This article was all about writing conferences between a teacher and student. It gave tips and ideas that would make the conferences as successful as possible. Some of the tips included: giving praise, tell them how you felt as you read it, keep the conferences brief, and when giving tips, apply them directly to their story. It also gave hints regarding how to deal with situations where children do not want to write. Instead of just forcing them to sit down, listen to them tell a story and then encourage them to write it all down.
We do use this technique in my classroom. I took away a few ideas from the article that I plan to use in my classroom, actually. For instance, we have one child who repeatedly attempts to tell us that he hates writing, and that he is a terrible writer. The next time this child tells me a story, as he does almost daily, I will encourage him to write it down. I will relate it back to storytelling in writing as opposed to orally.
I need to get myself to think on my students levels as opposed to on my level. I routinely keep reminding myself that they are third graders and therefore will write as third graders, not as adults. It is the only area of teaching that I sometimes struggle with getting myself to think like them.
This module made me think about the need for various forms of assessment. Looking at their work alone will not do me any good unless I am talking to them about the issues that I notice. Unless the I know where they are coming from, I will not be able to identify where their mistakes took place.
Kate, the biggest thing that I have learned throughout my internship thus far, is talking through students' work with them. One day, I was correcting a math worksheet with my teacher and I was really struggling because I felt like my students knew what they were doing but they would make a simple mistake, making their problem incorrect. Talking with my teacher, I learned how simple conferencing can be. My CT showed me how easy it is to call a child over and to have them verbalize their thought process. I simply provided guiding questions and judge if the child really knew the material. This was one of the easiest conferencing sessions I have ever experienced. It was not only less than two minutes, but provided me with the insight that I needed, quickly and efficiently. I believe that those quick assessments are by far the best. They are so simply and there is something tangible for the child to talk to you about.
ReplyDeleteFor instance, I walked around the classroom today and had the children read to me for about 5 minutes. During this time, I listened for fluency and watched the page to monitor accuracy. Finally, I had the student recap what they read to make sure that they were comprehending the words on the page and not just going through the motions. I think that if you give students the opportunity just to talk, it makes your job as the teacher much, much easier.
Kate, I like your idea of the student that says he hates writing to you daily. I have not yet had that experience but I think that you are handling it in a great way. Asking him to write down why he hates writing is a good way to look at his writing and see where he needs help and also see where his strengths are. This way the student can then get positive feedback as well as constructive feedback. How is this student at reading? Have you noticed them struggling there as well?
ReplyDeleteI can relate to getting down on their writing level. Last year I was in a third grade classroom and things were done differently within writing. I found myself expecting my students to be able to 'fix' their work like my third graders and know what makes sense and what does not. There is a larger gap between second and third than I thought. Maybe that gap can be closed by the end of the year? I sure hope so!