Talk about being vulnerable!! Writing in front of your colleagues, as Routman suggests, seems like a hard sale to a staff unless a number of them are also reading this book. Maybe not, but even as a learning experience, it seems it might be hard for buy in. I do like the thought of compiling such writings by the teachers. What a great example for students to read and be inspired by.
My students have been journaling to tell me about their breaks, weekends, readings, or other events they want to share this year. It has become a favorite time of sharing. Reading Routman's suggestion to list your writing practices was an interesting activity. It is surprising just how much we do write daily. And I agree with "what our students need to see demonstrated is exactly what we are asking them to do-write on demand, within a set time."
Today I saw why I am taking this class. As the class worked on the 2nd activity of the KS Writing Pilot, writing the rough draft, I noticed one student, after 15-20 minutes, still not writing. I leaned down to ask if he was having a problem, and to remind him to use his planning from the previous day's activity. He turned his page to the planning page, which contained a circles with "I don't know what to write" and "I don't know" written several times. By now tears were rolling down his face. What have we created with tests? Hopefully taking this class will inspire instead of defeat! (Not all students were having this experience. One students said as I roamed the room, "I'm really on a roll!") :)
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2 comments:
Oh, how my heart aches for that young boy in your room. Who among has not struggled with "writer's block"?? We as teachers work hard to create a joy for writing what you know about and want to write about in our classrooms. One big question of mine, is how do we transfer that joy to state assessments?
Thanks for sharing about your student. As teachers we always strive to help our students jump hurdles.
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