Using Authorship to promote better writers - Part 2

WHAT?

 So I planned my first lesson using the framework from Verity. I copied out and wrote up the verse for ready for the children to glue in their books. The children were seated in the writing circle which is what I had been using previously. As they glued it in, I asked them questions about how they were feeling before the Cross country. Where their arms shaking because they were nervous. One child, said that they had butterflies in their tummy. I quickly recorded this onto the whiteboard.

The children read through the text as I read it aloud. Using the prompts, I asked them what they thought it means at each sentence – include Sharp reading scaffolding.  After we read it through I used the questions that I had written to prompt thinking around how the exemplar was written. Who was it written for? How did the author create a picture in your head? Is there a pattern in the text?

There were a range of thoughtful answers and a few lost faces. I lead the children to recognise the different body parts in the exemplar, as well as how the verbs were used to activate the nouns. One children realised that there was a metaphor to tell the reader how he was feeling as he faced the bowler.

Next, I made the children face a partner and share their feelings before the Cross country. This was a timed talk, I then recorded what some of them shared in regards to the body parts and verbs. I then asked the children to close their eyes and visualise what happened to them as they were getting ready to run.

The questions I had written were gold and I even saw one child jump as I shouted go.  To create the success criteria, the class gave me the usual full stops and capital letters but there were glimmers of  understanding when one child said my tummy was ‘full of butterflies’ – with prompting we created a set of bullet points.

·      Activate the nouns

·      Choose specific verbs

·      Decribe what is happening to your body

·      Include a metaphor.

The children were given time to write. As I walked around to individuals I could see that the children had missed the mark as far as activating the nouns although one child who taken herself away from others had ‘got it’ perfectly. I helped out a few who chose to stay in the workshop and used the whiteboard to record the spellings of words they needed.

After writing, the children were asked to return to the mat and share. I used the ice block sticks to ensure that I wasn’t sticking to same children each time. Finally I encouraged the one child who ‘got it’ to share her piece of writing with the class. The children  paid her high compliments and I specifically stated how she had used the success criteria successfully. Using the reflection sheet that I have in my class with numbers from 1 to 4, 1 being that I really need heaps more help to 4 being that I could help someone else do this, I asked the children to rate their performance. I recorded these.

SO WHAT?

During marking I also rated the children on the same scale, I was pleasantly surprised to see that all but 5 children had rated their writing skills accurately. What I did notice was that the children had been unable to activate the nouns.

Activation of the nouns is getting the noun to do something but also be more deliberate in the choice of verb so that reader is able to understand what you (the author) is trying to convey.

All in all I was happy with the structure of the lesson, how the children had wanted to write and the use of simles not metaphors to show how they were feeling before the race.

NOW WHAT?

Because the children had missed the mark in regards to how to activate the nouns I read through the folder that Verity had provided and looked carefully into how to activate the nouns. I had also remembered that Gareth ( a colleague using the same PD) had been successful with his Autumn lesson so I decided to incorporate some of these ideas as a stimulus for the next lesson.

Again I used the planning template and copied and redeveloped ideas that Verity had provided. I had also sent Verity an email asking if I was on the right track to use the poem “The Sea by Laura Ranger”. It is a four line poem that starts with a noun and the verb is next. She was very quick to confirm my thoughts.

I was looking forward to seeing how this would pan out with the class. I found the planning easier than the first time as I knew the direction I wanted to take the children.

"You can make anything by writing."- C.S. Lewis

Using Authorship to promote better writers

WHAT?

As part of the school’s strategic plan, we are aiming to raise student achievement in literacy, through increased engagement in writing and the development of thinking in literacy through authorship. So last Friday, I participated in a PD session run by Verity Short, on Light the Fire – turning theory into vibrant practice. I had been absent for the first session, I had the folder but didn’t get going at first.

The folder had the printed powerpoint presentation, some exemplars, lesson plans and graphic organisers – these having the planning process that is needed to create a lesson around authorship. In the second session with colleagues, we unpacked how the lessons had worked for them. Using the guided reflection sheet, we worked part by part, bit by bit, to see if they had been successful and which parts of the lesson they need to do better next time.

As part of this PD, Verity shared a range of text to find exemplars, directed us to TSM material available online and then shared out a number of poems that she had used before. She then made us read, The Game written by Louise Wallace. It is a poem written about the feelings of a batter going out on the cricket pitch, ready hit the first ball. Verity asked us to tell her what part we resonated with. She guided the group to share, adding in and confirming our ideas. I noticed that she was running us through the same process as used in the lesson plans.

The group around me scribbled notes and were stuck on every word. At the end of the session, Verity shared the next set of handouts, directing us to the poem written by a 7 year old and the lesson plan to go with it. Over the weekend, Verity also shared via the internet a range of exmplars and notes of possible text that we could use.

SO WHAT?

Verity has provided us with a scaffolding that helps us to plan a lesson around authorship. There are 7 stratgic parts to teaching an authorship lesson.

1.    It needs to start with a stimulus something that provokes a reaction and a connection.

2.    The analysis of the exemplar is where the children unpack and are directed to the parts that the teacher wants them to notice. It is important that children need to have some emotional response. As a teacher, I need to ensure that they all understand the point/s the author is trying to convey to the reader as well as the specific learning intentions.

3.    By making connections to personal experiences of the students, I am deliberately giving the children something they can connect to and then they will be more successful with their writing.

4.    By getting the children to close their eyes and visualise, I am encouraging them to bring the image to life in their minds before actually writing. This stage uses questions and wait time to encourage the children to roll their own movie in their heads.

5.    The success criteria is co-constructed with the class but you have already guided them through the exemplar to form ideas on what an effective piece of writing will look like. This stage needs the teacher to prompt the children  - How will you know if you have done a good job? What does this piece of writing need? What are you learning to do as a writer?

6.    Writing – the children then are given time to write. Some children will be independent but others will chose to be part of a writer’s clinic/workshop where the teacher is guiding and helping them to achieve success as writers.

7.    The next stage – Helping Circle – this is where the children unpack whether or not they are successful. They are also encouraged to edit and revise their writing. It is important to always refer back to what is recorded within the success criteria and what they were asked to focus on.

Now WHAT?

My first thoughts were how could I use ‘The Game’ with my own class to write a paragraph on their experience of the Cross country. Using the planning template provided from Verity and having my new white folder with me, I wrote up the lesson plan for ‘The Game’.

Initially I copied word for word what Verity had written in her example. But after reading through, I deliberately changed parts to make it more mine. I did this because I was thinking of the children in the class and how I could engage them specifically to get the best from them. I also only use one verse from the poem which had a metaphor in because the children have already had experience of using metaphors in their Mother’s Day poems.

I found this planning fairly straight forward and was looking forward to teach authorship in my class. Although I am not a writer, I am looking forward to giving this a good crack.

“You cannot kindle a fire in any other heart until it is burning in your own.” Ben Sweetland

Writing observation

6/9/2018

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

Post Modern Picture Books

Part One: What is a picture book?

It will have pictures, and simple texts. There are even picture books without text - wordless picture books. For most of the century the picture book was created for enjoyment of an audience of young people with the object of engaging them in a pleasurable experience.

32 pages - because of the binding of booklets of 8. 4 groups of 8 being sewn together. 

A picture book combines 2 forms of communication both visual and verbal. The ability to tell 2 stories at once. The marriage of text and illustrations.

Postmodern Literature - Questions what a picture book is - using these will create critical readers. What could happen differently??

Modernism is a philosophical movement that, along with cultural trends and changes, arose from wide-scale and far-reaching transformations in Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Among the factors that shaped modernism were the development of modern industrial societies and the rapid growth of cities, followed then by reactions of horror to World War 

Postmodernism is a broad movement that developed in the mid- to late-20th century across philosophy, the arts, architecture, and criticism and that marked a departure from modernism. The term has also more generally been applied to the historical era following modernity and the tendencies of this era.

Ontological plurality - not one way of doing anything

Postmodern Picture books

Revision a traditional tale - using a range of font, shape size 

(what will it look like in your own planning), multiple points of view, perspectives, 

breaking boundaries in genre, typographic exploration, (words), parody

Book list

Seven Blind Mice - Ed Young
The Book Just Ate my Dog - Richard Byrne
Wacko Kakapo - Yvonne Morrison
The True Story of the Three Little Pigs - Jon Scieszka
Do not Open this Book - Michaela Muntean
The Three Little Lambs - Sher Foley
The Very Smart Pea and the Princess-to-Be - Mini Grey
Shhh! - Sally Grindley
The Jolly Postman and Other People’s Letters - Janet and Allan Ahlberg
The Legend of Rock Paper Scissors - Drew Daywalt
Help the Wolf is coming - Ramadier and Bourgeau
Help, We Need a Title - Henri Tullet
Dear Mrs. La Rue. Letters from Obedience School - Mark Teague
Trev and the Kauri Tree - Chris Gurney
Voices in the Park - Anthony Browne
The Stinky Cheeseman and Other Fairly Stupid Tales - Jon Sciezka
Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Book - Lauren Child
The Wolf’s Story - Toby Forward
The Boring Book - Vasanti Unka
Little Mouse’s Book of Big Fears - Emily Gravett
The Three Pigs - David Weisner
Battle Bunny - Jon Scieszka
December 2017 choices
Tickle my Ears – Jorg Huhle
Help the Wolf is Coming - Cedric Ramadier and Vincent Bourgeau
I am the Wolf and Here I Come - Benedicte Guettier
Donkeys - Adelheid Dahimène
Wolfy - Grégoire Solotareff
Luther and the Cloudmakers – Kyle Mewburn

Can you Whistle Johanna? – Ulf Stark
The Noisy Book - Soledad Bravi
The Slant Book - Peter Newell
King and King – Linda De Haan and Stern Nijland
Prince Cinders – Babette Cole
Princess Smartypants – Babette Cole
Promised Land – Adam Reynolds and Chaz Harris
The Paperbag Princess – Robert Munsch
The Royal Heart – Gregory McGoon
Where the Wild Things Are – Maurice Sendak
Harold and the Purple Crayon – Crocket Johnson (published 1955)
Journey – Aaron Becker
Lines – Sue Lee
The Story of the Little Mouse Trapped in a Book – Monique Felix
Wolves – Emily Gravett
The Pain and the Great One – Judy Blume
Voices in the Park – Anthony Browne
The Tunnel – Anthony Browne
Willy’s Pictures – Anthony Browne
The Monster at the End of this Book – Jon Stone
Not Now Bernard! – David McKee
Another Monster at the End of this Book – Jon Stone
Parsley Rabbits’s Book about Books – Frances Watts and David Legge
Little Red Riding Hood (Not Quite) – Yvonne Morrison and Donovan Bixley
The Three Little Bears (Sort of) – Yvonne Morrison and Donovan Bixley
Wait! No Paint! – Bruce Whatley
Art and Max – Davis Wiesner
Alice in Wonderland – Suzy Lee
Hide and Seek – Anthony Browne
Automaton – Gary Crew
Press Here – Heave Tullet
Selma - Jutta Bauer
My Cat Likes to Hide in Boxes - Eve Sutton
The Conquerors – Davis McKee
The Rabbits – Shaun Tan
Who Needs Donuts? – M. Stamaty
The Red Tree – Shaun Tan
The Arrival – Shaun Tan
The Day the Crayons Quit – Drew Daywalt
Jim and he Beanstalk – Raymond Briggs
When the Wind Blows – Raymond Briggs
Fungas the Bogeyman – Raymond Briggs
Elephant Elements – F. Pittau and B Gervais
Orange Pear Apple Bear – Emily Gravett
Baba Smart Sheep – Mark Sommerset
The Book with No Pictures – BJ Novak
Don’t Cross the Line – Isabel Minhos Martins
Duck’s Vacation – Gilad Soffer
Hello Red Fox – Eric Carle
Help! We Need a Title – Herve Tullet
It’s a Book – Lane Smith
Jim Curious, A Voyage to the Heart of the Sea – Matthias Picard
Mirror – Jeannie Baker
Mix it Up - Herve Tullet
Open the Little Book – Jesse Klausmeier
Plant the Tiny Seed – Christie Matheson
Press Here – Herve Tullet
Previously – Allan Ahlberg
Tap to Play! – Salina Yoon
The Bear Who Wasn’t There – LeUyen Pham
The Hole – Oyvind Torseter
The Other Side – Ivan Banyai
There’s a Moose on the Loose – Lucy Feather
This is not a Book - Jean Jullien
We are in a Book - Mo Willems
What’s that Noise (This Book is Calling You...) – Isabel Minhos Martins
Zoom and Re-Zoom – Istvan Banyai
Do Not Open This Book! – Andy Lee
Please, Open This Book! - Adam Lehrhaupt
This is a Ball – Beck and Matt Stanton
Did you Take the B from my ook? – Beck and Matt Stanton
Bathtime for Little Rabbit – Jorg Muhle

Julia Marshall from Gecko Press 

Possible ideas for publishing a book - Books in Homes

• Whole class to make a whole book, everyone has contributed
• Part of a book , to make a whole book
• With a buddy - illustrator and author
• Section/ section of a page
• Every child to have representation

Great story - beginning, middle and end. 

Each book show trigger emotion, makes you want to read them over and over again. 

Child centred - child sees one thing, an adult sees another thing

You believe it - interact...

A good book is a book you like

Use a range of colour for mood
Use the pictures from a book - using a page form a book and make a book - If I was a banana...
Illustrator helps the book to become the best book it can be...

Think about size - board books, 32, 16, 8 pages long, colour.
Flaps, no flaps. copyright?

Who is for?

Appraisal Review

WHAT?
This week I worked with my DP to go through my Appraisal, it was rewarding and confusing at the same time. The rewards were for the work that I have been given vast amounts of time to (Mindlab) have paid off. It wasn't my intention when I signed up for Mindlab but looking back I can see how my practice has changed, and now how I work to as a more reflective practitioner and continually make more mindful changes with evidence not just hunches. It was great to hear from another person's point of view what they have noticed and where they think I next to place my energies.

The confusion for me is how do I incorporate the suggestion of being more culturally responsive to my pedagogy. This is not being more aware of the Maori culture and practices but being aware of what each individual needs and brings to the classroom environment. We all have our own cultural practices that are specific to each family, household, their background and beliefs.

An example of this - a parent has just enrolled her daughter into a new entrant class and has told the teacher that she will not be buying a book bag as she will not be listening to her child read each night as their life is too busy so it won't be happening. As a teacher this is fairly shocking as one of the ways to improve children's reading is to work on their reading mileage. So the more they can read outside of the classroom instruction, they more they can get to grips with reading. The parent has told the teacher her point of view now the teacher will need to find other ways to ensure the child still progresses in reading without relying on the 'usual' ways. The teacher needs to be responsive to the beliefs of that family and adapt her planning to do so.

SO WHAT?

How do you provide culturally relevant programmes for all of your learners, giving our diverse they are?

How do you deliberately support your students to make connections with the concepts they are learning through planning and implementation?

These are the questions that I hope to work on as the year progresses. I have been made more aware of the children's each individual needs and and what they bring to the classroom environment through the PEP (Personalised Education Plans) and through the meetings with parents. My task now is to be more deliberate in how I cater for these in my classroom programme. I do have a tricky class with a vast spread of levels with 2 autistic children, 2 ESOL, 2 struggling learners and on the flip side children working at Stage 7 for Numeracy, 3B for writing and reading like 12 year olds in a Year 4 class. I have concerns how I am extending those at the higher levels and not 'dumbing' down the learning using a whole class approach.

Bobbie Hunter states that it comes down ensuring everybody has an opportunity to participate. She says that I must give a voice to the learners and make them realise that they need realise that they have many voices - multiple voices. Where they speak at home, at church, on the sports field, with their mates, during games and competing. It is important for them to learn how their voice fits in the classroom and they can start to learn with purpose, and that success means everybody alongside you gets to understand what you understand. This also works alongside what I want to achieve with embedding more oral language in my classroom programme.

NOW WHAT?
I need to be more aware of and understand both quantitative and qualitative data and collect it in a more systematic way in order to get a 'holistic' picture of the individuals in my class, including:

• student achievement data - achievement data
• demographic data - trends in student population and learning needs, profiles, cultural needs
• programme data - instructional practice
• perceptual data - student, whanau voice, community surveys

Tu Rangatira English 2010 on page 14 has a scaffold I would like to embed in my practice such as being an advocate who promotes the development and implements a range of strategies and plans that help children to realise their potential and to succeed as Maori and as individuals.

Being more deliberate in my planning, making notes on the reasons for using mixed ability groups, Talk Moves and using the children's individual learning goals will help me to get some way to making in roads into be more 'culturally responsive, I hope.

References

Bobbie Hunter: Maths belongs in every culture - E-Tangata Retrieved from https://e-tangata.co.nz/korero/bobbie-hunter-maths-belongs-in-every-culture/

Ministry of Education (MOE), Tü Rangatira: Mäori Medium Educational Leadership sets out a framework for kura leaders, Huia Publishers, 2010.