I spent the afternoon today in 4th grade in Megan's classroom. Megan invited me to come in and teach a writing lesson. I chose to teach the students how to do a better job at peer revision and editing during writers workshop, based on an earlier conversation that Megan and I had. She had mentioned that her students weren't giving well thought out comments or doing a good job with peer editing/revision.
When I first arrived, the students were finish up a science lesson and were sorting science words and matching them with definitions. I thought this was such a worthwhile activity and I could tell that the students were really thinking about the words and using the other people in their group for help and support. It was such a good way to make science learning more kinesthetic and hands-on.
I decided to use a checklist with the students and have them practice with writing samples I provided as well as with their own writing. A couple of things that I had found success with were having the students edit and revise only smaller parts of a story rather than an entire story at a time, which can quickly become overwhelming. Another thing I had done in my own classroom was to provide a container of red pens that were used ONLY during peer revision and editing sessions. This helped motivate my students to do more peer editing as they thought it was fun and novel to use the pens and checklists that were provided.
The students responded well to the lesson and did a good job of reading and working with their stories. However, one thing that both Megan and I noticed is that this skill might be a little too much for students who are extremely low in writing. One student couldn't read his own writing nor could anyone else. When you can't read the writing, how will you edit the piece? This made me start to wonder if peer editing is a skill that is only effective once a student reaches a certain level of writing proficiency? Megan and I talked about some ideas for helping the lowest students. Maybe they need to type their piece? Or provide verbal feedback instead of written feedback (but how do you do that?) It was very difficult for those low readers to look for grammar and punctuation errors in another students writing, when they can't recognize those mistakes in their own writing. This is a problem that I often encountered as a teacher and I don't know that there are any easy answers. I'll have to keep thinking about it.
I think that the class will need more direct practice before they really get the hang of it, but they are off to a great start. Megan has a few students that are extremely hard to motivate and keep on task. I am so impressed with everything she has done with her classroom management. She has created strong relationships with her students and they know the limits. It's funny that when I am there, those students push the limits with me. I am excited to spend more time in her classroom and figure out how to better manage those students.
Megan, thanks for sharing your class with me today. I want to see your guided reading template. Would you mind e-mailing that to me? I really enjoy working with you and want to thank you for letting me come in even though you aren't obligated to. That shows your level of commitment and willingness to grow and improve.
What are we going to work on next?
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2 comments:
I liked how you mentioned our science activity. I was so into it that I did not notice you had walked back into the room. The students are learning about fossils, and I found this a fun and worthwhile way to help them remember their geological time periods. I thought the lesson on peer editing was fantastic, and I loved the checklist used. I found that the list was an easy and effective way for the students to positively edit one anothers papers.
Meg,
Thanks for the comment. Be sure to blog again about how things are going in guided reading.
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