I have been thinking about what to write for this last blog post for a while now. Finally, today at practicum, I noticed that my teacher had a writing lesson in the schedule for the day. Unfortunately, when it became time to teach the lesson, my cooperating teacher switched to a history lesson. I was very surprised that this lesson was skipped because since I have been in this classroom, I have never seen a writing lesson. Around the classroom, I do see some writing samples from the students, but I feel like more should be done.
According to the weekly calendar, my class has a writing lesson 2-3 times per week. Since I am only in the classroom 2 times per week, writing lessons become difficult to observe. Writing is done everyday in some shape or form. Another thing I noticed today was that if students finished their centers early, they had the option to free write. Although this is good exercise, I think that formal writing lessons should be done more often.
My classroom is pretty much the same. There is never any writing lessons going on. I so see ocasional writing samples hung up in the classroom, but I am very confused as to how this came about, because i am never seeing any writing lessons, nor does my cooperating teacher ever talk about performing them. These kids, in my class as well as yours, are not getting the proper instruction they deserve. How will they become better writers and enjoy writing more if they are not receiving the proper instruction nor given the proper amount of time to work on it? The only way students become passionate about their writing is when they feel comfortable and confident with it and i really dont see how that is possible if they are not getting enough instruction on it.
ReplyDeleteYes, I definitely agree with you and Lauren. It's really hard to nurture students, especially these days, to become great writers when teachers don't give them the proper tools or strategies to do so on a regular basis. Most of the students in my classroom struggles a lot with reading and writing, so my cooperating teachers gives them an hour of SSR and teaches an hour of writing workshop every day. Despite the hectic schedule, she tries to make room for at least one read aloud weekly so that the kids can hear how experienced readers read. And since the majority of them are visual learners, she often models graphic organizers on the SMART board for students to see.
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