Article 3 summary

I couldn't agree more Ashley that it is nice to see how it would build up each year. Seeing the modifications that could be made for the younger students is great because each year I have at least 4 or 5 students that are reading 2 or more years below grade level. Using a strategy like this for nonfiction would be great because it would help them to organize their thoughts and ideas and aid comprehension. I really liked this article and all of the suggestions that were made to modify it!! It will sure come in handy in September!!

Response to CWS Article

Overall, I think that all three of us are teaching about non-fiction texts in our classrooms. Since we all teach elementary grades, and they happen to be 3 grades in sequential order, we can definitely see the difference between the years.
For myself, in first grade, I introduce non-fiction, we talk about how it's also called "realism" and my students know that this type of text gives information and is factual.
It seems that in second grade, in Julie's class, the students read a lot more non-fiction, and the students have centers and reading groups based on this type of text.
In third grade, CWS seems to be the grade level where this strategy would work best. In this grade, that Karrie teaches, it seems that students now have a solid background as to what makes up a non-fiction text and at this age level, the students are prepared to "dissect" the text and use the strategy. As with all subject areas, each year is a foundation for the year to come, and I think the CWS strategy is a perfect example of this!

CWS article

Ashley-I definately feel that it would be tough for first graders, as you said because I think it would be a challenge until later in the year for second grade. Even if students in first grade were just exposed to this strategy and the format of the prop with sticky notes, even just as a whole class, it would be a great introduction and familiar to them when they see it again in second grade.

I can just picture second and third grade teachers having a really large version of this CWS prop made up to post on the board, make it the size of chart paper. This way it could be an interactive tool used during a read aloud for students to complete with the teacher. Students at a young age could even be given larger lined sticky notes or large index cards to post onto the prop. Really young kids could even be introduced to this strategy using picture cards rather than writing.

Karrie-I really like the idea you presented about having this at a center. After it was modeled enough and students had a good grasp on how to use it that would be perfect. My students actually go to a nonfiction work station (center) each week, where they are interacting with nonfiction text and responding. This would be a great way for them to collaborate with a partner to understand the text with a higher level of thinking.

Our school as a whole has created many ways to focus on nonfiction this past year and many strategies have been introduced. I'm excited to take this one back to my building because I feel that any grade level would be able to do this.

CWS response

This article by Bass and Woo has a lot of information based around a good teaching strategy. Using CWS to "support students in their decision-making process as they analyze and synthesize informational text," would be very useful as the article states for children in grades 3-6.
As I think about how I could adapt this strategy for first graders, I know that I would have to simplify it a great deal. First off, I wouldn't start a strategy like this until later in first grade. In the beginning of the year, we're trying to figure out how to make it through the day without rest time! Reading non-fiction text begins early on in the year, however. My students are exposed to some non-fiction and informational text in our anthology each week. Later in the year, more non-fiction is introduced in reading groups as well.
As far as introducing the strategy, I would do it whole group to start. As both Julie and Karrie stated, I would model, model, model! Beginning with one heading, and writing sticky notes underneath for that one heading would be a good place to start. For example, one informational text that we read this year was an article on frogs. I would write the heading "Types of Frogs" on the top of my white board and then stick 2 sticky notes underneath. One at a time, 2 students would come up and fill in the blank stick notes with information (red eyed tree, toad) from the text. This visual would be good for students to see what two animals are being compared in the text. For some of my class, the strategy would stop right there. For other students working on a higher grade level, I could differentiate the activity and have them find three facts in the text on each type of frog and write it on new sticky notes. An activity such as that could be done in a reading group setting.
I think that all activities can be modified to some degree for many grade levels. After practice, I definitely think my students could do an activity such as CWS on their own.
The article also said that CWS is helpful to "compare informational texts." In first grade, I think that task could be done verbally, as in "what does this article remind you of, what connection can you make?" My students would probably respond with, "that reminds me of the book Frog and Toad that we read in reading group," which is a great response for first grade, however that book isn't a non-fiction book. I definitely think bits and pieces of this strategy would work for my class, but it sounds great for older grades especially!

CWS

Julie- I really like your idea about using this for fiction text to expose students to it before using it with nonfiction. I was also thinking that it would be great to use with students during writing as they check to be sure that they have included everything in their writing prompt or story. It would be great for them to fill in a story map as well. Knowing my students from last school year this would have been a great activity for them to complete during centers either at the listening center or the big book center. I think that the modeling is key and creating a rubric to go with it would also be beneficial so that students have clear and high expectations. I am really excited to use this strategy with my kids next year!! I think that they will really benefit from this strategy!

"Comprehension Windows Strategy" Article

Reading this article was refreshing because it opened my eyes to a completely new way to have students responding to the text they read. I haven't seen anything like this before and I could see my second grade students loving this. In addition to it motivating students, I feel like it would be a very effective strategy that could be carried over into many different content areas or lessons. I liked when it stated, "This process represents much more than just a gathering of facts. At its best, it should foster comprehension and engage students in critical thinking." This is so important because students should be expected to take their thinking to a higher level and not just recall the facts of what they read. In first reading this article, although I really like this strategy, I feel as though it would be difficult for second graders at first. As I read, all I could think to myself was model, model, model. It would have to be presented to students many times and in a variety of different circumstances, but I feel it would be worth it when finally being used appropriately. I had a thought that at the beginning of second grade you could some how incorporate this strategy and modify it a little for fiction text, just so students become used to using the prop and writing on sticky notes. They are already familiar with fiction text so they would just have to get used to the strategy itself to begin with. I was thinking you could give heading such as problems, character's feelings, etc. Once students became comfortable with using sticky notes and finding information from a fiction text and sorting it into categories, then you may introduce it with nonfiction text. But, I feel that there will have to first be a lot of exposure to nonfiction text and its features. You may even give students sticky notes with information already written down and just simply ask them to sort the already labeled sticky notes. I too feel like citing the information correctly might be a difficult step and may not introduce that right away. It may also be beneficial to have students get more modeling and guided practice in their guided reading groups. This way they had appropriate leveled texts and each prop could be differentiated to meet individual needs.
To teach about nonfiction in my second grade classroom, we spend a lot of time comparing fiction to nonfiction. We look at tons of books, sort them, discuss their features, do scavenger hunts in nonfiction texts to find the conventions which make them nonfiction. This takes a lot of time, and it would be necessary before being able to implement CWS. Every year my students work on a nonfiction conventions notebook, where they have to illustrate examples of each nonfiction text feature they have found, such as headings, labels, captions, etc. They then write about how it helps readers. This is a reference they can go back to throughout the year when they are engaging in nonfiction text.
This Comprehension Windows Strategy would have been an awesome strategy for me to use with my students this year. They worked on writing their own nonfiction books for young author's night on any topic of their choice. It took about 2 months for them to read books, search online, research, learn about note-taking, and then to finally create their nonfiction books. The books had a table of contents, glossary, headings, labels, diagrams, captions. It was an amazing project, but a lot of work for second grade, but they loved it. I'm thinking this next year that I could use CWS as a way for my students to organize their research, and then structure their research to write their books. This would have been really helpful if I had known about it this year. I'm looking forward to trying this in my classroom! Great article!

Article #3 Comprehension Windows Strategy

This article was entitled Comprehension Windows Strategy:A Comprehension Strategy and Prop
for Reading and Writing Informational Text by Mary Lee Bass, Deborah Gee Woo. I really liked the activity that this article presented in order to help students organize information that they learn from reading a nonfiction text. I think that using the sticky notes and creating a visual is a good way for students to begin to develop and form their initial understanding about a topic. It is my belief that each time something is read something new is gained from the reading. I think that this strategy will help students to see this as they read a piece of informational text for the first time as well as subsequent readings of the same or similar texts.

The article states "CWS addresses multiple learner outcomes, specifically it (a) facilitates building a content knowledge base, (b) organizes facts, (c) motivates students to
become active readers and writers, (d) supports critical thinking, and (e) introduces proper documentation and use of citations." As a third grade teacher this is so important because their is a major focus in reading instruction from learning to read to reading to learn. Using this comprehension strategy seems like it will help to scaffold and facilitate this challenge. The one part of the strategy that I might find most difficult would be to have the kids properly reference where the information is coming from. I would most likely have them record the title of the article or the book that it came from but not worry as much about proper citations.

The challenge that I can see with this activity would be the use of sticky notes. I use sticky notes in my classroom a lot but it must be modeled, modeled, modeled before students are able to do this is partners or independently. I think that as teachers it is important that we model the use of sticky notes as well as the strategy so that students can be successful in using this. I can see using this strategy as a way for older students to outline what they might write in a report in which case the citations would be extremely important. I plan on using this strategy during my unit on Rocks and Minerals as a way for students to organize information.

I am wondering if you girls can see using this strategy with first and second graders? If so what modifications would you need to make to make this strategy successful? Also what other strategies do you use when teaching your students about nonfiction texts and writing about nonfiction texts?

Article #2

Thinking about writing as a process is so critical and I agree that not all student work should be graded if it is then grading on the process should be included. We complete 3 process pieces each school year and we have a rubric that goes with each part of the process. It is important for students to see how each piece builds upon the next piece in order to finally come to the final product. I really enjoyed this article because it helped me to reflect upon the things that I currently do and think about of the changes that I would like to make for the upcoming school year!!!

Writing Article #2

Along with making sure students have a comfortable environment and allowing them choice, something else really stood out to me after reading this article again. Allowing time for students to reflect on their own writing and set goals for themselves. The article stated, "If we teach writing as a process, our grading should reflect that process." Students should be concentrating on setting small goals for themselves in writing, and should be given the time to reflect on these and take pride in their "work in progress." Students should be given the opportunity to look back at the goals they set and to work with their peers to conference about writing. This is so important, and also allows for kids to really have a part in the learning process to take ownership. I also agree that not every piece of writing should be judged, criticized, or graded the same way. Children need to be given a little bit to focus on in each writing piece. If teachers are constantly looking at every little part of a child's writing, then the student is never going to feel like they have succeeded at anything. This article really has given me a lot to think about when planning my writing instruction for the upcoming year. If there is an area I would like to focus on more, it would be informing parents more often and in different ways.

Reply to Article 2 Comments

I completely agree with all the comments about students lack of motivation to write. Some students like having a choice about what to write about, other students love Writer's Workshop for the flexibility the program has. In the early elementary grades, it is crucial that as teachers, we set a foundation for the love of learning and give our students a large background in all subject areas to help them succeed in their future school years.

Writing Article #2-10 Use-Right-Now Ideas

After reading this article it definately came as a big relief to me that I am already incorporating these ideas in my classroom. It made me feel good to know I teach writing by applying some of these suggested guidelines. The article stated, "The best antidote to the insecurity writers feel is to work with a teawcher who will share his or her own work, even when it seems less than wonderful." I think this is one of the most important points in this article. I strongly believe, that just as much as we model good reading strategies, and think aloud for students while reading to them. It is just as crucial for us to share our writing with students, and our thought process to creating a piece of writing. I don't necessarily think that this is something that is pushed as much as reading, and it should be. I can recall several students who I've had in my classroom who are very skeptical, uncertain, embarrassed, or unmotivated to write, or share a piece of writing. It is very important for students to be in a classroom environment where they always feel comfortable to write and be proud of what they produced. By modeling writing and writing with students, there is a crucial opportunity for kids to see that their thoughts and ideas do not have to be perfect the first time they are written.
"To think like an author: a child has to learn to relate his or her life experiences to the craft of writing. When each assignment is of my design, there is no ownership or investment in the process." I strongly believe this and it is true throughout everything we teach in the classroom. In order for children to reach goals, produce meaningful writing, and stay motivated to keep writing, they need to take responsibility for their own learning. They need to be given the opportunity to make choices. I see kids faces light up in the classroom when they feel their writing belongs to them and they can take ownership. Many students will get turned off from writing if they are constantly told what to write about. This is true for reading too! I had a student in my classroom this year, who was very reluctant to write anything. He did not have the confidence when he came in my room and he would often write two sentences anytime he was asked to write. Even being provided with choices, he struggled with staying motivated to write. At the end of the year he thanked me for helping him so much with his writing, along with his parents, and presented me with a nonfiction book he wrote, on a topic he loved learning about. I never saw him so excited to share a piece of work.
Writing with children and giving them choice are the two most important pieces I pulled from reading this article.

Re: writing article #2

I think that it is awesome that we are already using many of these ideas in our classrooms!! Earlier this week I was at a workshop where we talked about best practices and how they are used in the classrooms. I think that many of the ideas that were talked about in the articles are best practices which makes it so easy for all of us to use them in the classroom. Teaching writing is probably one of the more difficult things for me because I often struggle with it. Showing the students that I struggles as a writer helps them to see that it is ok for them to get "writers block" as well. Ashley you mentioned writing to a prompt with the kids as they do it. When we do process pieces I model for my students each part of the writing process...it sometimes feels laborious but it has definitely paid off as the kids have become much better writers this year. In the past i have not done this as frequently and I have found that some of my students had a more difficult time when it came to prompt writing. Helping them to see exactly what needs to see what the expectation is for writing along with sharing the rubric has definately helped!!!

Article #2 Response

As I read this article, I also thought a lot about Writer's Workshop. I have been using that model in my first grade classroom for five years. With each year, I learn more and hopefully the students get more out of the program as each year passes.
Teaching the writing as a process, is helpful for students. Especially in first grade, kids need to know where to start. As it said in the article, beginning writing with a mini-lesson gives student a starting point. I remember this year doing a mini-lesson on adding describing words to writing. After teaching a 10 minute mini-lesson on this topic, my students were using description overwhelmingly. During "author" share that day, each student that read their writing had used descriptive language.
Another part of the article that I liked was when it talked about writing at the same time as your students. I find it hard to do that, only because I am conferencing one on one when the students are writing. I like being able to conference with students briefly to see where they may be struggling, or their successes. I do think, however that if giving a writing prompt, it would be good for the teacher to write about the same topic as his or her students. The students would feel more comfortable perhaps if their teacher was writing along with them.
I think one of the most important parts of writing is letting students choose their own topic. When a student is passionate about something, it will be much easier for them to write more about it, and add describing words etc. The writing process has many important components, and this article highlighted them in an easy to read way.

Re: Article #2

As I read this article it reminded me much of what I do in my classroom during writer's workshop. Each day we have a 45 minutes writing block which is divided into three major parts-mini lessons, independent writing/conferencing, share. I just completed my third year implementing this model for writing and I can honestly say that now I understand how each component works and what should be done during each part. In the article it says that the first step to helping create good writers is to allow them "to the creative heart of the writer" I feel that a lot of times we spend so much time worrying about writing to the prompt that we lose this sense of creativity that children have lost in school.

One of the first things that I do in the beginning of the school year is to set up students writer's notebooks. On the first two pages of their notebooks we use these to brainstorm different topics for writing that they might someday like to write about. We don't fill up the two pages on that day but over the course of the year we work on different writings during independent writing time which they get to choose. The students love having the opportunity to write about something that is important or special to them. This experience I feel helps them to grow as writers because they are able to express and relate to what they are writing to rather than being told what to write about.

One of the focuses of our school is using rubrics and portfolios to assess student work. Just last week when I was sending home the students academic review portfolios I was looking through them and commenting on how much they have improved over the course of the year. It is so important to me to see the growth that they have made rather than just basing how they did on standardized tests.

One of the things that I read in this article which I don't think that I do a great job on is keeping the parents informed. I speak with and meet with the parents in my classroom regularly however, I am unable to send my students work home with them until the end of the school year. When I meet with parents I have all of their work for them to see and review and we talk about it, but we are unable to send it home. Our school requires us to participate in academic review in which student portfolios are looked at and comments about instruction and next steps are recommended. This is a valuable process for reflecting as a teacher but does not allow us to communicate with parents about how well the students are doing by sending home work for parents to see and review. The article also talks about having the parents set goals for students to work on at home which I really like and might try to do next year. However, many of the parents of my students work at 3rd shift and it might be difficult for them to do and I don't like making them feel bad about not being able to do these things with their children.

Article #2-Teaching Writing: 10 Use-Right-Now Ideas

I thought this article gave a nice overview of 10 positive writing guidelines that should be taking place in the classroom. By incorporating some of these strategies or ideas students can succeed with writing and become more motivated.

• Are you already incorporating any of these guidelines in your classrooms? If so, are they working?
• Which of these ten guidelines do you feel are the most important to a student's success with writing? Why?

visualizing and writing

I really like the part about mind movies as well. It is some important that students are able to visualize what they are reading just as it is so important for students to use descriptive language in their writing. One of the activities that I do with my students for writing is to put a picture on the SMART Board and cover it up in quadrants. The kids then have to use words to describe each part of the quadrant before I show them the entire picture. They have to use what they have learned from each piece of the picture to try and decide what the picture might be. When I read chapter books to my kids during a read aloud, I often have them draw a picture as i read of what they are picturing as I read. I think that it is important they students see the implications that word choice has on what they see and this helps them to use their minds and be creative in what they are doing!!! It also helps to keep them engage as i read aloud to them which can sometimes be difficult for some of my more challenging students.

This article has definately put writing into a different perspective for me, and I've realized the power of having students write before reading. It is often that we ask students to respond to text when they are finished with their reading. I liked the strategy mentioned in the article of using writing to extend understanding and comprehension of the text. It was presented as "movies of the reader's mind." During this activity the text would be split into fragments and after each one students would have to write down their thinking. I love this idea. It really allows for students to interact with the text to make connections, analyze, and interpret what they feel is happening or the overall message. I think this also gives students a purpose for reading, and allows them to see how their thinking changes as they read, based on what is happening in the text. I really liked this engaging activity.

Re: Writing First Article

Julie and Ashley-

I definitely agree with you that things have to go hand in hand and Julie-your real life example about your nephew help to put things into perspective. To him he was reading what he had written however most others would not understand anything that he had written in his journal. The other piece is that what he was reading to you may have changed from the original "writing" that he had done. I think that developmentally it is important that we allow children to use the invented spelling and writing in written responses and in their writing. It is hard to decide exactly what should be done first as a generic blanket statement. I think that as teachers of literacy we need to work to meet the individual needs of the students in our classrooms.

This article has definitely made me think about writing in regards to how it should or could be taught!!!

Writing First

I definitely agree that writing and reading go hand in hand. Before a child can read or write, however they do have to have a full understanding in phonemic awareness, as that is the basis for both reading and writing. If a child can't hear the sounds in a word, they won't be able to read or write the word.I also think about the term "reading block." In our school we call it the "literacy block." Any way you look at it, I think that good teachers teach writing and reading together. One just fits with the other. Each child learns in a different way, and making a generalization that either one should be taught first, is a strong opinion

Writing First Article

I couldn't agree more that reading and writing are two things that should be happening simultaneously in the classroom throughout the day. When I think of a typical day in my second grade classroom writing is never happening without reading and vice versa. I'm not even sure how one would separate these two important acts, they naturally occur at the same time. Although, I often feel, and can agree with the article, that there is a bigger push for focus on reading instruction.

For me, the question of what should be taught first is difficult. I just see the two happening together, but the article brings up some great points about writing first that really have me thinking. When I picture my own classroom I don't see one before the other because my students are already reading and writing, allowing these to coincide with one another. But, when I look at it through a different perspective, with really young children it seems to make sense for the writing to come first. "First graders are not well positioned for reading: They can read only the words they have learned to read or sound out-a fairly small lexicon. But they are beautifully positioned for writing: They can write all the words they can say." This is a very strong argument because it allows children to express themselves using writing even it isn't legible to us. My five year old nephew showed me his kindergarten writing journal over the weekend. He read me every "word" on his pages and talked about the illustrations, and felt so proud of what he produced. He wouldn't necessarily been able to read a book that had all of those words, but it was his writing and he knew what he was trying to say. It wouldn't make sense to me to take the opportunity and experience of writing away from him until he learned how to read first. This would only be limiting a child. So I can agree, writing should be taught before reading.

I strongly believe that students need to have a purpose for reading and writing and that it needs to be motivating for them. They need to be able to take ownership of their learning. I really liked the idea of having students writing before reading, whether a prediction or just free writing about their own experiences, or questions they have. The article states, "Students will put more care and attention into reading when they have had more of a chance to write what's on their minds and when they have been given more opportunities to assume the role of the writer. Students are more attentive to what the author wrote-sometimes out of mere curiousity to see how well their ideas match the material." This proves to be another great example of writing taking place before reading. Here students are giving themselves a reason to read and express their own views about an author or a text.

I'm sure there is some great evidence that defends writing then reading, as well as, reading then writing, and this still remains a difficult question for me to provide an absolute answer. It sure leaves me with something to think about.

Re: Writing First article discussion

I think that reading and writing need to be taught together. There is never a time that I can think of when children have not been encouraged to do these two things simultaneously. Writing is part of reading just as reading is part of writing. In order to read or write one must learn how to do the other. I think that the article makes a good point when it says " The word literacy
literally means power over letters—that is, over both writing and reading. But used casually (and in government policy and legislation), literacy tends to mean reading, not writing." When we talk about our literacy block at school so often people are referring to the reading block and not the writing block. I think that for many, myself included, we think that by modeling and using good examples of already written texts (i.e. reading the books to the children or having the children read them) we are working on both skills. Often I find myself skipping parts of my writing lessons because we are so focused on the reading part of the lesson.


When I read the sentence "Students invariably read better if they write first—if they start by writing their own thoughts about a topic that the class will tackle in a text" I thought to myself..DUH that is making a prediction- one of the most commonly used before reading strategies that we use when talking to kids about reading. I never really considered this to be writing however because I think of writing more like the writing process. When considering this to be part of writing rather than reading it reminded me of the readers notebooks that my students this year kept. These were used during our school-wide reading block in which students were able to choose there books and then respond to them in their readers notebooks.


For beginning readers and writers I think that it is important that they do both reading and writing together. If a student is able to listen to a story and then perhaps model what they have heard in their own writing, then I believe that it makes them a more powerful reader and writer. I do not believe that reading and writing can be taught in isolation and that they should be taught together.

"Writing First" article discussion

The basis of this article, is that writing should be taught before reading in the early years.

One of the "big ideas" in this article was "Nothing can be read unless it was first written"

What are your thoughts on this quote? Do you agree/disagree? Should writing be taught before reading in the early elementary years?

We will discuss our first journal article tomorrow (fri)

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