WHAT?
This year I am working on developing my pedagogy through Authorship and alongside the co-teaching practice. I am excited this year to be working in a collaborative partnership and I know that there is an expectation that I will be guiding the teachers I am working with, to develop their practice around Authorship.
Due to the fact that I have worked with Verity for most of last year, and have changed my pedagogy for the teaching of writing although there are aspects of this learning I have used in other areas of the curriculum. I have a couple discussions with Verity on how to make this work in our new space and when working with another teacher(s).
Together Verity and I talked about the setting out of the children for the main part of the teaching and how to deliberately make sure that there is flow and explicitly teaching happening. She shared some what she has seen with her guru, Gail Loane - How she captivated the students and the way she engaged with her audience through deliberate prompting, questioning, modelling and helping the children to dig deeper. Verity also remarked that she witnessed Year 7 & 8 children writing with intent.
As part of this discussion, I asked about positioning the children to optimise the learning space and time. We talked about a ‘rainbow’ formation and how this could work. I discussed this idea with my teaching partner(s) and we thought that we could give it a go.
Another idea that Verity wanted me to try was to use her new planning template that uses - I do, we do, you do. The lesson is structured in such a way that first off - the teacher is modelling and prompting the children to NOTICE the text (language features used). Once the children have buy-in, the children are encouraged to share (with a buddy) a story/idea/ time that resonates with them and together with the teacher they write a piece together with the teacher scribing ideas (shared writing). Again when the children are ready - they write their own piece.
At this time, I was thinking about our new class and what we had noticed about their self management skills and how many of those who had come from PBL (Play-Based Learning) were struggling to work for longer or concentrated periods of time. Verity said that we needed to work on saying things like “..Good writers need time and space to think so being quiet is essential in order for you to get all those fabulous ideas down.” She also said that we need to make sure this is happening regularly and with purpose. If they can’t write, make sure that they have a buddy who knows what to do. I expressed my concern for those we have discovered that can’t actually record their ideas. Verity assured me that they are on the continuum but will need to either draw a picture, plan or copy what you have shared with the class.
SO WHAT?
Using a ‘rainbow’ formation is something for me to try that’s for sure. I like the idea of the children being able to see and focus on the board at one time. 53 children certainly is quite a number of children to deliver an explicit lesson to when they are so young.
I really liked what Verity said about pressing the children to write for longer periods of time to get more out of them. Verity is currently working with a Year 2 class and she is working with them to write for 40 minutes, actually writing not the lesson beforehand and after. I am struggling to see how this is possible when these children are in the thick of PBL. I will need to check in one day when she is taking a lesson at the lower end of the school. For our class this may work for smaller amounts of time and then over time extending them so that they can write for 40 minutes.
Verity has shared her planning that she would like me to try and is coming to observe how the lesson goes. This could be very interesting as it will be our first time doing an authorship lesson. I’m sure there will be a number of points that I will take away from her observation and where to go next.
NOW WHAT?
I need to make sure that I am sharing Verity’s planning with the other teachers and that they know what I am trying to achieve. I will need to break down the different aspects and the questions so that I understand the point I am trying to convey to the children. The plan is using a poem to describe and there are parts I can see working with our learning goals of following routines and understanding what to do in our classroom. I’m excited to use this plan but a little nervous because Verity is coming to observe and it’s the first time for authorship.
The rainbow formation is something I will introduce earlier so the children have some idea of what this is before we start authorship. Maybe writing our goals is a good place to start.
“Every child deserves a champion—an adult who will never give up on them, who understands the power of connection and insists that they become the best that they can possibly be.”
- Rita Pierson
