Literacy Success Criteria

This is my success criteria that I've been using in Grade 6 over the past few years. 

Click here to download.

My Lit Block Roxs!

Well, not really, but it is a provocative title, isn't it?

I'm inspired daily by the conversations I overhear from my students. I have a group of boys this year - 21 to be precise - that daily challenge me. They crave structure and freedom - and thrive or rebel within this balance.

The other day, I had to intervene in one particularly intense conversation - before it escalated into a full-blown argument. These two boys were arguing about a writing piece they were collaborating on. They couldn't agree on the voice. One insisted that since it was a formal, professional report, the word "I" didn't belong in it. The other argued that since they were writing as a professional engineer, giving an environmental assessment, they could use the word "I" since this person was giving the report.

There are instances daily where I'm re-affirmed that boys can learn in a literacy environment. This environment needs to make sense to them. It is a tough balance to maintain. I am known for giving my students a lot of freedoms and independence. We create daily, because I give them the space to do so. There are high expectations within our space, and all can achieve these.

As the year winds down - and as EQAO looms in my very near future - I'm amazed by how far we've come. On paper, my class is "That Class". We shouldn't be successful, yet we are. I believe it is because we have the space to create.

M.

"I'm just checking my feedback..."

It was a good day yesterday. I was determined to start the new year fresh, and be on top of my game. I was really going to focus on my low and struggling students, and consistently meet with them everyday, specifically about the work they are doing during the literacy block.

I had my "high" group started (that hierarchy I've implied is, in and of itself, worthy of another post), freeing my up to float around the room and check in with my struggling students who are working away on the computers. I made my way over to O, who traditionally, and in every possible way, avoids any and all work, responsibility, liability. He lives to not work. I braced myself for the reply to my now-routine question: "What's your plan today O." I was presently surprised by his reply.

"I'm just checking my feedback," he said. "Then I'm going to do some writing."

Now, I'm not hoping for miracles here, but it was yet another reminder about why I love my MOODLE. In another setting, O would have quickly lost the original assessment, forever gone with the descriptive feedback I had so carefully constructed for him. Now, it is always at his fingertips. All the work is centralized and neatly displayed for him. He simply has to access it, then go from there.

Now, as I've just said, I'm not hoping for miracles. This is one small step solved in the many that will help O be successful. He still needs regular and intense interventions, but he is more empowered in his educational choices.

Here's hoping the miracles do happen though!

M.

Creativity and Innovation

I seem to be returning to this theme quite regularly within my reflections upon my practice, then quite acutely when I read this post by Jon Castelhano, entitled This and That: Creative Juices. This post spoke of the necessesity of creativity and innovation in today's education.

Well, I seem to be working towards that! My writing program, I feel, is really leading the students to be creative in their work. Just today, one of my students M was looking for his next piece to write. Having just written to describe, he needed to choose another purpose to write. I suggested writing to socialize - perhaps choosing  an apology to write? He wanted to write something about hockey. Together we came up with the idea of someone writing an apology letter to Sidney Crosby for hitting him too hard and giving him a concussion.

This was an amazing event, that was over in a flash, but set this child upon a writing task that is creative, innovating, engaging and motivating! He is writing! He is inferring! He is commenting on the state of hockey today! AND (to add panache to my writing) this is a reluctant boy writer (well, before he came to my room). Look! Boys who write!

All joking aside, this is a clear example of how creativity and innovation are thriving in my room. With just that short intervention, I have taking a struggling child on a path that is going to get him writing.

This creativity spreads around the room. With that loud conversation, others (who were meant to) overheard and were inspired to do their own writing. Very quickly I heard from two others who wanted to write something similar. Soon I had a couple of boys lean in and help M with his writing, giving him names, dates, games, locations that he could refer to. Off M went with his plan! Collaboration!! Amazing!!!

Though we, as teachers, spend little time recognizing when we do good work, I want to take this space today to do just that. I foster creativity and innovation in my writing program, and its a good thing!

M.

What does good look like?

I would say that the biggest addition to my writer's workshop this year has been the Mentor Text.

In the writer's workshop, I encourage all the students to be creative and innovative. Within the framework established they must publish their writing on the MOODLE. As one of the steps of their Developing and Organizing Content, they must find a mentor text - an example of what they are writing. If they are creating a menu, then they must find an example of an excellent menu.

The mentor text provides many benefits to the writer's workshop. It gets them inspired towards excellence. They have an example of what excellence looks like! It gets them thinking about how that specific text works. If we continue with our menu example - it forces them to think about how menus work. They must think of appetizers, salads, main dishes, desserts, etc. This is what good looks like.

Too often children rely on their schema. They create based on what they think it looks like, but spend too little time actually examining what excellence looks like.

I have taken this into my assessments as well. In the writing assessments I give them, I provide for them an example of what good looks like. This really elevates the work, and gives more evidence to me. Did the child not succeed on the task because they couldn't, or did they just not know what good looks like? A clear target is much easier to hit, isn't it?

So far in the writer's workshop, I've found two main examples of mentor texts being used. The first is a completed example. This may mean a published menu from a favourite establishment. The second tends to be an instructional piece - possibly a "How to Create a Menu" article that outlines the steps to successful creation. Either way, success is attainable!

M.