My 2 cents, for what it's worth

Home

Chat

Blogs

Collection

Directory

Home : 2001 : April : 26

My 2 cents, for what it's worth
By Susie

Hi! I am a 3rd year second-grade teacher. It is so hard to say "this is what you should do," because each group of kids is so different. What worked during my first year didn't work the second year, or the third. So,
you have to tailor to the abilities of your kids.
A HUGE mistake that I made this year is not doing much writing at all. I got a whole class that was a year or more behind, and I felt like I was beating my head against a brick wall trying to get them to write. Well, I just kind of gave up. That was wrong because writing goes hand-in-hand with reading.
One suggestion that I can make

is looking for books about Writer's Workshop. You'll learn techniques for quick writes, and taking your students through the writing process. You can also try just focusing (and grading) on one skill at a time. So this week you might just look at grammar and mechanics. Next week you might concentrate on content.

You can also do "storyboards" (I call them cartoon strips, which the kids seem to like). Have them fold a plain white paper into squares. Have them draw the pictures in the sequence that they desire for their story. Then they can write one sentence about each picture.

It is also good to tie in your reading with writing. One teacher i know does a re-write for the story that they are reading in their literature series. Each kid contributes orally, then the teacher writes it on the board, and they copy. They can then illustrate their re-write. I want to try this myself.

Hope this helps!