Book+Discussion


 * R**R[[image:NutsBolts.jpg caption="The Nuts and Bolts of Teaching Writing-Lucy Calkins"]]

**Book Discussion for the Week of January 12th, 2009:** Use the 4 A's Protocol as a guide as you post your comments related to chapters 5-9 this week. *Please post your comments in the color of your choice.


 * What assumptions does the author of the text hold?**

Candace-Calkins assumes that children in the primary grades are able to identify their goals and strategies. This can be a difficult task for many students. (pg.65) It assumes that children will be organized enough to keep up with and return to unfinished work.

Gina- Calkins assumes that all children can write regardless of their level of language. Suzanne- She assumes that all children will actually have an idea to write about.

Pam- She assumes that many teachers are going to always begin minilessons with questions versus stating the focus for the lesson.

Melinda-Calkins assumes we have lots of time to work with individual students each session and that we actually know the questions to ask to move them in the right direction. That's where I struggle--am I asking the right questions so the children move in the right direction. Jenny- She assumes that there are multiple adults in the room circulating during conferences so you can give your undivided attention to one student's writing. Jill - Calkins assumes that a teacher has a lot of time to focus and prepare both the //what// and //how// she will teach during each mini-lesson and during each child's individual writing conference. Although these are good strategies, this is very time consuming when Calkins' four methods of teaching are not automatic for a teacher. Allison- Calkins assumes that we, as teachers, are able to hold conferences during writing time, with minimal distractions. She also assumes that all students are open to conferencing with us. Kelly- She assumes that most teachers are telling students what they will be doing, rather than what they will be learning. She assumes that referencing a previous lesson will result in a repeat lesson, rather than a new mini-lesson. 

*What do you agree with in the text? Candace- In order for children to write stories, they need to be immersed in a storytelling culture. They should be given many opportunities to share orally their experiences. Phonemic awareness is the beginning of literacy.(pg.79)

Gina- I agree that we have to use common language and tools across grade levels.

Suzanne- I do agree that classroom management is key to success. You need to continually teach children how to manage and use materials, expected behaviors... and this takes a few weeks before they actually get it before it runs smoothly enough so the teacher can actually conference without interruptions. You cannot expect this to automatically happen.

Pam- I definitely agree that we must model what we expect of our writers. We must "scaffold" their learning during all stages of the writing process. Active engagement is also an important part of writer's workshop where we can find out if students truly understand the concept that is the focus of the minilesson.

Melinda- I agree that children should have lots of examples of good writers to hear details, descriptions, etc. and that we should model those things in our own writing in front of the class. Jenny- I agree with using different methods to teach mini lessons. I am so used to just demonstrating, but I think it would be beneficial to use different methods to meet different types of learners. Jill - I am in agreement that when the teacher wants a student to learn something in writing, the student needs to do that something in order to learn it for him/herself. Many people say they learn better by doing things themselves so this applies to learning to write as well. I also agree that students need to be scaffolded and have a gradual release of responsibility in order to grow as a writer and become more independent. Allison: I agree that "In the end, children do not learn to write from what we do but from their own efforts." pg 51. I really feel that it is important for our students to take responsibility as writers, while we as teachers steer them in the right direction. ** Kelly- I agree that we need to plan learning experiences that are going to be engaging and productive for all students. These experiences should allow for opportunities of success and difficulty. I also agree that within these learning experiences we need to show and tell our students about the concept we are teaching and expecting them to learn. **


 * What do you want to argue with in the text?**

Candace- Calkins states that teachers are only encouraged to plan for and teach a bit of phonemic awareness in k and 1st grades, only 5-7 minutes per day. I believe that children need daily instruction in phonics in grades k-2.
 * Gina- I disagree with the idea that children need at most three examples to be ready to write after a minilesson.**

Suzanne- I have a hard time believing that you can get a classroom of at-risk kindergartners to write for 40 minutes!

Pam-Lucy Calkins says that children will take the lessons that they learn from conferring and apply them in future writing. I think that some students need reminding over and over again about some revision and editing practices. Some students need several reminders during conferring about spacing, complete sentences, sight words, capitals, etc. and remembering to apply these in future writing. Melinda-She assumes that everyone can immediately come up with an idea to write about and gives no suggestions as to how to pull the idea from the child. I have struggled with this for 20 years and still can't find an effective way to help children decide what to write when they have writer's block. I also find it hard for my class to sustain focus for more than 20-25 minutes as a whole.

Jenny- I do not like the idea of post-poning a whole unit for ELL students. I think all students can benefit from every unit. They may not be able to fully grasp the concept, but I think it is a good idea to introduce them to the different ways to communicate ideas. It is ok if they can only draw a picture to grasp the concept of the mini lessons (ex: small moments). **Jill - Although it is important as Calkins states to teach students that a mini-lesson applies to that day's particular writing piece as well as future writing, I think it is difficult for students to remember that the concept from one mini-lesson should consistently be applied to their writing. Therefore, mini-lessons will need to be revisited especially for the younger of the students. (This comment connects with Pam's comment about lessons learned in conferences.)** Allison: I disagree with Calkins when she says that students should write for such a long period of time. I find it difficult for all of my students to stay focused and attentive for that amount of time. I also find the time difficult to fit into my already packed schedule. Kelly- I disagree with Calkins when she says students will take the lessons they learn and apply them in their future writing. Some students, such as kindergartners require reminders and repeat lessons about concepts (i.e. spacing, capital letters) before they begin independently applying them in their writing. **?**
 * What parts of the text do you want to aspire to**
 * Candace - I would like to be more organized in order to have more time for one-to-one coaching. Avoid launching minilessons with questions. Allow more time for students to share orally as in telling stories. **
 * Gina- I would like to find the time to get it all done and be as organized with writing as Calkins is ** ** . **

Melinda--I would like to be effective in conferences and be able to meet with them more.
 * Pam- I want to introduce units of study that make students excited about writing. I also want to make sure that the students play an active role in the minilesson and that I am not doing all of the teaching. Actively engaging the students during the minilesson is a crucial part of making sure that students understand what is expected of them during writer's workshop and, hopefully, they will apply what is taught in their writing. **

Jenny- I really liked the idea of story telling in the classroom. I think this would help the students who always have a hard time finding what to write about. Calkins mentioned snack being the perfect time for this. I would like to try to include more of this in my classroom.

**J****ill - I want to have time to reflect on each individual learner and feel confident that the type of conference that I hold with each student is supporting his/her individual writing needs. Just as we teachers do when teaching a mini-lesson, I want to show and not just tell students what to do in the conference by applying the different conferencing methods Calkins outlines.** Allison: I would like to find more time to conference with my students, and give them one on one attention when it comes to their writing. I would also like to have more time for students to share their writing with me, and the other students. Kelly- I would like to find the time to include more interactive writing (Calkins mentioned 10-15 minutes several times a week). I would like to have more time for students to share their writing as a group.

Week of May 11th- Pam- Passage that spoke to me: p. 381- "Once our children have learned to develop theories around books and to read and talk with these theories under reconstruction, it can be very powerful to suggest that they use writing as a tool, not only to reflect on ideas with a friend, but also to mull over their own ideas in the company of an author. Often, our children will not only use Post-its but will also write longer entries in preparation for partnership conversations." -My goal for children is for them to have authentic conversations about narrative and expository books. They should not only be able to retell a story but be able to critically and reflectively think about what they have read. To be able to express their thoughts through writing shows that students comprehend and can reflectively think about stories as well.

May 21st

Candace - P. 312 - " By far the biggest challenge is helping children to actually converse about the text and develop their ideas as they talk as they talk about them. The hard part has more to do with listening than with anything else. If we give up on teaching children to truely listen to each other, we may as well be giving up on teaching reading comprehension. After all, is comprehension not all about listneing at length to another person's words, ideas and stories?" Listening to others share thoughts and ideas - what a difficult task for young children. After reading this chapter, it drove home the importance and laying the groundwork for active listening among students. I plan on really working on this skill when the new year starts. I especially liked the chart on How Readers Get Big Ideas located on page 311.


 * The Art of Teaching Reading, Chapter 18**

** Suzanne **- I like the statement on page 359, "Response is what reading is all about." I like the discussion on using post-it notes as tools for response and loved the idea of allowing the students to choose to keep a few of their post-it notes in the text for others to read. She points out on page 364 that students are more motivated to write for an audience of peers rather than just writing for the "teacher-as-an-evaluator". This chapter got me thinking, of course, about how we can use technology as another tool for responding to and writing about books. VoiceThread would be an excellent and easy way to have students comment on a book read in class. Responses can be short and can either be typed in or voice recorded. This allows even the non-writer to respond. Blogs create another wonderful median for responding to books. Glogster is a visual and multimedia tool that students can be very creative in their response. All these tools also allow for their peers and the outside world to join in the conversation. In fact, we all are using this wiki as a tool to respond to text and to reflect (think) about what we read, and share with each other.