Okay - it ahs taken me a while but I am back! I had out of town guests and school stuff to do and did get a bit sidetracked, but not really. You see, I have been working on writing circles and workshops for almost 2 weeks in my classroom. The time has been spent wisely and even my mistakes feel successful.
First, I had the students do a poetry assignment with the writing circles. I used examples in a different way and tried to be role specific. I was also able to put some student work on the overhead and comment out loud so the class could see what was going on in my head. This is not the first time I have done this, but I did change it around a bit and students seemed to respond well. Especially when I was able to use their work (this is not always easy to do).
The second time I did this I was concentrating on word choice and voice. I used examples and had students grade them. I used a children's book for the prompt. But first and foremost, I started to ask them questions. This was my mistake. I realized I should have done this before the poetry asignment, but now I like having the comparison of the two assignments and see how the responses go. When I asked questions I started with basic questions about writing (do you like to write, do you prefer fiction or nonfiction, do you consider yourself to be creative, do you like to share your work). WE did this using the 4 corners game. I recorded the responses too. Then I asked them in a conversational way what they liked about workshops and what they did not like. The responses were really interesting.
So they have just completed their writing circles after all of this research and I have taken their suggestions and responses into consideration and have implemented some too.
My final question will be "how should this be graded?"
Oh yeah - I had them pick the roles in the circles too!
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7 comments:
Sounds like an exciting interaction with the kids. I have a couple questions however. Since I teach art I'm not totally familiar with writing circles and the 4 corners game (perhaps this isn't content specific and I have just not ever done this). There are some places where I do have questions though.
First, how did students "grade" the examples, and here I'm assuming it was student examples. What children's book did you use and how was it used as a prompt? You state after this that you started to ask them questions but it was a mistake and you should have done this before the assignment - what do you mean you mean by this?
Finally you ask about how to grade this - again, not sure what your question is. Are you not sure how to grade their poetry or their participation in the writing circle, or their participation in the discussion?
Okay, I'm sure I've asked way too many questions - but it was hard for me to get a handle on what the activity looked like or what kind of feedback you are seeking. But it does sound as though you're collecting a wealth of information to use with your research, which is great.
I want to hear more about this!.
If you are wondering how to grade the student's participation, I learned a great trick from my sixth-grade teacher that I use all the time. I just keep a clip board and record points (usually 1-3 depending on the quality) for each contribution. That way students can get some points for their contributions.
There's a number of different ways to convert these points to a grade, the way I do it in high school is I tally all the points and then set the total points so that the average is around 75-80%. Some kids score really low, so I make it worth a relatively small amount, but it opens the door for kids to earn some extra points from discussion also.
Sorry if this has nothing to do with your question, but I really have found that it is a useful method and it really encourages participation.
I also use it when I give an in-class writing assignment, that way I can get a sense of what kids wrote without having to collect and read every single one. ("If you're reading everything your students write in your class, your students aren't writing enough."--sorry I don't remember where I read/heard this).
Welcome Back! :) I'm glad to hear you've involved the kids in the research. As I posted on the Mother Blog, at first asking the kids to be involved seemed like cheater research or something, but it turns out they have some really good ideas. I knew that all along, but it somehow felt like I was going to get caught doing something wrong.
Renee, we just finished up the book study over Strategic Writing. You must read the last chapter; it's all about revision. I found it to be really beneficial to what I'm focusing on for AI. I've requested several of the texts she [Deborah Dean] mentioned. The rest of the book was --eheh. :)Just wanted to pass that along!
smb - Thanks for the tip about the last chapter. I will read it!
When I do discussions in which participation is important I use the 2 cents discussion. (I'm sure you're familiar with this, but I'll elaborate anyway.) Students are given two laminated paper pennies. Names are written with a Vis-a-vis. As the discussion proceeds students are encouraged to put in their "two cents worth." So many points are awarded for each penny turned in. This also helps moderate discussions where one or two students tend to monopolize the conversation - because once they've given their two cents worth they can't give any additional opinions until everyone else has had the chance to put in their two cents worth.
I like that idea Natalie, I do the same thing with my clip board--I always tell the kids that I'll call on those who haven't had the chance to contribute at all before I call on those who have, even if the big talkers had their hand up "first." Today I had one student who I think probably lost circulation to his hand holding it up for like thirty minutes, but the discussion was rolling and he'd already put in his "two cents worth."
Still, it's nice to fall back on those talkative kids when there's a lull--particularly those who have a tendency to say things that get the other kids riled up.
Natalie - I never have heard of the 'two cents' technique. It sounds like a great way to keep track. Thanks for the tip!
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