6/9/2018
She then asked for clarification of the words used in the exemplar. Some of the children were very forthcoming, asking for the meaning of words they didn’t understand, being prepared, she had found the meaning of some the words and had given definitions of them. She also explained words that she was asked about.
Her next direction was around finding the number of paragraphs and how as readers we can identify them. She used a graphic organiser alongside to make the children think about the way the exemplar has been written. The children were asked to discuss whether or not the paragraph was written to inform, entertain or persuade. While the children discussed the exemplar, she readied herself for the next part of the lesson.
After 2 mins, she brought them back, with clapping, then went through what they thought. She also asked them to explain their reasoning for their ideas. She asked the children to think about previous text that the children hand worked with before and ask what the purpose was. She explicitly said, “What was the purpose of that text?” The children shared back the language features that they had used before and made connections to previous learning. She went on to explain the reason why the author had used a paragraph to entertain and a paragraph to inform, and she used a fact that she had found, about what you need to do to keep the reader reading.
She went on to explain to the children that she had written a paragraph using the same scaffolding as the article had used (an enlarged copy of the exemplar was attached to the whiteboard). but using Think Aloud, she voiced her thoughts around the structure used in the exemplar, and what she had written. The words that she wrote on the board following the exact same structure as the exemplar, replacing words for like, such as year round for in the summertime (when), slaters for ladybirds, and what she did next was to pause. She talked to the children as much as herself, saying that the next part of the writing was tricky as she want to choose the best word to say what she wanted to say. She also mentioned that it didn't need to be the posh-ish word, not a word to impress but the best word that that said exactly what she wanted it to say, she rattled off 5 other words but always said, "That's not what I wanted, it wasn't going to say what I wanted it to say."
Next she reaffirmed the children's contributions and always referred back to the language features they used and what was written in the exemplar. She deliberately went back to the exemplar indicating where she found the structure and voiced that her writing was going to have the same ideas but she changed words to fit with what she wanted to say. She wrote the word 'clandestine', again voicing that she was proud of her word choice. The children were calling out what does that mean? She then went on to inform them of the way she had thought of the word secretive but it wasn't really that impressive so she needed to use a tool, the Thesaurus, the children were familiar with the online tool and she showed what she had done to find the best word for her writing. She again went back to her piece and shared how she had done the paragraph, and then set them to write a similar piece on worms.
The success criteria for their writing task, was to use the word to say exactly what you mean. Before she made go and write she asked the children to close their eyes and she read out prepared questions, and told them to think abut the experience that they had when they collected their worms. The questions were directed linked to the where, what, how, what they were reminded of. This took all of 2 minutes max, then she asked them to share with a buddy what was in their mind about their worms. Again this took all of a minute no more. They children were given an opportunity to share, but before a child shared, she told him that she was going to ask him some questions and was he happy to answer. He said yes, so after he shared, she asked about the tone of the ideas. She discussed types of tone - happy, sinister, excited. She explicitly told him to keep the tone throughout the paragraph.
Another child was given a chance to share, her word was simple but was a word that told the reader exactly what she wanted to say. My colleague had prepared a slide show with some words about worms. The children were set the task to write for 10 minutes and then they would share what words they had used to say exactly what they wanted to say. She re-voiced what steps the children needed to get the perfect word and the task of writing an opening paragraph using the structure within the exemplar.
WHAT?
On Thursday, I was able to watch a colleague teach writing. Her manner was direct with the children, she had all her exemplars ready. She used an exemplar from a magazine and showed the children the article that it came from. By doing this she is making the children realise how writing is used in context. She asked a child to read out loud the exemplar. The exemplar had some very unfamiliar words and words that made the child stumble somewhat. I realise now that this was intentional as her lesson was around choosing the best word, one that says what you want to say.She then asked for clarification of the words used in the exemplar. Some of the children were very forthcoming, asking for the meaning of words they didn’t understand, being prepared, she had found the meaning of some the words and had given definitions of them. She also explained words that she was asked about.
Her next direction was around finding the number of paragraphs and how as readers we can identify them. She used a graphic organiser alongside to make the children think about the way the exemplar has been written. The children were asked to discuss whether or not the paragraph was written to inform, entertain or persuade. While the children discussed the exemplar, she readied herself for the next part of the lesson.
After 2 mins, she brought them back, with clapping, then went through what they thought. She also asked them to explain their reasoning for their ideas. She asked the children to think about previous text that the children hand worked with before and ask what the purpose was. She explicitly said, “What was the purpose of that text?” The children shared back the language features that they had used before and made connections to previous learning. She went on to explain the reason why the author had used a paragraph to entertain and a paragraph to inform, and she used a fact that she had found, about what you need to do to keep the reader reading.
She went on to explain to the children that she had written a paragraph using the same scaffolding as the article had used (an enlarged copy of the exemplar was attached to the whiteboard). but using Think Aloud, she voiced her thoughts around the structure used in the exemplar, and what she had written. The words that she wrote on the board following the exact same structure as the exemplar, replacing words for like, such as year round for in the summertime (when), slaters for ladybirds, and what she did next was to pause. She talked to the children as much as herself, saying that the next part of the writing was tricky as she want to choose the best word to say what she wanted to say. She also mentioned that it didn't need to be the posh-ish word, not a word to impress but the best word that that said exactly what she wanted it to say, she rattled off 5 other words but always said, "That's not what I wanted, it wasn't going to say what I wanted it to say."
Next she reaffirmed the children's contributions and always referred back to the language features they used and what was written in the exemplar. She deliberately went back to the exemplar indicating where she found the structure and voiced that her writing was going to have the same ideas but she changed words to fit with what she wanted to say. She wrote the word 'clandestine', again voicing that she was proud of her word choice. The children were calling out what does that mean? She then went on to inform them of the way she had thought of the word secretive but it wasn't really that impressive so she needed to use a tool, the Thesaurus, the children were familiar with the online tool and she showed what she had done to find the best word for her writing. She again went back to her piece and shared how she had done the paragraph, and then set them to write a similar piece on worms.
The success criteria for their writing task, was to use the word to say exactly what you mean. Before she made go and write she asked the children to close their eyes and she read out prepared questions, and told them to think abut the experience that they had when they collected their worms. The questions were directed linked to the where, what, how, what they were reminded of. This took all of 2 minutes max, then she asked them to share with a buddy what was in their mind about their worms. Again this took all of a minute no more. They children were given an opportunity to share, but before a child shared, she told him that she was going to ask him some questions and was he happy to answer. He said yes, so after he shared, she asked about the tone of the ideas. She discussed types of tone - happy, sinister, excited. She explicitly told him to keep the tone throughout the paragraph.
Another child was given a chance to share, her word was simple but was a word that told the reader exactly what she wanted to say. My colleague had prepared a slide show with some words about worms. The children were set the task to write for 10 minutes and then they would share what words they had used to say exactly what they wanted to say. She re-voiced what steps the children needed to get the perfect word and the task of writing an opening paragraph using the structure within the exemplar.
SO WHAT?
- By using an article from the real world, she gave the children the reason for writing.
- The aim of the lesson was all in the exemplar - improving the choice of vocabulary to say exactly what you want to say.
- Although the lesson was about words she clearly made reference to paragraphing a number of times and scaffolded that thinking about the elements of a paragraph.
- The connections that she made continually to the children previous learning and language structure kept the children aware of what they were trying to achieve with their own writing.
- Throughout the lesson, she used Think Alouds to voice her thinking so that they children had a scaffolding of the thought process needed to write a similar piece.
- By referring back to the exemplar she gave them the structure, she used as well as her slide show to support and give the children something to refer back to.
NOW WHAT?
My next steps when teaching writing is to be more deliberate with my choice of the exemplar and how it fits with what I want the children to achieve. I really need to be more mindful when reading myself of the language conventions used and how it could work for the children in my class. Currently we are writing storylines for our Postmodern Picture Books. I can use some ideas from books within the class as a scaffolding for this. As well as that, I have been getting up to date with where the children are at using our school's writing rubric but this has a few pit falls in it for how I want to mark what they children have written. But it does give me a start for the needs in writing in my class.
I also need to be more explicit and intentional when using Think Alouds when teaching writing. By doing this I am giving the children the scaffolding they need for the thought process when writing their own piece. I really like how my colleague told the children she had stolen their author's ideas and made it her own, my boys would like that.
"A word after a word after a word is power."--Margaret Atwood
