October 26 - the 1st quarter ends in 5 days!

Why was the last time I blogged about the week of Oct 6? Because I attended the very valuable, maybe priceless is a better word, Reunion Saturday hosted by TCRWP last weekend. So I blogged about that on my other blog - www.funwithreadingandwriting.blogspot.com.

Looking back to my last post I wrote:
Now I need to get busy. I need to:
* reading the 80 printed out fiction stories and quickly giving feedback.
Done and now I spent 8 hours yesterday reading the published piece of all 80 students and scoring it on a rubric to return to them this week. 
* plan out this coming week's lessons
I did this, incorporating revision, editing, a great museum walk publishing party, a day to reflect, and then a final narrative on-demand. SUCH a great way to complete our unit of study on fiction!!!
* plan out the new unit of study - Argument Essay - starting Oct. 23rd
Still working on this but last week at TC's Reunion Saturday allowed me to attend 4 hour long workshops all related to teaching argument essay!! Perfect timing!!
* start thinking about report cards
Today I will start to write comments for each student specific to their writing work during their first Advisory (what DCPS calls the first quarter). It is the practice at my school that a written, specific comment is provided along with the report card grades so I plan to get busy on this task today as it needs to be shared with my fellow teammates by Halloween which is Friday because Parent-Teacher Conferences begin the Monday after Halloween.
When I see a list like this, I know there is NOT enough hours in the day to do it all.
But I'll start and do the best I can.

When I see a list like this, I know there is NOT enough hours in the day to do it all.
But I'll start and do the best I can....I repeat because it is SO true...

One idea that Lucy and Carl Anderson point out about teaching writing is that we teach using a workshop model where the goal is to teach the writer and not the writing. As I used the rubric and today plan to use the grade level Narrative Checklists given in Pathways to score both the 2nd day of writing on-demand and this past Friday's On-Demand, I see that this tool is perfect to show how the WRITER grows. 

My only wish...it didn't take so much time to read and check 80 students. This is why I am up and at it already on a Sunday. I guess I'll catch up on sleep on Veteran's Day!

Week of October 6th

I learned the process for having the kids use the MacBooks on the 5th grade cart this week. So far, so good. We also are pushing the idea of keyboarding in both tech class and as homework. And Wed and Thur I offered to type for those who had trouble composing a story and getting their hands to find the letters on the keyboard. I now have all 80 (less a few that did not save correctly to their UBS drive but I'll get with them on Tuesday) fiction stories printed and I'm ready to give them feedback. I made a sheet to let them know where I noticed them using the technique of setting, action, dialogue and inner feeling scene-by-scene. Then they have this coming short week, due to the holiday on Monday and testing that takes place on Friday, to finish revisions and edit. Then we PUBLISH on the 21st!

I like having these deadlines. I like having a procedure. The kids like it too and really worked hard this week to get lots done. They came in and got right to typing. Then after 10 minutes or so, I called them to the rug for the quick mini-lesson on revision. I used the idea that Shana Frazin taught me this summer at TCRWP Writing Institute - Revision needs to be more like the TV show - Extreme Make-over and NOT just dusting or vacuuming. Since I currently am doing an Extreme Make-over of my own house, I shared that image and pushed them to reread, revisit, and make those BIG changes to their draft. (thanks to Lucy and her amazing staff, I love talking in metaphor! "How's your extreme-makeover going?")

Friday I emphasized how writers use precise words so the reader can tell it is a realistic fiction story and so the reader can see it and feel it. I then shared the video that Larry Ferlazzo shared on his blog (I recommend following him!!) that shows a blind man with a sign. Then a lady changes the sign and those around him react differently. At the end, it says: "Change your words. Change your World" !!
It's a great video to share during the fiction unit!!
http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2014/07/13/the-best-video-clips-on-the-benefits-of-writing-well-help-me-find-more/  It is the 2nd video listed!!

Now I need to get busy. I need to:
* reading the 80 printed out fiction stories and quickly giving feedback.
* plan out this coming week's lessons
* plan out the new unit of study - Argument Essay - starting Oct. 23rd
* start thinking about report cards

When I see a list like this, I know there is NOT enough hours in the day to do it all.
But I'll start and do the best I can.

And I know that reading the students' writing will motivate me to keep doing...their words CAN change the world and I can at least help them to write just the right words!

...still loving this job as a 5th grade writing teacher!!

October!

I am now guiding my students to write a realistic fiction story and WW is moving along. After spending time generating LOTS of story ideas, we picked one and then spent LOTS of time developing that character well. What do they want?? What is getting in the way?? How will it be resolved?

This week I taught an 8-10 minute mini-lesson each day showing how scenes can included the narrative techniques of setting, action, dialogue and inner thinking and then told the students to get to work drafting. Then I used the 30 minutes of independent writing time to confer one-on-one with 4 students a day for 5 days and got ALL 80 conferences done!!

During the conference, I... 

1. went over the checklist that I scored their personal narrative on. I gave them a 3 for yes they did it (zoomed into a small moment, hooked the reader with a lead, stretched out the heart of the story, had a strong ending, and storytold it, not a summary) or a 2 for starting to do or a 1 for not yet. I added a personal comment that I read to them. It sounded like this - "You are a strong storyteller. Your sound lead hooked the reader and you added action and dialogue so the reader could see and hear what you saw and heard."

2. revisited the reflection sheet they filled out after the Symphony Share Publishing Party which required them to complete these sentences: I used to be the kind of writer who ____. Now I am the kind of writer who ___. My writing goal now is ____. I then write their goal in a big post-it so I could hang it up in the room for me to see and help them accomplish during the fiction unit.

3. Finally, we looked at how their fiction writing was going and I offered a tip to help them.

I am so happy to have conferred with all 80 students!! Now I need to plan out my revision lessons. The computer MacBooks are coming out on Monday and their drafts will be typed and then their revisions and edits can occur. Our Publishing Party is on October 21st!!