Final Reflection

Over the past 4 weeks, as I have participated in the Summer Institute, I have grown as not only a writer, but as a thinker. Writing takes different skills than I had used in a long time. I can't say that I have EVER thought of myself as a personal writer, but I am on my way to seeing myself that way. During these weeks, I have allowed myself to plan for the coming school year while making a conscious emphasis on writing in the classroom. Handwriting has always been present, but personal writing has taken a backseat to other curriculum needs. This year, I want to include journal writing for my students daily or most days each week. I have learned so many things through reading articles, watching demonstration workshops, and participating in critical thinking. It has been a pleasure to collaborate with my fellow students, and especially April, Christy, and Rodney. Thank you all, and I will miss seeing you every day!!

Demonstration Workshops

What I learned...

I learned that journaling and using writer's notebooks can be an important way to help kids get their thoughts written down. They can use these notebooks or journals for keeping great writing leads or endings, story ideas or memories, quick writes or prompts.

I learned that there are many strategies for helping young writers get started with poetry. Using fruit or another tactile object can urge them to use their senses and write about what they see, touch, smell, taste, or hear.

I learned that using music in the classroom can be very powerful. Students can help to re-write simple nursery rhymes or write words/pictures after listening to a piece of music.

I learned that helping students with asperger's with their writing can be helped if you use simple strategies outlined in the curriculum "Handwriting with Tears." I also learned that sometimes it is OK to let a child with special needs choose the topic they are interested in for writing, even if the topic is the same every day. If this helps them to write, and writing is the goal, then we have just helped them to be successful in achieving a goal.

I learned that using a simple text, like "Molly's Pilgrim," can lend itself to exploring a whole unit on immegration, Thanksgiving, ancestry, or dozens of other topics. Picture books can open doors to enriching our student's narrow thinking and expanding their understanding of the world.

Digital Storytelling: Where I Am From

Bird by Bird #2 - Anne Lamott

Lamott continues to talk a lot about the imperfections of writing in the second part of her book, Bird by Bird. She talks in-depth about how false starts happen and your topic may change course mid-way through an article or piece of writing. Lamott also discusses that writers may begin writing and decide to scrap the whole idea and start fresh with something new.
The brutal honesty that Lamott expresses about the struggles that writers, even successful writers, face everyday are refreshing! Some students (myself included) assume that writers sit down with a piece of paper and a pen and end up with a completed work a few days/weeks/months later without any problems along the way. Anne Lamott dispels this myth with her witty humor and vivid descriptions of what it is really like to be a writer.
I appreciated the ideas that she gave on using index cards strewn all over and on your person at all times for those moments when you have a vision or idea you simply must write down. Lamott catches her reader’s attention with so many personal stories, some funny, some sincere, some gut-wrenchingly sad. Her personal stories open us up to her, as a person. This is what a memoir is supposed to do. As I read her book and re-read sections I like, I find my imagination following her through her stories, her days as a writer.
Lamott’s insights to novice writers are particularly useful. They give us a realistic view of the journey each writer takes, and how they are all different, unique to your experiences, but hopefully end up with some beautifully written pieces all your own.

“Thriving Writers” – Emily Duvall

Emily introduced us to teaching our students about test writing. This is a very important topic because of the high-stakes tests that students are currently being responsible for passing and teachers are responsible for preparing them for. Emily taught us that teaching students the language they will encounter on tests is an important piece for preparing them to be successful on the test. This instruction doesn’t have to be boring, as Emily demonstrated when she had us all think of an invention and then do an activity related to it as a group. Teaching kids the different styles and genres of writing can be as important as teaching them how to write. They need to practice writing in a variety of different modes in able to be ready for the test questions that will be asked. There are no writing components that are tested at the Kindergarten level, but setting up the foundation for test-writing is important at every level.

“Teaching with Rubrics” – Andrade

This article was a good review for me about the reasons to use rubrics. I was reminded that rubrics serve as a concrete way to assess student achievement in a variety of areas, including writing. Good rubrics “orient us toward our goals as a teacher.” (pg. 27) They are evaluation tools to help us see the areas where our students succeed, excel, and need improvement.
I learned about the function of different types of rubrics, such as scoring rubrics for assigning grades and instructional rubrics when we wish to include the students in the design and implementation of the rubric. Rubrics help us give our students informative feedback on what they need to improve, and what is working.
Rubrics often need explanation, especially to students. Students may need practice with rubrics before using one to score assignments. Rubrics should be designed with reliability and validity in mind and also aligned with the standards for the curriculum being taught.
I do not have much experience with using rubrics at the Kindergarten level. There are assessments and other concrete pieces that I use for grading, but developing a rubric for writing would be a very useful tool when doing grades each quarter. I should take the time to create or find a rubric for my emergent writers in Kindergarten.

Old Wooden Rocker

There’s an old wooden rocker, golden honey in color
lovingly assembled by the hands of my father.
Smooth, rounded edges greet my touch as I trace
the arm where tiny fingers once rested.

Each nick, each scratch, each flaw in the wood
tell stories of comfort and of pleasure,
of children reading softly and of giggling laughter
years of rocking with dolls and with sisters.

The drawer beneath holds a secret hiding place
for dozens of trinkets and treasures –
Christmas ornaments and bracelets of beads
hidden…sometimes ‘til months later.

I hear melodies sung by children in years past
while they sat gently rocking in this chair.
Tunes of “Twenty Froggies” and “Twinkle Little Star”
warm my soul like a breath of summer air.

As I gaze upon this most cherished possession
I’m reminded of the meaningful bond
that joins my family together: mother, daughter, sister, father
Like the spindles holding tightly to this chair.