Living Life Twice

At the start of every school year the term ‘independent learners’ is frequently heard when teachers begin to articulate their goals for the year ahead. They want their students to develop as independent, self directed learners. This is a worthy aspirational goal! The question I would ask is, –How will you achieve this? What will you do to make this ‘independence’ a reality in the classroom? What will students say and do that indicates they are working independently? In the writing classroom independence develops when students: • Are encouraged to select their own writing focus or topic -And their teacher believes they are capable of this deeper thinking. • Materials for writing are readily accessible • Frequent opportunities are provided for planning writing and thinking about future writing and ‘rehearsing’ writing thoughts between writing workshops. • Choose to work on the same writing piece across several lessons. • Willingly embrace revision in anticipation of a writi...

Research has confirmed the fact that writing leads to improved reading achievement and reading leads to better writing performance and linking the two leads to improvement in both areas (Deford 1981, Smith 1994, Tierney & Shanahan 1991) It is for these reasons that we encourage our students as both readers and writers. Sacrificing writing to focus exclusively on improving reading scores flies in the face of the available research and teacher’s knowledge of the profession. Despite the available research, a study conducted in 2001 by Burgess, Lundren, LIoyd and Pianta found that most early years teachers devoted appreciably less time to writing. In this instance the teacher’s beliefs about writing appeared to indicate they considered it less important. Reading clearly had a stronger influence on their instruction. Teachers beliefs can sometimes drive instructional practice in opposition to findings of the available research. Last week I was in Sydney visiting my son and his family...

I recently had the good fortune to work with a group of Graduate teachers about to embark on their initial teaching appointments in January 2010. They presented with that expected blend of enthusiasm and trepidation. Along with some fellow consultants we spent a week together at Victoria University examining how best to deliver literacy in the classroom. They watched keenly as classroom visitations to a variety of schools provided demonstrations of the literacy block and the reading, writing connection. They witnessed explicit teaching of literacy strategies, where students practiced authentic reading and writing. They had opportunities to observe how quality conversations enhance understanding for literacy learners. They came back with questions and wonderings… I trust, as a result of this experience, these eager graduates will carry with them these important messages about the teaching of writing: Effective Teachers Develop A Sense of Community for Student Writers! This important ele...

To lift the quality of writing among student writers there are some strategic things we need to do with our teaching. Firstly, we need to expose them to quality writing! Encourage them to find mentors they admire. Once they have identified their personal mentor, we then challenge them to consciously write in the style of that particular writer. To support the growth and awareness of quality writing we should use extracts from the work of trusted authors and have students identify just exactly what the author did with language; with ideas. Discussion should focus on identifying the writer’s purpose in relation to craft and how that affects the writing. Try to name what the mentor author has done. To further support the concept of mentor authors, we need to model for them how we would utilize an aspect of the writing craft gleaned from a selected mentor. We need to do this in our very own writing. This is a critical step in the process. It provides powerful modelling how we, ourselves, r...

In Melbourne, Australia we are experiencing an early summer with temperatures sizzling into the mid thirties (97degrees Fahrenheit) for almost a week. This has been the hottest November weather since 1925, we are told. Each morning I have walked to the beach with our dog Boo in an attempt to cool us both off. The temperature of the water has not caught up with the air temperature. It lags behind significantly. No warm currents to warm the bay. It is still bone chilling cold, particularly in the early part of the day. It is a struggle with the mind to overcome the knowledge that the water will smack you into life. Self talk is needed. I have to challenge myself to dive in. Contact with the water is stunning and refreshing in equal doses. My body buzzes with the shock of the cold water.I feel a sense of achievement having overcome my reticence. I stand up and then feel the urge to dive under again. This is great way to begin the day. I am alive in every sense of the word. It will be hot ...

“Think Before Ink!” I read that heading in Mark Treddinick’s book, ‘ The Little Red Writing Book' and it reminded me that writing is essentially a process, most of which happens when you are not writing From experience we learn that writing is clearer, shorter and more engaging for the reader when it has been thought through first. We don’t want the reader to stumble along with us as we try to make sense of the true purpose of our writing. The reader wants the story, not the sketchy details, or uncertain ramblings. Successful writing is about thinking and design. It is the rehearsal before the grand performance. This has real implications for the way writing is presented in the classroom. Developing writers need time and space to rehearse and refine their writing intentions. Talking through ideas, making plans, considering the content, and generally sorting out where they want the piece to go. Katie Wood Ray talks about the need to have vision before revision , well writer...

What is it about the number 12 that so many people have difficulty with? Twelve is a most intriguing number. Most calendar systems have twelve months in a year. The Western zodiac has twelve signs, as does the Chinese zodiac. There are twenty-four hours in a day in all, with twelve hours for a half a day. A new day starts with the stroke of midnight. Furthermore, the basic units of time (60 seconds, 60 minutes, 24 hours) can all perfectly divide by twelve. Twelve squared is 144, also known as a gross. Twelve is a great number! The concept of a dozen however seems to elude many of my fellow citizens it seems. Today I was standing in the supermarket line patiently awaiting my turn at the checkout, and it became obvious that the customers in front of me had so blatantly exceeded the ’12 items or less’ message despite the fact that it is so clearly displayed for all to read. Not a big deal? Well the first few times it happened I let it roll by. Then I started silently counting just to conf...

The final term of the school year provides an excellent opportunity for students to revisit a genre explored earlier. They could rework a piece of writing published earlier in the year or rework a writing piece in a different genre than was originally attempted. I.e. non- fiction piece could be transformed into a realistic fiction piece, a poem, a play, a fiction piece. The possibilities are many. Such a study provides students with an opportunity to develop the understanding that one writing idea can be represented in different forms. It also allows students to progress further in their understanding of how writing is a fluid form of communication. To begin, ask students to consider questions such as: • What genre are you most comfortable writing? • Which of your previously published writing pieces would you like to revisit? • What does changing the genre of a piece allow you, the author, to do? We can provide student writers with an opportunity to demonstrate through writing, a worki...

When a boy is only nine years old, he can do strange things. This was a time when a field of potatoes caused me loads of trouble… My friend Robert and I decided to take our billy-cart with us as we set off to explore the local neighbourhood. We were hoping to find a half decent hill to descend. The billy cart had been the product of the previous weekend’s efforts. A construction strung together using a mixture of scrounged odds and ends. A lettuce box atop a wooden frame, a set of disused pram wheels and a piece of rope nailed to the front for steering purposes, made up this rickety downhill racer. The only modification to the lettuce box was to knock the front panel out so that the driver could extend their legs forward to help steer the cart on its wild descent. No brakes, and the lettuce box carriage was so rough it guaranteed to give you splinters almost every time some part of body made contact. ...

I have recently purchased Katie Wood Ray’s Study Driven –A Framework for Planning Units of Study in the Writing Workshop. I have long been a fan of Katie’s writing messages. Several of her books stand proudly on my library shelves. In Study Driven, Ray spells out some strong messages about how writing needs to be approached. To quote the author, “Framing instruction as study represents an essential stance to teaching and learning, an enquiry stance, characterized by repositioning curriculum as the outcome of instruction rather than the starting point…” Katie Wood Ray contends: Texts should be used to mentor students to write real things in the ways real writers write. This makes teaching ‘authentic’ Writing needs to be 'studied' and not 'taught.' This requires teachers to read like writers – along held belief of the author. Teachers need to be writers and gatherers of mentor texts, but curriculum can not be determined before the students begin to study. It requires a f...