Regie Routman Part 3

This morning our session with Regie was mainly focused on word work, celebrating and conferencing with students as writers.

Regie stressed the importance of helping students to move from the "we do it" stage to the independent "I do it."

To become independent the students need tools and strategies for reading and writing, apart from asking the teacher for help.

Regie started the classroom session with shared reading of the text that the students had written together yesterday. They read it several times, even inviting a student to point to each of the words as the class read.

Next, Regie highlighted the word /we/ and had a child identify where to find the word in their classroom (on the word wall). She had other children come up to the piece of writing and circle the word every time it had been used. Then the children practiced writing /we/ on whiteboards. After a week of practicing, this word or words will become the words they are expected to know and spell correctly.

"If you do this word work everyday you are going to have an increase of reading and writing."

Then came the celebrations. This was my favourite part of the morning! Regie chose three students to come up to the front of the room so that she could celebrate their writing from the previous day. She stressed that as teachers, we should celebrate the content of their writing and not focus on the mechanics. All of the children went back to their seats beaming with pride.

"I want them to walk away and say "Wow, I'm a writer!""

Regie asked each of the students a lot of questions about their topic and helped them to determine the next step in their writing.

"I want to be sure that the writer has the will and the energy to continue writing when I leave."

This afternoon my colleague Deidre Sagert and I decided to try to put Regie's lessons into practice... 

Here's what we did:

Step 1. Read "Stand Tall Molly Lou Melon"
-an example of someone being special

Step 2.  Read "We Are Special" class book from yesterday
-the students insisted on reading their own page

Step 3. "I do it" Deidre modeled writing her own book about why she is special.

Step 4. "We do it" scaffolded conversation with student about why he is special.
-He told us he was good at jumping, it was a bit of a challenge to get enough out of him to make a book but we got where we wanted to go.

Step 5. "You do it" we showed the students the writing books they could choose from. Before they chose a book each child did a micro conference with Deidre or I about what their topic and title would be.

Mrs. Lowe's Reflection:
I have to tell you that what Regie made look so easy was in fact exhausting and somewhat painful! Writing with kindergarten students is hard work, especially when you are pushing them to do the work themselves. I know that it will get easier in time. I need to continue to give my students the skills they need to be independent. If I truly value writing, which I do, I need to invest the time and effort in writing. In the end, almost every student wrote more than I expected them to write. I can't wait to celebrate their work tomorrow.

Deidre's Reflection:

I had am amazing afternoon with Connie and the kindergarten students of Room 8.   Through co-teaching, we put into practice what we had seen in the Regie Routman residency. First I want to say how proud I am of Connie...her risk-taking and vulnerability to try something new with me was professionalism at its finest!   It truly was hard work, but I am so proud that we stuck it out and persevered.  Regie makes it looks so natural, but let me tell you, when I was doing the "I do it" modeled writing (and trying to model my thinking, provide a good model, etc. etc. etc.) my brain was in overdrive!  With much sweat and tears, we carried on... We set the bar high, provided the scaffolding, and guess what?  Those amazing kids rose to the challenge!  I will admit that there was a lot of support needed for some, and it wasn't easy...but it is about the gradual release of responsibility, and I know Connie will continue to slowly hand it over as they become more and more capable.

During our two and a half hours debrief after school, we poured over the writing and planned for next steps: who to celebrate tomorrow, what our focus of the celebrations will be, moving back to shared writing to move forward to word work, etc.   It was one of the best, most meaningful professional discussions I have had in a while.  While my eyes are weary, my heart is happy.  Can't wait to see what tomorrow will bring!

Tomorrow we will attempt to complete and publish our books. Stay tuned!