Regie Routman Part 4

I promise this the the last post from Mrs. Lowe for a while. I'm sure you're missing reading about the happenings in Room 8.

Thursday was our last morning with Regie. She spent a lot of time answering questions and reviewing what she had taught earlier in the week.

One question that came up was regarding handwriting/printing. Teachers were curious if and how this should be taught in a play-based setting. Regie made it clear that she believes this is a huge issue in schools. She believes that, students are not taught how to form their letters correctly and they are not required to print/handwrite neatly. This causes huge issues later in school and life as it slows students down and makes their writing difficult to read.

Again, she emphasized the importance of giving our students the skills to become independent. They need tools and strategies to access so that they are not relying on the teacher to be able to read and write. 

"What am I doing today to help my students become independent readers and writers?"

I believe this is an area of my teaching where I can improve. I think I have been too easy on my students.  I have not set the bar high enough and I've made it too easy for them to rely on me to sound out their words, write for them and let them copy or tell them where they can find the words in the classroom.

These are things my students should be doing for themselves and I need to put the responsibility back on them.

Source

On Thursday afternoon Deidre came back and we continued on with our writing from the previous day.

Step 1. Re-read the shared writing piece from the day before. We practiced it as a class and had students come up and point to each of the words.

Step 2. Begin word work. We pointed out the words /we/ and /play/. We had students come up and circle these words in our writing, sound them out, spell them orally, and add them to our word wall.

Step 3. Word work on whiteboards. We gave each student a whiteboard, covered up the words and had them test themselves to see if they remembered how to spell /we/ and /play/. After they all showed their writing, we uncovered the words and had them check to see how they did. Most students were very happy to see that they were able to spell both words correctly.

Deidre and I then held public conferences with three students. We had them read their writing to the class and we celebrated all of the good things they had done. Again, the students were beaming with pride. The goal is that these students will be proud of what they've done so far and ready to continue on. We also hope that other students can learn from these conferences and inspired to incorporate what they learn into their own writing.

Finally, we sent the class to finish their stories so that they could be published. Many students who Deidre and I thought were finished asked to write more. In fact, almost all students wrote more than they had the day before. Many students went to the word wall or included the words from the word work in their writing. In only 2 sessions, Deidre and I were already noticing the students becoming more independent.

Because we really wanted the students to feel the pride of having their work published we may have rushed the writing process on this project. However, we both felt that it was important to maintain a sense of urgency and completion so that students would be excited and inspired to begin a new piece of writing. We wanted to avoid anyone getting frustrated or bored. As the students become more independent in this process the writing will go faster and I will again be able to raise my expectations.

In the end, the students each created their own published book. They will be sharing them with each other on Monday. They are really looking forward to adding illustrations and sharing them with their reading buddies and families in the next few weeks.

Deidre's Reflection:

It was a privilege to be back in Room 8 today.  Again, it was an amazing afternoon.  As we continued the Optimal Learning Model, and gradually released responsibility to the kids in their writing, they blew us away.  I actually got chills as the children read their writing during our celebration conferences.  The proud looks on their precious faces made it all worth it.

I really want to thank Deidre for her willingness to take the time to work with us and stretch her own understanding of the writing process. The professional conversations and learning we had together this week were among the best I've experienced.  I feel very lucky to work in a division with such great people and opportunities for professional development.

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!

Regie Routman Part 2

Today was a great day of learning! 

Please go easy on me here as my purpose for blogging is to share what I've been learning but also to help me reflect on everything I saw and heard and to process my learning.

Before we began our observations, Regie spoke to all of the teachers and principals who would be watching her lesson. As she addressed the group, a number of points resonated with me. 

I want teachers to have an “I can do it” spirit.

Editing doesn’t matter if you don’t have a piece of writing that worth reading.

Kindergarten students who write become better readers. 

If you value writing, it will be the one thing you never leave out.

After our brief meeting we moved into the classroom to watch Regie work side by side with the fabulous kindergarten teacher, Melissa Kirkland. 

Regie began by introducing herself to the students. She showed them photos of her family and some of her favourite places to go. I loved hearing her speak to the students with such passion. The students were completely engaged!

The goal for the session was for students to begin writing their own books about why they are special. In the hour long session, Regie spent more than 45 minutes preparing the students to begin their writing. She makes it clear that you cannot just assign students a topic and send them off to write independently. 

The process she uses is called the Optimal Learning Model (I do it, We do it, You do it)

For the "I Do It" portion, Regie wrote a couple of sentences about something that makes her special (making jam). She asked the students for suggestions about how she could write it so that people would be interested in reading her story.*

For the "We Do It" part, Regie asked for a volunteer to come and write their story with her. A brave little fellow stood up to write his story about being really great a Wii baseball. Regie helped him to choose a title, begin his writing and stretch out words to record the sounds he knew. 

Along the way Regie worked with a sense of urgency and moved at a fast pace. She noted the words that the students should know how to spell correctly and could use for word work later in the week.

I wondered...

While Regie was working with the students she recorded their words exactly as the students spelled them. For example We ar spl for We are special. I wondered if she would leave he spelling like this or if she would correct it at some point.

I was pleasantly surprised when she went back after the writing was complete and congratulated the students how close their spelling was. She used a different colored marker to write the correct spelling under each word. This way, the students felt proud of themselves but were not displaying writing with spelling errors.

*Prior to this part of the lesson the students had read many stories about being special and unique, wrote a story about how their class is special and even wrote a class book with one sentence about how each of them are special. Regie calls this "Front-loading"