Just like Nancy, I have been emailing the teachers on and off for a month or so. A couple of weeks ago, they decided on their writing genres. One class will do free verse poetry and the other, book reviews. Our next step was to decide on the audience we would be writing for and an authentic purpose for writing. One of the key elements of Regie Routman's approach to writing is that there is an authentic purpose for writing and a real audience and both are shared with students from the outset. When they know these two things, they care more about the writing and are therefore more engaged and committed to the project.
So here is what we have decided:
Grade 2
Genre: Free verse poetry
Purpose: Kids writing poetry for kids. We think there is not enough of it in the world and believe that kids would like to read poetry written by other kids. We are going to publish a book of poetry for our classroom library and school library.
Audience: Students in our classroom and school.
Grade 3
Genre: Book reviews
Purpose: Our reviews are going to be published on a bulletin board near our classroom library. We want to share great books we have read with others.
Audience: Students in our class.
Another key to Regie's approach is the importance of frontloading. I think of this as experiences the writers will need in advance of actually writing themselves. Both teachers have spent some time in the last week or two providing their students with some experiences that will set them up for success.
Grade 2
The teacher first asked students what they knew about poetry all ready. I have not yet seen this chart but my hunch is that one of the things they knew was that poetry must rhyme. Then she read many free verse poems, written by both adults and children, to them. And of course, they talked.
Grade 3
The teacher shared book reviews of some books she had used as Read Alouds and how they had helped her make book choices. She also shared some student written reviews (spahettibookclub.org). From these samples they began a list of what can be included in a book review which will become our criteria later in the week. Each student has also selected two books that they might like to review.
Monday afternoon, the frontloading continues with a sharing of what they have already learned and the first stage of the Optimal Learning Model (OLM) ... the "I do it". Think gradual release of responsibility and you will know that this is the modelling or demonstration done by the teacher. This is not new, many of you have been writing in front of your students for years. What is clearer to me now though, is that sharing my thinking as a writer is as important as doing the writing. Showing them what a writer does and thinks, and why they do it. Not just telling them.
In our email exchange today, I shared some goals I have for tomorrow:
Grade 2 writers will:
- know the audience and purpose of our writing
- see and talk about how poetry is different from other kinds of writing
- see how a writer thinks about choosing a topic for a poem
- see and talk about how you keep yourself going as a writer: stretching out words, checking word walls/personal dictionaries, trying it and moving on
- see that writers think and change their minds
Grade 3 writers will:
- know the audience and purpose for our book reviews
- see a model of a book review written with a specific purpose and audience in mind
- see and hear that a writer thinks about their message and their audience
- see (and soon understand) that writers think and change their minds as they write
- talk about what they see
- notice what is important in a book review
Stay tuned. My hope is that I write, even briefly, about what we do and learn each day.
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