ELLEN
BERG
Diary #24
Acting Like Writers
I have had one doozie of a week.
At its lowest point, I was digging through my purse looking for the business card of an administrator from another middle school in the district, prepared to let her know I was ready to take her up on her offer to transfer to her school.
At its highest point, I was dancing around the front of my room, buzzed on the discussion my students were having about reading and writing.
As pondered what to reflect on in this week's entry, I was sorely tempted to delve into the negative events of the week that tempted me to run away from my school's many problems. How good it would feel to put all my frustrations down on paper, knowing that the people who read the entry would share my pain and silently agree that it is time for me to make tracks.
However, what would complaining really accomplish? What can I learn by further chewing on what is lacking in my school when, in the end, there is very little control I have over these policies? Nothing, really, and so I choose instead to dwell on the positive.
Automatic pilot
We are required to use the single activities from our Terra Nova resource binders to address objectives our students scored poorly on. In general, the practice makes sense if implemented correctly. Our principal requires us to do this so she can collect the papers and prove we are using test data to drive instruction.
The problem is that there is no discussion among the staff about what to do if they do not master the objective with the one activity included in the binder. The present assertion is if we do the activity, they will automatically master the concept.
Okay, right, I got off track. Back to the positive.The activity I used addressed evaluating and extending meaning, Objective 4 on the Terra Nova test. Students completed a three column chart:
| If the author says... | We can conclude... | What makes me think that... |
| "The airplane's engine suddenly spluttered." | ||
| The story takes place in a city. |
There were four examples for the first two columns. I added the third column myself because I thought it was important for my students to clarify their thinking. It is not enough to know the answer; one must also understand why the answer is correct and where it came from so one can repeat a similar exercise with equal success.
My students really struggled when they needed to fill in the first column. Vocabulary, lack of prior knowledge for some concepts, and poor visualization skills hindered their success. Either they had no clue or they were over thinking and making the task more difficult than it actually was. After working with a partner, we shared our ideas with the class and discussed why answers were or were not logical. My stronger students took over a lot of the explaining, doing a much better job of helping their peers understand than I had. After their difficulty with the first column, I fully expected them to have even more problems filling in the second column. Not so. They had a much easier time with this task and even enjoyed it. They were creative and did some of the best writing I have seen from them this year! Just a couple examples for the conclusion, "The man had bad body odor," are: "The man hadn't washed that morning, or any other morning for a month." "The Johnson's didn't believe in taking baths." "Hygiene wasn't Mr. Smith's strong suit."We laughed and enjoyed playing around with the language, delighting when we got a positive reaction from our words. I think they began to glimpse the power of writing, and I am trying to figure out ways to capitalize on this new perspective with our upcoming novel unit.
Acting like readers, and then like writers
Fortunately, I had not made it through a full class when it occurred to me that this exercise was actually an exercise in acting like a reader (with all the comprehension skills in place) and acting like a writer. Though my students lack strong reading skills, they had no difficulty putting themselves into the position of writer. If they are able to do that, I see many opportunities to use that strength to help them develop their reading skills since reading and writing are interconnected.Willy Wood, a former DESE language arts director and current professional development consultant, often suggests that we have students read like readers--for the sheer joy of reading--and then going back to read like writers.
Students identify parts that strike them, then name and define the technique, placing it on a class chart along with the example from the text. They are then encouraged to use that technique and other techniques from the class chart in their own writing.
I feel like I am just beginning to see how all of the seemingly unrelated concepts, skills, and standards fit together and can be used to support students' understandings in other areas. I wonder when all of this will come naturally, when my students will not have to wait for me to get it. As long as I keep looking for the answers, it will come, sooner rather than later, hopefully.
