6+1 Trait Writing Model

The 6+1 Trait Writing Model

1. Ideas 
2. Organization
3. Voice
4. Word Choice
5. Sentence Fluency
6. Conventions
7. Presentation 

A model for effective writing that isn't limiting or overly specific in terms of standards to be met, but rather a more passive, more personal set of qualities for a paper.

I love this because I think it is a perfect piece to give to students after writing a first draft. When revising I think students can look at this list and see if they have these in their writing. It is just enough to where it isn't overly powerful, but it can pull the writers best work out of them. It can also highlight the student's personality in their writing and allow the student to have power in their writing. It is important for students to feel like they have some power and and are able to express their individuality. Meanwhile, the student also has enough direction that they can learn and improve their writing skills.

English As Another Language

Pahl and Rowsell, Artifactual Literacies
This chapter focuses on the significance of personal objects and/or artifacts. Attached to the objects in someones life are experiences and memories. As stated by Pahl and Rowsell, "we have found that eliciting stories about objects from students opens up their home experience and enables teachers to access communities that may not be visible within schools" (1). I think this relates to many of the readings we have done in class regarding narrative writing.

It is important to have students write about what they are familiar with and enjoy so you can get to know them better as a person and a student. You may also get an insight as to what they experience at home, their cultural backgrounds and practices and you can then offer more personal assistance to help them meet their needs. As you get to know the student, it will be easier to understand what they are doing during class time and why.

The chapter then goes into discussing literacies, as we have discussed in class over the course of the semester. I think that Pahl and Rowsell explain literacies perfectly when he states, "The word literacies signals that literacy is multiple, diverse, and multilingual and spans domains of practice, from home to school to community, and in each domain there are different literacies"(4). Students can use their object and then tell their story in different ways. Poetry, music, videos, narratives, or drawings are all different types of texts that can be used in the classroom to tell the student's story.

It was also mentioned in class that objects can be used to learn something new. If an object is unknown, a students can use their imagination to write about what it may be or what it reminds them of. This may be challenging but can also improve writing and help the students learn about and unfamiliar object.

Fu, Chapters 2-4
Students who's native language is different than English, should be encouraged to speak their native language often, while learning the English language. Students are often told to speak English in class and at home, however taking away the native language may just set the student behind academically instead of moving them forward. Fu discusses the set backs students may face when trying to write only in English. They may get a serious form of writers block and their ideas may not translate over the same way. This could take away from how a student thinks, the topics they develop, organizing their thoughts and many of the important details that would contribute to the story. Fu states, "Letting them continue to write in their first language gives them the opportunity to further develop these skills"(29).

I think it is important to encourage the students to keep their native language and use it often at home. I loved reading and looking over all of the examples Fu provides of the student's work throughout the stages  of writing development. Despite how I fully believe in what I read this week and I understand how important and helpful it is to learn to be bilingual, I am concerned for myself going into teaching these students. I do not know how I will be able to help and assess the student when I do not fluently speak any other languages, most of which I do not have the slightest background in learning.

I'm sure we will discuss this in class, but if anyone has any feedback, I would love to hear it!

Quick Write 3/14

2. Of the many strategies that Gallagher introduces in chapters 2 and 3, they all are centered around the ideas of (a) giving plenty of time for students to practice writing and (b) modeling writing practices as a teacher. When do you think each can be used most effectively in your classroom? Can you think of a time where you found success after plenty of practice time? What about a time when you learned the best by watching someone model the activity?

"Good things come from hard work!" --Dad 
The one thing I love about classes is having a writer's notebook. Just like in many math classes, having a "warm-up" each day helps students get ready for each class. A writer's notebook also allows students to use their own creativity and get the grade for the effort they put in rather than what they write. I enjoy our quick writes in class where it isn't graded so much on what we write or how much we write, but the effort and participation. In our class, our awesome professor, also writes with us and shares her entries. This is a great example of modeling. 

Modeling is important when teaching a student how to do something for the first time, when giving directions that could be difficult to understand for one or more students, and for encouraging participation in class. It is also important to model imperfections. Students should feel comfortable sharing their work with you, even if it isn't perfect. Which leads to revising and editing. These two need to be taught and modeled. I remember one class I was in in Jr. High School we were asked to peer review. We had no idea what to do.. so the only editing we did for each other was look at spelling errors and missed capitalizations. Students need to be show examples of good revising so they are able to make their work better and help their classmates when peer reviewing. 

I learn best through my own practice after watching someone else complete the task. When playing sports my dad would always say "Good things come from hard work". And he was right. Without practice, you will never reach your full potential. It is important to encourage students to not only practice their hobbies, but also what they are learning in school. I also used to watch videos for softball of other teams. I learn best by writing things down to remember so I used to watch and write step-by-step what they did in the video. I did this mostly for pitching and hitting in softball. Over time after watching many videos on how to though different pitches, and practicing all year round, I became a much better pitcher. 

I love the similar relation between practicing hobbies and work in school. It is important to make these relations when explaining to students or else you may never connect. The student may think of the practice work as extra work that is just a time filler. It is also important to model both the imperfect and the revised work so your students can see what to do and how to do it better. 

No One Rises To Low Expectations

The Politics of the Paragraph, Michelle Kenney
I began to read this article and thought.. "I think I've read this before." Turns out I did... Sarah had posted it on twitter at the beginning of the semester using our hashtag .  I continued to read for a second time because it just hits home and is relevant to what we will be discussing in class.


I found the story about Erica and her writing experience extremely relatable. I also remember we briefly discussed the structuring of graphic organizers when discussing the different literacies. The graphic organizer is an example of functional literacy. Like discussed in this piece, it limits the writer to thinking they can only write a certain amount and in a certain way. The final writing piece should exceed this expectation and allow the student to express themselves and use their own creativity.

The structure of writing is often taught so intensely using different graphic organizers rather than teaching the writer or recognizing the amazing writing the student has in their work. Like Kenney says, some of the best writers get tied up in trying to fit the format they are expected to write in that they can't think creatively and write as best as they can.

I definitely think there needs to be a type of organizer as an introduction to writing, but throughout the year it should be used less and less. Like Kenney, I think that writing templates are like training wheels and they do help many students along the writing process. However, I also agree that sometimes students can write better and should be excused from writing according to a specific template. As a teacher, I am looking forward to recognizing when a student understands what should be in a paper and letting them go free to write their paper without a given direction.

Chapters 2-4, Kelly Gallagher
WOW! This reading holds a ton of information and resources as a future teacher.

To start, I love how Gallagher compares teaching writing in the classroom to coaching basketball. You cannot expect a player to go out on game day and win without plenty of practice. Students need to practice writing often and different variations in order to write well. One thing he also writes about is the writers notebook, which I full believe in. It is a place for students to practice writing, have an outlet to express themselves, and also see their own development as a writer.

I also enjoyed looking over the in class writing activities. He not only tells about them and the advantages for the students and the teacher, but also gave examples. I think it is important for students to view examples, just like I do.

This leads into the next chapter. Similar to Kenney using her own writing as a model for her students, Gallagher writes about the different ways to model for your students. Modeling can be done to show students that first drafts are just a draft. First drafts shouldn't be perfect and the best way to show this to student's is for them to see your imperfections. Modeling throughout the writing process is also important and I enjoyed this chapter.


The 4:1 Grading stuck out the most to me in this chapter. I often was graded in math on or science on the completion of my homework for effort. Then we would go over it in class to check our answers and go over any problems we had trouble with. I think this is also important in English classes. A student who has everything they write graded with notes all over it will potentially get discouraged. It is important to give credit for the effort they put into writing as well as some assignments that are assessed and gone over.

Finally, using other outlets for modeling was discussed by Gallagher. He discusses using restaurants, movies and magazines as pieces for reviews. These are important to use because students will be personally reviewing these on their own throughout their lives. I love bringing real world elements into the classroom, especially to help students become better writers and more familiar with literacy outside the classroom.

Personal vs. Personalized

Let's Get Personal

Personalized learning and personal learning are defined differently, but can both be intertwined in the classroom. Julie Coiro discusses the concerns and the resolutions regarding personalized learning. From what I understood, Coiro mentioned how she is against the most intense versions of personalized learning and more supportive of a balanced classroom setting. She quotes "that building deep conceptual understanding and higher-order thinking requires intensive student-teacher interactions, and technology sometimes distracts from this valuable human engagement".

Now that I've looked more closely into this article, I agree with this statement, because as a student on my own, I use technology often in class but also find advantages in meeting with teachers in person and taking notes on pen and paper. I also would motivate myself often instead of just learning from a teacher in the classroom and I think that should be encouraged for everyone. As an example, I would play with a multiplication leapfrog toy before I even learned all the multiplication tables. I also played many games as a kid, where I would pass certain levels with ease and other levels I would need more time and help with. Sometimes I would even ask a friend or family member help me with it. This relates to personalized learning in the classroom.



Think about it. What if you were stuck playing a video game at level one until the rest of your class was at the same level. And then level two, three and so fourth. You had no other way to play higher levels because you were restricted to that level. How boring.

I understand that there are classes that are separated by grade and into lower and high level classes, however still not all thirty students are learning at the same rate. With personalized learning, teachers can create lessons that fit the needs, interests and level of each student. The teacher can then still meet with students, still create a personal relationship with students, but the students can move along the lessons at their own pace and not be left behind, while the lower level students can feel more comfortable asking for individual help and they can actually learn more.

Netflixing Human Capital Development 
The article by Roberts-Mahoney compares personalized learning to Netflix Amazon and Pandora. When someone is watching a show, Netflix uses the type of show to suggest other similar shows based on the genre of show or the main plot. Amazon and Pandora also do something similar, suggesting other items to buy or other songs to listen to, based on what you have searched and bought in the past or the genre of music that is being listened to most often. Students can also get this through personalized learning. The computer can generate what level the students are at and display other lessons that relate to where they are.

Assessments can also be designed online to fit the best way to show understanding of the content. Not to mention, depending on the student, they could also meet with the teacher to complete an assessment because personalized learning does not completely cut out the teacher's position. I think that this was a good point to make, although it is creepy that the computers can tell what we are most interested in based on the click of a button. However, I do think this customized learning plan would be beneficial in the classroom and the analogy stood out as a great description of what it should look like in practice.

Developing Teacher Candidates in a Networked World
The first point was striking to me. I never even thought about how even before you are born nowadays, you have a digital footprint on some media site. Seeing as how they are though, they enter the digital world very young and it is true that technology impacts every aspect of our lives now. Technology can be used to improve the classroom and really get students engages.

I also like the next point made, that there does need to be models of appropriate usages of how to learn online. I thought of our class twitter hashtags we have going #meaningfulwriters and how are all teaching one another a small lesson every time we share something. Students can also learn how to find accurate research and information to share with others. The teacher can then look at these posts online, look into the students posts and make connections and assignments based on what they are interested in learning more about.

Technology has become a huge part of our world and I think it is important to bring this into the classroom to meet each student. I also believe in making personal connections with each students as well, but so far from what I've researched on personalize learning, they can both be applied in the classrooms.

Poetry---> "Thoughts From Me Right To Your Heart"

Chapter One: Writing Poetry 
 
"We don't build communities instead of working on academics. We build communities while we work on academics" (Christensen 14).

As mentioned before, I am a firm believer in student centered learning. I would like to reach every student and build a positive community in my classroom. I am not someone who wants to only build community, or I would be more interested in topics such as psychology, sociology or something else. However, I chose education. I chose to be a person to also focus on academics. To better not only the student as a person, but also to educate them to succeed in school and in life. It is our job as teachers to find a way to intertwine these two.

Through poetry, I believe this is a great way to merge building community while also focusing on academics such as vocabulary, similes and metaphors, and structure. The different structures of poems is important, but there are also many different types of poems or even free verse that can be practiced.The many different types of poems is important to be reaching all students. While some students may be better and enjoy haikus, others may practice slam poetry better. Especially students who are highly interested in music. I like the idea of building community, reaching every student, while also focusing on education.

"She said, "It helped to know that I wasn't the only one with problems. When you shared your stories, I could see a teacher who made it out." Students--  and teachers-- who don't face these struggles gain compassion by listening to their classmates' stories."

I also loved this passage by Christensen. I think it is important to show your struggles. I remember in high school, I was in 12th grade-- I was struggling with family at home, I had senior project, I had a terrible break up, I wasn't getting along with one of my teachers, and I was stressing about colleges. I walked into my English class and my teacher had no makeup on, puffy eyes and just was not her cheery self. We could all tell something was wrong. So she told us her situation... she was telling her high school class her adult life situation. And at first, I was confused. Why would she be telling us this? Of course, we were there for her. Most students thought of her as their favorite, I did too. But this not only let her vent to us, but also let us understand that not everyone has a perfect life. But you get up, you go to work, you move forward and its okay not to be okay once in a while. It's important to be yourself and it's even more important to let your students know you aren't perfect.



Forgotten Items
Similarly to Christensen, Macaluso discusses how poetry can tell about an experience. The poem Forgotten Items draws a picture in your mind of the couple she saw in the supermarket, it uses descriptions that could not just be accurately told in a conversation. The analogy with the orange juice really puts you in the shoes of this elderly woman to feel how she feels. I think the best part of poetry is that the writer can show their experience using the sounds, lighting, scents and it can be beautifully written and spoken out loud.

"Poems can alter the way you see the world"(Macaluso).
This quote stuck out to me and really reminded my of Christensen's reference to gaining compassion. Even if you have not experiences this lonely feeling that this old woman felt, after reading this poem, I felt this weight. The references were also memorable. After reading this, pouring my glass of orange juice was completely different. The effect a poem has, is typically much more sentimental, much more meaningful than an average essay. The language used and developed will not only create better writers, but also create a compassionate classroom community.

Meaningful Writing and Co-teaching

Co-teaching. So two teachers working together? 
Yes, but Emdin writes about so much more than that. 
He discusses that students can also be teachers.
Students... teachers? Yes. Working with students to not only teach them the content, but also teach them to be teachers. Most of the time when teachers do so, the students don't even pick up on it. Working in groups and partners can help so many students learn. Especially if there is a student that can interpret the content to another student in a way that is easier to understand. In high school I always seemed to know what I was learning or I was able to pick up on it quickly. However, my first semester at CCRI I was completely overwhelmed and the workload was more than I had ever experienced. One of the classes I really struggled with was General Psychology. I tried so hard, but continuously felt like I wasn't progressing. I ended up getting a D, for the first time in my life. I was devastated and knew it wouldn't transfer over so I decided to retake it. This next time, after going over the chapter my professor would have us work in partners and review. I would sit down with a partner or a group of students and we would discuss what would be on the next exam. When talking it over with my peers, they seemed to make a lot more sense and make more relatable analogies so I could relate to the content and understand it on a more personal level. I think it is important to be able to make time for your students to work together and help one another for instances where you may just not have the right words to teach a student and someone else does. I like even more that Edmin looks at it as another example of co-teaching placing the students at the same power level as the teacher.


Both Christensen and Gallagher discuss the most meaningful writing.

Specifically, Christensen writes about Narrative Writing. Being able to write about your own life, your own situations or something that is most meaningful to you is important. Narratives may seem like informal writing pieces to some, but the student is able to develop the same writing skills as if writing an essay. One of my favorite high school writing pieces is my college essay that I wrote my senior year. This was all about my life and goals as a student. I think the reason why colleges ask for these personal writing pieces, not only to see what your background is, but also so they can see your best and most meaningful writing skills.

Similarly, Gallagher discusses "The Power of Choice". I immediately thought of our everyday quick writes in class. We are given two questions with the option to write about something else.I also thought about our first writing assignment, we were all able to write about our personal histories. Like Gallagher states, two benefits of choice are:
1.) ownership in the writer, which in turn creates a stronger work ethic and
2.) Drives revision because the student is more likely to care about the paper
I have to admit I am definitely more likely to carefully revise a paper that I am interested in than a paper I know nothing about and will never use again in the future. If I would not take the time to revise it, why would any other student?
It is important to give students the choice of prompts to help build them as meaningful writers, allow them to share about their life, and build a trusting student-teacher relationship.