Embracing Imperfection: Ideas to help build on the strengths of imperfect writing
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Transcript of Embracing Imperfection: Ideas to help build on the strengths of imperfect writing
Embracing Embracing Imperfection:Imperfection:
Ideas to help build on the Ideas to help build on the strengths of imperfect strengths of imperfect
writingwriting
Ruth Ayres
[email protected]://twowritingteachers.wordpress.com
Writer’s Notebook Entry
Write the name of a teacher who influenced you.
Jot down a list of everything you remember about him/her.
Perfection is Overrated
“One of the things I share in my workshops is the idea that it is OK to let go of that high-school English teacher who lives in your head. The one who's always correcting your sentence structure, making sure you have a proper noun and verb in every sentence, reprimanding you when you don't follow the 'rules.' Maybe it's even time for you to have a short conversation with that teacher (in your own mind, of course). “Mr. Or Mrs. So-and-So: Thank you for your time, but I am done with your services now.”
-- from Life Artist by Ali Edwards
Invite Imperfection
What can you do with the physical space in your classroom to make it a refuge for your students?
How can we make students feel that they are okay just the way they are?
Conscientious Conferring
WN Entry (Part One): Take a moment to write down one thing you do really well as a teacher of writing.
WN Entry (Part Two): Now what are the things you would like to improve?
Reflecting on both sides of this list, what is the most important thing to recognize on the positive side and what is the most important to thing to improve?
Conscientious Conferring
Of all the things this student does as a writer, what one quality should be appreciated?
Of all the things this student needs, what is the one lesson that will impact him the most?
Conferring Charts
Find these at -- http://twowritingteachers.wordpress.com/presentations
OR
Email me: [email protected]
Use your handout to note which charts you would like to print!
M T W R FCharlie
Brittany
Elizabeth
J enny
Brandon
Catherine
Alisha
Courtney
Seth
Kristen
Victoria
Madison
Haiden
Ali
Kayla
Zack
Tyler
Andrea
Nicki
Anthony Status of the Class
Carl Anderson’s Conferring Steps:1. Student Sets agenda2. Line of thinking (ask ?’s & read writing)3. Assess & Decide what to teach
4. Objective Feedback --- comment & honest response5. TEACH6. Have-a-go7. Link to work
(NOTES ~ Date; Assessment; Teaching; FL Ideas)Student Name
Notes:What the student
is doing well +teaching point
Date
Conferring Record Boxes
Student Date Observation Teaching FL IdeasYou mayalso wantto notethe stageof thewritingprocessthestudent isworking.
What is this student doing well as a writer?What does this student need to write better?
What ONE lesson did you teach the studentduring the conference?
Ideas forfuture whole-class focuslessons.
Conferring Record Columns
Conference Recordkeeping Sheet Unit of Study:_________________________________________________________________Name of Student:
Date:Topic/Subject of Student’sWriting:
Compliment:
Teaching Point:
Name of Student:
Date:Topic/Subject of Student’sWriting:
Compliment:
Teaching Point:
Name of Student:
Date:Topic/Subject of Student’sWriting:
Compliment:
Teaching Point:
Name of Student:
Date:Topic/Subject of Student’sWriting:
Compliment:
Teaching Point:
Name of Student:
Date:Topic/Subject of Student’sWriting:
Compliment:
Teaching Point:
Name of Student:
Date:Topic/Subject of Student’sWriting:
Compliment:
Teaching Point:
Name of Student:
Date:Topic/Subject of Student’sWriting:
Compliment:
Teaching Point:
Name of Student:
Date:Topic/Subject of Student’sWriting:
Compliment:
Teaching Point:
Name of Student:
Date:Topic/Subject of Student’sWriting:
Compliment:
Teaching Point:
Stacey Shubitz’s Conferring Record
Writer’s Notebook Entry
Think of the last time you shared your writing with another person.
What kind of feedback were you wanting? Jot down a quick list.
Peer Conferring
Explicitly teach how to confer:– Listen– Compliment– Suggest
Peer conferring forms should help students work through the process – they should not hinder the process.
Peer Conferring
1.Writer, read your piece aloud to your partner.2.Complete the following Question Grid.
Follow Up Questions Response
Does this makesense?
1. Questions the listener asked topush your thinking.
2.
Your response to the questions.
What is themeaning thispiece?
1.
2.
Which part doyou think ismostimportant?
1.
2.
Does the leadand endingwork togetherto show themeaning?
1.
2.
Which part doyou think Ishould addmore details?
1.
2.
Writer: ___________________________________
Listener: __________________________________
Date: ______________________
Writer: _________________________________ Date: ______________
Listener: _________________________________
Choice Piece Rubric
WOW OKCOULD USE
IMPROVEMENT
Meaning Meaning is clear andsignificant to intended
audience.
Meaning is implied, may notbe significant for audience.
No meaning. Writingdoesn't make sense
Focus Focuses on a single topicor story.
Somewhat focused. Thewriting either goes on and
on and on or it isunderdeveloped.
No focus. Writingdoesn't make sense.
Complete 3 – 5 scenes or sectionsand each adds to the
meaning
Missing major parts ormeaningless sections
Less than 3 scenes orsections
Lead/Ending Lead – Captures attentionEnding – So What/Wraps
up the writing.
Lead – Begins
Ending – Ends
The lead/ending isconfusing and/or doesn’tmake sense to the story.
Detailed (sensory; emotion;description; action;etc.)
Used a variety of relevantdetails. Created a picture
for the reader.
Used a variety of details, butall were not relevant.
Few details. Writing isdifficult to understand.
Conventions Few errors; writing waseasy to read.
Several errors made writingdifficult to follow.
Many errors. Writing isimpossible tounderstand.
Peer Conference --1. Read writing aloud.2. Complete the rubric.3. Complete the following questions:
1. Decide what works well in your writing.2. Decide on two areas in which to revise.
Strong Traits --
1. _____________________________________ 2. _____________________________________
Areas to Revise --
1. _____________________________________ 2. _____________________________________
Only 3 can be marked in this column!! !
Peer Conference
+ Rubric
Writer’s Notebook Entry
Write down three wishes you have when it comes to assessing student writing.
Disclaimer
Assessing Imperfection Assess the process of your students.
– Have students complete writing analyses.
Assess the content. Assess the conventions Balance writing opportunities
Rubrics can be found at –http://twowritingteachers.wordpress.com/presentations
OR
Email me: [email protected]
Author ______________________ Piece ____________________________ Date __________
grade comments
Process ~ how wellyou f ollowed your
writing process
CompletedWriting
Analysis
Content ~ what thewords say
Meaning
FocusLead/ Ending
Conventions ~ how
well you f ollowedStandard English
capitalization
punctuation
sentencesparagraphs/ stanzas
spelling
Author ______________________ Piece ____________________________ Date __________
grade comments
Process ~ how wellyou f ollowed your
writing process
CompletedWriting
Analysis
Content ~ what thewords say
Meaning
FocusLead/ Ending
Conventions ~ how
well you f ollowedStandard English
capitalizationpunctuation
sentencesparagraphs/ stanzas
spelling
General 3 Grade
First Published Piece
CATEGORY 4 3 2 1
Content It's clear the writer hascaptured a small detail ofhis/her life. S/he hasdrawn upon a smallrepertoire of strategies forgenerating this piece.
Writer has captured asmall moment inhis/her life and hasdrawn upon twostrategies forgenerating this piece.
Writer has a collectingof small moments.Writer may have useda strategy to help him/her generate thispiece.
A small moment is notcaptured in this piece.Writer did not use thestrategies presented inclass to help him/hergenerate this piece.
Planning Multiple drafts were writtenprior to publishing thispiece. There's a clearsequence of events in thispiece. Further, the writerhas revised using thestrategies presented inclass.
Two drafts werewritten prior topublishing this piece.Writer used revisionstrategies.
One draft was writtenprior to publishing thispiece. Writer didminimal revisions.
The student did notcreate multiple drafts,nor did s/he revise.
Stance This student is a story-teller. S/he has made a"movie in his/her mind,"reliving the event and thenrecreating it (rather thansummarizing it orcommenting on it).
The student hasrecreated the event,rather thansummarizing orcommenting on it.
The student attemptedto recreate the event,but summarized orcommented a lot.
The event is notrecreated for thereader. There's a lot ofsummation orcommentary present.
Qualities of GoodWriting
This piece is written in achronological, narrativestructure. S/he hasproduced a sequential,detailed and focusedpersonal narrative. S/hehas used action, dialogueand a repertoire ofstrategies to create thispiece.
This piece is written ina chronological,narrative structure.S/he has produced asequential, detailedand focused personalnarrative.
This piece is written ina narrative structure.However, it's hard tofollow the sequence.Few details are given.
This piece does not usethe narrative structure.It is not sequential,detailed or focused.
Mechanics High-frequency words arespelled correctly.Appropriate endingpunctuation is used.Paragraphing is doneproperly. Writing is clearfor the reader.
Most high-frequencywords are spelledcorrectly. Endingpunctuation is used.The piece is written inparagraph form.
Many high frequencywords are spelledincorrectly.Punctuation is notused properly.Paragraphing isunclear.
This piece is unclear fora reader.
Language The student writes in away that is considerate ofthe reader. S/he has triedto be clear andcomprehensible.
The student has triedto be clear andcomprehensible.
Writing is oftenunclear.
Writing is unclear and isnot comprehensible.
Stacey Shubitz adapted this rubric from Calkins & Martinelli’s Launching Writing Workshop
Writing AnalysisExplain the process that you went through to create your
piece.
Begin with the initial planning: who were you writing for & what did you decide to write. Once these questions were answered, how did you begin to organize your
thoughts? Did you use your writer’s notebook for a list, web, or quick write? Did you talk to a friend or family member?
Discuss how drafting went for you. Was it easy since you had spent time thinking about your project? Was it difficult? WHY did you think it was easy or difficult?
Talk about your revisions. What did you do to revise? Did you have a questions conference? How did it go? What did you decide to zoom in on & why did you decide on that part? Did your snap shot make your piece better? Could you have zoomed in more on your snap shot? Did you attempt to model any authors?
What are your overall feelings about this piece of writing? What is really good about this piece? What could you have done better?
Mrs. Ayres
Writing Analysis + Example
Mrs. AyresDecember 13, 2002Writing Analysis“Grandpa’s Garden”
I decided to write my piece for my grandma. I wanted to dosomething to remember my grandpa. As I was thinking about mygrandpa, I remembered how much he loved his garden. I havemany memories of “Grandpa’s Garden,” so I decided to writeabout it. First, I looked through old pictures my mom has of hisgarden. As I looked through these pictures, memories startedflooding my mind. As the memories came, I made a list. (I didn’thave my writer’s notebook with me, so I made a list on a scrappiece of paper. Sorry!) I didn’t talk to my family about what Iwanted to write, because I wanted it to be a surprise.
My first draft was awful! It was really short and I didn’t reallyget to the point I wanted to get to. I don’t think I thought enoughabout what I really wanted to say before I drafted. Really, my firstdraft was more of a quick write than a draft. After I realized that Ineeded to “dig deeper” into my subject, I made a list of questions.The questions conferences that I had were a big help. My seconddraft was much better. I really love my lead. I think it makes thereader feel like they are in the garden with me, “standing on theedge of the forbidden soil.” I really liked the word forbidden. I gotthe idea for that from the questions conferences.
Since I really liked my second draft, I decided to try to zoomin more on the garden. I had the reader on the edge of thegarden, but they didn’t know what the garden looked like. (I knewthis because lots of people asked me “What did the garden looklike?”) The first time I tried to zoom in, it didn’t go well. My writingsounded like I was reporting on the garden. It must have beenbecause I was telling instead of showing. So, my second attemptat the snapshot, I focused on showing the garden. I think it is a lotbetter, don’t you? I also added the part about the tomato worms,because I remembered how much my brother liked squishingthose fat worms. I thought of the part about the pumpkins “vining”from Cynthia Rylant’s book Scarecrow. She made the word vineinto a verb too. I wanted to add something about the smells,because Jerry Spinnelli used smells in the snap shot we read inclass. I thought the smells really made the house seem real (andgross) to me. I wanted my grandpa’s garden to come alive for my
I 'm ready to PUBLISH!
My story makes sense.
I 've added to the most important part of the story.
I 've edited with a partner using this checklist:
Writer __________________
Read to a partnerCheck:
Words and pictures match Spaces Ending
Punctuation (.!?)
Partner ________________
Name _____________________________
Date ________________
APPROVED! Primary Writing Analysis
Rigor + Freedom
We can have both!
Value the thinking behind the writing Value the product Value the children who are taking risks to
become better communicators.
Name: ___________________________________ Block ______ Week of _________
What did you do today?
Write a reflection about how you worked today. (Any questions?)
****************************************************************************************What did you do today?
Write a reflection about how you worked today. (Any questions?)
****************************************************************************************What did you do today?
Write a reflection about how you worked today. (Any questions?)
****************************************************************************************What did you do today?
Write a reflection about how you worked today. (Any questions?)
****************************************************************************************What did you do today?
Write a reflection about how you worked today. (Any questions?)
Exit Slip
Do not let your fire go out, spark by Do not let your fire go out, spark by irreplaceable spark, in the hopeless swamps irreplaceable spark, in the hopeless swamps of the approximate, the not-quite, the not-of the approximate, the not-quite, the not-yet, the not-at-all. Do not let the hero in yet, the not-at-all. Do not let the hero in your soul perish, in lonely frustration for your soul perish, in lonely frustration for
the life you deserved, but have never been the life you deserved, but have never been able to reach. Check your road and the able to reach. Check your road and the nature of your battle. The world you nature of your battle. The world you
desired can be won. It exists, it is real, it is desired can be won. It exists, it is real, it is possible, it is yours.possible, it is yours.
~Ayn Rand