Tuesday, November 16, 2010
TIC in Winnemucca
I've been trying all of your great suggestions. I started by writing down how long each of my students wrote during a free write. The first "I'm done" and I collected their paper. My shortest time was 1 minute 33 seconds. The next day we talked about what writing looked like and sounded like. I told my class they would need to write until the timer rang. I added 15 seconds to my quickest time. No one got up until the timer rang. I told the ones who weren't fininshed to get their last thought down on the paper. Each day I have increased the time by 20 to 30 seconds. We are writing for 4 minutes now! I do have another problem that free write has created though. I have one student who writes the exact same sentences each day. It's like she doesn't know what to write so she fall back on her Chihuahuas. I told her I knew what she knew about them so could she tell about something new. She writes the exact same sentences and replaced the Chihuahuas with her brother's name. I haven't got her to write something different yet but I'm hoping we can work it through.
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Barbara is the student writing the same sentence because she's stuck? One activity that may work is to brainstorm ideas and I have students pick an idea to write about. I'm glad to that your class is building their writing staminia. Michele
ReplyDeleteHave you tried modeling writing paragraphs with them? In this way, your students can see what you are looking for in their writing. You can also model problems some of your students are having, such as writing the same sentence over and over again, and how you can work through that problem by thinking out loud for them. Cherié Baker
ReplyDeleteShe doesn't write the same sentence again and again she writes the same sentences.....My Chihuahuas know when to go outside. My Chihuahuas know when to eat. My Chihuahuas know that it's bedtime. My Chihuahuas know when I want to play. etc...... She writes an awesome paragraph. It is just exactly the same writing the next day and the day after. When I told her no more Chihuahuas she wrote the exact same sentences and put in her baby brothers name in place of the Chihuahuas.
ReplyDeleteBarb,
ReplyDeleteI love that you are slowly building up your 1st grade students' stamina for writing. Keep at this as they should be able to write for at least 10 to 15 min. before Christmas! Your student that writes the same thing over and over needs some lessons on how to use the room for other words, as it sounds like she is trying to stay safe, using only words she knows. You can also ask her to tell you a story and you scribe it for her. This might bring new vocabulary/plot to her writing. It's okay that she writes about the same subject all the time, many authors have favorite topics. We just need this little one to design stories around her favorite topics. The phrase "Then what did you do?" is a good way to get her to write more. Hope this helps!
Holly
Barb,
ReplyDeleteI think Holly hit it right on the head. Your student feels safe with what she is writing, and is fearful of expanding her horizons. Along with scribing her story, you could also have her use a tape recorder for her story, or maybe rewrite a favorite story with a different character, beginning, ending, etc. Drawing a picture and then writing a story based on the picture, or giving her a picture for a story... Maybe some of these ideas will work for you. Cherié
The increased writing time sounds like a great idea. The challenge of building confidence it something else all together. Small baby steps like with the stamina is the key. When she feels safe, she will write more.
ReplyDeleteEveryone sounds like they have given you great ideas, good luck!!
You could also write a paragraph together. Pick a topic the kids are excited about and map all the words, and things, they know about that topic. Mapping is a great pre-writing strategy. What do we know about what we are writing? Then begin to build your sentences. Also maybe you could create a "I'm stuck" list. Have the students name things they know about or are interested in. Keep the "I'm stuck" list posted and maybe they can refer to it for ideas. Also if you can keep up in your room somewhere some general questions that would apply to any topic the (who what when where how why) Idea. If they ask themselves questions about what they are writing they can expand.
ReplyDeleteThese are all such great suggestions. Thank you all! I will see what she's up to when school begins again.
ReplyDelete