#SOL16: Sharing Writing
Last night during the “Discovering the Writer’s Life” #TWTBlog chat (Storify here), I paused at this tweet by Ralph Fletcher.
Take a leap of faith. Write it. Share it. It doesn’t matter whether it is innocence or arrogance. It is worth writing. It is worth sharing. Write!
It’s what we ask of our students. That same leap of faith is needed by all teachers of writing. What you say matters and is worth writing/sharing!
When should you share?
Sharing options exist at each and every step of the writing process. As you write your next piece, deliberately stop and have a conversation at every step. Consider how that feels for you as a writer. Consider the effect on your writing.
Instead of this:
Consider a more recursive process!
Maybe this?
What would be the benefits for your students and their writing if the talk/sharing time was more than quadrupled?
Would revision be seen as a “more natural process” if talk/sharing has been included at every step of the process?
Tuesday is the day to share a “Slice of Life” with Two Writing Teachers. Thank you, Anna, Betsy, Beth, Dana, Deb, Kathleen, Stacey, and Tara. Check out the writers, readers and teachers here. Get ready to share your writerly life with the March Slice of Life Challenge!
Slice of Life 24: Maximizing Instructional Time
(During March, I am blogging daily as a part of the Slice of Life Story Challenge!) Special thanks to the hosts of the Slice of Life Challenge: Stacey, Tara, Dana, Betsy, Anna and Beth. More Slice of Life posts can be found at Two Writing Teachers .
How do teachers maximize time for student benefits?
Tip One: Increase talk time of students in order for them to solidify their learning. A very specific tip was shared by Lucy Calkins at the Spring Saturday Reunion at Teachers College.
Five minutes. Find five minutes for students to talk after they have been reading. No cost. No text dependent questions. No quiz.
“TALK!” – Lucy Calkins
Chapter 1 “Why Talk is Important in Classrooms” from Doug Fisher and Nancy Frey’s Content Area Conversations will give you additional ideas about the value of talk including “Reading and writing float on a sea of talk.”
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Tip Two: Maximize your use of small groups across the day from Shanna B Schwartz. “Weave small groups across the day, through reading workshop, writing workshop and word study periods.” Use small groups to help students meet targets and accelerate learning!
Another source of information about “small group” instruction is Debbie Diller’s Making the Most of Small Groups: Differentiation for All. In this book Diller also explains the difference between guided reading groups and small groups working on such skills as comprehension, fluency, vocabulary, etc. The goals of the group are determined by the data upon which they are formed!
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