Now that you have had time to process the workshop from last week, what are your take away thoughts? What are two things you plan to use with your students?
I loved learning about the Revision Stations. I feel like this helps make revision more specific for the kids. The ideas she shared (word ninja, adding smells, adding sights, asking them to come up with 10 different titles before choosing the one they like, etc) for different revision stations seem awesome! I want to try this out this year. I also want to try out the 3 column chart she showed us where the kids list characters/things I find fascinating in the first column, different settings in the second column, and different themes in the third section. Letting them mess around and try different versions of parts of stories seems so cool.
I agree. There were so many practical ideas that she shared that I feel could be implemented. It is exciting to hear the teachers talking about things they are trying or want to try.
I learned so much from Kate Messner’s workshop. I have already begun incorporating some of her ideas and strategies into my lessons with the students I have in reading interventions. I modified some of her ideas so that they would fit into this type of setting. My second grade students had read a poem about a drinking fountain spraying water up a little boys nose. Then they wrote their own version of a water foundation story, each had about three sentences. Then I incorporated one of Kate’s ideas. We brainstormed a list of “smell” words and later “action/verb” words. Then the students incorporated these into their writing. Some of them used the words from our lists, while others came up with their own. They had so much fun! I found it fascinating how much they talked, laughed and shared together. They were verbally trying out different language structures and rearranging phrasing. Kate shared an idea of using colored post-it notes to help students give feedback to each other. I incorporated the idea of using color to help students organize their thinking. A couple of weeks ago, the students in my fourth grade group began writing historical fiction stories, which began as a free write. I noticed that their thoughts were not sequential. The students set their writing aside and filled out a beginning, middle and end graphic organizer. Then I had them take out their writing and underline the sentences in their story; green was for the beginning of the story, yellow for the middle and red for the end. This colorful visual help the students rearrange their sentences and it helped them to see that some parts of their story had more details then others. We laughed and would say, “Oh, you need more red.” The boys really enjoyed this and there was no grumbling because they were able to use colored pencils.
Wow, Carolyn, I am so impressed that you are not only thinking about how to implement Messner's ideas, but you are actually doing them! You go, Girl! I love hearing your success stories!
I love the revising stations idea. I agree with Morgan when she said that it makes revising clearer for the kids. If they are given a specific task, then they can feel more successful, rather than thinking to themselves, "My teacher says I have to revise, but I don't know how to do that!"
To make the stations activity more meaningful, I would like the students to come up with the different revising tasks. We could discuss options as a class and then pick the most valuable ones to follow through with.
The biggest "aha" I had for myself was when Messner asked us to write about our favorite place. It was so interesting to me how my writing improved and became more developed when I changed the genre I was writing in. My original prose was pretty blah, but when I wrote it as I poem, I felt liberated and the details just flew out of me! I think this is an awesome strategy to use with older students, but I am not sure that 2nd graders know enough about various genres to be successful with this tactic. What do you guys think?
As a result of Kate's workshop, I have a much broader and flexible idea of what revision in the classroom looks like. Prior to the workshop, revision in my first grade classroom was a very structured process and occurred only after the students were finished with their drafts. I now realize that revising can occur at any time during the writing cycle and does not have to look a specific way. My students are currently writing persuasive pieces and last week we looked at persuasive writing that is all around us in our daily lives, including commercials and advertisements. As one student was reading his unfinished piece about his favorite restaurant, he made the connection that it sounded like an advertisement we looked at earlier. I encouraged him to take what he had done so far and turn it into an advertisement trying to get people to go to this restaurant. His final product was amazing and much better than the original. I'm not sure we would have taken this unfinished piece and rewritten it in a different format prior to the workshop. Other ideas I would like to incorporate into my classroom include creating lists of "throw away words" and creating job tables for revision.
I loved learning about the Revision Stations. I feel like this helps make revision more specific for the kids. The ideas she shared (word ninja, adding smells, adding sights, asking them to come up with 10 different titles before choosing the one they like, etc) for different revision stations seem awesome! I want to try this out this year.
ReplyDeleteI also want to try out the 3 column chart she showed us where the kids list characters/things I find fascinating in the first column, different settings in the second column, and different themes in the third section. Letting them mess around and try different versions of parts of stories seems so cool.
I agree. There were so many practical ideas that she shared that I feel could be implemented. It is exciting to hear the teachers talking about things they are trying or want to try.
DeleteHello All,
ReplyDeleteI learned so much from Kate Messner’s workshop. I have already begun incorporating some of her ideas and strategies into my lessons with the students I have in reading interventions. I modified some of her ideas so that they would fit into this type of setting.
My second grade students had read a poem about a drinking fountain spraying water up a little boys nose. Then they wrote their own version of a water foundation story, each had about three sentences. Then I incorporated one of Kate’s ideas. We brainstormed a list of “smell” words and later “action/verb” words. Then the students incorporated these into their writing. Some of them used the words from our lists, while others came up with their own. They had so much fun! I found it fascinating how much they talked, laughed and shared together. They were verbally trying out different language structures and rearranging phrasing.
Kate shared an idea of using colored post-it notes to help students give feedback to each other. I incorporated the idea of using color to help students organize their thinking. A couple of weeks ago, the students in my fourth grade group began writing historical fiction stories, which began as a free write. I noticed that their thoughts were not sequential. The students set their writing aside and filled out a beginning, middle and end graphic organizer. Then I had them take out their writing and underline the sentences in their story; green was for the beginning of the story, yellow for the middle and red for the end. This colorful visual help the students rearrange their sentences and it helped them to see that some parts of their story had more details then others. We laughed and would say, “Oh, you need more red.” The boys really enjoyed this and there was no grumbling because they were able to use colored pencils.
Carolyn
Wow, Carolyn, I am so impressed that you are not only thinking about how to implement Messner's ideas, but you are actually doing them! You go, Girl! I love hearing your success stories!
DeleteI love the revising stations idea. I agree with Morgan when she said that it makes revising clearer for the kids. If they are given a specific task, then they can feel more successful, rather than thinking to themselves, "My teacher says I have to revise, but I don't know how to do that!"
ReplyDeleteTo make the stations activity more meaningful, I would like the students to come up with the different revising tasks. We could discuss options as a class and then pick the most valuable ones to follow through with.
The biggest "aha" I had for myself was when Messner asked us to write about our favorite place. It was so interesting to me how my writing improved and became more developed when I changed the genre I was writing in. My original prose was pretty blah, but when I wrote it as I poem, I felt liberated and the details just flew out of me! I think this is an awesome strategy to use with older students, but I am not sure that 2nd graders know enough about various genres to be successful with this tactic. What do you guys think?
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteAs a result of Kate's workshop, I have a much broader and flexible idea of what revision in the classroom looks like. Prior to the workshop, revision in my first grade classroom was a very structured process and occurred only after the students were finished with their drafts. I now realize that revising can occur at any time during the writing cycle and does not have to look a specific way. My students are currently writing persuasive pieces and last week we looked at persuasive writing that is all around us in our daily lives, including commercials and advertisements. As one student was reading his unfinished piece about his favorite restaurant, he made the connection that it sounded like an advertisement we looked at earlier. I encouraged him to take what he had done so far and turn it into an advertisement trying to get people to go to this restaurant. His final product was amazing and much better than the original. I'm not sure we would have taken this unfinished piece and rewritten it in a different format prior to the workshop. Other ideas I would like to incorporate into my classroom include creating lists of "throw away words" and creating job tables for revision.
ReplyDelete