As mentioned in my previous entry, last year I taught kindergarten and first grade virtually. I recognize that teaching writing at the primary level is challenging in person, yet I had no idea how difficult it would be to teach over Google Meet. Nevertheless, I did my best and focused mini-lessons on ideas, organization, and conventions. Honestly, I was ecstatic if students wrote a sentence (sometimes even an unrelated sentence) with punctuation! Unfortunately, students simply were not writing enough. Writing fluency was an area of need on top of the specific genre pieces students were expected to write.
Gloria Gaynor's song "I Will Survive" played in my head as I taught writing virtually. Fortunately, we survived. However, when reflecting on my teaching of writing during an in-person enrichment program with primary students, I found that I still focused on the same traits of writing. I failed to think about voice, word choice, and sentence fluency. When I (hopefully) teach at the primary level (K-2) in the future, I plan to take more time to focus on these neglected writing traits.
In the future, I will incorporate writing into our daily routine - perhaps journal writing - so students develop writing fluency. Tompkins (2012) also noted that lots of writing allows opportunities for students to develop their voice in their writing (p. 72). Because these are K-2 students, the journal writing may include drawing or a mix of drawing and writing. I would also like to study mentor texts and find "strong verbs" as Rickards and Hawes (2006) described in a word choice mini-lesson (p. 370). In other word choice mini-lessons, I would invite students to answer questions as we read mentor texts such as, "What words or phrases grab your attention? What words or phrases tug at your heart?" to draw students' attention to the ways in which authors use words to engage readers (Rickards & Hawes, 2006, p. 371). To help students develop sentence fluency, I would LOVE to involve them in sentence unscrambling activities as well as sentence imitation activities (Tompkins, 2012, pp. 73-74). At the primary level, these would involve simpler sentences, but it is still a fun way for students to write like their favorite authors.
During virtual teaching, I tried to use mentor texts when introducing different genres of writing, but I was never entirely confident in my ability to do this well. Within these first four weeks of LTED 618, I am already feeling more confident and I am actually excited to use them in the future! Before each genre unit, I would like to immerse students in the genre by reading different mentor texts, just for enjoyment first. Then, after reading a text for pleasure, we would dissect the author's craft (MacKay, Ricks, & Young, 2017, p. 177). I appreciate that dissecting mentor texts allows students to "read with writers' eyes" so they can use similar elements in their own writing (p. 178). I also have a greater appreciation for the support that mentor texts provide for students who are English Language Learners (Tompkins, 2012, p. 80). Tompkins (2012) provides strategies for supporting ELL students, but I am left wondering what this may look like in practice. I should research some videos of exemplary teachers using mentor texts with ELL students and use the resources as mentor texts to develop my craft of teaching!
REMINDER TO FUTURE ME: Be mindful of representation in the mentor texts you choose, both representation of cultures, individuals, and thought. Include multiple perspectives, and allow students to be involved in choosing the mentor texts (Muhammad, 2020, p. 139). Make Dr. Ghouldy Muhammad proud!
References
MacKay, K.L., Ricks, P.H., & Young, T.A. (2017). Supporting young writers with award-winning books. The Reading Teacher, 71(2), 177-187.
Muhammad, G. (2020). Cultivating genius: An equity framework for culturally and historically responsive literacy. Scholastic.
Rickards, D. & Hawes, S. (2006). Connecting reading and writing through author's craft. The Reading Teacher, 60(4), 370-373.
HA! This is when I wish I an emojis I could include in these comments. If I could I would cheer. This is really such a powerful post Maddie. You do a great job of reflecting on key elements from all the authors this week. Love the REMINDER.
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