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I love teaching first grade writing because students are excited and creative with their ideas. However, students get stuck on things like spelling or how to get their great ideas on paper. I think that I can analyze my students' writing to help them create goals and plan for targeted guided writing instruction. Using Seesaw to help students generate verbal and visual stories could be a great starting point. Then, students can review what they've created verbally and visually to write their ideas. I am excited to collaborate with my team to improve our writing instruction.

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I love that the podcast focused on identifying student needs and targeting them. I think that I have gotten a lot better at teaching reading and math by focusing on specific behaviors I am seeing with students and teaching them based upon that. I think that my team and I can focus on identifying goals with students to plan for fluid instruction that is targeted to student needs. Reading students writing and analyzing it will help us to better understand writing behaviors and help them to improve.

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I love that Jen started out by talking about how the strategies could be used in many different settings. It is so important that we look at writing in a fluid way across genres. I like that she organized writing by goals. It is awesome how she explained the way writers think and that we think about what our writers need. This makes me think differently about planning writing. We should be focused on our student needs more than just the product they will be creating or steps in the writing
process.

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I would like to try having my students compose their writing using pictures to try to convince a peer or teach something.

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I would like to try having my students compose their writing using pictures to try to convince a peer or teach something.

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This podcast reminded me that is it important to spend enough time on brainstorming and teaching students how to get their ideas on paper. It is also important to give students choice in their writing and to make sure they enjoy writing. I also like the idea of going over writing goals at the start.

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This podcast reminded me that is it important to spend enough time on brainstorming and teaching students how to get their ideas on paper. It is also important to give students choice in their writing and to make sure they enjoy writing. I also like the idea of going over writing goals at the start.

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I like how she shared that collaborative writing could be used at any point in the writing process. Students are known to edit a peer's completed work but I can see how collaborating during brainstorming or while drafting can really help students gain confidence and excitement about their writing. 

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I like how she shared that collaborative writing could be used at any point in the writing process. Students are known to edit a peer's completed work but I can see how collaborating during brainstorming or while drafting can really help students gain confidence and excitement about their writing. 

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I think going beyond just mini lessons with different writing strategies is something I need to implement more. Taking these skills and thinking aloud as I do prompts with the students, or taking them aside for a conference on their writing, is something that I am looking to utilize this year. I have already tried using different strategies with their writing as a whole, so honing in on the students will help strengthen them as writers.

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Something that sunk in was keeping in mind that reading and writing go together. For some reason, this just didn't click before, so it's a bit of an "ah-ha" moment. As a teacher, I need to think about how my students read (their fluency, their focus, etc.) and how that can impact their writing. It makes me think about how I can help build them both as a reader and a writer.

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I feel that I have gained a lot from this podcast and the Great to Greater Writing class, specifically understanding the hierarchy of the 10 goals. I think grouping my students by their writing goals will be a great way to implement conferences for guided writing, and this is so clear-cut to help build up writers, which makes it less intimidating.

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We are finishing up Unit 2 of writing, I want to give my students all the feedback/strategies they deserve. I need to give more time to conference individually with students. A great way to start doing this is for that collaborative piece with their peers. My students tend to respond to their peers feedback better. I need to put this into place before the piece is ready to edit.

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We are finishing up Unit 2 of writing, I want to give my students all the feedback/strategies they deserve. I need to give more time to conference individually with students. A great way to start doing this is for that collaborative piece with their peers. My students tend to respond to their peers feedback better. I need to put this into place before the piece is ready to edit.

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I am reflecting on my teaching styles/perspective of writing. I do see myself as a reading teacher, but now also a writing teacher. It is ok that every student is at a different stage of writing. It is my job to individualize their plan by giving them strategies to succeed and take with them as they develop. I also want to remind myself that yes we have a curriculum to follow, but it is ok to pull some outside strategies to help our students.

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I am reflecting on my teaching styles/perspective of writing. I do see myself as a reading teacher, but now also a writing teacher. It is ok that every student is at a different stage of writing. It is my job to individualize their plan by giving them strategies to succeed and take with them as they develop. I also want to remind myself that yes we have a curriculum to follow, but it is ok to pull some outside strategies to help our students.

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My biggest takeaway from this podcast was how she explaining the writing strategies can be used for all different situations; whole group, small group, conferencing, in reading, etc. Writing is so individualized for each student, so our instruction should be as well.

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My biggest takeaway from this podcast was how she explaining the writing strategies can be used for all different situations; whole group, small group, conferencing, in reading, etc. Writing is so individualized for each student, so our instruction should be as well.

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Since I teaching kindergarten, I am excited to try the strategies that Jennifer has for composing with pictures. I also connected with strategy ten: Work Collaboratively. Since we have been talking about the 4 C's and giving effective feedback, I thought this would be an excellent strategy to look at. She said how this strategy supports peers working together across the entire writing process and not just during editing/revising. She stated that their were strategies on feedback. I am excited to apply these strategies into my teaching to help support my students more effectively.

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After listening to this podcast, it reminded me that teaching writing is similar to teaching reading. We need to first look at each students individual needs and then find the strategies that will work best for them. I realized that I can teach the strategies in whole group if all my students would benefit from that strategies, but the strategies could also be taught in small groups or even individually. I need to be more reflective and responsive when teaching writing, just like I am when teaching reading.

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My biggest takeaway was how she explained how the book was organized by ten goals. I liked how she went through and explained each goal. I also liked how she discussed that we need to first look at each student's work and see what the goals are for each specific student. I am excited to use the Writing Strategies Book to find strategies that will help my students individual needs.

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Jennifer mentions that there are more ways for students to work in collaborative groups during writing than just to peer edit. I can say that I have fallen guilty of only allowing students to collaborate in revising and editing many times. I am curious to learn more about other ways in which students can collaborate during writing time.

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Like most teachers, I like to make sure that I have everything planned before starting a unit, but in this podcast, I was reminded of how important it is to be reflective in my teaching. It's not always possible to anticipate all the needs students may have, so it is important to think of writing as a formative assessment to guide future instruction. I feel that I can determine students needs but it can be hard to determine how to tackle supporting these needs, so having a list of strategies organized by need like the Writing Strategies book would be a great benefit.

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I feel like sometimes I get suck in the mindset of looking at writers overall rather than looking at the specific skills that they excel in or struggle with. This reminded me that we need to look deeper to get to know our writers and target their specific goals. The Writing Strategies book is a great way to find strategies that will meet those specific goals.

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I like the idea she mentioned about kids working in groups or partners aside from the editing part of the writing process.  I don't know why that thought never crossed my mind.  I feel like my kids can struggle with generating ideas/topics so what a great time to collaborate with peers and create ideas together.  

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I like the idea she mentioned about kids working in groups or partners aside from the editing part of the writing process.  I don't know why that thought never crossed my mind.  I feel like my kids can struggle with generating ideas/topics so what a great time to collaborate with peers and create ideas together.  

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After listening to this podcast, it made me want to be more purposeful in my planning for writing.  I feel like I start a genre with my kids and it is a lot of here is "what" we are doing but not really explaining the "how" of it.  I think having the specific goals in mind of kids for writing will help with planning what strategies to teach.  I want to incorporate more of these within my writing block time. 

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After listening to this podcast, it made me want to be more purposeful in my planning for writing.  I feel like I start a genre with my kids and it is a lot of here is "what" we are doing but not really explaining the "how" of it.  I think having the specific goals in mind of kids for writing will help with planning what strategies to teach.  I want to incorporate more of these within my writing block time. 

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My biggest take away was when Jennifer was discussing the connection between reading and writing.  In my mind, I know they are connected but the way she explained it made complete sense.  She used the examples of fluency in reading may correlate with grammar and punctuation in writing, or an emergent reader using pictures may correlate with an emergent writing using pictures to share their thoughts.  It makes me take a step back and think about what are the strategies I am working during reading with my specific groups of kids and then how can those be connected in writing.  

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My biggest take away was when Jennifer was discussing the connection between reading and writing.  In my mind, I know they are connected but the way she explained it made complete sense.  She used the examples of fluency in reading may correlate with grammar and punctuation in writing, or an emergent reader using pictures may correlate with an emergent writing using pictures to share their thoughts.  It makes me take a step back and think about what are the strategies I am working during reading with my specific groups of kids and then how can those be connected in writing.  

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I am excited to try to have my students work in groups in different stages of the writing process, and not just for peer editing. I think it will help so many of my students who struggle with coming up with ideas and how to organize their work! 

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I am excited to try to have my students work in groups in different stages of the writing process, and not just for peer editing. I think it will help so many of my students who struggle with coming up with ideas and how to organize their work! 

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I really appreciate how Jennifer really thought about how to organize her writing strategies book. She was really reflective and thought about what would be the most helpful for teachers when thinking about their students and their writing goals. Being able to use the writing strategies in whole group and small group settings really allows teachers to meet the needs of students.

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I really appreciate how Jennifer really thought about how to organize her writing strategies book. She was really reflective and thought about what would be the most helpful for teachers when thinking about their students and their writing goals. Being able to use the writing strategies in whole group and small group settings really allows teachers to meet the needs of students.

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My greatest take away was about the way we can use collaboration in writing. It is so true when she mentions that teachers use collaborative groups to peer edit a writing piece. To use collaboration in all parts of the writing process would allow students who struggle at the beginning, middle, and end of the writing process would feel supported. 

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My greatest take away was about the way we can use collaboration in writing. It is so true when she mentions that teachers use collaborative groups to peer edit a writing piece. To use collaboration in all parts of the writing process would allow students who struggle at the beginning, middle, and end of the writing process would feel supported. 

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After listening to her speak, I feel even more confident in knowing how much reading and writing go hand in hand. When students are reading a text that has one main focus, that will provide a good model for them to use in their own writing pieces.  Especially in fourth grade, where we spend a lot of time focusing on main idea and key details, students can use what they have read to help them become a stronger writer.

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Having the opportunity to collaborate with teachers across grades is a wonderful idea. Being able to discuss how writing skills should/do build from one year to the next would help me set more meaningful and realistic expectations.

One other practical application would be to continue weaving  in writing strategies throughout the day. Whether I’m modeling writing strategies during a shared reading response or responding to a Science text, writing techniques can be modeled in areas other than just writing time.

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My greatest take away aligns well with our district focus - knowing your students by name and need to best support them. It’s not just about following the sequence of a teacher manual. Instead, know what your students need and carefully use that insight to plan instruction.

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In the future I would like to consider how this can relate to other aspects of balanced literacy instruction.  I have used these strategies within whole group instruction, but I need to use it also for small and individual instruction.  Teaching writing can be challenging.  Like she mentioned in the podcast, not everyone thinks of themselves as a writer.  What I like about this book is that it make teaching writing approachable and do-able for all teachers.  

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In the future I would like to consider how this can relate to other aspects of balanced literacy instruction.  I have used these strategies within whole group instruction, but I need to use it also for small and individual instruction.  Teaching writing can be challenging.  Like she mentioned in the podcast, not everyone thinks of themselves as a writer.  What I like about this book is that it make teaching writing approachable and do-able for all teachers.  

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I like that Jennifer talked about how we need to look at kids first.  What goal will make the biggest difference for them as writers?  Selecting the right goal at the right time is key.  These strategies don't follow a specific order.  I also liked that she talked about how this book not only relates to teaching writing but can be woven into the balanced literacy model.  I didn't consider that these goals could apply to shared reading, interactive writing, organizing ideas, etc.  

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I like that Jennifer talked about how we need to look at kids first.  What goal will make the biggest difference for them as writers?  Selecting the right goal at the right time is key.  These strategies don't follow a specific order.  I also liked that she talked about how this book not only relates to teaching writing but can be woven into the balanced literacy model.  I didn't consider that these goals could apply to shared reading, interactive writing, organizing ideas, etc.  

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For me the biggest takeaway was how she broke down the book into 10 useful goals for student writers.  I just recently purchased her Reading Strategies Book and I am considering this one as well.  Last year our EL resource teacher pushed in each day to co-teach writing.  She used the writing strategies book as her guide.  I used to be afraid to teach writing.  Like Jennifer mentioned in the podcast, her goal is to help teachers feel equipped to teach writing and write well.  I like that she makes it so easy to use.  I started my year teaching kindergartners to begin with an idea by drawing a picture (goal 1).  By the end of the year my students came so far!

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For me the biggest takeaway was how she broke down the book into 10 useful goals for student writers.  I just recently purchased her Reading Strategies Book and I am considering this one as well.  Last year our EL resource teacher pushed in each day to co-teach writing.  She used the writing strategies book as her guide.  I used to be afraid to teach writing.  Like Jennifer mentioned in the podcast, her goal is to help teachers feel equipped to teach writing and write well.  I like that she makes it so easy to use.  I started my year teaching kindergartners to begin with an idea by drawing a picture (goal 1).  By the end of the year my students came so far!

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I am thinking of ways to get my early writers to volume write and encourage them to write for more than 5 minutes (Ha!). It is so hard for kinders in the beginning of the year to write something rich of text and full of meaning.

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I am thinking of ways to get my early writers to volume write and encourage them to write for more than 5 minutes (Ha!). It is so hard for kinders in the beginning of the year to write something rich of text and full of meaning.

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-Michelle Reyes

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I cannot wait to try integrating peer work during writing with my kindergartners. I think in the beginning something as easy as reading their writing to a peer will help them share as well as receive feedback. 

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I cannot wait to try integrating peer work during writing with my kindergartners. I think in the beginning something as easy as reading their writing to a peer will help them share as well as receive feedback. 

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-Michelle Reyes

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I love the idea of building stamina during writing. I have seen many teachers create a visual like a poster or anchor chart where they jot their progress down so the students can see where they have come from. I think this would be so beneficially in kindergarten, because they kiddos write one word then they want to be done and move on. But we can still encourage them to add detail to their pictures or try to sound out more words independently to help them build their stamina in the early stages.

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I love the idea of building stamina during writing. I have seen many teachers create a visual like a poster or anchor chart where they jot their progress down so the students can see where they have come from. I think this would be so beneficially in kindergarten, because they kiddos write one word then they want to be done and move on. But we can still encourage them to add detail to their pictures or try to sound out more words independently to help them build their stamina in the early stages.

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-Michelle Reyes

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One thing Jennifer discussed that I hope to apply in my classroom is the integration of supporting / collaborating with peers throughout all parts of the writing process. Reflecting on my class this year, I think that promoting collaborative writing partnerships throughout each writing stage will be a challenge. Many of my students struggle with writing and they are an extremely chatty class who may have difficulty seeing writing as another time to talk. However, Jennifer’s ideas about supporting your peers throughout all parts of the writing process offer meaningful options for inspiring struggling writers to build upon their ideas and strategies. I also liked that Jennifer brought up the benefits of cross-grade level conversations about writing behaviors from year to year. This can allow teachers to understand what skills their students are coming in with and how to select lessons to best support their curriculum and student needs. I hope to have more conversations with teachers in the grade levels below and above in order to ensure I am making decisions for my instruction to both meet my writers where they are at and prepare them for the next grade level’s focus and expectations.

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One thing Jennifer discussed that I hope to apply in my classroom is the integration of supporting / collaborating with peers throughout all parts of the writing process. Reflecting on my class this year, I think that promoting collaborative writing partnerships throughout each writing stage will be a challenge. Many of my students struggle with writing and they are an extremely chatty class who may have difficulty seeing writing as another time to talk. However, Jennifer’s ideas about supporting your peers throughout all parts of the writing process offer meaningful options for inspiring struggling writers to build upon their ideas and strategies. I also liked that Jennifer brought up the benefits of cross-grade level conversations about writing behaviors from year to year. This can allow teachers to understand what skills their students are coming in with and how to select lessons to best support their curriculum and student needs. I hope to have more conversations with teachers in the grade levels below and above in order to ensure I am making decisions for my instruction to both meet my writers where they are at and prepare them for the next grade level’s focus and expectations.

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Jennifer’s podcast has given me some great insight on where to focus my writing instruction. Most specifically, I enjoyed hearing about the “goals” of writing from her perspective and the similarities between reading and writing instruction. I was able to make a connection to one of last week’s podcasts from Jan Richardson when Jennifer brought up that, just like in reading assessment and instruction, writing teachers should be looking closely at student work in order to choose goals and design instruction that appropriately fit their writers’ needs. I would like to think more critically this year as I evaluate and work alongside my students to help them become more successful writers. To me, this has always come natural in reading instruction, but individualized instructional strategies sometimes seem more difficult to hone in on when it comes to writing. Jennifer also highlighted some meaningful ideas when it comes to helping writers become more detailed and elaborate, but in the right way. Meaningful instruction for elaborating in writing is so much more than just “show don’t tell,” but should scaffold students to use detail that is varied in type and matches the meaning of their story. I think providing students with strong writing models / mentor texts and encouraging a wider variety of vocabulary and word choice is a great focus to help meet this goal.

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Jennifer’s podcast has given me some great insight on where to focus my writing instruction. Most specifically, I enjoyed hearing about the “goals” of writing from her perspective and the similarities between reading and writing instruction. I was able to make a connection to one of last week’s podcasts from Jan Richardson when Jennifer brought up that, just like in reading assessment and instruction, writing teachers should be looking closely at student work in order to choose goals and design instruction that appropriately fit their writers’ needs. I would like to think more critically this year as I evaluate and work alongside my students to help them become more successful writers. To me, this has always come natural in reading instruction, but individualized instructional strategies sometimes seem more difficult to hone in on when it comes to writing. Jennifer also highlighted some meaningful ideas when it comes to helping writers become more detailed and elaborate, but in the right way. Meaningful instruction for elaborating in writing is so much more than just “show don’t tell,” but should scaffold students to use detail that is varied in type and matches the meaning of their story. I think providing students with strong writing models / mentor texts and encouraging a wider variety of vocabulary and word choice is a great focus to help meet this goal.

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One big takeaway for me was how Jennifer immediately discussed her thought process while deciding how to organize the book to best meet writing instructional needs. She explained that how strategies for brainstorming writing in the narrative genre, for a story can often also be used to come up with ideas for an opinion piece, or informative writing topics. This stuck out to me as kind of an (embarrassingly so) “aha-moment.” It sounds so obvious, that effective pre-writing strategies can span the realm of all varieties of writing topics. However, when thinking about my own writing instruction, I found myself asking how often I actually do apply her insights in this way. I also noticed the connection between how this idea and the implications using pre-writing strategies for a variety of topics can have on student writing. One of the writing goals in Jennifer’s book is helping kids with generating ideas. This got me thinking of those struggling writers in my class who, time and time again, come to me with “I don’t know what to write” statement. What a great way to help students constantly build off of writing ideas by merging their topics and ideas across numerous writing genres. Going along with Jennifer’s example; a student who has already brainstormed important people in their life for a story idea can then use what he/she knows about those people to inform others or persuade these people close to them to care about something / take action on a topic. This overlapping of pre-writing strategies so explicitly by literally using the same list or idea generating has the potential to inspire struggling writers more successfully at all ages!

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One big takeaway for me was how Jennifer immediately discussed her thought process while deciding how to organize the book to best meet writing instructional needs. She explained that how strategies for brainstorming writing in the narrative genre, for a story can often also be used to come up with ideas for an opinion piece, or informative writing topics. This stuck out to me as kind of an (embarrassingly so) “aha-moment.” It sounds so obvious, that effective pre-writing strategies can span the realm of all varieties of writing topics. However, when thinking about my own writing instruction, I found myself asking how often I actually do apply her insights in this way. I also noticed the connection between how this idea and the implications using pre-writing strategies for a variety of topics can have on student writing. One of the writing goals in Jennifer’s book is helping kids with generating ideas. This got me thinking of those struggling writers in my class who, time and time again, come to me with “I don’t know what to write” statement. What a great way to help students constantly build off of writing ideas by merging their topics and ideas across numerous writing genres. Going along with Jennifer’s example; a student who has already brainstormed important people in their life for a story idea can then use what he/she knows about those people to inform others or persuade these people close to them to care about something / take action on a topic. This overlapping of pre-writing strategies so explicitly by literally using the same list or idea generating has the potential to inspire struggling writers more successfully at all ages!

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So for me teaching writing has always been my weakness. When she said that the more we experience ourselves, what we plan to teach the students the more believable we are with  how to use the strategies. I want to work on this personally and apply it to when my team plans as well. I think when we experience this for ourselves we will be able to see any misconceptions or areas that might be difficult for our students.

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For me we have always been told how writing and reading are connected but as she explained how they are connected it really connected with me and how I can help my students with both reading and writing. Also by being purposeful with how and what they write after reading can really help the students write the volume they need to be exposed to.

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After hearing her talk, my take away is really understanding how fluid the writing process is. Making sure to teach or model for my students that each part is connected however not so formulaic as I have been teaching the writing process to my students. I am currently reading this book as part of my goal for this year to improve my teaching of writing.

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Listening to her talk, she reminded me so much of Lucy Calkins and then I heard her talk about how she spent lots of time with Lucy Calkins! I've always loved the Writer's Workshop approach with a balance of teaching strategies and helping kids to love writing! Our goal is always to teach our kids strategies for independence. Using this book, we are always looking at our kids first to see what will make the biggest difference for them. Using her Writing Strategies book, we need to make sure that we are being strategic and using what is good for the kids in front of us.

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This year, our team has worked to change the way we plan for writing. We have started to use the models found in this book and we are already noticing a difference in the level of engagement of our students. We are planning out our sequence of lessons based on the writing process. We have also incorporated the idea of "rehearsing," where students will share their ideas and plan for writing before they begin to write. We've also shifted our thinking into not just what students are writing, but how they are going to write it. Using this idea, we've chosen specific lessons geared towards those needs.

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One reflection I had was that students need to be volume writing.  In the past, I've always thought about building to a larger pieces, but when I have worked on volume writing with students, I find them to be more engaged.  Students should also rehearse their writing out loud.  Instead of beginning with a graphic organizer, I can have my students discuss their plan for writing.  I think this will help as we begin to record those ideas.  I'd also like to incorporate more partner work, putting the revision and editing on the students.  

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One reflection I had was that students need to be volume writing.  In the past, I've always thought about building to a larger pieces, but when I have worked on volume writing with students, I find them to be more engaged.  Students should also rehearse their writing out loud.  Instead of beginning with a graphic organizer, I can have my students discuss their plan for writing.  I think this will help as we begin to record those ideas.  I'd also like to incorporate more partner work, putting the revision and editing on the students.  

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An interesting thought is that this resource is organized by goals, which can be transferred across all areas of writing.  Students need to pick topics that they care about.  Students should be working collaboratively with each other.  Careful instruction comes from knowing the right goal at the right time. 

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An interesting thought is that this resource is organized by goals, which can be transferred across all areas of writing.  Students need to pick topics that they care about.  Students should be working collaboratively with each other.  Careful instruction comes from knowing the right goal at the right time. 

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If some students need a certain strategy then it’s more individual lessons or small group. If the majority or all of a class need to work on something then that’s where we make it whole class instruction.

Typically we consider ourselves as reading teachers and we find writing more intimidating. We as teachers need to learn to approach our teaching as a positive and fun thing rather than a struggle because we as teachers sometimes struggle with getting motivated to write. We first need to see ourselves as quality writers to build that confidence for our students to feel and do the same. The more you try strategies yourself as a teacher the more the students are going to be able to grasp what you are trying to teach them.

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Ideally we need to look at our kids that we have in front of us. We need to ask ourselves what is going to make the biggest difference for them. Informal assessments are very important because this can give us insight as far as individual goals. We need to know just what the right goal is at the right time. As teachers, we not only need to understand what is expected at the grade level we teach but the grade levels before and after so we can see where they came from as a writer and where they are to be going to become as successful as possible.

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Students need to make connections between writing and reading because the skills overlap. In reading we see how many pages a students thinks they can read for a given task and visa versa, we can see how many lines a student thinks they can write.

We need to help students engage and elaborate with a lot of detail to make their writing more meaningful and interesting.

We need to constantly as ourselves what we are asking the kids to write and be able to do and how they can go about doing so.