Monday, April 14, 2008
Observations...
Who did you get the chance to observe in your building? What did you notice about the set up of their room? The way they managed their students? What were they teaching and was there anything you left thinking about? What did you leave wondering about? What did you notice as an observer in another room? How did you feel being an observer? Were you able to talk to any students? You do not have to answer all of these questions, they are just some questions to get you thinking!! Take the time to write and reflect upon your observation. In the end it may feel as though we all got the opportunity to "see" all of these different classrooms in action! It is all in the details!!
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Wow! I have not been the first one to blog ever.
I finally made my way into Gina's room today. I set out to find an extraordinary teacher of writing and I was not disappointed. Gina has such a wonderful way about her in the classroom and her interaction with the students is enjoyable to watch. She is truly excited for and proud of every one of her writers, I could see that and I know that the kids can.
While I was impressed with what she said to her students, I was as impressed by what she didn't have to say, but by what I saw. For example, following her lesson, it was time to write. Gina simply said, Go, write..." and all the writers scattered and were sitting and writing within two minutes. It was clear to see the time that has gone into establishing routines. I walked around the room and started to chat with some of the kids I already knew about their writing. Quickly, there were students popping up around me, asking me if I wanted to read their writing. They were so eager to share, they were confident and proud of their work. What also amazed me was how serious these second graders took their work. While conferencing with a few, I made some suggestions of things that I had seen writers do that they may want to try. Each one sat and thought about the suggestions. Some took them, some did not, but each of them really thought about it, reread and then made their decisions. I also noticed how everyone was working the entire time I was in there. At one point, I looked over and one of the writers was staring off into space. I went over and asked him if he was having a thinking moment. He said, "Yes. I don't know what to write next so I'm thinking of what happened in my head in case I forgot anything." Good for him! And good for his teacher who gave him the strategy.
Watching Gina made me want to be a writer in her classroom.
Thanks for all you do for the kids in your classroom, Gina.
I had the chance to visit a first grade teacher. I am grateful that she was so willingly to let me in to observe. I was able to see a writing lesson in which students were responding to a prompt. They were asked to write about a presentation (Mr. and Mrs. Fish) that they had seen the day before.
I noticed right away that her room was less cluttered than mine. Her room was designed to have a large open space that appeared to serve as the meeting area and her library area. The student desks were clustered together to form learning pods.
The lesson started as whole group. The teacher gave an overview of the lesson. The class then brainstormed key phrases. She was encouraging students to think about million dollar words. The students were sent to their desk to begin writing. Many students were quietly sharing what they were going to write with their neighbor. As the students wrote, the teacher circulated around the room, checking in briefly with each student. When she came across a student who had used a million dollar word she would share her findings with the class. “Listen to the million dollar word your friend just used.”
I was delighted to see how excited the students were to have a new audience. They were lining up to share their writing, proud of their million dollar word. I was reminded of where a first grader’s writing is at this time of the year. I was thinking first and second grade teachers should visit each others’ classrooms more often. In this way we could appreciate the journey our young writers travel.
This semester, I found myself wondering how writing would look in an upper elementary classroom. I am excited about the prospect of teaching 5th grade next year, but a little nervous about the departure from things relatively known and understood.
When a second grader needs help getting ideas, I know what they usually like to write about. When I'm conferencing I know that I can expect proper capitalization and punctuation, and that spelling "with" with two h's is not reasonable. However, I don't know yet what 5th grade writing looks like or what a conference might typically involve. That piece is scary and exciting.
I visited a colleague in another district who teaches 4th grade. I spent a 1/2 day just absorbing the language, the routines, and the conversations. Conversation was more succinct and student interactions around projects were often more involved.
For writing, the literacy teacher was a visiting teacher for the day. The class was beginning a Picturing Writing project that day. Many elements were similar to daily life in my room. The students still gathered on the carpet for a mini-lesson. The teacher carefully showed examples of texts where the illustrations helped to add information to the poems. She noted specific techniques. I can imagine that since it was an early lesson, the students did less interaction and reflection as they learned totally new elements. In fourth grade, passing out watercolors and cups of water was quick and clean, without spills and mishaps! As I conferred with several students, they were quick to explain why they used certain techniques or colors. They seemed readily reflective and enjoyed explaining their work. I just wished I could see the next pieces of the lesson where they used words to paint pictures to match their illustrations. At the close of the lesson, they gathered again on the carpet to share their work. The excitement and pride is still the same. My colleague did show me some pieces of their work later on, and I noted that there is such an expanded vocabulary between now and 4th grade! There also is a strong connection between looking at what other author’s do (mentor texts) and deciding how to craft your own words.
WOW! What a pleasure to have visited Donna Maroon's classroom. Her soothing voice alone gave the students a feeling safety and warmth which set the tone for the writing lesson. Donna had all of the students bring their writing notebooks to the carpet (each notebook very individual and unique)! I was amazed at how relaxed yet managed the setting was. Donna had this wonderful bench in her classroom that two boys chose to sit on while others chose bean bags. Each child chose a spot felt that felt comfortable to them. Donna had reviewed what they had done the prior day which was to come up with a topic sentence and reminded them that this is when we name what we are talking about. She had a few of the students share their topic sentences and it was obvious all of the children felt very safe sharing with their classmates and teacher. It was also nice to see the students helping one another read their work if they had been stuck on a tricky word. Some of my favorites were, "Video games rock", "Puppies are playful" and "I am great at playing the trumpet". Once the students had shared Donna explained to the students that good writers use interesting words and that they were going to make some of their words more interesting. She took out a giant piece of chart paper and laid it in the middle of the circle where everyone could see it. I loved that she was right down on the ground with them at their level! As students shared their sentences the group brainstormed new and more interesting words they could substitute in. It was great to see how excited they became about words and at one point they Donna couldn't write them down as fast as they were coming up with them. They talked about describing classmates and how if we use more general words it is hard to get to know the person, but if we use more individual words we can get to know the person a little bit better. It was clear that this classroom fosters a great writing environment and that the students are eager to write. I did not get a chance to see the topic sentences that the students had changed around so at some point I will have to go take a look! It was great to get a new lesson idea=:)
I had such a great time in first grade! I entered Katie Bamberg's classroom with my writer's notebook and joined her class on the carpet for their writing lesson. Katie shared two mentor texts with her students, My Many Colored Days and I Love You the Purplest. She reminded students of how they shared what colors they were feeling at morning meeting and showed them how these two authors used colors to describe their emotions in greater detail. I couldn't help but giggle when one of the boys exclaimed, "Whoah, that's so coooool!" while Katie read from My Many Colored Days. Katie modeled describing colors in her writing through sharing samples in her writer's notebook. She invited children to pick colors from the color chart and use them to describe their own emotions. From sassy pink...to sour apple green...to jupiter orange! It was clear they were getting how colors can bring emotions to life. They could think of times when they felt "sage grey" or "cornflower blue". There was some discussion on just how many colors were on Mrs. B's board. Last count was at a hundred trillion (gotta love first grade)!
I was struck by how attentive they were to Mrs. B.'s lesson (even after a lengthy assembly that morning) and how comfortable they were sharing their ideas. I had the opportunity to meet with a few students who couldn't wait to share their color writing or needed a few suggestions to get them rolling. It was so fun to sit there with my notebook and write alongside them, sharing my ideas and listening to theirs.
This is clearly a community of writers where everyone feels safe to try out new styles of writing. The classroom is organized for learning and expectations are clear. But most of all learning is fun! I didn't want to leave!
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