Developing Authorship in young writers
Showing posts with label Literacy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Literacy. Show all posts
Tuesday, 22 January 2019
Thursday, 6 September 2018
Thursday, 23 August 2018
Guided Reading - Professional Practice
What is a TIP Chart?
TIP vocabulary charts- The Term- Information- Picture
Here is an example of a TIP Chart in action:
This lesson was taught with BANG Group (Level2/Early Level 3) after reading the text Backyard Chooks. The TIP Chart helped them to unpack the terms Supply and Demand. They were able to make links to the text and to their prior knowledge.
Friday, 8 June 2018
Wednesday, 30 May 2018
Friday, 23 June 2017
National Standards and the NZ Curriculum
I have found this image very useful when analysing my e-asTTle writing samples. It have helped me to gauge what level the students need to be at at this point in the year. This has therefore aided me to make my Overall Teacher Judgements for this term.
My students and I have been able to work together to set relevant next steps for writing based on these new writing samples. The students were able to clearly identify where they are at and what they need to work on using the rubric shown below.
Tuesday, 20 June 2017
Thursday, 30 March 2017
Writing Book Monitoring - Thursday 30th March 2017
Monitoring of a random selection of Writing Draft Books from Room 8.
Wednesday, 22 March 2017
Staff Meeting - Gail Loane - Wednesday 22nd March 2017
Starting point
- Context
- Curriculum
- Student Needs (Whole class, Group, Individual)
Where are they now and what do I need to teach next?
Ensure that the children understand their goals and that they are not too abstract.
When Writing:
- Forming intentions (Often we do this for students but do we need to?)
- Finding what you want to say
- Saying it
- Checking
- Check in at every stage
- The importance of story in teaching - Book - Anecdotes/storytelling are so important in teaching. Any thing can be talked about.
- Context
- Curriculum
- Student Needs (Whole class, Group, Individual)
Where are they now and what do I need to teach next?
Ensure that the children understand their goals and that they are not too abstract.
When Writing:
- Forming intentions (Often we do this for students but do we need to?)
- Finding what you want to say
- Saying it
- Checking
- Build up ideas for writing in Writer's Notebook - Help students with their topic selection for independent writing.
- Think as a writer.
- Students need to write often in order to improve.
- What do I have to do to take these students on and to help them to be independent writers? How can I help these learners to feel good about writing now?
- Useful for the student to see the teacher using writing territories.
- What do we know about ______?? What more can we add to our knowledge?
- The Storm - Activated nouns
- The forks... - Rather than - I saw the forks in the trees...
- Get inside the sentence!
- Use of a modelling book for writing that can be reviewed - This can promote student agency - Writing draft books are a form of record that can be revisited.
- Sometimes you have to take longer to go deeper.
- Check in at every stage
- The importance of story in teaching - Book - Anecdotes/storytelling are so important in teaching. Any thing can be talked about.
Gail Loane Observation of Teaching - Wednesday 22nd March 2017
- How do we describe? Show not tell.
- One sentence that shows me it's autumn - Repeats to ensure that students understand - one student shares back.
- Sorts students into learning partners - Now complete the task as a pair.
- Holds the students accountable - picks a pair to share back.
- What have we learnt about writing so far this year - tell your partner one thing, you have 10 seconds.
- We have learnt to be more descriptive but how? What do we have to do to be descriptive? Exact in choices/precise, sometimes means adding more information.
- Writing territories - what is going on in my world?
- Sand dunes - sets the scene - engages the students.
- Why do you think it is not a good idea for people to just go down the sand dunes in their cars? - Tell your partner - Selects students - What did you think?
- Emphasis on no hands up.
- Story of children at a school that our students could relate to.
- Reads out examples from her own writing territories - discusses some further e.g. storms.
- Discuss how your writing territories have changed - link to noting these in your writer's notebook.
- Prepare the students when they need to use their partner.
- I had a wondering... Writers have wonderings.
- Explain wondering (Gives a back story to engage the students) - draw picture to help explanation.
- The question/wondering that I have is: Why is the Sea salty?
- Turn to the person next to you - What do you think?
- Without talking because you have had your talking time - Write what you know about why the sea is salty - You have 2 and a half minutes.
- Let the pen do the talking.
- Quickly and quietly find your partner. If they have got something you haven't add it. GO!
- Who got some extra information?
- Look around the room and think about who looks intelligent about this - pair up with another pair and share. You have 2 minutes.
- Bring the class back together.
- Indication of idea - none, some?
- Who has a question that they would like someone to answer.
- Write down one question that you really want to find out to add to your jottings.
- Holds accountable - you must have a question - picks out certain students.
- Who has a theory about what happens? You can't be wrong, we are theorising.
- Your are going beyond what I know - not afraid to admit don't know everything as teachers, we are also learners.
- Gives a piece (explanation) for each to read independently but sat next to partner incase they need to check in.
- Did you learn something/who has discovered something?
- Stand up somewhere in the room with your partner without any papers and explain why the sea is salty - A different way of getting the students to comprehend what they have read - movement to keep the students engaged.
- How would we start an explanation about this? What would your first line be?
- Passive voice - detail.
- Gives out another text - it is a poem - how do we know it's a poem? About the water cycle.
- Look at what this author has done.
- Could we use a poem to describe why the sea is salty?
- What has the author done? The first word is sun - what kind of word is it - noun - naming word - Look at the first word of each line - each one is a noun.
- Look at the second word - verb - doing word/action word - makes the noun do something - repeats to get point across.
- What is the purpose of writing this poem? To inform us about the water cycle - Could we do the same thing using why is the sea salty?
- What is the first line? Tell your partner.
- Asks for response - Water cycle is endless - adapts to fit structure - water cycle, what does it do.
- Repeats expectation (just two words - noun and verb) and asks to go back to partner discussion.
- Says a few aloud and then asks the students to choose one and write their first line.
- Take what you like as you hear it - you might get some help.
- What did we learn about writing today? you can inform through a poem.
- Writing to learn - rather than writing to present learning
- Economical language - Manipulating language
- Achievable for the students
- Get the students used to participating
- Let the students inquire rather than telling them the information
- Do a search - see if you can find one thing that you didn't know before when reading the text - Reading lesson could be a lesson in itself
- Children to be aware of their environment
- Different kinds of explanation
- One sentence that shows me it's autumn - Repeats to ensure that students understand - one student shares back.
- Sorts students into learning partners - Now complete the task as a pair.
- Holds the students accountable - picks a pair to share back.
- What have we learnt about writing so far this year - tell your partner one thing, you have 10 seconds.
- We have learnt to be more descriptive but how? What do we have to do to be descriptive? Exact in choices/precise, sometimes means adding more information.
- Writing territories - what is going on in my world?
- Sand dunes - sets the scene - engages the students.
- Why do you think it is not a good idea for people to just go down the sand dunes in their cars? - Tell your partner - Selects students - What did you think?
- Emphasis on no hands up.
- Story of children at a school that our students could relate to.
- Reads out examples from her own writing territories - discusses some further e.g. storms.
- Discuss how your writing territories have changed - link to noting these in your writer's notebook.
- Prepare the students when they need to use their partner.
- I had a wondering... Writers have wonderings.
- Explain wondering (Gives a back story to engage the students) - draw picture to help explanation.
- The question/wondering that I have is: Why is the Sea salty?
- Turn to the person next to you - What do you think?
- Without talking because you have had your talking time - Write what you know about why the sea is salty - You have 2 and a half minutes.
- Let the pen do the talking.
- Quickly and quietly find your partner. If they have got something you haven't add it. GO!
- Who got some extra information?
- Look around the room and think about who looks intelligent about this - pair up with another pair and share. You have 2 minutes.
- Bring the class back together.
- Indication of idea - none, some?
- Who has a question that they would like someone to answer.
- Write down one question that you really want to find out to add to your jottings.
- Holds accountable - you must have a question - picks out certain students.
- Who has a theory about what happens? You can't be wrong, we are theorising.
- Your are going beyond what I know - not afraid to admit don't know everything as teachers, we are also learners.
- Gives a piece (explanation) for each to read independently but sat next to partner incase they need to check in.
- Did you learn something/who has discovered something?
- Stand up somewhere in the room with your partner without any papers and explain why the sea is salty - A different way of getting the students to comprehend what they have read - movement to keep the students engaged.
- How would we start an explanation about this? What would your first line be?
- Passive voice - detail.
- Gives out another text - it is a poem - how do we know it's a poem? About the water cycle.
- Look at what this author has done.
- Could we use a poem to describe why the sea is salty?
- What has the author done? The first word is sun - what kind of word is it - noun - naming word - Look at the first word of each line - each one is a noun.
- Look at the second word - verb - doing word/action word - makes the noun do something - repeats to get point across.
- What is the purpose of writing this poem? To inform us about the water cycle - Could we do the same thing using why is the sea salty?
- What is the first line? Tell your partner.
- Asks for response - Water cycle is endless - adapts to fit structure - water cycle, what does it do.
- Repeats expectation (just two words - noun and verb) and asks to go back to partner discussion.
- Says a few aloud and then asks the students to choose one and write their first line.
- Take what you like as you hear it - you might get some help.
- What did we learn about writing today? you can inform through a poem.
- Writing to learn - rather than writing to present learning
- Economical language - Manipulating language
- Achievable for the students
- Get the students used to participating
- Let the students inquire rather than telling them the information
- Do a search - see if you can find one thing that you didn't know before when reading the text - Reading lesson could be a lesson in itself
- Children to be aware of their environment
- Different kinds of explanation
Tuesday, 14 March 2017
Sunday, 13 November 2016
Game of Awesome - Literacy Resource
Game of Awesome is a card game for 3-6 players designed to engage and inspire kids to tell stories and learn to write. Playing the game helps students generate ideas quickly which they can explore, expand and then write stories about.
The basic game has been produced as four sets of cards containing topics, themes and ideas that students years 5-8 will find interesting, involving and often ridiculous! The cards can be used independently or mixed and matched to create new combinations and infinitely more ideas.
Last week, Room 8 learnt how to play the Game of Awesome. I moved about the room and joined in with groups as their games progressed. At each group, we found the learner's were responding positively and allowing their creativity and imaginations to flow. There are many humorous cards, and to put them together and share the story/sequence of events, that the 'judge' chose, was often hilarious. I came up wth a way to challenge them further, by choosing two cards, rather than one. We then used our knowledge of the game to teach another class in our team how to play.
Here are some pictures of our session teaching Room 9...
Monday, 7 November 2016
Wednesday, 24 August 2016
Staff Meeting - Gail Loane - Wednesday 24th August 2016
Andrew Jackson piece
- Use of the 5 senses
- Description - Factual
- No personal response/opinion
Leaf Description
Thin veins stretch out connecting the holey flesh.
Mouldy brown and green in colour.
Old and fragile, it looks as if it could fall apart at the slightest touch.
Dirt clings to it's skin.
Eco-literacy
- Connect with the simple
- What are the possibilities to get children quickly writing?
- Create a challenge for them e.g. try not to use 'I' or 'my'
Look at a piece of student writing and decide what can be improved/what needs to be worked on and then think about how this can be incorporated into your teaching.
Murray Gadd - Research on writing
What makes teachers effective? - Three most important are highlighted.
- Expectations - Vision of achievement - How is this communicated to the students?
- Learning Goals - What do teachers think about when they create goals for/with students?
- Learning Tasks - How are they set up? Specific tasks for specific learning.
- Direct instruction - Explicit teaching.
- Responding to students work - Feedback/feedforward - Is it clear?
- Motivating and challenging learners
- Organisation and management - Differentiation - If it is a whole-class lesson aim for 100% student engagement/need.
- Self-regulation - Actions the teachers take to give students a sense of ownership/responsibility.
Developing student agency - use of the book 'Choice Words'
- Learning intentions are too broad - stick to using a learning focus for each lesson.
Memoir - Model - Piano Rock by Gavin Bishop
Give background to hook the students in.
- Make them aware that there is a person behind the model.
Read for meaning - picture aids can be used to ensure 100% understanding from all students.
Use of visual contrast - use colouring pencils to colour for each paragraph - look at what colour each paragraph makes you feel.
Make students aware of the deliberate choices that author's make - Allow them to discover this.
Pick one sentence for students to imitate, e.g. The creek, white with ice, had patches of black where someone before me had...
(white with ice = adjectival phrase)
Plan: Students to brainstorm 4 nouns e.g. window, duvet, light, floor.
- Come up with a full sentence before they move away to write independently.
Success Criteria: Include one sentence with a noun and a descriptor after the noun.
Ensure to teach all different types of writing:
- Shared
- Guided
- Independent
- Collaborative
Gail Loane Observation - Wednesday 24th August 2016
Learning I took away from these experiences:
- Although I was trying to keep things simple - I can make them simpler! When using a model text means that this will need to be unpacked for meaning with the students before moving on to the revision process.
- Use more of the students' writing when teaching skills; this provides student agency - they have purpose and meaning behind editing or reshaping the texts, as it is their own work and can help them to improve their writing - This was evident in my session and could have formed the basis of the whole lesson.
- Continuing with student agency, Gail discussed leaving room for students to reflect and ponder about the texts themselves, I can do this by practicing what kinds of language I use when wanting them to think about texts more in depth, making sure that my questioning is leading them toward learning and finding out - Practising language that leads the students to discover is one of my goals for my teaching.
- I need to discover how to lead ALL of my students into experiencing the process in which we are exploring; making sure that they are all with me in that moment and are ready to share reflect and work - Aim for 100% engagement from all students.
- Embedding the skills (such as editing and crafting) into daily writing/helping circle. I am yet to introduce a proper helping circle in class. I feel that this would be a very beneficial part of each literacy session for my students, so I look forward to working on this further.
- Use more of the students' writing when teaching skills; this provides student agency - they have purpose and meaning behind editing or reshaping the texts, as it is their own work and can help them to improve their writing - This was evident in my session and could have formed the basis of the whole lesson.
- Continuing with student agency, Gail discussed leaving room for students to reflect and ponder about the texts themselves, I can do this by practicing what kinds of language I use when wanting them to think about texts more in depth, making sure that my questioning is leading them toward learning and finding out - Practising language that leads the students to discover is one of my goals for my teaching.
- I need to discover how to lead ALL of my students into experiencing the process in which we are exploring; making sure that they are all with me in that moment and are ready to share reflect and work - Aim for 100% engagement from all students.
- Embedding the skills (such as editing and crafting) into daily writing/helping circle. I am yet to introduce a proper helping circle in class. I feel that this would be a very beneficial part of each literacy session for my students, so I look forward to working on this further.
Wednesday, 29 June 2016
PCT Meeting - Gail Loane - Wednesday 29th June 2016
We are developing young writers who have something to say. We need to be the trigger for that. What do they need?
- Lower level students exposed to learning conversations
- Create a partnership with students - Expert, co-learner and learner
- Positioning - Russell Bishop
- Allow them to tell their stories
- Lesson and purpose needs to be authentic - do not teach skills in isolated ways
- Can have a wide learning focus, allow the children to discover the learning (Metaphor of a gift, allow them to find the surprise)
- Ask the students "What do you think we were learning today?"
- Use of imitating, taking sentences/structure from a text and try it on for size - Jeff Anderson
- Can have different criteria for different lessons that come under one overarching criteria - for example begin a sentence with although
- Allow them to choose a skill and come in at their own level
- Encourage meaningful feedback - Model this for the students
- Model and scaffold so that students are able to be more independent and are able to have conversations between themselves. Make the students teacher, student, student, teacher, student, student, student rather than just back and forth between a student and the teacher.
- Rather than WALT write similes - look at why does this simile work? Why is it effective here?
- Ensure that our feedback is specific so that all students have the opportunity to learn from what you are saying - John Hatty
- Cater for diverse needs - don't hold back your higher learners while you scaffold your lowers, however it is important that they are all a part of the initial learning conversation
- Make all students accountable
- Deliberate acts of teaching - Effective Literacy Practice
- Writing for purpose
Book: Revision Decisions - Talking through sentences and beyond - Dean Anderson
- Lower level students exposed to learning conversations
- Create a partnership with students - Expert, co-learner and learner
- Positioning - Russell Bishop
- Allow them to tell their stories
- Lesson and purpose needs to be authentic - do not teach skills in isolated ways
- Can have a wide learning focus, allow the children to discover the learning (Metaphor of a gift, allow them to find the surprise)
- Ask the students "What do you think we were learning today?"
- Use of imitating, taking sentences/structure from a text and try it on for size - Jeff Anderson
- Can have different criteria for different lessons that come under one overarching criteria - for example begin a sentence with although
- Allow them to choose a skill and come in at their own level
- Encourage meaningful feedback - Model this for the students
- Model and scaffold so that students are able to be more independent and are able to have conversations between themselves. Make the students teacher, student, student, teacher, student, student, student rather than just back and forth between a student and the teacher.
- Rather than WALT write similes - look at why does this simile work? Why is it effective here?
- Ensure that our feedback is specific so that all students have the opportunity to learn from what you are saying - John Hatty
- Cater for diverse needs - don't hold back your higher learners while you scaffold your lowers, however it is important that they are all a part of the initial learning conversation
- Make all students accountable
- Deliberate acts of teaching - Effective Literacy Practice
- Writing for purpose
Book: Revision Decisions - Talking through sentences and beyond - Dean Anderson
Regan Aspden Observation - Wednesday 29th June 2016
Observation - Regan Aspden (Gail Loane)
Literacy Lesson - Wednesday 29th June 2016
Previous session - Annotated writing model, chose characters to write about, brainstormed
WALT: To paint a picture (technique to zoom in)
Writing Model: Extract from Boy by Roald Dahl
- Revise success criteria - Comparisons - similes, specific nouns (hag), powerful verbs (clung), magic three - adjectives (small, skinny)
- Warm-up - Shown a model brainstorm - ideas have been refined against success criteria. What does it mean to refine against the success criteria? (wait time) - Jacob "to sculpt your writing to fit your success criteria"
- Refine ideas further before crafting - Identify the language features used in the model brainstorm.
- Link to prior learning - hyphenated adjectives
- Split into groups - task delivered to groups and time period specified (I will check in with you in 15 minutes)
HA Group - 8A - independent sheet
MA Group - in class - 10 ideas about your character
Target Group:
- Bring group down to the carpet (horseshoe seating arrangement - helping circle)
- WALT displayed
- Have chosen a character to base their writing on. ELL writing about themselves.
- Come up with a simile - time period of 5 minutes given - conferences with individuals during this time. Encourages to look back at prior ideas and improve on these.
- Extension given for those who had completed the task - "If you have completed one simile try making another for something/someone else"
- Share back to the group - "explain your simile, can anyone else explain Nate's simile?"
- Peers give feedback and help each other to craft ideas - not directed to do this but must have been scaffolded to do this in prior lessons.
- Check in with each peer - questions to gain further understanding
- Come up with 3 adjectives describing a feature - gives example 'black, grey and silver'
Next session write first paragraph. Refer back to the writing model - look at structure (take four parts of the body to describe)
Relationships
- Placement in the classroom
- Learning conversation
- Being involved with learners
- Authority figure - expectations known
Goals:
- Breaking down planning stage
- Developing a clear success criteria
- Scaffolding and facilitating lower group to be more independent and helping each other
Post discussion with Gail:
- Importance of structure and organisation for the criteria. Looking at the sentence level.
- Criteria for a certain moment of learning or lesson.
- Getting inside the sentences - some students will not be able to deal with the abstract.
- Make sure learning is always within context.
- Importance of the five expressive arts.
Literacy Lesson - Wednesday 29th June 2016
Previous session - Annotated writing model, chose characters to write about, brainstormed
WALT: To paint a picture (technique to zoom in)
Writing Model: Extract from Boy by Roald Dahl
- Revise success criteria - Comparisons - similes, specific nouns (hag), powerful verbs (clung), magic three - adjectives (small, skinny)
- Warm-up - Shown a model brainstorm - ideas have been refined against success criteria. What does it mean to refine against the success criteria? (wait time) - Jacob "to sculpt your writing to fit your success criteria"
- Refine ideas further before crafting - Identify the language features used in the model brainstorm.
- Link to prior learning - hyphenated adjectives
- Split into groups - task delivered to groups and time period specified (I will check in with you in 15 minutes)
HA Group - 8A - independent sheet
MA Group - in class - 10 ideas about your character
Target Group:
- Bring group down to the carpet (horseshoe seating arrangement - helping circle)
- WALT displayed
- Have chosen a character to base their writing on. ELL writing about themselves.
- Come up with a simile - time period of 5 minutes given - conferences with individuals during this time. Encourages to look back at prior ideas and improve on these.
- Extension given for those who had completed the task - "If you have completed one simile try making another for something/someone else"
- Share back to the group - "explain your simile, can anyone else explain Nate's simile?"
- Peers give feedback and help each other to craft ideas - not directed to do this but must have been scaffolded to do this in prior lessons.
- Check in with each peer - questions to gain further understanding
- Come up with 3 adjectives describing a feature - gives example 'black, grey and silver'
Next session write first paragraph. Refer back to the writing model - look at structure (take four parts of the body to describe)
Relationships
- Placement in the classroom
- Learning conversation
- Being involved with learners
- Authority figure - expectations known
Goals:
- Breaking down planning stage
- Developing a clear success criteria
- Scaffolding and facilitating lower group to be more independent and helping each other
Post discussion with Gail:
- Importance of structure and organisation for the criteria. Looking at the sentence level.
- Criteria for a certain moment of learning or lesson.
- Getting inside the sentences - some students will not be able to deal with the abstract.
- Make sure learning is always within context.
- Importance of the five expressive arts.
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