Additional reflection to THE RIGHT TO SEE OTHERS WRITE

Micki's post emphasized the significance of reading and its impact on our writing.  I strongly agree.  I can't imagine teaching writing without using books, magazines, newspapers, etc. as mentor texts.  We need to utilize all of the resources we have available.

Using a class novel as a mentor text is a definitely a great resource.  I have had students bring in favorite books (including children’s books) and identify passages that they felt were very effective to share in class. Another idea is to have students keep a journal of impressive passages they notice as they are reading the novel.  Becoming more cognizant of the effectiveness of professional authors’ (or colleagues’) techniques is another step toward improving our own writing.  

As students begin to share their writing, it can be simply in Pair/Share– just listen to my draft and share a reaction, such as what stood out to you or Say Back what you heard.  This method works well with younger/beginning writers.  As writers mature, more complex feedback can be required.  Sharing writing in conference groups (usually 4-5 students) definitely increases the opportunities for students to develop stronger writing.  However, in order to create effective conference groups, you need  to give students some guidance.   In looking through my files, I found some worksheets for peer response that might be helpful in preparing for conference group meetings.  Here is one I used:

1    Please give me feedback for the following questions I have about my writing.

                        Question #1     

                        Your feedback:

                        Question #2

                        Your feedback:

2    Underline those parts of my draft you especially liked, found effective, or found   memorable.  In the left hand margin next to each part underlined, briefly note why you underlined it.

Here is a reflection sheet for that process:

1     The single most helpful comment (written or oral) that I received was

2    As a result of the group feedback, I changed my draft in the following ways:

3     My conference group as a whole worked well in these areas:

4   My conference group as a whole had difficulty with:

The right to see others write should include seeing instructor’s writing as well as classmates’ writing and published authors’ writing.