Life Lesson: Practice What You Teach

Notes from the Classroom

shutterstock_275161592As 2015 came to a close and winter break was upon us, I had some time to reflect upon my teaching practice, as I planned for my next units of study. I remembered how, at the beginning of the year, we received from our Literacy Specialist an immersion packet. The packet suggested several teacher-written pieces, which would go along with the units from Atlas.

The assignment was overwhelming to say the least. Several colleagues remarked that there was no way they were going to do that much writing, on top of everything else that had to be done.

But once we dug into the units with our students, we remembered quickly the importance of writing for—and with—our learners.

When students see me engaging in the writing I am asking them to do, they immediately view it as authentic. I always choose my stories carefully to avoid students’ copying my subject matter (a lesson learned in previous years). And I never do just one draft and call it good.

I have found that if I allow them to see my struggles and imperfections, they are more open to our revising and editing sessions with their work. I will intentionally write stories that I know need revision, allowing my students to see that even adult writing needs work. I write for them and use my pieces to write with them. We even do shared pieces based on shared experiences. Once, for instance, we brought a microwave into the classroom and popped popcorn so that we could all write a descriptive paragraph together. That was a lesson they never forgot!

The Conversation with Editing

Probably the best lesson for me with editing and revision has come through the writing of this blog.shutterstock_266285486 After I submit my pieces, our editor does his thing, which means inevitable changes to sentence structure, word choice, and sometimes even titles. I have to admit, it can be hard to take at times. This made me realize that I need to be more gentle in my approach with my students; more conversation needs to happen as I go through their pieces. It also made me realize how shared writing, revising and editing can help my students achieve better results.

So as I sat in my very quiet classroom planning our launch for our next unit, I decided I would try writing the assignments that I give students, lesson by lesson. I’ll find what fits, what doesn’t, and what I need to move around. I’ll analyze my points of frustration and do my best to anticipate what will be stumbling points for my students. Will it be perfect? No, of course not. But I’m sure I’ll learn a few things along the way that will make it better than if I taught it without trying it.

When it comes to writing, I’m not sure that practice ever makes perfect. But it certainly makes me a better teacher.

beth croppedBeth Rogers is a fifth grade teacher for Clarkston Community Schools, where she has been teaching full time since 2006.  She is  blessed to teach Language Arts and Social Studies for her class and her teaching partner’s class, while her partner  teaches all of their math and science. This enables them  to focus on their passions and do the best they can for kids. Beth was chosen as Teacher of the Year for 2013-2014 in her district. She earned a B.S. in Education at Kent State University and a Master’s in Educational Technology at Michigan State University. 

Power = Powerful Writing

Literacy & Technology Notes from the Classroom

11454297503_e27946e4ff_hWhen I began blogging with my 5th graders a few years ago, it was only to participate in the Two Writing Teachers “slice of life” challenge, which encourages writers to describe real experiences. My goal was for my students to put their best writing forward and to make some connections
with an outside audience.

I began at the beginning, so to speak. We started blogging on the first day of school last year and continued all year long. I used the blog as a portfolio of writing progress, and I was able to give blogging homework, which enabled me to teach more responsively and to easily create strategy groups as needed.

Through this experience (and the experience of trying to edit 50 blogs each night), I shifted my mindset and my understanding of blogging’s purpose. The one thing I hadn’t done, I realized, was really turn my students loose with their blogs.

Until this year.

A Revelation

I gave my students this freedom on the first full day of school. For that first day, I booked the technology (ipad carts) and we dug in. Of course, one session is never enough to get a post completed in the beginning of the year, so I booked the carts for a second day.

There were several students who were finished on day one, so I paused the class and went out on a limb. I told them, “This is your blog space. You may do whatever kind of writing you wish in it, within school guidelines.”

There was a quiet pause while this sank in.

“Can we write fiction stories?” someone asked. “What about fantasy?”

“Poetry?” another student asked.

shutterstock_275856317When I said “yes” to all, a new excitement filled the room. Soon students were busily typing stories that were mostly fiction, a genre our writing curriculum doesn’t touch in 5th grade. As they wrote, I was struck by something: They had passion and excitement for writing. The length of the writing alone was impressive, but there were paragraphs and dialogue! Students wanted to know if they could end with an ellipsis and “to be continued.” They were excited to write in this way and to read the writing of their classmates. I’d found gold.

Maintaining Momentum

Right now we are riding the wave of this new freedom; having the power to write anything, at will, has unleashed some powerful writing from my students. Sometimes the quietest voice in the room resonates loudly in a blog. Students are literally looking at each other and saying,”Wow, you wrote that?”

So now my challenge is to maintain this level of enthusiasm while weaving in the “must do’s” of curriculum. I’m not quite sure how to do this yet. I do know that having an authentic audience is critical to the process, so I’ll be reaching out to make connections with another classroom soon.

In the meantime, I think that I’ll go back to the source: my students. If I can continue to tap their interests and give them freedom, who knows what power will be unleashed?

beth croppedBeth Rogers is a fifth grade teacher for Clarkston Community Schools, where she has been teaching full time since 2006.  She is  blessed to teach Language Arts and Social Studies for her class and her teaching partner’s class, while her partner  teaches all of their math and science. This enables them  to focus on their passions and do the best they can for kids. Beth was chosen as Teacher of the Year for 2013-2014 in her district. She earned a B.S. in Education at Kent State University and a Master’s in Educational Technology at Michigan State University. 

Consistency Counts with Student Blogging

Literacy & Technology Notes from the Classroom

The end of the year has come and with it the chaos that teachers know all too well. This blog that I have been intending to write for three weeks is just now coming to fruition…at the end of a 15 hour day. This is teaching in June. Actually, this is just teaching.

M-Step-Logo_474451_7

When I last wrote it was the end of April, and I was reflecting on the power of audience, when my students had been blogging daily at school for the Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life challenge. Then came spring break. THEN came M-STEP. I’m imagining readers emitting a groan of understanding at hearing that acronym. M-STEP became the bane of my existence, not because my students had to take it but because it completely dominated all of the technology in my building, totally disrupting our blogging routine. Students had grown accustomed to blogging at school; they were no longer satisfied with blogging homework. Some had no means to blog at home and so were completely left out. Chromebooks had to re-charge at lunch, so we couldn’t use them even then. We were cut off – our rhythm disrupted – and blogging enthusiasm waned.

We were finally able to recommence blogging last week, but I noticed a change in my students. They hadn’t heard from their blogging buddies from Maine (I’m guessing similar end of year woes were happening there), and end of year activities were throwing off our routine. We went ahead with the assignment I had planned, but I knew that it would not be their best effort and I was right. However, all is not lost. Two things came from this experience:

1. I learned that I must find a way for us to blog throughout online testing next year.

2. I learned the value of keeping blogging homework, even throughout March.

shutterstock_152490218Prior to the March challenge, I had assigned blogging homework every week. Those students without technology were able to stay in at lunch and use the single student computer in my classroom. The students were excited to do this online writing and I gave them feedback every week. I loved it because students were creating a digital portfolio of their writing that would show their growth over the course of the school year. I gave them weekly assignments reflecting the work we were doing in the classroom, which gave me one more look at how they were applying the mini-lessons. Parents liked the technology use and the fact that they could also see their child’s writing – something not easily accessed with often well-guarded writer’s notebooks.

Once March arrived, I made sure we had technology every day to ensure that students were blogging (daily is a much bigger order than weekly) and also to ensure time to respond to other classes who were participating in the challenge. The kids loved it and so did I. It required a sacrifice of some of my instructional time, but was well worth it. Blogging homework disappeared. My mistake.

Now I know the importance of keeping the weekly blogging homework. Had I not let it go, my students would have kept blogging consistently right up to the end of the year. As I think now about the potential writing that was lost, I could kick myself. All of our reading and thinking and discussing of the American Revolution could have been captured on our blogs! Instead, most of it went home today in writer’s notebooks that I can no longer access. Oh but if it had been in the blog…

post it

But that is the beauty of our profession. Like our students, we learn. Then we do better. So into my folder for the 2015-16 school year will go this note: blogging homework every week. Tomorrow I am going to e-mail parents to remind them that their students can blog all summer and to assure them that I will respond. This same message will be in report cards as well. Most students won’t – I know this from previous years. Perhaps next year will be different though. Blogging homework will happen all the way through June. Perhaps next summer I will have lots of posts to respond to each week. Time will tell…

beth croppedBeth Rogers is a fifth grade teacher for Clarkston Community Schools, where she has been teaching full time since 2006.  She is  blessed to teach Language Arts and Social Studies for her class and her teaching partner’s class, while her partner  teaches all of their math and science. This enables them  to focus on their passions and do the best they can for kids. Beth was chosen as Teacher of the Year for 2013-2014 in her district. She earned a B.S. in Education at Kent State University and a Master’s in Educational Technology at Michigan State University. 

Student Blogs: Audience Matters

Literacy & Technology Notes from the Classroom

sliceoflife 228 weeks. When I hear this I think of being just more than halfway through a pregnancy. While I am not having a baby, I am witnessing the growth and development of my classroom of writers. According to my teacher blog, I have assigned 19 posts, not counting the daily expectation for this month. We have been blogging weekly since the school year began. I started this process mainly as preparation for the Two Writing Teachers Classroom Slice of Life Story Challenge, but quickly realized it was an invaluable portfolio of my students’ writing progress across the course of a school year. Some students have worked hard to meet the challenge of each week’s post, while others have given minimum effort. All of that has changed this month.

A New Perspective

Enter March. I’ve booked technology for the entire month so that we can blog every day for the Slice of Life Story Challenge as well as publish websites for our informational reading and writing units of study. We blog within the Classroom Challenge, with the understanding that other teachers and students will leave feedback for us, and we will do the same for them. As my students began to read the writing of other students, they quickly noticed all of the things that I have been harping on all year long: lack of capital letters, missing punctuation, and misspelled words. Most importantly, they finally saw how these things interfere with meaning. This wasn’t the high point though; that came when the comments began rolling in.

“I got a comment!” a voice squealed from the other side of the room.

“Of course you did,” I joked, “I’ve been commenting on your writing all year.”

“No, not from you, Mrs. Rogers,” she replied. “I got a real comment.”

While I pretended to be crestfallen, inside I was throwing a fist into the air. Similar exclamations were heard around the room and, suddenly, there was an air of excitement for writing. Students were spontaneously asking their literacy partners to check their writing. They cared about what they were producing like never before.

Not All Sunshine and Roses

481399781 (1)Does this mean that all of my students are suddenly writing beautiful blog posts, with wonderful spelling and grammar? Nope. In fact, there are some downright cringe-worthy pieces of writing on our class pages. But they are excited, they want to write, and they are paying more attention. When we give comments, I tell my students to tell the writer specifically what they have done well. My hope is that they will begin to transfer some of this attention to their own work. In small increments, I am seeing evidence of this. I only have to scroll back to September to see the growth right in front of me. I also set out Chromebooks at conferences so parents can peruse their child’s blog while they wait. This is very informative and often makes conversations easier.

As I prepare report cards for conferences tomorrow, I realize that the end of the school year is looming large. How can I best leverage the writing work that my students have done to maximize their growth? I’m thinking of having them revisit an old piece and revise it to show what they have learned, perhaps even writing a reflection about the revision. Maybe I’ll choose the piece, maybe I’ll let them – I haven’t decided. I do know that as I think ahead to next year (crazy, but I do this!), I will have my students blog weekly. There is so much value in this practice. Now that I have seen the dramatic shift when there is an audience, I know that I need to give them one before March. The question is, “how?” The answer…I don’t know…yet.

Beth Rogers is a fifth grade teacher for Clarkston Community Schools, where she has been teaching full time since 2006.  She is  blessed to teach Language Arts and Social Studies for her class and her teaching partner’s class, while her partner  teaches all of their math and science. This enables them  to focus on their passions and do the best they can for kids. Beth was chosen as Teacher of the Year for 2013-2014 in her district. She earned a B.S. in Education at Kent State University and a Master’s in Educational Technology at Michigan State University.