I wanted to write a bit about my TPA which I completed this week. I did writing and we worked specifically on descriptive paragraphs about a person we care about. I was really nervous going into the lesson because up until last week we had never done a full week of writing or finished a full project with all of the drafts. I am happy and proud to report that the mini-unit went REALLY well. The kids wrote 3 distinct drafts and complete a prewriting activity. Each draft was supposed to show some revisions from the prior draft, which is new to these kids (they are more used to editing than revising), but they thoughtfully revised and changed their work. I was most happy because they were all so proud of their final copies, which we mounted on colored paper and they read aloud to classmates in small groups.
In addition to the actual writing skills, one of my goals for the TPA was working on writer's stamina and writer's etiquette for peer conferencing. I was impressed by how receptive the kids were to this and I think it contributed a lot to the level of pride everyone had in his/her work.
My one frustration was that I had the opportunity to work one and one with our EL student and really dig deep on her revisions and reteaching what exactly was meant by description, but during that conference, DIane was out of the room and so it didn't get taped! ugh! It's hard to balance the feeling that you are putting on a show with an authentic desire to work with kids when they need it most. I guess in the end it's more important that she got the help she needed than me getting the footage.
Congrats on a successful TPA teaching sequence. Do you think the strong results were partly due to the planning involved before the teaching begins? Did working out the assessment as a first step help guide the way you put together your scope and sequence for the 5 days and give you a more solid feeling that you were purposeful about planning instruction that addressed objectives? What you reported in this post is quite impressive--if the class had not experienced 5 days in a row of writing before last week, and then did so, then you went a long way toward developing their stamina. Did they write in class for sustained periods of time each day, or get a minilesson, do a bit of writing, then take their paragraphs home for additional work?
ReplyDeleteAlso, if they weren't used to revising (only editing), and they were able to make changes to the ideas, word choice, and organization of their work, then you've triggered the use of a skill they'll use for LIFE. I'd be curious to know what you taught them about the revision process. A 4th grader who knows the difference between editing and revising is on the right path to writing accomplishment.
And finally, introducing the substance and etiquette of peer response is so important. I'm glad to hear the kids were quick to pick up on what you taught and put it to good use in giving each other feedback. There's a good book--old now, but still appropriate--called When Children Write by Tim Lensmire (professor at the U of M). If you get more interested in peer response, borrow the book!
You tackled a lot. In an ideal world, the writing workshop model, revision strategies, and growing students into effective peer responders would be the work of a whole school year! I hope you have a chance to try another week-long workshop project. What do you think? No filming this time ;_)