Reflecting on Writer's Workshop
My students and I are completing a third-grade Lucy Calkins Writing Workshop information unit. My middle school decided that the whole school would begin with the 3rd-grade unit as a way of laying a foundation for information writing and writing workshop, recommended to us by a Writing Workshop "expert." I was skeptical until a pre-assessment on demand writing piece revealed students' writing ability as being about 3rd to 4th-grade level as defined by the Lucy Calkins’ student anchor papers.
My seventh graders have been working on this information book project for about two months. FOREVER! It went faster with my three of my classes because I see them daily. However, it is difficult with my sixth period because I see them every other day; the continuity of a unit is constantly at risk. I have to review far more often than I do with my other students.
This project began with developing writing from a list “expertise” lists students had brainstormed. They then practiced writing and shared about their topics. Next the kids learned to organize a draft using a table of contents as a structure; revising it several times. We examined many kids’ information books using them as “mentor texts.” The students wrote a rough draft in their notebooks, making small tables of contents for each chapter. We also discussed using different types of text structures within our information writing books: comparison/contrast, boxes and bullets, pros and cons, and similarities and differences. We discussed elaboration techniques and adding details.
We discussed plagiarism etc. previous to collecting research for our books in the lab. However, we did not have the opportunity to discuss how to incorporate the research into the text the way I would have liked. The third grade Calkins unit did not include adding research and as important as I think it is, at this point I have to be satisfied with what we have done so far. Incorporating evidence into the text is an important seventh-grade standard, but we have to move on; the rest of my classes are beginning narrative writing, and this period is getting further and further behind.
As far as Friday's lesson went, I thought it went well, especially because my student teachers were there to help me conference with pupils. This way, every child gets an opportunity to discuss their writing. It’s also always important to have students share their writing, especially with each other, but I don’t do that enough. I always seem to run out of time. I need to make time, though, because one of the best ways to become a better writer is to read your writing out loud to someone else. We will have to work on that with the narrative unit.
As a teacher, I find it is hard to decide what to include and what to let go of….like today, I had to forego grammar and vocabulary to make sure we had time to review the overall expectations of the information book, even though I’ve gone over everything before, the lack of continuity required a quick review. It was okay, but really, the kids need a further lesson on adding citations correctly; we’ll see if they can add any and maybe we can individually help some of them. In fact, everything I went over I have taught them before, but not all of them have applied the strategies successfully, etc. I expect about half of them to turn their books in on Tuesday, the due date. The rest I will have to nag, support, tutor, etc. to get these second rough drafts completed. Hopefully, the lab will open up before Christmas so we can get the books published! It’s so important to finish these projects. I will be so glad when we have more technology at this school.I like the Writer’s Workshop theories and strategies. I am hoping to get more training so I can implement the units more successfully. Meanwhile, I will continue to write and talk about teaching until the cows come home.
