WHAT?
As part of my PD around the teaching of writing
I have been working with Verity. My journey is now looking at writing ‘All
about Books’, these are informative texts and which is structured in parts. The
ideas is to incorporate graphic organisers (planners) into the process of
writing for the children as well as encouraging them to write more. I worked
with Verity last week on what “all about books’ were and how I could expose my
children to this type of informative text before she modelled a lesson for me.
To get the children primed and ready for her
lesson, the class explored the parts of an “All about book’ and came up with a
list – title, contents page, headings and sub-headings, pictures, how to do,
diagrams, index and glossary. The children also had to think about topics that
they know about and would like to write “All about’ on.
Verity was ready as the children came into
class, she asked them to sit in a circle and have their writing books ready.
The children were fairly quick to this as this has become part of our writing
routine. She quickly did a recap of “All about books’ and that they teach us
about a topic.
She quickly scanned the class for ideas on
their topic. The children were very enthusiastic. She asked them to write down
as many topics as they could possibility write about. She moved on to sharing
her ideas, she had recorded 3, she discussed how she tried on a topic – she chose
‘Jet Packs” because they are cool and it would be great to have one, but soon
realised that she didn’t know enough information on that topic so she went
through her list using “Think aloud’. She then exclaimed, “I know what! You can
help me. Let’s write about playtime. Everyone knows about playtime!”
She wrote on the board – Playtime and
underneath, she put 4 bullet points and invited the children to share ‘chapters’
of what playtime is. The children contributed ideas. Once she had recorded 4
ideas , she showed them a contents page template. She told them what they
needed to do – write down their chapters for their ideas, giving them 2 minutes.
She stressed that these were their ideas so they would need to think and there
wouldn't be any talking.
When children asked for help she politely
turned them down and told them that they were writing their own ideas and
chapters. Once they had written on the contents graphic organiser, she invited some
of the children to share their points/chapters. This was done at pace and children
were quick to respond. Verity used one of the children contents page to model
what the children had to do next. She unpacked the different chapters and use a
text about bugs to illustrate what she was after from the children. There was a
‘How to’ and page of snippets of different information under one heading. She made
connections to the contents graphic organiser on what they need to do – fill in
a different sheet if they had similar information like ‘famous football players’,
‘types of dolphins’, as well as the rules of the game are a ‘how to play’ using
the how to graphic organiser.
The children were sent away from the mat/circle and asked to record their ideas, again she stressed that they were going to be thinking and that they needed to work without talking. She turned away children asking for help and told me that she was encouraging them to build stamina in the way that they recorded their ideas. During that time she roved, checking in using a very quiet voice. She worked with a couple of my ‘lost’ boys as did I. After 5- 10 minutes, she invited them back to the helping circle to review the learning – what graphic organisers were they going to use and why.
To dismiss them, she asked the children to glue
in the organisers they had used and put their books away.
SO WHAT?
What I noticed
most was the pace of the lesson and how she responded to their ‘helplessness’.
She used a faster pace than I do and she was able to cover more for my more ‘able’
children. Some of my struggling writers at the end of the lesson hadn’t
completed their contents page. I also asked her about this when I unpacked my
observation of the lesson. She did say that she was trying to show me as much
as possible in a short amount of time. I asked how do I tend to my most needy
and help the others to get on with the task when they know what they are doing.
She suggested charts of where to next so that they can move ahead. I asked how
to you keep them engaged when doing the teaching part of the mat – use their
work as an examples or parts of a less able children to rattle them to produce
a higher quality of work. Also she encouraged me to send them to be independent
because that is where they are on the continuum.
When she asked
the children to record their ideas, she set strict guidelines. “Now you are
going to write and because you have great ideas that YOU need to get out, you
are going to write without talking so the others around you can think too.” Once
the children had begun the task, she told them that all noise needed to stop
and that they should be writing and thinking hard, because we think better when
it is quiet.” Some children approached her for help, she responded by saying “I
am not helping you, you need to write.” Although she did rove closely to those
if she could see that they hadn’t written anything.
NOW WHAT?
I need to make some sort of way to give those more capable writers the next chunks of learning and what is required next so that they can be more independent. Also scaffold the ‘where to’ for those who are falling behind. I am thinking of creating a slideshow using the templates from Verity so the children can use the information when needed. I will need to get this as soon as I can.
I need to respond to
the ‘helplessness’ – tell the children that I will work with them when they
have started writing and have something to work with. Deliberately put these children
next to me in the helping circle time so I can support them with their next
steps. Hold myself in account for responding too quickly – give them time to
problem solve themselves and build up their writing stamina. Rove more – spray and
walk away!
“Sometimes I just stop talking,
and that solves everything.” Anonymous
