FEEDBACK GUIDELINES

 Our recent blog entries have been focused on helping students develop confidence in their writing.  By now you should know your students well enough to encourage peer feedback.  I would suggest beginning with peer to peer before you move to creating writing groups.  Here is a handout that might be helpful:

PEER FEEDBACK GUIDELINES

AS THE READER –

1.  Be an interested and sensitive reader.  BE TACTFUL.  Think, talk, and write about the writing seriously.

2.  Be willing to take the time to make the effort for good feedback.  REMEMBER – peer feedback is not just for the other person’s benefit.  You will find many ways to improve your own writing from analyzing what works well and what doesn’t work in someone else’s writing.  The more time and effort you put into analyzing and critiquing others’ writing, the more ways you will discover to improve your own writing.

3.  Make specific comments in the margin of the paper.  Be sure to write a paragraph at the end.  Make the effort to be specific about the paper’s strengths and weaknesses.  Tell the writer exactly what you like about a part or what you think could be even better.

AS THE WRITER –

1.  Listen with an open mind.  Be willing to accept others’ input/advice.  Don’t ignore good advice because you’re too stubborn to change.  Try very hard to put aside your fragile ego.  Accept that ALL WRITERS need criticism as well as praise – in order to write even better.

2.  Of course, you have the right to disagree with someone’s advice.  You are the writer.  But even if you disagree with someone’s suggestion, maybe you should look closely at that part, to find your own way of improving it.

3.  Above all, don’t waste good input by being too lazy to revise!  Revision takes a tremendous amount of time and effort, but it’s the KEY to good writing.

SOME WAYS YOU CAN USE PEERS’ RESPONSES

• to help you clarify what you want to say

• to see what works in your writing

• to extend your ideas

• to gain perspective or distance

• to help you organize and clarify your ideas

Micki’s last entry had links to great resources for educators; I hope you took some time to investigate them.  Also since so many of you are working online, NWP had an interesting session about designing breakout rooms; check it out at http://chippewariverwp.org/2020/10/22/

Embedding Writing in Curriculum

 As English teachers, we are not just writing teachers, and for that reason, writing needs to become a part of all we do with language arts. Some of us gravitate more to literature and figuring out how to set aside time for "writing" seems cumbersome. How do I fit it in? Actually, it's very easy to embed writing in everything you do in class. Literature discussion? Pose 3 big questions for the day's discussion, and have students write short answers in their notebooks so they are primed for discussion. Walking around the room will let you know who is ready and who is not, who has an interesting point of view and who needs more time to read. (You may have to push for thoughtful answers that are more than one sentence)

As Muriel and I ponder where to go next with our blog, we would like feedback from you who are in the classroom. What is your struggle with teaching writing? What has been particularly successful?  

In the meantime, I want to share a couple of sites that you may or may not be aware of, but ones that I have found helpful while working with inner-city classrooms.

The Teaching Channel - I've been a member of this site for the past five years and find it to be an unending resource of new and creative ideas for teaching. It is a good resource for distance learning or teaching with a hybrid model. [Creating a user account is free and open to anyone. The Teaching Channel hosts almost 800 professionally produced videos of teachers in action, demonstrating new and effective best practices in their classrooms.]

Writing Fix - Muriel has mentioned this site, "The Home of Interactive Writing Prompts." There are writer's notebook ideas, K-12, if you're ready to incorporate something new or want help with implementing writers notebooks; there are prompts for writing exams, mentor text lessons and so much more.

Universe as Text - This is a new site to me, but from what I've seen, it is inspirational and informational with notes and quotes from teachers using the site's prompts in their classrooms. "Navigating our Textual Universe through Reading, Writing, Thinking, and Teaching."

The National Writing Project - The gold standard for writing support - endless archives and inspirational real-life opportunities to immerse your students in the writing life. My very favorite writing exercise involves a walk with 3 or 4 stops or areas where you have students write about the location or something the location inspires in them. I've taken junior high students on a walk through the neighborhood surrounding school. We made 3 or 4-10 minute stops where students quietly took out their notebooks and wrote. Once back in the classroom, students pair-shared one of their short pieces. From there, it could be developed into a longer piece or perhaps it might be one that inspired research for a larger piece. Could you take students on a virtual stroll during this COVID season?

Check out these sites when you know students need a change or you're stuck on how to go further with writing in your classroom. Above all, allow time for writing 2-3 times a week. Even rough drafts and journal entries inspire new thinking and lead to more thoughtful writing.

Please share some of your successes and struggles.

Write Out 2020 NWP

 Are you ready to take a break from your current writing assignments and have some fun? The National Writing Project is offering fun writing ideas around the theme "Stories Around the Campfire." Simply go to writeout@nwp.org for fun ideas, events and suggestions. Here is just a sample of what you will find...

Let's get started with Write Out 2020! Welcome colleagues and friends! Write Out begins today, October 11th and will run through the 25th. The theme of this year’s event is Stories Around the Campfire which connects to the National Park Service theme for October. Below are ideas and resources that you can use at your own pace and in your own way. We encourage you to share your writing and connect with others via the #writeout hashtag—find each other on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. We also have printable postcards if you and your writers need a break from all the digital.   We will host broadcasted events on Wednesday evenings during Write Out. This week, join fellow teachers and rangers in a discussion about "Creating Writing Marathons in Our Classrooms, Parks and Beyond!" livestreamed on Facebook on October 14, 2020 7pm ET/4pm PT. Remember: even if you have just 5 minutes each week, 2 hours one day, or if you can spend a whole week with Write Out, that’s perfect! We look forward to connecting with you.

Some More Thoughts on Notebooks/Journals

While going through a plethora of saved materials from my teaching career, I discovered an excellent article on maintaining a writer’s notebook/journal.  In this article Ralph Fletcher shared, “I always tell kids that the most important book I’ve written is one that will never be published: my writer’s notebook.”  In the same article Don Murray writes, “The writer’s notebook gives students a place to react to their world, to make that all-important personal connection. . . [it] provides a safe place – no grades, no one correcting their grammar.”  JoAnn Portalupi wrote, “One of the best ways to encourage writing and develop fluency is to invite students to write regularly.  Don’t forget to write with your students!”  These three authors helped to shape my writing instruction, and I continue to seek insights from authors that I admire.  

During this pandemic current authors have been offering online opportunities for us to gain some of their wisdom.  In the past month it has been my privilege to watch presentations from Tara Westover, author of Educated; a conversation between writers Leif Enger and Peter Geye where they shared origins of ideas and influences on their writing, and an exchange of experiences between Ann Patchett and Kate DiCamillo.  Just this past Saturday, our local Walker Art Center hosted a virtual reading of author Kao Kalia Yang's forthcoming picture book The Most Beautiful Thing.  During the Q&Q portion Kalia shared these strong reasons for writing: “Memories flavor my life; We become the dreams of our ancestors; I see into the world; I see into myself; Writing is a picture of you in time.”  

The experiences of these authors fuel my ideas for my own writing, and my journal is a fantastic storehouse.  Here I am able to reflect/react to the life around me without any judgment.  I hope you are encouraging your students to do the same!  Whether on paper or online, the journal/notebook is an invaluable archive.

 

Response to Introducing Students to the Writing Life

“Good journal writing is like fishing in the river of your mind.”

                    – Inside Out  (Kirby, Kirby, & Liner)

An integral component of my classes (writing and literature) was the journal. Early in my teaching career, I discovered it to be an excellent place for writers to develop fluency and to become more comfortable with writing.  It provided a place to respond to ideas shared not only in writing, but also in literature.  

Since the journal is primarily ungraded, it becomes an excellent resource for nurturing classroom environment.  Students find it provides the freedom to express their ideas and to have interaction with their instructor.  It becomes a place to sort out ideas, a place to ask questions.   Students should be informed that their writing will NOT be shared without permission.  However, it is also important for students to realize that the journal is NOT a diary, and that teachers have a responsibility to report concerns to the proper authorities. 

Kirby, Kirby and Liner suggest at least four different purposes for students keeping journals/notebooks.  

1. Writer’s notebook – a place for storing ideas and experiments
2. Class response notebook – a place for reacting to assignments and class activities
3. Dialogue notebook – an opportunity to have partners read and respond to ideas/writing
4. Project notebook – a documenting of work as it occurs on an extended assignment, such as a research paper

Before school began in fall, I would head to the school sales and purchase inexpensive notebooks for all of my classes.  Today, with students doing much of their writing on computers/chrome books, you can have them create online journals.

As Micki shared with students using the internet, storing/organizing the notebook/notebooks should be more efficient.  Now, students can create folders for the different purposes.  They can also decide how public to make their writing.

We'd really like to have you share how you are using journals in your instruction today.  I know that gaining ideas from my colleagues was invaluable as I began to use and to evaluate the effectiveness of them.