their mistakes.
ReplyDeleteIn the Hsu article, the importance and benefits of writing partners were expressed. With the writing partners students are assigned a partner at the beginning of the year and they remain partners throughout the entire school year. Through this partnership students learn how to rely more on each other for help as opposed to constantly running to the teacher. During writing time the teacher's main role is to facilitate and interject when necessary. I really liked this idea because it helped to create a community within the classroom. Students were eager to ask their partners questions and get feedback about their writing. I think the students in my class could benefit from partners even at this young age. They can help each other with their spelling using the classroom dictionaries that were made for each student. There are a lot of different approaches to help students improve their writing skills and I think that was evident through the various readings. I look forward to using these techniques in the near future!