Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Task 4 Blog - Oct 12


This articles discussed conferences that teachers have with their students during writers workshop. I found this article very interesting because sometimes it is very hard to conference with a student because you do not know what to say to them or how to get them working and doing their best kindergarten job. The book discussed three things that were very important to remember when conferring with students. One being that “talk is important in rehearsal, be the learner, and to put yourself in situations where you are writing and getting response”(4). This article discussed the importance of listening to students and learning about them as much as they are learning from you. This article also described how there are some teachers who have felt like students have to be writing and no longer thinking about an idea. This hit close to home because we do have some students in my classroom who say “I’m still thinking” rather than writing. We have always seen this as something where we have to tell him to get started. This gives me new perspectives on how I can talk to that student and have him talk to me first and talk things out before he gets started.
               I would use this type of discussion in my class because as a student myself, it is easier for me to write things out when I talk about them first. This I sometimes forget and we want students to think silently and begin writing and not talk to teachers all the time. My question would be though, if students are writing and as a teacher, you cannot always get around to all students so how would you be able to talk to all the students who may need that assistance every day. In my classroom, it is important that students have a story. Right now, it is not necessarily about actually writing out the words or the sounds that they hear. We want students to come up with a story that has actually happened to students and being able to get students to find a story is very important. Salch and Marino discuss “Make sure you look into the child’s eyes and let her know that you are really listening, and always respond as a fellow reader and writer, not as the expert” (5). I think this is very important because as teachers we want to help students learn more, but when writing it is important that students feel like they are being listened to and that you really care about what they are writing about. For students to feel comfortable, it is important that you make an environment that students know you are there and you are listening and want to help students become better writers.
               As a professional, I would need to be thinking about how I talk to students and then decide which elements work and which elements I should be altering to really emphasize the students writing and what they are doing rather than what you are expecting them to do at first. For example, with students who do not know what to write about, it is important for me to learn to take a step back and talk to the student first rather than say something about sitting down to think or your thinking is done, you need to write now. This would be one thing that I would focus on to work on and then continue to work with students like I do now. We confer a lot with students and we try to get around to one table each and then switch every day so that we see all students every week. I want to be more conscience about who I am working with and what type of advice I am giving students.
               For my unit that I am teaching as well as being able to take over the classroom completely, these things have helped me to become more aware of good ways to assess my students. For example, I need to be listening to students and what they have to say. Authentic assessments are very important because you learn so much more about students and what they are capable of. If students do not feel pressured to get a certain answer, assessments will be a lot easier for students. I think it is also important to be observant of children in the natural environment and to take anecdotal records while they are working. I want students to feel comfortable and as a teacher, it is important to be observant and to learn from students as they are working and to be looking at things without making students feel like they are being judged.

1 comment:

  1. Kristen,

    I also feel that conferring is difficult! Each day during Writer’s Workshop, I move around and try to see as many students as possible. However, I’m not sure of what exactly to say to push them in their writing. I love the quote you picked out of the article saying, “Make sure you look into the child’s eyes and let her know that you are really listening, and always respond as a fellow reader and writer, not as the expert.” Often times this year I find myself wondering “Did I handle that right? Is there anything else I could have said? I wonder if I got through to them…” It’s comforting to hear that we don’t always have to be the expert and know exactly what to say, but we can simply speak to our students writer to writer.

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