Chapter 6 of Literacy for the 21st century deals with developing fluent readers and writers. It was packed full of good ideas, in fact sometimes when I read these chapters I get a bit overwhelmed with all the techniques there are to try and use. I was drawn to the section on writing. In my reading class, I have a great group of readers. Getting them to write, and write well (for first graders), has been a bit of a challenge.
I really liked the idea of doing quickwriting. In this process, students write quickly about what they know on a certain topic. The teacher corrects spelling of word walls but overall the focus is on getting the students to put their ideas down on paper. This week our theme is apples so I am going to try a quickwrite on apples. I find that my students write one sentence and then stop and tell me they don’t know what else to write. I am hoping the quickwrite will get them used to putting a lot of ideas down on paper.
I couldn’t find any articles about quickwriting but I did find an interesting one on interactive writing in the classroom. Even though the article is old, the material that is presented is still relevant today. In the article, the authors walk through the interactive writing process. They discuss the importance of writing in building students literacy. In summary they state,
Interactive writing is an important part of the early literacy lesson framework because it provides so many opportunities to teach directly about language conventions, sense of story, types of writing, and concepts about print. These teaching moments do not follow a specified sequence but evolve from the teacher’s understanding of the students’ needs. The early literacy lesson framework blends independent problem solving, shared literacy experiences, and teacher instruction within a literacy-rich classroom.
I'm trying to find more ways to get my students writing this year. We will be doing more writing in our response journals and I'll have them do more writing during small group instruction. Hopefully, my efforts will pay off.
References
Tompkins, G.E. (2010). Literacy for the 21st century: A balanced approach (5th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.
Button, K. Johnson, M. Furgerson, P. (1996). Interactive writing in a primary classroom. The Reading Teacher Retrieved from http://www.learner.org/libraries/readingk2/pdf/owen.pdf
I agree that sometimes it can be difficult to get students to write their thoughts down on paper and quickwriting is one great idea. Another idea that I’ve used, which is very similar to quickwriting, is to have my students fill out a web organizer. Instead of initially writing down complete sentences they can write whatever comes to mind in each of the bubbles. Then they can go back and look at all the bubbles to write complete sentences. For example, if I wanted them to write about apples in the center I would write the word apples and tell the students to write whatever words come to mind. So they could write: red, green, sweet, sour, apple juice, apple pie, apple trees, apple picking, Johnny Apple Seed etc. Then after they’ve listed all the words they can go back and use it to help them formulate sentences. One of the reasons I think it’s a good strategy is because it helps them to write their thoughts down quickly and it also helps them organize their thoughts. Hope this can be helpful!
ReplyDeleteThanks Sophia - Your comment was very timely. Our theme for next week is apples so I am using a bubble organizer to help the kids organize their ideas about apples. Great suggestion!
ReplyDeleteI stapled chart papers on the walls and have my students to use makers to write story on it. The idea may seem no difference from writing in their seats but sometimes, in my observation, students can generate more ideas and sentences in their writing with a thinking that they are writing on the wall. It also frees their limitation in physical spaces. For your younger students, you may have them to draw pictures of an apple tree and apple before writing the sentences. That way they will have an visual detail of what they would want to write about. I think they may like it.
ReplyDeleteStephanie,
ReplyDeleteI am glad you highlighted this writing technique. I would like to help my students become comfortable with the writing process while developing strong skills. I think having students engage in quickwriting and write what they know about a familiar topic or object is a good way to ease some of the pressure writing tasks can cause and can be a good starting point for working on specific skills. This idea spurred me to look for additional writing resources for emergent writers. The following website offers some good ideas for emergent writers and beyond http://www.pbs.org/teachers/earlychildhood/articles/emergentwriting.html
I have heard some of these suggestions in other classes or articles but I found many of them to be very simple and inventive. I really like the idea of offering students writing opportunities in new places, like taking chalk outside for recess and bringing journals along on field trips or science experiments. I also like the idea of providing young students with writing instruments to use during dramatic play to use in everyday life situations. I hope others find some useful suggestions here as well!
Thanks everyone! I love all the suggestions. The kids did enjoy the quickwriting. It will be interesting to track and see how their writing skills develop over time.
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