I think revision is the stage of writing that many students (and teachers) dread.  I am often asked for suggestions to help students embrace the act of revision.  As I have become more comfortable with the writing process myself, I have found teaching revision strategies to my students to be the most enjoyable part.  It is so rewarding to see them delight in make intentional changes to their writing.  But how do we do that?

This was the topic of a seminar I recently led.  I shared some of my ideas and invited the teachers to share some of their own.  One teacher raised her hand and said she had a suggestion that was “kind of silly” but really effective with her primary students.  She said she tells them that their draft isn’t finish until it looks like a “hot mess”.  Just naming this for her students has changed their perception of the revision process.  Instead of dreading revising, they now look for opportunities to revise.  Such a simple thing but so powerful! 

Here are a few more simple tips to help students revel in the revision process:

• Create an anchor chart:

(from Sonya Wright-Shepherd’s Pinterest Page)

• Use spider legs: encourage students cut and tape pieces sticking out from their drafts to elaborate on their ideas with more details.
  

(from No More I’m Done: Fostering Independent Writers in the Primary Grades by Jennifer Jacobson)

• Perform surgery on a draft:  encourage students to cut their drafts apart (they need to write on only one side of the paper if they are going to do this) and tape their revisions in.
• Use insertion points: teach students that they can elaborate on ideas in the middle of a draft by using a symbol such as a star and then using that same symbol on a clean area of the paper to mark where the inserted writing starts.  Celebrate students who use lots of insertion points!
• Create a “process” bulletin board: spotlight examples of student writing at various stages to celebrate students who revel in “not being done.”
   
• Share the writing process of professional authors.  Here are some great picture books you can use:

Arthur Writes a Story by Marc Brown
Aunt Isabelle Tells a Good One by Kate Duke
Author: A True Story by Helen Lester
Chester by Melanie Watt
From Idea to Book by Pam Marchall
From Pictures to Words by Janet Stevens
How to Write Your Life Story by Ralph Fletcher
If You Were a Writer by Joan Lowry Nixon
Look at My Book by Loreen Leedy
Nothing Happens on 90th Street by Roni Schotter
Show, Don’t Tell: Secrets of Writing by Josephine Nobisso
The Day Eddie Met the Author by Louise Borden
The MEET THE AUTHOR SERIES published by Richard C. Owens Publishers. This series gives you a close-up look at many authors you will recognize.
What Do Authors Do? by Eileen Christelow
You Can Write a Story by Lisa Bullard
You Have to Write by Janet Wong

 

I hope these ideas will help your students start making some “hot messes”!

January is a huge professional development month for me this year. I am either leading or attending some type of training almost every day this month. All of December was spent preparing for this month. Hence, the reason I have not blogged…once again. Someday I will get this into my routine!

Because I am on the giving or receiving end of lots of PD this month, that means I have many opprtunities to learn new teaching strategies and gain fresh perspectives. You would think this learning and new insight would come from the meetings I attend; however, I must say that I learn just as much when I am presenting/facilitating–from the teachers I am with.

Today I led some writing PD in a school district west of St. Louis. We spent some time examining a student writing sample and looking for evidence of the qualities of good writing. We had a discussion about the role these qualities/traits and the writing process and writing workshop play in a writing program. We also asked ourselves what implication this has for our work with our students.

During this part of the discussion, one teacher shared a new perspective for me. I wanted to make a bigger deal of this, but since I had never met this teacher, I didn’t want to put her on the spot or embarrass her. But I still want to celebrate her attitude and perspective–even though she has no idea I am blogging about her.

This teacher teaches music to 4th- and 5th-graders. Yes, she is a music teacher, and she was talking about writing. She said (and I am paraphrasing here) that examining the qualities of good writing can be transferred to the qualities of music. Just like good writing has characteristics such as voice and sentence fluency, music also has voice and phrasing. We realized, through her observation, that we can all help reinforce the qualities of good writing–even if we are not directly responsible for the teaching of writing in our schools.

I loved her analogy, but even more, I loved her attitude. She could have chosen not to actively participate in today’s PD because “it didn’t really apply to her”, but instead she chose to find a way that it does apply to her situation and to find ways to support the teaching of writing–even as a music teacher! So today I celebrate her and all teachers who seek ways to help students make connections across curricular areas.

I recently had a conversation with a group of teachers about whether allowing students to select their own writing topics really matters.  In the words of Lucy Calkins, “Choice matters.  Not a little, but a lot.”  In this case, she was talking about self-selected reading, but I think it applies to writing as well.  Since this question seems to surface often in my professional development work, I thought it was worth exploring a bit in a few blogposts.

For today, I would like to address just three key reasons why I believe choice in student writing does matter.

Engagement

When students find their work meaningful, they are more engaged, motivated learners.  “Intrinsic motivation arises from a desire to learn a topic due to its inherent interests, for self-fulfillment, enjoyment and to achieve a mastery of the subject.”(Karin Kirk)  Try doing a Google search with the phrase “student choice and motivation” and you will find a wealth of research that points to choice as a key motivational factor.  You will also find that motivation is linked to achievement.  When students write about topics they care about, they are more engaged and they simply write more and write better.

Agency

In order to empower our students, we must help them develop a sense of personal agency—the knowledge that they are competent and in control of their own learning. In his book Choice Words Peter Johnston writes that “this desire for agency persists throughout life and is so powerful that when people feel there is no relationship between what they do and what happens, they become depressed and helpless.  Having a sense of agency, then, is fundamental.”  He goes on to say that “children who doubt their competence set low goals and choose easy tasks, and they plan poorly.  In the long run they disengage, decrease effort, generate fewer ideas, and become passive and discouraged.”  I don’t know about you, but that is NOT how I want children leaving my classroom!  “Encouraging students to use their words to change the world is the aspiration of the writing workshop.  When students are given choices in their learning, they will feel in control and motivated.  They will question, reason, and analyze important ideas.  Most important, they will rise up and change the world for the better.” from Day by Day: Refining Writing Workshop Through 180 Days of Reflective Practice  by Ayres and Shubitz

Independence

I’m wondering how students will become independent thinkers and writers in our classrooms if we always choose their writing topics for them.  “Many teachers fear that giving students more choice will lead to their losing control over classroom management. Research tells us that in fact the opposite happens. When students understand their role as agent (the one in charge) over their feeling, thinking, and learning behaviors, they are more likely to take responsibility for their learning. To be autonomous learners, however, students need to have some choice and control. And teachers need to learn how to help students develop the ability to make appropriate choices and take control over their own learning.” American Psychological Association

I could go on with even more reasons for providing choice of writing topics for our students, but I will stop there.  I know that these reasons still leave some unanswered questions like, “What about students who don’t choose to write about anything?” and “What about teaching students to write to a prompt for a writing assessment?”  In the next few days I am going to address these and some other concerns regarding student choice in writing, so stay tuned…

If you haven’t read my last two blog posts (Same Story–Two Angles and Angle 1:  Enjoying the Ride) you might want to do so before reading today’s entry—it will make more sense that way!

Here is another narrative about my recent trip to New Jersey.  Even though it is about the same experience as yesterday’s narrative, it didn’t make sense to include this in that piece.  Today I write about the same experience from a new angle.  I encourage you to model this for your students and ask them to linger with a topic longer instead of always moving on to brand-new topics.

                                What Navigation System Do You Use?

I recently got a great deal on a new phone.  I hate to admit it, but it’s one of those phones that has an app for practically everything but doing my laundry.  Because of all the traveling I do, I feel at least partially justified in indulging in a phone with built in e-mail, web access, mobile hot spot, and navigation system.  But it’s also just plain fun!  Well, I recently traveled to New Jersey to present a writing in-service.  After the seminar I had a bit of a drive to the airport, so I decided this would be the perfect time to try out my new Navigator App.  I plugged in my destination (actually, I just spoke into the phone and it found the destination).  It said it would take about 1 1/2 hours to get there.  Great, I thought.  Since it was only 12:30 pm and my flight didn’t depart until 4:25 pm, I would have some extra time to get some work done at the airport.

I started on my way, listening carefully for my navigator friend’s voice (she actually has a pleasant-sounding voice—what a bonus!).  I probably should have also consulted a map, but I was so excited to use my new toy that I just followed her lead.  Well, what should have taken 1 1/2 hours actually took over 2 1/2.  No, she didn’t get me lost—she just didn’t take the best route.  It’s not entirely her fault—I did get stuck behind a line-painting truck for awhile, and I took a couple of short sightseeing detours to enjoy the gorgeous fall colors. 

 But still…over 2 1/2 hours?!  Partway into the trip, the little voice in my head starting telling me this might not be the best route, but I still followed her.  Since I had a lot of time in the car, I also had a lot of time to think.  And as often happens just after presenting a seminar, my thoughts turned toward teaching.  What I began to think about was this:  I often have teachers ask me, “What is one professional book you would recommend for teaching _________?”  I know the question that is often behind that question is “Can you just recommend one resource that will tell me exactly how/when/what to teach?”  That is an impossible question for me to answer.  Want to see what resources I use to teach reading and writing?  Here’s a peek at my bookshelves:

 See why I can’t pick just one?

My question for you is, what do you use to navigate your way through the teaching process?  Are you relying on one source to do it all for you?  If so, I encourage you to exercise some caution.  There is no one source that is a one-size-fits-all.  We need to use common sense and good judgment.  If your instinct tells you something doesn’t feel quite right, that what the manual tells you to do doesn’t seem best for kids, STOP!  Reassess.  Look back at your standards or curriculum map.  Ask “Why am I doing this?  What is my purpose?”  Maybe it’s time to consult a new source instead of listening to this one voice that is steering you in possibly not the best direction. 

My phone does have apps for doing things I never dreamed a phone could do.  On my trip I was able to use it to take the pictures for these blog entries, check for the cheapest gas on the way to the airport, consult the weather forecast so I could dress appropriately, check my e-mail, listen to an audio book on the airplane, and even call home a few times.  My phone can do a lot of things for me, BUT…it can’t think for me and it doesn’t have common sense.  I learned that I can’t rely on it alone to get me most effectively to my destination.

In yesterday’s blog post I shared some thoughts about encouraging our students to spend more time with their writing topics by writing about the same topic in multiple ways. I challenged you to model this for your students.  I also promised that I would help you get started by demonstrating this for you.  Below you can read a narrative about one of my recent experiences.  Tomorrow I’ll share another angle.

                                          Slowing Down, Enjoying the Ride

I had just finished presenting an in-service on the traits of writing at a school in Ogdensburg, NJ.  It was 12:30 pm and my flight didn’t leave until 4:25 pm, so I had plenty of time to make the 1 1/2 hour drive to the airport in Allentown, PA.  Or so I thought.  Not far into my trip, traffic came to a crawl and then a dead stop.  Several cars in front of me turned off the road, allowing me a good view of the culprit:

a line painting truck (technical term)

Every so often the truck would pull off the side of the road—to let the traffic pass, I thought.  But no traffic was allowed through.  ???  Great, I thought.  I was planning on getting to the airport early and using that time to get some work done.  This slow-down was eating into my work time.  But as we crawled along at 5 mph, I began to look around and notice the vibrant fall colors and the beautiful New Jersey countryside. 

Prior to this trip the only areas of New Jersey I had seen were the urban parts of Cherry Hill, Newark, and New Brunswick.  I didn’t even know New Jersey had landscapes like this.  After the traffic finally picked up, I found myself wanting to linger a little longer just to enjoy the gorgeous colors and rural landscapes.  I even took a couple of purposeful detours down some side roads and got out to take some photos.  (After all, I did have a few hours to kill).

As I drove and enjoyed the view, I thought about our lives as teachers.  By now you are well into the school year and moving at a pretty fast clip, I suspect.  Depending on where you teach, you may be doing progress reports, completing report cards, or preparing for parent-teacher conferences.  Life is moving quickly.  Are you enjoying the ride?  How about the view?  When is the last time you slowed down to take a breath—either in the classroom or out?  If you haven’t done so lately, go outside and take a long walk or read a book just for fun.  Do something you enjoy.  I promise, you will be a better teacher for it.

On Monday I presented a writing in-service to some teachers in Ogdensgurg, NJ.

Ogdensburg School Library

After the in-service I had a long drive back to the airport in Allentown, PA which meant lots of time to think.  As I was driving, I had some thoughts and experiences that I wanted to record in writing.  I decided to use my drive time to organize my writing thoughts.  I quickly encountered a dilemma, however.  At first my thoughts took me in one direction and then seemed to take a sharp turn in another direction.  I couldn’t write about both ideas in one piece.  That led me into an even different line of thinking which is this:

How often do our students tell us that they’re finished writing or can’t think of anything to write about?  In a way, who can blame them?  After all, if they are writing every day, that’s a lot of writing topics they need.  I think we need to teach our students that just because they have written about a topic once doesn’t mean they can’t revisit that same topic in the future to write more or to write from a different angle.  Last March I had the opportunity to hear Patricia Polacco speak.  One thing she said that really resonated with me is that she actually only has one writing topic—family stories.  She said we need to teach our students to stick with topics longer, that just because they have written about their dog doesn’t mean they can’t write multiple dog stories.

So as I continued my drive I began to think about writing on the same topic from two different angles.  If you come back tomorrow, you can read angle one.  In the meantime, would you consider encouraging your students to think about multiple ways to write about the same topic?  Maybe have them write from different points of view or have them look at the same experience through two different lenses.  Of course, if you really want them to do this well, you’re going to want to model this for them yourself.  I’ll model this for you in my next posts, and then hopefully you’ll be ready to try it!

What are writing partners?

Writing partners are students who are paired together for an extended period of time to explore various aspects of writing.  Students learn to share their writing with a partner so they can be part of a community of learners.

Why use them?

By having students talk to partners during the engagement portion of the mini-lesson, I can get more students involved.  When I ask a question, I will often say, “Turn and talk to your partner about…”  Each partner has time to share.  This prevents the phenomenon of a few students doing all of the talking and others sitting back and letting them.  My students know that they are all expected to think and share during the mini-lessons.  Establish writing partnerships help the writing workshop run more smoothly—when students know exactly who to turn and talk to, there is much less time off task and this ensures that every child has a partner. 

Selecting Writing Partners

I ask my students to write their names on a slip of paper and list the names of four students  with whom they might like to work.   Then I lay all of the slips out and try as hard as possible to match students with someone on the list.  I tell them that it may not be possible to match everyone,and if they do not get someone from their list this time, I guarantee that they will the next time.  I also try to match students of  fairly similar ability.

How long do they stay together?

This is up to your professional judgment.  I usually change the partnerships at the beginning of each new grading period.  I know teachers who keep the same partnerships for the entire school year.  Certainly if a partnership is not working, it is time to make the change.

Mentor Texts to Introduce Writing Partnerships

Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa series by Erica Silverman
Frog and Toad Series by Arnold Lobel
Henry and Mudge Series by Cynthia Rylant

Introducing Writing Partners

I found this lesson for introducing writing partners to primary students  at this website by Jessica Meacham:  Writing Partners.  Check out her website for an entire unit on launching the writing workshop.

1. Read a chapter from Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa: Partners by Erica Silverman.
2. After reading the book, facilitate a discussion about how Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa helped one another.
3. Lead students to the understanding that partnerships are beneficial – we need partnerships.
4. Throughout the week, continue reading from the book Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa: Partners.
5. Ask students how having a writing partner can be helpful to them.
6. Discuss good ways of helping and improper ways of helping.
7. Share with students that during Writer’s Workshop, they will be sitting next to a writing buddy (partner).
8. Share that writing buddies help one another in good ways.
9. Share that if help is needed, students should ask their writing buddy for help.
10. Ask, “What are some ways we need help during Writer’s Workshop?” (crayon color, spelling, pencil, mini office)
11. Ask, “If your writing buddy doesn’t know how to help you, or can’t, what could you do next?”

Mentor Texts

What Are Mentor Texts?

Why Use Mentor Texts?

Teachers as Writing Mentors

Vygotsky’s Zones of Development

Optimal Learning Model

Selecting Mentor Texts

Importance of Read Aloud

Reading Like a Writer

Mentor Text Mini-Lessons

How Do Writers Work?

Write About What You Know

Mapping for Ideas

Name Dropping

Using Literature to Spark Ideas

Memories

Sharpening the Focus

Asking Questions

Planning Sheets

Show, Don’t Tell

Paint a Picture

Using Color

Be Specific

Fancy Words

Walk Around in the Author’s Syntax

Attention-Grabbing Leads

Satisfying Endings

Glue Words

Seesaw Pattern

Apostrophe Detectives

Narrative vs. Expository

Expository Text Features Booklet

Writer’s notebooks are filled with seed ideas, drafts, and experimentation, not published pieces of writing.  My students do not edit and revise the pieces in their notebooks unless it is part of a mini-lesson or conference .   That said, as I read through  their notebooks I often find gems that beg to be shared with a wider audience  than our classroom.  With the students’ permission, I type several notebook entries (correcting conventions when necessary) onto the back of our class newsletter each week.  We call it “Classroom Originals”.  My students love to see their work published in the newsletter, and I find that it motivates them to put forth more effort in their notebooks.

If a mini-lesson has been taught and a child is still not using the skill or strategy correctly, it is time for a one-on-one conference.  I have found it effective to use my students’ writer’s notebooks for conventions and craft conferences.  The pieces written in their notebooks are not taken through the entire writing process; that is, they are not edited and revised for publication.  Instead, I use the notebooks as a diagnostic and teaching tool for language conventions  and writer’s craft.  When I collect notebooks, I make anecdotal notes on the student’s evaluation form in my assessment notebook.  In the second column I record skills the child demonstrates s/he is consistently using correctly.  In the third column I record skills that I need to teach or re-teach.  When I meet with that child for an individual conference, I select  1-2 teaching points from that third column and work with the student on just those skills.  I then ask the student to proofread a page in his /her  notebook, looking for and correcting only the targeted skill/s.  If there are other serious errors on the page, those will become the focus of a future conference.