New York City

This rural Iowa dweller says thanks for all the opportunities:

for face to face meet ups with friends from Twitter, Twitter chats, and Voxer,

to be able to chat excitedly with fellow Slicers, bloggers and authors,

to dine in all sorts of fabulous places,

and in such great company.

Attending the musical “Fun Home”in the Round was magical.

Ahh, the bookstores

Jazz at Smoke

So much to see and do

While in NYC

For #TCRWP’s Writing Institute

Because the learning does NOT stop when the sessions end!

The conversations, the questions, the talk about “What are you reading?” and “What are you writing?” continues into the night!

A glorious week long adventure!

Thanks to you, my friends

And Lucy and ALL at the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project.

And what about the learning on Day 4?

I begin, again, at the end,

the eloquence of Pam Nunoz Ryan

who brought us to tears with her harmonica rendition of “America the Beautiful”.

Thanks to  Fiona Liddell and Twitter for this picture.

What an eloquent author and so nice to hear the backstory, see the grids of characters and plot, as well as the research that went into Echo – a MUST READ book for your #TBR (To Be Read) list.

Takeaways:

1. Find your passion.
2. Thank those who help you find your passion.
3. Writing a novel is hard but rewarding work.
4. Stories matter, stories matter, stories matter!
5. Rereading stories is important!

Have you read Echo?

Please reserve it at your local public library NOW!

Choice Workshop – Colleen Cruz

Editing Does Matter:  Spelling, Grammar, and Vocabulary in a Writing Workshop

To think about when teaching Spelling, Grammar, and Vocabulary:

1. Development

      Teach into developmental level so it will stick.  What do they know? What are they trying to approximate? We looked at a student piece of work.  What can this student do?

2. Curriculum and standards                                                                                                              What should we teach?

    What do my standards say that the students need to learn by the end of the year?

3. Process

           Just as revision is not taught only once in the writing process; editing is taught more than once in writing process.   First time – teach in editing (comma in clause) in order to lessen the cognitive load for the students.  Then the second time teach comma in clause during revision.  And for the third time, the student can focus on the comma when generating ideas in his/her notebook.  The repetition will be helpful for students!

4. Methods 

Each time we revisit the skill, our methods may vary – or not!  The typical methods are:

a. Demonstration

b. Apprenticeship – Mentor author – Example

c. Inquiry- let’s see what we find in the world and then find patterns (bio, /er/ was/were)

5. Tools 

        The tools can either be Teacher created or Student created.  For grammar it may be a series of books to cover the variations in journalism grammar, grammar for fiction writer, or  grammar for academic writing.  It may be fun grammar books,  vocabulary picture books, mentor texts, or student examples.  Or it may be editing pens, gel pens, or other irresistible editing tools. Quite literally, physical tools like Mini editing checklists with 2 or 3 things they are checking for!  Whatever they are into!  Students can make their own reminder sheets!   Work with grammar, spelling and vocabulary should be in the spirit of FUN and Exploration.  NO RULES for number of spaces after a period.  Talk about conventional understandings.  How do people expect it to go?

Takeaways:

1. Perfection in writing is not the goal for 9 year old students.  The New York Times allows four errors per page with page writers and paid copyeditors.  No published piece of writing in the world has ever been 100% perfect.
2. If you are writing with passion and focusing on content, writing will slip  when you are“letting it rip”.  Errors are a good sign because they indicate risk-taking. 
3. Post “not perfect” student work on the hallway bulletin board.  Make a huge label and Celebrate – “Check out our capital letters and end punctuation.  We’ve been working hard on them and ALMOST have them!”
4. Kids fall into automatic, manual, wrong – if kids aren’t automatic, it does not mean they are lazy , not trying, or don’t care.  It just means they haven’t mastered that skill YET.
5. Conventions, spelling, grammar, and vocabulary work should be FUN and PLAYFUL!

How does your instruction in Spelling, Grammar and Vocabulary match up?

What’s one change that you would consider?