Writing Philosophy
I want to create life-long writers. I hope to give my students the tools and strategies to write freely on topics they love and develop great quality pieces to excel them in advanced schooling and career opportunities. Writing is a form of expression and communication. I want build a classroom community where students feel comfortable sharing and writing what they feel.
I want to incorporate the six traits of writing into my daily instruction. The six traits include teaching ideas, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency, conventions, and presentation. I think these six traits can be explicitly taught or tied into other subjects. When teaching, I hope to model the six traits throughout all subjects to show students that writing is everywhere! I hope to get to know each student individually so I can focus on certain traits depending on the student's individual needs.
After reading the book, 6+1 Traits of Writing by Ruth Culham, I was provided with multiple strategies, explanations, and rubrics to better understand student's writing. I will use both the primary and intermediate editions of the trait books to guide my teaching in the future, depending on my grade level.
After reading the book, 6+1 Traits of Writing by Ruth Culham, I was provided with multiple strategies, explanations, and rubrics to better understand student's writing. I will use both the primary and intermediate editions of the trait books to guide my teaching in the future, depending on my grade level.
I strive to teach the process of writing with the 6 traits intertwined. I think the traits lend a deeper understanding of what should be happening within each stage of writing. Such as, in the pre-writing stage students should focus on the type of voice he/she will need to appeal to the audience or form of the writing. They will also need to gather ideas as they brainstorm their thoughts. Within the drafting stage, the focus should be on organizing the sequence of ideas and use vocabulary or word choice that best illustrates the topic. After writing the piece, students should go back revise their writings. This goes into the revision stage, where students should check for sentence fluency to make sure their writing flows together and makes sense. The next stage should be to edit their writing for any convention errors. Conventions includes spelling, punctuation, and grammar. The last stage of the writing process is publishing, this would include the presentation trait. This trait emphasizes the need for clean writing with minimal errors or cross-outs and their writing is clearly written. The writer can be creative with the display of their writing and use other mediums such as an email, letter, brochure, advertisement, newsletter, or other creative outlet. The main focus is that the work is legible and appealing.
I hope to create a classroom with writing incorporated each day. I want to use strategies that correlate to individual needs and help student success.
I hope to create a classroom with writing incorporated each day. I want to use strategies that correlate to individual needs and help student success.
Writing Center
I cannot wait to implement a writing center in my classroom! Writing centers are areas in the classroom where students can refer to resources to improve their writing. The board includes checklists, writing ideas, vocabulary, sample topics, and supplies. I like the layout and resources included on the example posted above, although my own center will be modified. The resources can be adapted depending on the grade level. Creating a mobile tri-fold presentation board will allow me to move my writing center based on the environment of the classroom. I plan on utilize my writing center during my literacy block. I am currently in an intermediate classroom but next year I will be interning in primary. The writing center resources described will be based on a second or third grade classroom.
In the middle of the board above, there is a variety of modes of writing the students can choose. The different modes of writing will allow the child to display their voice. Voice is how the student sounds in their writing. The voice of a writing should show personality. I want students to have the freedom to write about what they want so they grow to love writing. I will include different types of paper for students to write on, including postcards, recipe cards, colored paper, lined paper, greeting cards, and lists. I hope the different styles of paper will increase the voice and presentation of their writing.
In the middle of the board above, there is a variety of modes of writing the students can choose. The different modes of writing will allow the child to display their voice. Voice is how the student sounds in their writing. The voice of a writing should show personality. I want students to have the freedom to write about what they want so they grow to love writing. I will include different types of paper for students to write on, including postcards, recipe cards, colored paper, lined paper, greeting cards, and lists. I hope the different styles of paper will increase the voice and presentation of their writing.
Thinking of ideas or prompts to write about my be difficult. I want students to be creative and write about things that interest them. If they are struggling to think of a topic, they can refer to the "What Can I Write About?" section of the center. This area lists twenty different topics with pictures that could spark the child's interest. The topics are things that are familiar to children. In the book, 6+1 Traits of Writing (Grades 3 and up) it states that ideas are the heart of the writing. We have to allow students to explore their creativity and add on details.
Also included in the writing center, there will be graphic organizers. This is a great way for students to plan their writing and keep their ideas organized. A graphic organizer is a template that lays out the pieces needed in a writing. In the example provided, it shows what is needed in a narrative story. Students fill-in the blanks with their information to create a story. I will provide different types of graphic organizers to meet the needs of different level writers and different styles of writing (persuasive, informative, a letter, etc.) . The students can use these to brainstorm ideas and visualize their writing.
Sometimes students rely on a few key words throughout their writings. My center will include a list of "Other Words to Say..." so students can enhance their vocabulary. The list takes common words such as nice or good and gives alternative higher level vocabulary. This will introduce students to words that make their writings more descriptive for their audience. They will be able to refer to this list when at the writing center or completing informal writing assignments.
A reference sheet will be displayed in the writing center. This will remind students to reread their piece to check for sentence fluency. Students should make sure their writing makes sense to the reader, includes a variety of sentence beginnings and endings, and it is easy to read (flows). Students should check each of the five references for sentence fluency. They can also have a peer check to their writing to get peer advice and feedback.
Conventions such as spelling, punctuation, and capitalizing are the finishing touches to a writing. I will have the main conventions posted to remind students on the conventions of writing. Students should be able to check for the correct punctuation throughout the piece. Also, capital letters at the beginning of sentences, the letter I, and proper nouns. The chart will be posted as a reminder and should encourage students to check their writing for minor corrections.