In this writing course I have acquired valuable information for providing effective research based writing instruction. There many important research based writing practices that I walk away with as we end our time together. Writing time in schools is limited and as we have learned this is a problem. We have learned that providing high quality daily writing instruction and time to write allows students to continue to grow in their writing and thinking. Teachers must allow students the opportunity to work through the writing process. Each part of the writing process requires students to elicit various knowledge and skills. It is important to give students feedback through out the various parts of the process. Feedback plays a key role in providing quality writing instruction and should be given throughout the process. Teachers should analyze students' writing to help them plan future lessons to give students what they need to continue to grow as writers. Throughout the entire writing process it is important to allow students to talk about their writing and share. Process writing is valuable however so is sentence level writing and grammar instruction. We need to make sure students understand the structure of a a sentence and filter in grammar instruction throughout our reading and writing block. All in all we need to make sure students are given opportunities to write authentically and receive high quality targeted writing instruction that meets their needs.
Writing goal: Use various sentence types (not sure if that applies to this type of writing) One of the books I enjoyed the most from this summer was Honeybee: The Busy Life of Apis Mellifera written by Candace Fleming and illustrated by Eric Rohmann. One of Candace Fleming goals in writing this book was to allow kids to gain empathy and turn that empathy into action. After reading this text it sparked my curiosity as to how can we use informational text like Honeybee to build empathy within our students? How can we help our students see the perspective of living things around them to help them understand their worth? Informational texts are often used to teach about topics. Why can't we use them to help build empathy and understanding the value of the world around us? Something I notice recently with kids is how quickly they are to step on a bug to "get rid" of it without even thinking about what they just did. I have watched kids destroy plants on purpose or eve...
I agree with you, Allie, that giving feedback is such an important part of the writing process. Sometimes that can feel overwhelming but I learned that when I conference with students we can focus on one skill at the time. I think feedback is one of the most important ways to help students develop their writing skills!
ReplyDeleteYou really highlighted some of the most important take-aways from this class. I agree with you and Claire in that feedback is a crucial element within the writing process. And though it takes thoughtful and intentional time and planning, it is what really enables students to transform their writing skills and overall confidence.
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