Writer's Workshop Wednesdays

I love teaching writing!

I don't hear many teachers saying this, so I know I'm in the minority here.  I think I like teaching writing because I love to write.  It's something that I've loved doing since I was in third grade.  I remember writing a story about an elephant running away from the circus, and thinking that I wanted to write books when I grew up.

So here I am, teaching 5th graders how to write.

How?  Through Writer's Workshop.

After going through some pretty intense training for Writer's Workshop when I taught at Tigerville Elementary School in SC, and then being a part of the Upstate Writing Project with Clemson, I'm a firm believer that Writer's Workshop works. It's not just another program that was thrown at me to figure out and implement immediately; it's a well-researched way to build a community of lifelong writers in your classroom.

Enjoying writing outdoors

So, what is Writer's Workshop?

1. A time when students pretty much get to make choices about what they write.

2. Mini lessons

3. Time to write

4. Talking about our writing

5. Teachers modeling writing

6. Using Mentor Texts as examples

7. Sharing and celebrating the authors in all of us


It's my favorite time of the day (my students say the same thing)!  And once you understand how it all works, I know you'll love it, too.

Check back with me every Wednesday for Writer's Workshop Wednesday. I plan on posting helpful tips and hints for being successful with this in your class. I promise each Writer's Workshop Wednesday post will have you excited to try something new with your students!

I'm giving away a couple customized Writing Process Clip Charts - leave a comment below about writing in your classroom (a moment of success or an area of frustration is fine).  Make sure to leave your email address, too, so I can contact you!  I'll choose the winners by Saturday, July 29. 

Martha from "The Owl Spot"

So is independent reading really that important?

Yes, yes, and yes!

I know, I've been there, too. My schedule is jam packed, I have no idea how I'm going to spend extra time getting my students ready for those tests, and we have so many pull outs and interruptions that I'm lucky to get all of my content covered.  The last thing on my mind is free reading time.

But that's what my students (and yours) need the most, especially if their vocabulary fluency is low.  They need to be immersed in good vocabulary, and what better place than in good books.  

"[A] study found that the amount of time students spent reading independently was the best predictor of vocabulary development and reading achievement gains. The research indicates that independent reading is probably the major source of vocabulary acquisition beyond the beginning stages of learning to read." (Individualized Daily Reading Research, Center for the Collaborative Classroom).  

This study goes on to explain that the amount of time students are independently reading has a direct correlation to their amount of vocabulary knowledge and understanding. Books are so important!

After reading this, I've decided that I have to put more 

of a priority on independent reading in my classroom.  
I want it to be meaningful, not just something we use 
as a time filler.  But I don't want my students to feel like 
I'm forcing them to read. I want them to want to read.  

There are many student motivators out there, some better than others.  I'll apologize ahead of time here, but I'm not a fan of AR (gasp, I know!). While there are many good points to the program, I don't like giving my students the only reason for reading is to take a test and earn points.  We don't do that as adults. We read because we want to - either for fun or for information.  If we are asked questions about what we're reading, we can usually pick up the book and find the answers we need.  

Last year, I managed to be able to take my students to our local library once a month to check out books.  They loved it!  There were books there that I didn't have on my shelves, and they were around other people who really loved to read.  The bus rides back to school were usually pretty quiet as they were beginning to devour their adventures. Maybe checking into local library trips is something you'd like to do - the ladies at the library were very excited to help us make this a meaningful experience.  My students had to obtain their own library card with their parents.  

One of my goals this summer is to read "The Book Whisperer" by Donalyn Miller.  I've heard many teachers give raving reviews of how this book has changed their reading instruction. Have you read it? What is one of your                                most important/memorable take-a-ways?

  Martha

Vocabulary Instruction

Vocabulary instruction is key to comprehension in the content areas, such as history, social studies, and science. Well, I guess it’s key to understanding anything that you are trying to teach. 

I’m teaching summer school to a group of rising first graders in an area with a high percentage of Spanish speaking families. Some of these kiddos don't have any English spoken in their home, which makes it real tough for them to know what’s going on in the classroom. We were singing a silly camp song about ravioli, and one girl was just looking around the room with a completely confused look on her face. She had no idea what this ravioli was about! After taking time to explain the words in the song, she understood a little better. 

How many times does this happen in the classroom? Many students (not just your ESL/ELL learners) struggle with vocabulary. They can be just as confused in class as this sweet girl was about ravioli! So what do we do? 

I think that our biggest obstacle is time. We’d love to spend a day or two really working on the vocabulary. But we must keep moving and plowing through to make sure we finish. Or, we give up time so we can focus on those subjects that are tested. Because we all know those are more important. Or at least that’s what we’re forced into thinking. (Can you tell I despise what we are doing to our children with these government issued mandates that don’t allow us to teach?) 

I digress… 

Since we cannot do anything about the time constraints that we have in our classroom, we must find ways to infuse vocabulary instruction into what we do. 

“Learners move from not knowing a word, to being somewhat acquainted with it, to attaining a deeper, richer knowledge that allows them to use new words in many modalities of expression.” -Camille Blackowicz and Peter Fisher, 2012 

Our students fall into one of these three categories: 
1. Not knowing the words they encounter in their instruction, 
2. Having a loose familiarity with the words, or 
3. Knowing the words well enough to use them in their own expressions of their learning. 

I think we all want our students to be at the third category, but too often, we don’t give them enough time with the words to master them. 

Check out the list below for some different activities that can help you move your students from vocabulary confusion to mastery. 

1. Reading immersion! When students encounter new words in texts that they are invested     in, the words stay with them. 
2. Understanding Context Clues Strategies 
3. Learn Synonyms and Antonyms 
4. Importance of learning word stems and origins 
5. Vocabu-ladders! 
6. Vocabulary Games 

I will write more blog posts on each of these topics soon to give you a plethora of ideas to help you as you plan for teaching vocabulary to your students. What’s one way that you include vocabulary instruction in your classroom? I’d love to have a list of strategies here that we can share with each other!

  Martha