So once again, I'm commenting about this website and blog that I subscribe to for elementary teaching resources. If anything, her ideas are very inspiring and get me thinking about some wonderful ways that I can improve literacy and writing within my classroom. Just recently I have taken on a whole new perspective to writer's workshop. The school in which I work at has been trying very hard to improve our writing curriculum over the years. We recently jumped on board and purchased the Lucy Calkins writing program from grades Kindergarten through 5th. Since the program is still so new to me, I'm still undecided on how I feel about it. The program is a set of books that walks you through a step-by-step approach to achieving great writing with your students. I felt it kept walking me through the same lesson over and over again until just recently. I decided to move onto the second book after getting very frustrated with the lessons, flipped through a few chapters and found a great way to get my students to pull the reader's more into their writing. We begin each narrative now with a piece of dialogue or a small action, and it made a huge differance! A few days a week now we share these narratives as I group and I completely enjoy this writing time with the students, which is something I used to dread.
The reason I say the host of this site is so inspiring is because she inspired me and motivated me to do more. She is able to teach some amazing things to kindergarten students...ideas that I find difficult to have my third graders comprehend. If anything, she will make you feel like you need to be having more fun when teaching reading and writing in the classroom...no matter what grade you teach!
Check it out for yourself!
http://elementary-teacher-resources.blogspot.com/
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Hey Rachel,
ReplyDeleteWe have also started the Lucy Calkins writing program. Two of our teachers (one upper grade level and one lower) went to the training for a couple of summers in New York. They are training our entire staff. I also have mixed feelings on it. I am a few books (units of study) behind the general education teachers. I do not feel comfortable leaving it for a sub yet because I do not know if very well. That is part of the problem with me being behind, since I have missed numerous days of school. I also have a hard time fitting everything in and keeping them going. They have been getting really tired of narratives.
Danielle