As I read Routman's Chapter 9 yesterday, I was immediately reminded of both my mentor teachers. In my dyad, my teacher's last two periods of the day are a reading/writing block. The students have a task most nights that involve them writing in their writer's notebook (the task usually aligns with the novel they're reading at the time). For the first thirty minutes of class, the students work on MSP stems and complete AR reading while my teacher goes around the room and assesses their writer's notebooks. She often uses this time to talk with the students about their writing. Sometimes, a student is on the computers taking an AR test, and she will ask, "Suzy, when you finish up the test will you come back to your desk so that we can have a conference?" Conferencing about writing is a norm in this class, and I feel that many students look forward to the opportunity to work with her.
Conferencing is also done by my mentor teacher in my main placement. As she hands out the stories that the students are currently working on, she will talk with them about what they've written so far, what she is excited to read about, etc. The students recently began working on developing stories with beginning, middle, and endings. I was blown away by some of the work when I went back this week for conferences. First graders are completely capable of engaging in the writing process. If established norms are set in place, the students will live up to them.
It's been exciting for me to see some of the practices Routman describes in "real life," out in classrooms.
It's true--nothing beats experiencing what we have read in order to make it meaningful. I too, have witnessed much of Routman's philosophies in my main placement. My observations have taught me the power of modeling your expectations and the power of having high expectations. To someone who has not spent much time with upper elementary kids, I am finding that when given the appropriate kind of scaffolding, they can accomplish more than I realized--and sometimes more than they realized. I love to see the pride that develops when students feel successful!
ReplyDeleteYep - we often underestimate what kids are capable of doing. And - they want to do meaningful and challenging work. A key point for me is not only holding kids to high standards, but letting them know that you will help them reach the standards -- the scaffolding the Leah wrote about. It's not only the kids who look forward to individual conferences - often the teachers do too. It's an opportunity to see the results of your teaching.
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