Response 6: Writing and Technology Motivate Learners

Response 6: Writing and Technology Motivate Learners

Module 7: Teaching Writing, Part One

This module was very inviting! The writing videos were very practical and show many of the possibilities for emerging writing. These would be perfect at a staff meeting to show exemplary teaching for  all members of the school. Student teacher advisor, faculty associates and programs would find these videos very clear examples of good teaching. I like to think of teaching writing as "putting the pieces together". They all fit together somehow!

In the videos I was very impressed with the level of detail, rich vocabulary and quality teaching/instructional strategies used.  However, I have been teaching in inner-city areas of South Burnaby for 10 years and the videos felt  somewhat staged. In one video I noticed the children were wearing uniforms which led me to believe it might be a private school. The socioeconomic and cultural dynamics of some neighborhoods make it very difficult to teach “carpet” lessons with everyone on task and applying the learned language.  Technology is not as seamless as some of the videos imply. Although they are good examples, I did not think they were prefaced accordingly. Some information about each teacher, location, neighbourhood statistics would have helped me put the videos in context. I have been to one school called Blakeburn Elementary in Coquitlam which is known for being a social responsibility school. I have seen students learn the language much like they learn the alphabet so I know it can be done, I am just a bit skeptical that this is the norm in "exemplary" teaching. 

In the shared writing video clip the teacher and students were using and engaging with a smart board. How neat for students to be in a technology rich environment and learning to write at the same time. Adjectives and nouns are still teachable concepts but somehow seem more fun when using a yellow smart board pen to circle them. The teacher had the computer at the front and kept breaking up her lesson with  “talk with your shoulder partner” while asking students to support their inferences with her scribing.  She was appealing to the visual learners by using colors to differentiate the answers from the questions. Although it was heavily teacher directed I still thought she provided room for individual and group discussion.

During the writing conference video the students really knew the language to give feedback to each other and that is very challenging! This teacher must have front loaded and completed this activity (or similar ones) many times for students to be able to use it with out rehearsing. I saw evidence of metacognition and that is truly amazing with this age group. 

Using powerful words in writing is a concept I struggle with every year. To see the teacher asking the students to use the words written on the chart paper in their writing made me feel tired and glassy eyed. 

However, as I kept watching the video I saw her use of sticky notes emerge, and I could see that the students loved using them. I noticed the word "schema" was used repeatedly; I call it making personal connections or activating background knowledge. Encouraging synonyms and adjective usage was highlighted in this video.  

Writing conference with teacher was a follow up video and watching the student and teacher “conference” about the writing was powerful and motivating. The students use of sticky notes covering powerful words is a great idea because they become a focal point for the conference. As a teacher librarian I am using reading strategies to promote comprehension and reading for enjoyment. I also noticed her strategies for sharing powerful words, students keeping tally of how many “powerful” words are being used.

The word sorts video was fun to watch. Students were given little baggies with words to categorize and students can make their own rules, sometimes kids sort with word parts some sort by letters etc. Although the teacher prompts children to sort the words based on the semantics students had the flexibility and freedom to find their own way. Children are like little satellites, they intake and access information from so many sources. Choosing sorting methods requires "multi tasking". 

Creating this blog to post my responses as part of my final project has really stretched me to create more visual, engaging responses that cause the reader to stop and think or process my analogies. 

Visualizing was another vignette I enjoyed viewing, Grade 1 students were using pictures to make inferences and self-connections, which is one of the most critical literacy strategies. As many other articles in previous modules have repeated, literacy must be multimodal and visual to support our learners.

Lastly, I viewed fostering independent learning and I could see that students knew the routine, knew what to expect, and the teachers kept her lessons short and focused. She provided flexibility for children to represent their learning (comic, letter, story, brainstorm) and this is a practical strategy which promotes empowerment and autonomy in the classroom. 

References

Curriculum Services Canada. (2011). Snapshots of effective practice. Primary literacy clips. Retrieved October 7, 2011 from: http://resources.curriculum.org/secretariat/snapshots/primaryliteracy.html