Admit it. You don’t spend nearly enough time allowing students to give and receive feedback on drafts of their written work because you feel the need to maintain some level of “quality control” around what happens during these exchanges. You’re guilty. All of us are at some point, I think. New writers are not often able to provide the sort of feedback that is helpful to others for a number of different reasons, including the…
Drafting is the stage of the process where voice begins to emerge. As a writer’s work begins to take shape, voices are heard with greater clarity. They become distinct. Refined. Identifiable. I think this requires something of an evolution though. Drafting delivers voice when writers are provided time and a safe environment to create in. Too often, we ask kids to attend to organization first and foremost, and as a result, they produce writing that is formulaic and…
Okay okay okay! So, we’re going to play a little game with ELA standards for a minute. I don’t care whose standards they are. Could be the ones from my state or your state or whoever’s state. Now, I’m wondering what would happen if we took the real work of kids, the work that they do outside of school, on their own time (because they love doing it) and we introduced them to the standards and asked…
Image taken from: http://users.moscow.com/rickf/images/writingprocess.gif Yesterday, I began a series of posts on the writing process and the Traits of good writing. I’ll spending the remainder of the week exploring each phase of the process and the Traits that are embedded within it. Today’s topic? Prewriting. Prewriting is all about idea-gathering, and as we idea-gather, we’re often inspired to do some great pre-writing. This phase of the writer’s process is about considering what you want to…
I know how I would answer this question, and I’m sure that the definition would shift a bit depending on who you asked, what they preferred to read, and how many essays they were responsible for providing feedback on over the weekend *smile*. When I think of what good writing is, I think of this book, this post, and these videos. I think of the work that Noah does. I think of her. And her.…
Even though there is still snow on the ground, I’m really excited to be getting calls from teachers and parents and kids who are interested in participating in the WNY Young Writers’ Studio this summer. Registration is ALWAYS open, and new members can join our community at any time. Fellows spend a week together in the summer exploring what it means to be a writer, the process itself and how the work we do might influence change. We continue to meet…
The fellows of my learning community have been revisiting our commitment to disseminating the expertise that we share and cultivate within our group. This week, conversations have begun around the purpose of publication, the process itself, and whether or not the work that is shared within blog posts and in other online venues can be as credible as the stuff of peer-reviewed publications. In most cases, I’ll admit, I don’t think it can be. That…
I’ve been thinking a lot about this post lately. It’s an important one. Go read it. It makes me think about the not-so healthy level of competition that sometimes exists between people. It astounds me that so many people can’t appreciate this simple truth: there is a lot of work to be done in this field. There is plenty for all of us to do. Trashing colleagues we disagree with and belittling those we feel threatened…
A while back, several local educators on Twitter began thinking about organizing a regional teachmeet. This happened in a pretty organic way. I received a message from Gene Gordon, asking if anyone in my network would be interested in getting together in this way. I asked a handful of my local colleagues and friends. They said yes. Gene and his wife Anne Marie asked theirs. They said yes. We invited everyone else to join in the planning…
I’m finding that one of the more dramatic shifts that takes place when learning communities come together is around purpose. I’m not just referring to the work of professional learning communities that are populated by educators. I’m also referring to the work of the learning communities that are populated by the students in our classrooms and the parents in our communities. Things are changing. Suddenly, it seems that more than a few people are realizing…