Collaborating Writing Groups, Take 2
Today we had collaborative writing groups again. We did things a bit differently. I emphasized that this would be their only chance to receive feedback from someone; I would not be providing feedback as we had in our past writing assignments.
"Wait so, if we don't give solid feedback, we get none?"
"But I have nothing good to say..."
Which provided a perfect entry point into the fact that they do have the lens to look at writing and see what makes sense and what doesn't. When we bring in our skills as readers and merge with ourselves as writers...it all comes together. I probably blabbed on a bit more about things...but overall, I sent them off. This time they read one another's writing, edited/revised and wrote out what they identified as strengths and weaknesses.
As always there's that leap of faith I had to take in those initial 3 minutes of chaos when everyone is not on track or have not figured out their flow...but when agency is given to students to complete the task at hand, to engage in quiet conversation if needed, and then focus on improving one another's writing, it was pretty awesome once again.
I can't quite describe that feeling when there is such a rich air of learning happening. Not because I was teaching or because they were doing s project or activity of some sort. They were simply critically reading one another's writing...but the conversation that followed...
"What was your motive for organizing your essay this way?"
"I can tell here that you really want people to step up when it comes to world hunger..."
"I know that you can definitely write with more sophisticated language..why didn't you?"
I moved from group to group to check in with the writers; asking them questions about the paper they were reading through. And towards the end I conferenced with groups about the main things a writer in their group should focus on as they returned to their writing.
Was this perfect? Absolutely not. DQ, SQ, DM brought nothing in. GS and KJ apparently "forgot" their drafts. But it was also no haphazard. I definitely appreciate these teaching moments, because I feel like all to often I keep myself as a teacher from having them because of the issue of control.
The irony though is how I feel when I don't have control over my classroom and teaching as a result of admin. and how much more productive and effective I can be when I am trusted with autonomy.
Twas a good reminder today...
I <3 controlled chaos...and from the "work" I saw come out of this, so did the kids.
I think I will interview ID and LB about how their experiences were with this process. How that impacted their experience with voice as we have been working with it...
"Wait so, if we don't give solid feedback, we get none?"
"But I have nothing good to say..."
Which provided a perfect entry point into the fact that they do have the lens to look at writing and see what makes sense and what doesn't. When we bring in our skills as readers and merge with ourselves as writers...it all comes together. I probably blabbed on a bit more about things...but overall, I sent them off. This time they read one another's writing, edited/revised and wrote out what they identified as strengths and weaknesses.
As always there's that leap of faith I had to take in those initial 3 minutes of chaos when everyone is not on track or have not figured out their flow...but when agency is given to students to complete the task at hand, to engage in quiet conversation if needed, and then focus on improving one another's writing, it was pretty awesome once again.
I can't quite describe that feeling when there is such a rich air of learning happening. Not because I was teaching or because they were doing s project or activity of some sort. They were simply critically reading one another's writing...but the conversation that followed...
"What was your motive for organizing your essay this way?"
"I can tell here that you really want people to step up when it comes to world hunger..."
"I know that you can definitely write with more sophisticated language..why didn't you?"
I moved from group to group to check in with the writers; asking them questions about the paper they were reading through. And towards the end I conferenced with groups about the main things a writer in their group should focus on as they returned to their writing.
Was this perfect? Absolutely not. DQ, SQ, DM brought nothing in. GS and KJ apparently "forgot" their drafts. But it was also no haphazard. I definitely appreciate these teaching moments, because I feel like all to often I keep myself as a teacher from having them because of the issue of control.
The irony though is how I feel when I don't have control over my classroom and teaching as a result of admin. and how much more productive and effective I can be when I am trusted with autonomy.
Twas a good reminder today...
I <3 controlled chaos...and from the "work" I saw come out of this, so did the kids.
I think I will interview ID and LB about how their experiences were with this process. How that impacted their experience with voice as we have been working with it...
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