In my future classroom, I really want to post quotes throughout my room to inspire my students, as well as myself, and to allow the room to become a creative, comfortable space.
Quotes I Plan to Post:
1. “Smart is being willing to think you can do it and being willing to work hard.” -Anonymous
2. “Punctuation is a contract between the author and the reader.” - Katie Wood Ray
3. "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent." -Eleanor Roosevelt
4. "Do one thing every day that scares you." -Eleanor Roosevelt
5. “If you don’t like the road you’re walking, start paving another one.” –Anonymous
6. "A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives." -Jackie Robinson
7. "The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt." -Sylvia Plath
8. "If there's a book you really want to read but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it." -Toni Morrison
9. "Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out." -John Wooden
10. "If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude." - Maya Angelou
I will add to this list as I find more quotes which draw my attention!
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Monday, February 21, 2011
The Alarm
Time to get up...
But no motivation.
The bed is just too warm and inviting.
The pillow is just too soft.
My head does not want to leave its warm embrace.
But the alarm keeps ringing...
It just won't leave me alone!
I'll just sleep for five more minutes...
On second thought, maybe ten.
An extra post inspired by a schedule map!
But no motivation.
The bed is just too warm and inviting.
The pillow is just too soft.
My head does not want to leave its warm embrace.
But the alarm keeps ringing...
It just won't leave me alone!
I'll just sleep for five more minutes...
On second thought, maybe ten.
An extra post inspired by a schedule map!
Avoiding Distractions, Anxiety, and Predictable Problems
To begin with, I absolutely loved the chapter concerning managing predictable distractions that are sure to arise in the writing workshop. This is due to the fact that, while I have gradually taken more and more of a fancy to the idea of writing workshop as I have learned about it each week, one reoccurring concern which I have had is this: How do I still manage the classroom during writing workshop so as to prevent off task behaviors? This chapter dealt with exactly that and as such, I was grateful for the chance to be able to read about some suggestions which I can use in the future. I found the section concerning space to be particularly useful. Within this section, I was specifically drawn by the authors' suggestion to use a rotating system which dictates who can utilize the coveted spots of the sofa, chairs, or bean bags. This is because, within my field experience classroom, I have seen my students constantly fight over who can use the pillow, sit on the bean bag, etc. and as a result, to avoid this conflict, my mentor teacher simply does not allow anyone to take such items from the reading corner and bring them to the carpet. I find this such a shame since the entire point of having these items is so that the students can use them and feel more comfortable during instruction. Though I thoroughly enjoyed this chapter, while I was reading, I began to wonder about a number of things:
1. While I agree that a strong teaching presence is a key component to writing workshop management, I wonder if there is any other way to establish a strong teaching presence besides just circulating around the room and conferring with individual writers at their seats.
2. So as to accommodate the students who will want more quiet than others during their independent writing time, how many quiet zones should you designate within the classroom?
Whereas I found the chapter concerning managing predictable distractions to be very informative and helpful, I found the chapter concerning understanding the slightly out-of-hand feeling in the workshop to be overwhelming. Even though the chapter helped me to understand why I might feel anxious and intimidated during the workshop, I feel that the authors made this "slightly out-of-hand feeling" seem very extreme and almost unmanageable through their choice of description-more extreme then I think it will actually be in the classroom on most days.
Suggestions from this week's readings which I plan to use in my future classroom:
1. Have a system for where students sit.
2. Have some designated quiet zones through out the room.
3. Put some quiet music on or dim the lights to signal to students that the independent writing time is coming to a close.
4. Make a number of different writing tools, paper, and writing support available and easily accessible to the students.
5. Provide students with a school-year calender with publication dates marked on it on the first day which you introduce writing workshop.
Ray, K.W. with Laminack, L.L. (2001). The writing workshop: Working through the hard parts (and they’re all hard parts). Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English.
1. While I agree that a strong teaching presence is a key component to writing workshop management, I wonder if there is any other way to establish a strong teaching presence besides just circulating around the room and conferring with individual writers at their seats.
2. So as to accommodate the students who will want more quiet than others during their independent writing time, how many quiet zones should you designate within the classroom?
Whereas I found the chapter concerning managing predictable distractions to be very informative and helpful, I found the chapter concerning understanding the slightly out-of-hand feeling in the workshop to be overwhelming. Even though the chapter helped me to understand why I might feel anxious and intimidated during the workshop, I feel that the authors made this "slightly out-of-hand feeling" seem very extreme and almost unmanageable through their choice of description-more extreme then I think it will actually be in the classroom on most days.
Suggestions from this week's readings which I plan to use in my future classroom:
1. Have a system for where students sit.
2. Have some designated quiet zones through out the room.
3. Put some quiet music on or dim the lights to signal to students that the independent writing time is coming to a close.
4. Make a number of different writing tools, paper, and writing support available and easily accessible to the students.
5. Provide students with a school-year calender with publication dates marked on it on the first day which you introduce writing workshop.
Ray, K.W. with Laminack, L.L. (2001). The writing workshop: Working through the hard parts (and they’re all hard parts). Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English.
Monday, February 14, 2011
Conferences, Share Time, and Assessments Galore!
While I must admit that I am one of those individuals who is somewhat scared of conferring for the sheer reason that you cannot plan for the conversation in any way, I loved the authors' point that very often, even if we feel as if we did not teach very much or very well, by the simple act of just sitting and listening to our students talk about their pieces of writing, we teach. Too often, I think I forget that teachers can teach even when they may not be intentionally performing or saying anything and I think Ray and Laminack's point about teachers teaching by simply having thoughtful and respectful conversations with their students about their writing gets at that exact point.
In addition to Ray and Laminack's statement about how teachers can teach during conferences without even being aware of the fact that they are teaching by just listening, I was extremely grateful for the authors’ chapter on share time. Throughout my own experiences as both an elementary school student and as a student teacher/observer in elementary school classrooms, I have only ever been able to experience and see share time performed in a whole-class sharing format and so it was really enlightening and encouraging for me to discover that there a number of other ways in which share time can be conducted. While I think I favor the simple response share format the most because it allows each student to receive some type of feedback from their peers in a low-stakes and comfortable environment, I would also like to use the focused, survey, and student-as-teacher share formats occasionally in my future writing workshop as well. I like the idea of share time in general because I myself am a writer who needs to receive a sufficient amount of verbal affirmation as encouragement and I believe that all students could always benefit from some type of feedback whether or not they may read actual excerpts from their journals or just share a general outline regarding their piece.
One aspect of this week's reading which particularly caught my attention was the topic of student evaluations. I am drawn to the notion of using student evaluations for student writing because I believe that students are often the most qualified individuals to judge their own work and as such, I want to try to use student evaluations as much as possible. However, how might one use student evaluations for those in kindergarten who may not be able to read or write very much?
Ray, K.W. with Laminack, L.L. (2001). The writing workshop: Working through the hard parts (and they’re all hard parts). Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English.
In addition to Ray and Laminack's statement about how teachers can teach during conferences without even being aware of the fact that they are teaching by just listening, I was extremely grateful for the authors’ chapter on share time. Throughout my own experiences as both an elementary school student and as a student teacher/observer in elementary school classrooms, I have only ever been able to experience and see share time performed in a whole-class sharing format and so it was really enlightening and encouraging for me to discover that there a number of other ways in which share time can be conducted. While I think I favor the simple response share format the most because it allows each student to receive some type of feedback from their peers in a low-stakes and comfortable environment, I would also like to use the focused, survey, and student-as-teacher share formats occasionally in my future writing workshop as well. I like the idea of share time in general because I myself am a writer who needs to receive a sufficient amount of verbal affirmation as encouragement and I believe that all students could always benefit from some type of feedback whether or not they may read actual excerpts from their journals or just share a general outline regarding their piece.
One aspect of this week's reading which particularly caught my attention was the topic of student evaluations. I am drawn to the notion of using student evaluations for student writing because I believe that students are often the most qualified individuals to judge their own work and as such, I want to try to use student evaluations as much as possible. However, how might one use student evaluations for those in kindergarten who may not be able to read or write very much?
Ray, K.W. with Laminack, L.L. (2001). The writing workshop: Working through the hard parts (and they’re all hard parts). Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)