Writing

      Writing is one of the hardest subjects to teach, but one of my very favorites!  It's a time where my class and I share our lives with each other, ask personal questions, convey feelings, and give praise.  Writing is such a critical subject to effectively teach and for the students to get down pat because it's the primary way that most knowledge is shown in school.  I make sure when I'm planning writing lessons, that they are carefully designed, well-paced, and highly interactive.  During Writing in my classroom, students have an organized routine.  It starts off with Writing Workshop that begins with five minutes of reading a book or me telling a personal story that showcases the trait being taught, next I model writing, then the students get with partners to talk about whatever emotions/thoughts they connected to during Writing Workshop, the students have their individual Writing time, then an "Author of the Day" is picked to share any writing piece they're comfortable with.  After they put their writing on the Dukane (visual projector), they receive praise from myself and peers.  Throughout the writing instruction, the Writing process is discussed daily and there's a display for the students to refer to.  In my draft modeling, I include specific statements about why I'm writing what I'm writing.  I also include statements that reflect goals, coping, and reinforcement of the skills and traits I'm wanting to obtain.  For the editing step, we have an Editor's Checklist that strictly focuses on editing (spelling, grammar, punctuation, capitalization) and they write the Checklist numbers at the top of every writing piece.  They know they can't publish until they've gone through their writing and checked off the item's number and then it's been double checked by me.  For example, item 1 states "Do all of my sentences make sense?" and item 2 states "Did I put an end punctuation mark after every complete sentence?".  As of now, we have a total of six editing items.  Right now we're learning how to portray the trait of Voice in our writing and so during conferencing, Voice is the main component being praised first and addressed for revising.  Of course, other traits that have been already taught and are present in writing will be praised as well.  Students have a working portfolio at their desk, they have a Writing folder that has a place for Brainstorming (graphic organizers and lists) and a place for Publishing.  Their Writing journal is their Drafting.  When pieces have been published, they turn them in and I save them for their showcase portfolio.  There is a Writing rubric at the front of the room at eye level so students can easily remember what needs to be displayed in pieces that will be graded.  I'm pretty confident that cognitive strategy instruction is being implemented currently in my Writing instruction, but there's always room for improvement!  On a sidenote of what else is implemented in my classroom, I have a Writing station.  This is where the Writing Process is displayed on the wall, as well as posters for Writing ideas and Punctuation/Capitalization strategies.  On shelves there are: dictionaries, a bucket of objects for students to choose that help with generating ideas, a mailbox to submit letters, and trays that hold stationary, envelopes, markers, and erasers.  There's a place for students to sit and write on laminated posters that look like notebook paper.  Under the shelves, there are drawers that hold materials for making books, stamps for making scenes and/or using in created book illustrations, and writing journals that have extra handwriting practice and places to write to classmates.
       One thing that I don't do and definitely need to put into place is a showcase portfolio for each child to look through to help them see their growth in Writing!  I have the binders for the portfolios, it's just getting them put together and this is something that I NEED to take time to do.  I know it would help motivate them!  I also fail to put up published work frequently.  I have the work saved and ready to use in conferences with parents and send home at the end of the year, but why not have a place in my room where it's constantly changed out and celebrated?  When it comes to grading, I don't show anchor papers that have below level, on level, and above level scores.  Another strategy that isn't going on in my classroom is having the students actually help grade anchor papers.  What a great way for them to be more aware of how an acceptable and exceptional writing piece should look. 
      Now to make improvements .... I want to put together Writing showcase portfolios as soon as possible.  In these portfolios, I'd like to include tabs that show months and genres.  I also need to get a checklist ready to ensure that students have turned in at least one published piece per month.  Over the summer, I'm going to set up a place for published pieces to go on the wall in my Writing station so the most exciting step of the Writing process can always be celebrated!  When it's time to grade, I'll get together all levels of writing assessments and show the students the papers without the grade.  I'll give them the opportunity to use the rubric to grade them and then I'll show them the actual score to see how well they assessed the papers.  Hopefully, in the near future, these areas won't be considered weak areas of mine anymore. :)