Planting a Seed

Hey there fifth grade! I wanted to thank all of you for the well received session this morning about technology integration. There was a very positive feeling in the room and I was encouraged that all of you came in this morning with an open mind to learn something new. The sharing and collaborating that took place between buildings was impressive, to say the least.

Today's session, though, in my mind was simply planting the seed. The hope is that you were inspired by something you saw or heard and it is only the beginning of what will grow in your own classroom. Please, feel free to contact me (or your technology teacher, for help and support with whatever you decide to do. I will be posting resources and ideas on this blog and mine as the next few weeks move along. My hope is that they will support you, as well.

I look forward to working with you again soon...

The Power of Collaboration and Writing

Okay, I had been modeling lessons on raising the quality of narrative writing using thoughtshots, explode the moment, snapshots, etc. The children had been writing in their notebooks and practicing the techniques and still the pieces were lifeless and NOT what we were hoping to see. Help! What am I supposed to do? Who does a coach go to for coaching? A colleague, another teacher, someone willing to look at student work and see the work with fresh eyes. After we both looked at the work, separately and then together, we came up with a reteaching plan. We wrote our own narrative, re-emphasized the qualities of a good narrative to the group, and had the children locate those qualities in our writing. (One young man questioned my So what? I loved it because it allowed me to ask the kids what they thought it was and gave me a chance to hear ways to revise - which I started to do with them!)
This lesson allowed the students to revisit and relearn, and led to small group instruction around the "story arc"(Les. 11) and "angling the story" (Les. 11). Students began revising by cutting out what was not needed, adding important details, locating the heart of their story, re-planning using a story arc, or examining closely what they had written. The students now have a better reason to add specific details and content. I couldn't have done this without my friend!