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After looking through all of the articles and videos, I found a few fasconating elements to use in my classroom! First, there was a video "write using mentor text" and in this video, Joan Sedita talks about emulating others to write. Which is basically using models and examples to help create our own writing. She used the example of if we got into a car accident and had to write an accident report, we would ask to see models of other accident reports so we know what to write. The structure and format, but with our own story. I learned we can also do this with our students! Obviously, they are not writing accident reports, but we can emulate much smaller things. For example, if you are having your students write a weather report. You can make it 4-5 sentences and model how this is done using a prior example. You break down what the example holds, what words they use to describe the weather, and what sequence to put the forecast in. Really have a good conversation and emulate how to write the weather for the day before having students try this on their own. I believe this could be super productive in the classroom as you are explicitly walking them through the writing while also providing a visual example. The other thing that really stood out to me was in the article, Writing in Early Childhood Classrooms: 12 Best Practices, which mentioned two great practices I never thought about but will be implementing in my future Kinder classroom. First, it mentioned accepting all forms of writing. I never really thought about this because I haven't taught kindergarten previously, but now, thinking about it, students are coming in at all different levels, so I need to be open to accepting scribbles, drawing, letter-like shapes, etc., especially at the beginning of the year. This is some students' first time attempting to write. So, encouraging them to even make a mark on the paper is critical for their writing development. Even if I asked specifically for the letter A, if a student is coming in week one, giving me a circle. I will need to accept that and praise them for trying. The other part is encouraging invented spelling. If students are learning and putting their phonics skills to work, and are writing the sounds they hear. That is great for kindergarten. I need to remember coming down from 4th grade, that this is some of their very first classroom experiences, and we hold high expectations for such little minds. Which is great, but they are just starting! All of these articles and videos were very helpful, but these two specifically will stick with me as a venture into kindergarten next year!

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I had the opportunity to look through some of the articles and videos and took away strategies that I can implement into the classroom. Under the kindergarten interactive writing lesson video my two takeaways were interactive writing (sharing the pen) and the oral sentence mapping and white board tracking. The teacher invites the students to come up to the chart paper and write the specific letters, letter blends, or high-frequency words that match their current learning objective. Instead of just writing for the students as a share writing or having them write individually (which in kindergarten is not typically appropriate), she shares the control of the marker with the students. My takeaway and how I plan to incorporate it into my classroom is during calendar time. Every week we learn a new sight word, we practice spelling, word building, and sentence writing. I typically took the control during calendar time however; I could guide and support my students by giving them the control of the marker when reviewing words. I would incorporate whiteboards for students to utilize while sitting on the carpet. If they are not the student being selected to help this gives students an opportunity to be engaged and from tuning out while the student is at the board. I would pair oral segmenting with the students' individual markers on their own whiteboards. One of the articles I read "helping students who struggle to write: classroom compensations" from reading rockets emphasizes to help struggling writers, the ability to physically (fine motor) and mentally connect writing can be so overwhelming, especially early on, that students will begin to shut down. To ensure this does not happen incorporating checkpoints where I can sit 1:1 with students or in small groups can help keep them on track with their writing. Providing movement breaks during the writing process can also help. It is often physically impossible for students to be focused on academics, specifically writing.

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After watching a few of the videos and skimming a few articles, the 12 best practices for writing in Early Childhood Classrooms article gave me some good ideas to use next school year. One of the ideas was to display theme-related words in the writing center. This year was the first year that my kindergarten team and I have taught full-day kindergarten. Previously, it has been half-day. This was a big change because there was never time for centers before. This year, none of us had a center that was just designated to be a "writing center." Instead, we had a writing block built into our day and we would do some journal writing based off a read-aloud. However, sometimes when we would have to finish other work, I would miss that writing block of time. Next year, I think I want to try a writing center, so that my students will have that time to write on their own. I like the theme-related word wall, so that they can have ideas on what to write about. Another tip I like is to encourage children to read what they write. During our daily writing time, I would try and make it around to each student and have them read what they wrote to me. This would encourage students to be intentional with their writing, which I found really helpful.

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I related to many of these articles and videos as a first grade teacher.  Seeing the levels of writing skills was eye-opening, because I experienced this the past school year.  Many of my students were has varying levels of writing skills and it made it difficult to differentiate.  I enjoy hearing the strategies that were given in “How can I motivate young writers?” because engagement is key.  One of the strategies that stood out was collaboration.  I gave my students writing partners at the beginning of the year and then I would pull students to the small group table.  It can be time-consuming trying to help check each students writing and using a partner editor was beneficial.  I also did a writing share each Friday.  I had a microphone and the students would take turns reading their story aloud.  As each student took turns, I would have them say one positive thing about their writing.  There are also great ideas in the article, “7 Great Ways to Encourage Your Child’s Writing.”  I liked reading about the “I can” books, because that can be an extended year writing project.  Each time the student does reaches an accomplishment, they can add to their book.  It is not only a way to see how their writing grows throughout the year, but it is also motivating.  They can also attach pictures to their writing, to work on adding details, and labeling.  I would also explain at the beginning at the year that their are things that we may not be able to do, but with practice we can do it!  I would love to implement that in my classroom.  I also found the Kindergarten lesson to be very impactful.  I thought it was a great example of connecting the book to the writing.  She utilized the book, provided the students with necessary materials, and frequently called on students to help.  I thought the sticky notes were a neat idea to count out the amount of words in the sentence and I would love to try this in my classroom.  I also liked how she had the class search for letter and words around the room.  She also, would guide the student with skills that they have not learned.  After they finished, she had the class re-read the sentence and draw a picture to match.  The teacher also pasted the sticky notes in the book, so the class could see how it related to the story.  A key takeaway that I learned throughout this module is giving students exposure to writing and providing model examples.  I was amazed by the growth that my students made from the beginning of the year to end with the use of mentor texts and model examples.

Questions:  What strategies have worked well for you when differentiated for your classroom?  Also, how do you incorporate daily writing to motivate students?

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Looking through the articles and videos, I found a few strategies that I already us, but can switch up or can try out. One of my favorites was "Play a game with pictures." I love the idea of using a magazine to get pictures for students to write stories about. In my classroom, we already do picture writing but the picture is provided for the students. If I were to implement the magazine method, students could pick their own pictures, cut out a few of them and create their own image. When they complete that, they can create a story about what they put together. I believe this encourages student creativity and imagination. Not only are the students are doing an activity that challenges them to create, but it challenges their thinking. Students have to be intentional about the pictures they select to create a cohesive story. I also noticed a trend of scaffolding and supporting students in their writing. Last year, I found ways to make writing a whole group activity to be able to fit it into our schedule. Through the "How Do I Write…? Scaffolding Preschoolers’ Early Writing Skills" article, students were able to make connections through different supports like: pictures, acting, playing and independent practice. Through these activities found in different areas, they were able to practice their writing. I can consider this for next year to incorporate more writing activities for students throughout different areas of the classroom. Learning to write does not have to be in a whole group setting, but it can occur on a student's own time, in a supported center, or even during their play time. As a reflection, I ask, "how can I find more ways to allow students to explore writing in their own ways and time?"

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After reviewing several of the articles and videos from this module, two strategies stood out to me that I think would be effective in my fourth-grade classroom. The first strategy is creating a writing center with topic-specific resources, such as vocabulary word banks, mentor texts, graphic organizers, and sentence starters. While fourth graders are more independent writers than younger students, they still benefit from having supports available as they write. I could organize the writing center around our current reading or science and social studies units so students have access to academic vocabulary and ideas related to the content they are learning. This would encourage students to use stronger vocabulary and make meaningful connections across subjects while giving them more ownership of their writing.

Another strategy I found valuable was providing opportunities for students to share and discuss their writing throughout the writing process rather than waiting until the final draft is complete. The videos emphasized the importance of students reading their writing aloud, and I think this would be especially beneficial in fourth grade. During writing workshop, I could have students meet with a partner or small group to read their drafts, receive feedback, and discuss ways to improve their writing. Reading their work aloud helps students notice areas that may not sound clear and encourages them to revise with a purpose. It also gives students the opportunity to learn from one another and develop stronger communication and collaboration skills. Both of these strategies would help create a supportive writing environment where students feel more confident and engaged throughout the writing process.

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After reading multiple articles from this module, many strategies stood out to me that I can incorporate into my classroom. I feel like a broken record, but I constantly emphasize how important I believe writing is, especially in the early grades. In my school, we do not have a designated writing block, which is something I would absolutely love to have. However, something I strongly believe in is providing students with time throughout every day to write. Although there is not a set writing block, I make sure my students are writing every day. Whether we take time away from another part of the day, incorporate writing into centers, provide independent writing opportunities, or work with an IA, students will always have an opportunity to write in my classroom. As a strong believer in the importance of early writing, I loved the strategies discussed throughout these articles. The first strategy that stood out to me was embedding writing throughout the school day instead of limiting it to a designated writing block. The "Reading Rockets article Writing in Early Childhood Classrooms: 12 Best Practices", reinforced that students become stronger writers when they have frequent, authentic opportunities to write. In my classroom, I try my hardest to incorporate writing into different subject areas, such as science, social studies, and math reflections, but I know this is something I can continue to expand. These articles gave me ideas such as students could write predictions before a science experiment, explain the steps they took to solve a math problem, or respond to a read aloud. This approach helps students see that writing is a tool for learning across all subject areas, not just something they do during reading.The second strategy that stood out to me was providing students with meaningful choices and creative opportunities to promote writing. My students all have their own journals that they use independently during centers. Usually, they are given a prompt, a spelling skill to incorporate, a high frequency word to practice, or a picture to write about in their journal. Students are also often given the freedom to choose their own topics, and their writing is always paired with a drawing above their sentence. Even though my students enjoy these options, the articles "7 Great Ways to Encourage Your Child's Writing from Reading Rockets and Top Tips for Getting Young Writers Inspired", from Write Academy gave me additional ideas to continue motivating my students. These articles provided me with ideas beyond what I currently offer my students to keep writing exciting and engaging. I loved the idea of having students keep a journal of story ideas that they can return to when they need inspiration. I also liked the idea of incorporating more pictures as writing prompts and having students create personal newspapers with silly news stories, fictional characters, or different time periods. These activities allow students to use their creativity while still practicing important writing skills. The “I Can” book also stood out to me because students could write about new skills they have learned throughout the year. My students would love the opportunity to reflect on their growth and celebrate their accomplishments through writing.

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After reading through the resources in the module I find myself thoroughly impressed by the ability of pre-school and kindergarten teachers to provide instruction for students of such disparate levels. I really thought that one sentence was great philosophy for all levels of literacy education and something that I will try and embody this coming school year: “Teachers can also support children of all levels of writing ability within one activity, however, by strategically individualizing how they involve each child.” I think this was pertinent because I could not believe how many of the early writing strategies I thought would be genuinely beneficial to my high school students.

One of these strategies was to engage in group writing experiences. I love the idea of encouraging students to see writing as a collaborative exercise where they can bounce ideas off one another and solicit feedback, find the perfect word, and try something daring with shared responsibility. Basically, I don’t think that good writing ever happens in a vacuum so this is a meaningful strategy to utilize no matter the age and level of the writers.

A second strategy that I loved was from Colorin Colorado and it was the encouragement to use games in the writing process. I think that writing is genuinely fun and if we can get students to see this it is all the better for them. I have used games that encourage creative thinking and vocab development as brainbreaks in the past (Taboo, Scattergories, and Anomia) but will have to incorporate some games that help with writing as well. It could be fun to do something like story cubes, or write and pass activities to stretch students ability and have fun while doing it.

If I may, there was also a third strategy I loved. I think that the idea of creating a class newspaper/magazine/publication is a great one. Giving students an outlet for their work can be both empowering and motivating. I think that at the high school level (or even elementary) working towards a pseudo-literary magazine or New Yorker type publication would be amazing. Throughout the year you could have students submit everything from poems, to essays, to short stories, to visual art and put it all together, printing it out and distributing it at the end of the year. Creating an artifact could be a really great way to encourage writing and something I think students would remember for a long time.

Finally, I do have a question for everyone. I spend a lot of time looking backwards as I have not taught the grades where foundational literacy is being taught. If I could ask you to look forward, what skills and activities do you see as being most meaningful as students move on from your classes? If you could have teachers of higher grades continue to reteach/practice a specific skill or use a specific activity what would it be?

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Writing is such a great tool for all the literacy skills that we have been learning about in this class. It amazes me that writing is not a part of most schools curriculums. In my school, I do not have a writing block so I fit it in where I can. This isn't the best practice because I find it hard that I am not able to teach them properly and it feels so rushed. When I was student teaching they had Kid-writing for 1.5 hours, reading specialists would come in and assist with children, the teacher will take a group and there would be a group working by themselves. After they wrote 2-4 sentences, they would draw their picture and then some would have the chance to share their stories to their classmates while the classmates would ask questions about their stories. I loved it and I couldn't wait to get my own classroom to do the same thing. Unfortunately, that was not my experience since I didn't have a block for reading but had to figure out how to fit it in throughout the day.

Since the way I teach writing is different now due to time and scheduling, I found these articles to be helpful in how I can incorporate more writing time throughout the day. The article "How do I write.." had a lot of good ways to teach and help students with their beginning writing skills. Especially in kindergarten, having them start just by drawing a picture and then telling about the picture, then I would encourage them to add to their picture - starting with the first sound and then as they progress to add more letters to the words and eventually writing sentences. I feel like I do a good job at accepting all types of 'writing' and praise the children for where they are at in their own writing. I like doing group writing to begin starter sentences and I stretch out the word to model my thought process and will have students help me identify the sound I hear. I encourage them to write the sounds they hear and to read me back their sentences so I can do my adult writing under it. I hear a lot especially in the beginning of the year that their hands are tired so I incorporate fine motor activities to help build stamina in their hands and fingers to help with their writing.

As I was reading through these articles I had an 'a-ha' moment that I would like to start next year in my classroom. I have some students who just do not have the fine motors skills in the beginning of the year. We start right away with 'writing' shapes and lines and then moving into letters. I have seen many of my students act out when we would start writing because they couldn't do it, they would rip their papers or throw their pencils. I would even try highlighting it and having them trace but that was even causing them to shut down. I tried hand over hand and it would work until I had to move on to help another student. After reading these articles and watching the videos I feel like a good solution to help eliminate some of this frustration in the beginning of the year is to provide these students with a tactile activity (using their fingers to make letters in shaving cream, or paint bags) I would still make sure they get practice with a pencil but some students may not be there yet in the beginning of the year and to build that love a writing I think this may be a helpful and fun solution.

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This week’s resources emphasized the importance of building a strong foundation in early writing because these skills support students’ overall literacy development. One idea that stood out to me was the importance of focusing on the writer, not just the writing product. As Kindergarten teachers, it is important to recognize that young children are developing confidence, creativity, and communication skills through writing, even when their work does not look conventional yet. I appreciated the strategies that encouraged teachers to provide many opportunities for students to write through drawings, labeling, storytelling, and sharing their ideas. Using mentor texts is a practice I already incorporate in my classroom because students benefit from seeing examples of how authors organize their thoughts and use words to communicate. The resources for supporting struggling writers also provided helpful reminders about using scaffolds such as sentence starters, visuals, word walls, and oral rehearsal before writing. Working with English Language Learners especially highlights the need for these supports because students need opportunities to develop language before they can fully express their ideas in writing. Overall, these resources reinforced that creating a classroom where writing is valued, celebrated, and practiced daily helps students become confident lifelong writers.

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After viewing this article, I learned a lot of motivating and structured strategies to promote effective writing instruction. One article that caught my attention was ways to motivate younger writers. In my third grade classroom, I usually get sighs and eye rolls when it's time to write. Most of my students dislike writing because they don't know how to spell, how to structure their writing, and don't enjoy writing multiple sentences. Overall they find it boring, and I want to them to enjoy writing and be proud of their work. One way was to develop writing is to implement experiences around real-life events. Some activities that I want to try are creating invitations for class performances, write and design thank you notes to a variety of audiences (friends, family, guest readers), and arrange a menu for a math activity. I like how we can incorporate writing activities in different subjects like science and math to teach students that writing isn't only a reading skill, but is an essential skill across all areas. Another strategy that I learned about was helping students who struggle with spelling. I was interested to read more about this since my students always ask me how to spell words, especially when given a writing prompt. A way to better support students is creating a structured writing routine that isn't overwhelming for students. First, start with a pre-organization stage to brainstorm their ideas. Then, create a writing draft and allow students to try using phonics skills to spell words. Next, create a stage for students to fix misspelled words. You can even do a partner peer-review activity where students check another students work for spelling errors. It's important to model each stage for students and explicitly teach specific phonic skills to better prepare them to spell words phonetically. Overall, from now on I want my students to enjoy writing and not view it was an aggravating task, and to better support them with a structured process for writing.

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This week's module showed the idea that writing begins long before children are able to write complete words and sentences. Early fine motor tasks, such as drawing and scribbling are precursors for writing. These materials really helped me understand how important it is for students to express themselves without having to really worry about spelling correct formation right off the bat!

In the article “Do I Write?” I really liked the idea of  scaffolding writing instruction based on each child's individual stage of writing development. Instead of expecting every student to write the same way, teachers should see what children already know and provide support that helps them take the next step.

In the article about the 12 best practices, I like the idea of having writing materials in all centers, and themed writing centers throughout the year to keep students engaged. I would make the themed writing center follow what we are learning throughout the Wonders unit, and make sure there are art supplies with them so they can write and then create. I know this will be something they want to do. I also think that by having writing materials at all centers, students will be more willing to do more writing!

The article “7 Great Ways To Encourage Your Child’s Writing”, was my favorite! I want to try the tell me how game as well as writing a convince me letter!

One of the biggest takeaways for me was how when teachers praise children's ideas, creativity, and effort, as opposed to always correcting and changing what the student is writing,  students become more confident and willing to take risks. This positive approach helps children develop a growth mindset and view themselves as capable writers. I also would like to try some strategies to motivate students as early writers.

Overall, I enjoy  this module and look forward to referring to it throughout the school year. One thing I told myself at the end of this past year was I was going to get better at writing instruction, and this will be an excellent starting point.

If you teach kindergarten- can you tell me some tips and tricks that have worked well in your classroom? Especially when students are at all different levels.

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After reviewing a few of the articles and videos, there were many strategies that I found would be beneficial to try with the students in my K-2nd learning support classroom. Writing is an area where many of my students struggle from the spelling, grammar, brainstorming, and forming sentences. It is also an area where I struggle to provide the best supports for my students in my opinion, so reading all these resources was great to find new strategies and teaching methods to use this school year. One strategy I want to do more of this year is building in more time for explicitly teaching writing and working through the process with my students on a writing prompt. I feel this modeling will help them feel supported enough to want to engage with the writing because many of my students shut down when being asked to write. Also, to make these writing lessons more conducive to students needs, I could have them complete "on demand" writings like the article, " Building Life Long Writing Skills", from Edutopia suggested to get to know your students better as writers. A few other strategies I learned about that I would like to implement within my classroom are the suggestions provided within the Reading Rockets article, "Helping Students Who Struggle to Write: Classroom Compensations". The couple which really stood out to me are staging and decreasing quantity. I feel these would be very beneficial for my students because they tend to become easily overwhelmed with writing tasks and will shut down. Staging will be helpful for them because they are able to see the task of writing within chunks and not in one big task that feels like it is too much for them to complete. Also, decreasing the amount of writing they have to do provides that same relief of knowing they do not have a large amount of writing, but still enough to complete the task required. The other area in this same article that stood out to me was providing students with movement breaks during writing. I feel this would be beneficial for all students, but could definitely help my students who have difficulties with focus.

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After reading the given resources on early writing, I saw many effective strategies to be able to incorporate more writing in the classroom. I often struggle with finding the time to incorporate writing and then not teaching it as often as I'd like to. I find myself teaching a specific writing skill and then sending the kids to do an assignment independently, which they tend to then not enjoy their writing time as much because they feel like this is more complicated or "hard" for some of them to do on their own. In some of the articles, it mentioned a writing center where they can use theme related activities to do more of a fun writing experience. I also read about encouraging inventive spelling. I have mixed feelings about this topic. I feel like a lot of students have poor spelling habits because of this philosophy. When we encourage the students to write a word how they hear it, that is not the case for all words. As a fourth grade teacher, I am always correcting my students spelling in their writing assignments because they still are spelling the word as they hear it. I would love to research this topic more eventually to see if there are more studies done about phonetically spelling words. Another topic that I read in the articles that stood out to me was using mentor texts. When I am teaching a skill or topic to my students, I like to find additional resources or read alouds to read to my students to help them understand the new skill. Using this as an example, helps students feel supported when they have extra examples and how authors organize their thoughts and words in their writing piece. This goes along with students struggling to complete their assignments due to it being too complex. I read about setting writing assignments up in stages, taking parts of the assignment away or changing it slightly, giving more time to complete, providing more structure, not making them copy their work over and over again, allowing students to type to help with handwriting, using a spell checker for a final draft and not stressing over the spelling of words until they reach that step in their writing process. Moving forward, I'd love to find more ways to make students view writing as a more enjoyable task and try to find opportunities for more free writing instead of just graded assignments!

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After reviewing the articles, videos, and resources provided in the module, I identified several strategies I can incorporate in my classroom next year! After reading "Helping Students Who Struggle to Write: Classroom Compensations" two strategies stood out to me that I could easily use in my second-grade classroom. The first is staging, or breaking a writing assignment into smaller chunks. Instead of completing an entire writing piece at once, I could follow the process of focusing on brainstorming one day, drafting the next, and revising another day. This strategy would allow me to concentrate on one skill at a time rather than trying to do everything at once.

Another strategy I want to implement is to allow students extra time and reduce the amount of writing occurring when appropriate for my students' age. I find that some of my students understand the content but struggle to get their ideas onto their papers. This would allow my students to focus on producing quality work instead of rushing to finish their assignment.

My question is: What are some of your favorite ways to support struggling writers while still allowing them to be independent and develop their confidence in writing?

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Reviewing these resources was really beneficial. There were a lot of different ideas and perspectives. One of the concepts I really liked was the idea of talking things out to support writing. As a fourth grade teacher, I often hear "I don't know what to write" whether there is a specific prompt or more open ended writing. I have found that talking things out and asking my students questions about the knowledge they have, really helps them. It gets them thinking more freely, and sometimes takes away the initial 'pressure' of writing or being completely correct. Another thing that I will definitely continue to implement in my classroom is mentor texts. I really liked the video that spoke on mentor texts and pointed out the fact that given students an example or a full mentor text can be overwhelming and take away from the true ability to emulate the text. It opened my eyes to a new way of using mentor texts. As I begin to use mentor texts, I could break up the mentor texts by specific paragraphs and use them specifically when students are working on that paragraph. For example, if we are writing our introduction paragraph, I give students an example of just an introduction paragraph to use as they begin drafting and writing their own. It's also super important to unpack the mentor texts with students so they are focused on exactly what they should be emulating and learning from it.

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I found the articles this week to be very helpful. 5th grade was not given a specific writing block this year at my school and was basically told to "fit it wherever". We have been struggling with that because our day is already jam packed with other important subjects/activities throughout the day. It is hard to find the time to fit everything in. While reading through the articles this week I was able to find different ways to incorporate writing throughout the school day. I would love to create a writing center in my classroom for the upcoming school year. Currently my students complete writing journals each morning but I love the idea of having a writing center and getting them to actually write out their responses and not type them. This year I also tried Lit circles for the first time which went really well. This also gave my students another opportunity to write throughout the day as they reflected on their reading with their group.