Interactive Writing Notebooks Caitlin Murphy EKU Writing Project
+ Interactive Writing Notebooks Caitlin Murphy EKU Writing Project 2015 June 24, 2015
+ Journaling in Second Grade ■ Students have their own journal. ■ After a mini lesson, students use journals to apply the skill taught. ■ They can choose any topic to write about or revisit/add to a piece they have been working on.
+ Journals Continued. . . Journaling Atmosphere ■ They can find their own space in the classroom as long as they aren’t too close to someone else. ■ Lights off and lamps on (if they are working…) ■ Instrumental music in the background Teachers Role ■ gives time to begin writing ■ monitors the room and conducts one-on-one conferences with students in their chosen areas (4 -5 students per session)
+ After Journaling ■ The students who had conferences share their pieces. ■ Student sits in the teacher’s chair and reads their piece. ■ Call on two friends to ask questions (questions are encouraged to relate to the piece they have written) ■ Class thanks the sharer.
+ Critical Analysis of the Current Strategy 1. What do you see that is beneficial? (i. e. observable best practices) 2. What do you see as possible issues or hang -ups? (where is there room for improvement? )
+ What’s good? I have been using writing journals (in some form or fashion) in my class for the past three years. I love the journals for many reasons: 1. My students WRITE! (motivated) 2. They take ownership of their journal. 3. Collection of their work 4. They write in their journals during writing time or other times throughout the day (THEIR CHOICE) However….
+ There are issues! ■ What happens with the writing? ■ What about organization? ■ How do they use the journal to improve their writing? ■ What is the purpose of the journals? ■ Is there accountability? ■ Is there an authentic audience? ■ Time Management How can I create a learning tool that students are motivated to use, but also provides a tool for them to synthesize and apply information they have
+ What purpose do I want the journals to ■serve? Motivation ■ Collection or a portfolio of work ■ Help students ORGANIZE writing pieces and information ■ Provide students with tools to improve and work with their writing ■ Provide students with tools to SYNTHESIZE information ■ Allow for different learning styles ■ Track learning progress ■ Provide them with an authentic audience ■ A clear purpose
+ Interactive Writing Notebooks-What’s their purpose? ■ “Interactive notebooks allow students to record information and process it to improve their level of understanding. As students learn new ideas, they can use several types of writing and graphic techniques to record them. ” Caroline C. Wist “Putting it all Together; Understanding the Research Behind Interactive Notebooks”- p. 13 ■ “Interactive notebooks engage students in learning while teaching them valuable organizational skills. The interactive notebook is not just about keeping things organized but also about organizing the learning process. ” Caroline C. Wist “Putting it all Together; Understanding the Research Behind Interactive Notebooks”p. 13 ■ The purpose is for students to enable students to be creative, independent thinkers and writers.
+ ■ It is not only a place for students to do their work and reflect on their class activities, but it is also for the teacher to see the development of student learning, and for the parent to also see how well the child is doing and what they are learning. In this way, all stakeholders have the opportunity to reflect on student work. Caroline C. Wist “Putting it all Together; Understanding the Research Behind Interactive Notebooks”- p. 16 ■ According to Bower, Lobdell, and Owens (2005), teachers should informally assess the notebook on a regular basis, to give students immediate feedback. Caroline C. Wist “Putting it all Together; Understanding the Research Behind Interactive Notebooks”- p. 16
Why use them? + ● Interactive Notebooks can be used differently ● However, they all share core learning benefits: ○ Students use both their visual and linguistic intelligences ■ Approach understanding in many ways ■ Each student can explore and learn new content by selecting the best medium for their learning ○ Notebooks become a portfolio of individual learning ■ personal ■ creative ■ Show progress ○ Note taking becomes an active process ■ Students will be actively involved with the information ○ Helps students systematically organize as they learn ○ Facilitate cooperative interaction (w/peers, teachers and parents) ○ Formative and Summative http: //www. slideshare. net/tirp 9999/interactivestudentnotebooks-ppt
+ How do you create an interactive notebook? 1. Understand WHY-what’s your purpose? 2. Create a routine 3. Teach your kids to use the interactive notebook a. modeling! b. scaffolding introduction 4. Don’t feel like you have to know everything that will be included 5. Don’t have to include something new every day 6. Always have the notebook available to the student
+ What will mine look like? ■ Cover make it personal ■ Table of Contents for organization ■ Learning Log and Learning Goals to track their acquisition of skills ■ Writing to Learn purposeful writing exercises; skill focused ■ My Writing used to draft and continue pieces they are working on. ■ Reference students create purposeful anchor charts from mini lessons covered in class; with support in the beginning ■ Reflection used at the end of units for students to think about what they learned.
+ Cover ■ Students design and decorate the cover of their notebook ■ MAKE IT PERSONAL ■ Cut-outs from magazines ■ Photographs ■ Drawings ■ Stickers ■ Can take home to decorate (with instructions) or bring in items to school ■ Remind students decorations must not take away from the function of the notebook (ability to open, close, etc. ) but should reflect their interests and personality.
+ Table of Contents ■ PURPOSE: organization ■ Add description of anchor chart and page number ■ Allow students to keep track of and access the information they include in their journal ■ Add to the table of contents as new information is added into the notebook. ■ “Students should then create a table of contents where all information pertaining to the list of activities or notes and their page numbers are organized sequentially. ” Caroline C. Wist “Putting it all Together; Understanding the Research Behind Interactive Notebooks”- p. 12
+ Learning Logs and Learning Goals: two separate tabs ■ Track their acquisition of skills ■ Students add the skill to their learning log when a new skill is taught “I can give reasons to support my opinion. ” ■ Skills Check-students refer to their lists of skills and see which skills they feel confident using in their writing and mark them off ■ The skills that they do not feel confident using then help to construct their goals: “To improve on writing reasons why I believe something. ” ■ During skills checks, students will check skills and goals to see if they have been accomplished. ■ Add the date next to goals when they are met.
+ Writing to Learn ■ “Writing to learn is learning to think, on paper, about what the students already know and how that fits with new information being studied in our curriculum. ”"Writing to Learn Means Learning to Think, " Syrene Forsman p. 162 ■ “This is writing to learn – those “short, frequent bursts of writing” that are woven into a lesson or a series of lessons to encourage students to explore their own thinking (Saskatoon Public Schools, 2004– 2009)”Capacity Building Series Special Edition #25: “Writing to Learn, Extending Student Thinking Across the Curriculum. ” ■ Goals included at the top of the page for each exercise: I can statements. ■ Writing Talks!
+ Bold Beginnings 6+1 Traits of Writing. Ruth Culham pg. 120 **Students would have an anchor chart with different beginnings in their reference section** ■ Lights, Camera, Action-The Writer makes something happen. ■ Example: “For the last time, ” my dad said. “Put your gum here. ” ■ Single Word: The writer sets off an important word by itself and follows it up with more information. ■ Example: Gum was everywhere. It was in my hair. It was in the carpet. It was on my pillow. ■ Fascinating Fact: The writer presents an intriguing piece of information. ■ I blew a bubble bigger than my brother’s head. ■ Imagine This: The writer captures a moment in words or pictures. ■ The gum made my bans stick straight out from my head.
+ Bold Beginnings Continued. . . ■ It’s Just My Opinion: The writer states a belief. ■ Example: Kids should be able to chew gum any time they want. ■ Listen Up: The writer describes a sound. ■ Example: Smack, snap, slurp ■ I Wonder: The writer asks a question or a series of questions. ■ Example: Have you ever wondered how many pieces of gum will fit into the human mouth? Five? Ten? More?
+ Writing to Learn Exercise ■ Using a bold beginning (students reference anchor chart), write about a pet or animal. ■ Glue in the “I can statement” at the top of your work. Be sure to include the date. ■ This learning target is seen in many of our standards when they have to “introduce a topic” ■ Then share at your tables, see if you can figure out which bold beginning your partner used. ■ In my class, I would then have them share the bold beginning their partner used.
+ My Writing ■ This tab will be where the bulk of the writing happens ■ This is the space that is theirs to write in. ■ They may continue a piece from a writing to learn exercise or start a new piece entirely. ■ “Free-writing” ■ Drafting different kinds of writing, narratives, opinion pieces, letters, poetry, informational, etc. ■ Ongoing ■ Where written feedback takes place ■ Conversation between student and teacher ■ Students use the skills learned in writing to learn exercises and mini lessons and apply to their own writing
+ Facilitating Cooperative Interaction ■ Students will still share their work and ask questions How will it be interactive? ■ As students as questions, I (or another student) will copy questions onto sticky notes. ■ Students can then put the post-its in their journal with their shared piece to refer back to as the write or revisit.
+ Goal for Feedback in Interactive Notebooks ■ “It is also worth noting that the key is feedback that is received and acted upon by students-many teachers claim they provide ample amounts of feedback but the issue is whether students receive and interpret the information in the feedback. ” Visible Learning: A synthesis of over 800 meta-analyses relating to achievement, John Hattie p. 174 ■ Students will receive written feedback on current writing pieces in their “My Writing” section. ■ The feedback will be formed in a question that students can answer, or in a way that allows them to revisit and rethink their piece and prior knowledge. ■ Using feedback, I will also be able to reference their anchor charts to help them further their knowledge and application ■ Students will be given time in class to respond to feedback given. ■ Feedback will be given 1 -2 times a week ■ Provides students with an authentic audience
+ What is feedback? ■ What are different ways that we can give feedback?
+ What is effective feedback? ■ “To be effective, feedback needs to be clear, purposeful, meaningful and compatible with students’ prior knowledge, and to provide logical connections. ”Visible Learning: A synthesis of over 800 meta-analyses relating to achievement, John Hattie p. 177 -178 ■ “It also needs to prompt active information processing on the part of the learner, have low task complexity, relate to specific and clear goals, and provide little threat to the person at the self level. ” Visible Learning: A synthesis of over 800 meta-analyses relating to achievement, John Hattie p. 178 ■ “The art is to provide the right form of feedback at, or just above, the level where the student is working--with one exception. Feedback at the self or personal level (usually praise) is rarely effective. ”Visible Learning: A synthesis of over 800 meta-analyses relating to achievement, John Hattie p. 177
+ Feed Up, Feed. Back, Feed Forward: Three essential feedback questions Visible Learning: A synthesis of over 800 meta-analyses relating to achievement, John Hattie p. 173 ■ Feed Up (Where am I going? ) ■ Establishes a goal/clear purpose ■ Feed Back (How am I going? ) ■ provides information about their progress towards the goal and how they can get to the goal or go beyond the goal. ■ Feed Forward (Where to next? ) ■ has the power to influence next steps in teaching ■ “These three questions do not work in isolation at each of the four levels, but typically work together. ”
+ After Journaling
+ Feedback questions: 4 Levels Visible Learning: A synthesis of over 800 meta-analyses relating to achievement by John Hattie ■ Task Level ■ the work is correct or incorrect ■ May include directions to acquire more, different or correct information. EXAMPLE: “You need to include more about the Treaty of Versailles. ” ■ Process Level ■ directly aimed at the process required for understanding or completing the task EXAMPLE: “Can you think of a different way to begin this piece using one of the strategies we talked about? ” ■ Self-Regulation Level ■ including greater skill in self-evaluation, or confidence to engage further on the task EXAMPLE: “You already know how to give reasons to support your belief. Can you think of some more reasons to support your belief that students should exercise more? ” ■ The student is informed or encouraged. how to better and more effortlessly continue on the task. ■ Self Level ■ personal and unrelated to “self”
+ How do students respond? ■ Feedback gives them a question to answer to think more about their writing ■ Feedback invites them to revisit their writing and make changes. YOUR TURN ■ Swap notebooks with the person next to you. Thinking about the goal-using bold beginningssee if you can give feedback to your partner at the self-regulation level.
+ Reflection ■ ■ Students reflect at the end of units show understandings through writing illicit further and deeper thinking self-monitor what understandings they have acquired any misunderstandings ■ MODELING (use a mirror/lake analogy) ■ What is a reflection? ■ What do we do when we reflect?
+ Reference: What are we learning about? ■ In this section, students will create anchor charts relating to mini lessons and topics covered in class. ■ Note taking becomes an active process ■ Students will be actively involved with the information ■ Students can refer back to their anchor charts throughout the year ■ Make connections between different skills ■ Provides reference tools for feedback ■ Needs modeling ■ 1 st anchor chart: Making an anchor chart ■ What is an anchor chart? ■ How do we use them? ■ What is included on an anchor chart?
+ What is an anchor chart? Creating an anchor chart for making an anchor chart ■ What is the purpose of an anchor chart? Why do we use them? ■ What is included on an anchor chart? ■ What does an anchor chart look like?
+ Anchor Charts ■ What is the purpose of an anchor chart? Some have: All Have: -color -title -images -organization -charts -explanations of topics
+ Anchor Charts Newman, Lily. “Anchor Charts: Making Thinking Visible” ■ “make thinking visible” ■ “tools for students” ■ ongoing; can be added to at any time/as learning develops ■ “organization should support ease of understanding. ” ■ “charts are best in simple, darker earth toneslighter colors used for accents” ■ STUDENTS MAKE THEIR OWN TO HELP THEM UNDERSTAND
+ Your Turn! ■ In your journals, create an anchor chart for interactive notebooks. ■ This anchor chart will reflect how you might use interactive notebooks in your classroom and what they might include. ■ Crayons and markers are available for your use.
+ More EXPLO ■ Can second graders learn to use their notebooks independently and usefully? ■ How do I differentiate for different ability levels? ■ Have I given them too much to include in their journals? ■ How do I use these to interact with parents? ■ How do I get students to provide written feedback? Will it be beneficial to have second graders provide written feedback to their peers?
+ References ■ Hattie, John. Visible Learning: A Synthesis of over 800 Meta-analyses Relating to Achievement. London: Routledge, 2009. 174 -178. Print. ■ Newman, Lily. "Anchor Charts, Making Thinking Visible. " Expeditionary Learning, 1 Oct. 2010. Web. 23 June 2015. ■ Culham, Ruth. 6 + 1 Traits of Writing: The Complete Guide. 120. Print. ■ Wist, Caroline. "Putting It All Together; Understanding the Research Behind Interactive Notebooks. " College of William and Mary. Web. 23 June 2015. ■ "Membership. " Educational Leadership: Multiple Measures: Feed Up, Back, Forward. Web. 23 June 2015.
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