Jessie, I too was struck by the second grade videos and was particularly interested in how the teacher was demonstrating the desired technique to her students. I thought she was an exceptional communicator and was very direct in giving the students suggestions on how to be more descriptive and “stretch it out.” In particular, I was interested in how she encouraged one student to include her feelings as part of her story and expand upon that. She seemed to have a great feel for the comfort level of her students and how to communicate with them.
I agree the video showed the 2nd grade teacher ingeniously modeling a very important aspect of writing, visualization. I appreciated her placing importance on the activity by slowing the process down and breaking it down into a level that the students could handle. I also really grabbed onto how she transitioned her students into gradually thinking about their own story so that they wouldn't fixate on hers and then not be able to have their own ideas.
I took a lot away from the writing workshop videos and it provided some great tools we can use in the classroom. My son uses inventive spelling and he does get noticeably upset if I try to correct him on spelling (I have stopped doing that:)) Thanks for sharing.
Mike...I'm glad that you have stopped correcting your son's spelling. It sounds like you have taken this class just in the nick of time! :) Jessie...I'm glad you connected with the inventive spelling concepts. I had always read about inventive spelling and its important role in writing development. But, it wasn't until I had my own emergent writer/reader at home that I really understood it. Fortunately, my daughter is in a constructivist class, so they do little direct instruction for spelling. The funny thing is, this semester for her second grade report card, she got a needs improvement in spelling! I told Maya not to worry about it and that I was just interested in whether she was trying and having fun writing. It seemed quite ironic. :)
Jessie,
ReplyDeleteI too was struck by the second grade videos and was particularly interested in how the teacher was demonstrating the desired technique to her students. I thought she was an exceptional communicator and was very direct in giving the students suggestions on how to be more descriptive and “stretch it out.” In particular, I was interested in how she encouraged one student to include her feelings as part of her story and expand upon that. She seemed to have a great feel for the comfort level of her students and how to communicate with them.
I agree the video showed the 2nd grade teacher ingeniously modeling a very important aspect of writing, visualization. I appreciated her placing importance on the activity by slowing the process down and breaking it down into a level that the students could handle. I also really grabbed onto how she transitioned her students into gradually thinking about their own story so that they wouldn't fixate on hers and then not be able to have their own ideas.
ReplyDeleteI took a lot away from the writing workshop videos and it provided some great tools we can use in the classroom. My son uses inventive spelling and he does get noticeably upset if I try to correct him on spelling (I have stopped doing that:)) Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteMike...I'm glad that you have stopped correcting your son's spelling. It sounds like you have taken this class just in the nick of time! :)
ReplyDeleteJessie...I'm glad you connected with the inventive spelling concepts. I had always read about inventive spelling and its important role in writing development. But, it wasn't until I had my own emergent writer/reader at home that I really understood it. Fortunately, my daughter is in a constructivist class, so they do little direct instruction for spelling. The funny thing is, this semester for her second grade report card, she got a needs improvement in spelling! I told Maya not to worry about it and that I was just interested in whether she was trying and having fun writing. It seemed quite ironic. :)