Celebrating Student Writing

 

"If it is worth learning, it is worth celebrating." I have always believed in celebrating students in big and small ways. I recently listened to This Teacher Life Podcast by Monica Genta and in her episode, she said, "In schools we need more clapping than criticizing." This made me think about what are we doing to celebrate students on a regular basis. 

As a language arts teacher, I love to celebrate student's writing. Writing is not always a preferred subject, so I like to celebrate it even more. 

Here are a few easy ways to CELEBRATE student writing...

1. Author's Chair- Almost every day, a few students get to share their writing in the Author's Chair. This idea is from Brian Kissel. We always give a compliment or two and then the author gets to pick the other feedback they receive. Click here for a copy of the Author's Chair slide.

2. "Be a Writing Thief" Anchor Chart- As students share during Author's Chair and the class hears amazing lines from their peers' writing, we add it to our Be a Writing Thief Anchor Chart. There is no better compliment than your writing being on display as a model for others. 

3. The Golden "H" award- Like the Newbery Award, but because I'm Mrs. Hartzler it was the Golden H in my classroom. You can call it whatever you want. I bought a wooden H and spray-painted it gold. At the end of each unit, I would pick 2 boys and 2 girls to receive this "prestigious" award. They would get a certificate, take a picture with the Golden H, and then I would email the picture home and brag on them. Click here to grab a copy of the certificate. 

                                           

4. Pennants- Create a pennant that students can take a picture with or even take home. Celebrate that they are an AUTHOR. I always tell my students words are so important, and their words can tell their story and change the world. Click here to grab the template for the pennant. Edit it to say whatever you want it to say. 

 Let's clap loud and celebrate our students!

Encourage Reading and Writing Over the Break

As teachers we know the importance of reading each day and that regression can occur over breaks. I like to encourage my students in fun ways to read and write over the Holiday break. 

Here are 4 ways you can encourage your students:

1. Reading Incentive- 

This incentive encourages students to read 30 minutes a day. You could set it for less if you have younger students. You can send the letter home to parents along with the reading mug. The top readers will get to have breakfast with me when we return in January. We will eat and talk about the books we have read. Yes, I will be reading over break and keeping track too to show my students.

Click here to grab a copy of my letter and mug that I will be sending home with my students next week. 

                  

2. Who's Reading What?-

I am also going to share a collaborative document with my students in Google Classroom so we can see in live time the books being read and get ideas and recommendations over break! I am excited to see all the books being read and the pictures that will come in! Click here to grab a copy!

3. Christmas Break Journal-
If I'm encouraging reading, I am definitely going to encourage writing too! I love hearing from students over break. I will share this Christmas Break Journal in Google Classroom with my students. I can easily respond back to them and show I care even over the holiday. (I will not respond everyday. I will take time to enjoy my break and family too.) Even if you don't respond over break, students will be collecting writing ideas and can share with one another when we return in January.
Click here for a copy.

4. Reading Bingo from Capstone- 

This is another cute option to share with students over break that I found from Capstone Reading on reading that makes reading fun. It offers several creative ideas for reading!

I already have a stack of books I'll be reading over break! Remember to model what you teach and preach. :) How do you encourage reading and writing over the break?

Tips for Using Quick Writes in the Classroom

A quick write is a 3-5 minute time where students write in response to something. This is a writing that is not graded and encourages students to write the whole time and down anything that comes to mind. Quick writers can be used in any content area and bonus is that several tasks involved in quick writes have high effect sizes (think discussion, reflection, integrating prior knowledge, transfer of strategies, summarizing, elaboration, feedback)!

Writing can be a daunting task for students, but quick writers help lighten the stress. The benefits of quick writes are huge. Quick writes include a bunch of John Hattie's influences with high effect size. Students think critically, build a collection of writing topics, share their voice, build writing fluency and increase of writing volume, share raw emotions, and gain confidence. Quick writes help build a community among one other.  

Quick writes also help you as the teacher know more about your students as writers and personally. 

Here are a few tips I have leaned over the last year:

Tip #1. Plan quick writes a head of time. 

I use Google Slides and house all my quick write ideas together. It helps me know what I have already done, and then I have each one planned out ready to go. What you plan, is what gets done!

Tip #2: Use mentor texts, graphics, or videos to spark student's excitement and keep them engaged. Know your students and use different media and ideas that are relevant to them. A few other ways to implement quick writes into all content areas; use them as a pre-assessment/Brain dump, summary or reflection on the lesson, making predictions and hypothesis, or exit tickets. 

Be creative!

Example of a quick write before or after a read aloud

Example of an image

Tip #3: Allow students some TALK time. 

Talking before writing gives them a chance to think out loud, hear the thoughts of their peers, and helps them feel more confident for the writing. After the first 3-5 minutes, students can talk again and share their quick write. They can also identify Focus Phrases or other writing skills.  Get them up and moving and talking to different people. This will help spark new ideas for the students, help them to add more details, and begin to build connections with one another.

Tip #4: Write with the students, yes YOU.

When you set the timer for a quick write, sit down and complete the quick write with your students. Students love seeing authentic writing from you, seeing where you had difficulty, and hearing what you had to write. This is where your classroom community becomes stronger as well. If you don't have one already create and decorate a Writer's Notebook for you.

Tip #5: CELEBRATE their quick writes.

Allow students to share their voice and ideas. Give positive feedback, highlight students who are trying hard, and reinforce the skills you are teaching in reading and writing. These quick writes are often are the beginning of a great story!

I hope you will give your students a chance to shine, grow, and share their voice through quick writes. They are such a powerful tool! I'd love to hear your thoughts or questions on using quick writes in the classroom. 

Celebrating Students' Writing

This has been my first year to teach 4th grade writing, and I knew I wanted to keep writing engaging and fresh for my students all year! I don't want them leaving 4th grade saying all we did was practice for writing STAAR but rather talking about all the fun things we did. While I do celebrate student success in writing throughout our units, I like to have a big celebration at the end of the unit and highlight out students' work! Even if you don't teach writing, I think you can tweak a few of the ideas for your content and at least try out the tech features.

Here are a few examples of the way we have CELEBRATED writing together:

1. Author Headshots and Bios

Every author needs their own headshot and biography! So to celebrate our launching unit, students had their photograph taken and then created an Author Bio page with their headshot. This page is something we have used over and over this year. It can easily be printed and attached to any writing they complete. Finally, they shared their Author Bio page on Flipgrid for classmates to hear. This was also a great relationship builder as it helped us get to know each other better at the beginning of the year.

(Click the photo to grab your own copy.)

2. Roll out the Red Carpet

Always a class favorite is walking the red carpet! Simply roll out some red butcher paper and put some yellow stars on top and you have yourself a runway. Students walk the red carpet, stop in front of the flashing sign, and share their stories on stage with the microphone. What's better than celebrating your writing feeling like a STAR?!

(Click the photo for the flashing sign)

3. "Espresso" Yourself with a Sip and See

At one of my Model Teacher Meetings this year, a teacher from Swenke shared their hot chocolate celebration. I loved it and tweaked it a little bit. We had a hot chocolate bar complete with yummy hot cocoa, whipped cream, marshmallows, and sprinkles!

While students were "sipping" their hot cocoa, they were also "seeing" others writing. I would play music and students would read and leave specific compliments on the Sip and See page. We rotated 5-6 times and then ended back at their seats to enjoy comments from their peer. So delicious and engagement was at an all time high and not just a sugar high:)!!

(Click both photos to make a copy)

4. Listening Ears

I found the website Vocaroo and loved that you could record anything and then create a QR code with it. How cool it is for students to be able to share their writing in their OWN voice with anyone! All students recorded their writing on Vocaroo, created their own QR code, printed one and embedded one on their cover. We placed our QR codes around the room and enjoyed our peers reading to us! 

(Click the photo to make a copy)

5. Virtual Bookshelf

I learned about WriteReader from Traci Piltz on Twitter and once I checked it out I knew we needed to use it for publishing. I love how students can sign in with Google Classroom, and they loved all the features of the website. Once students complete a book, it gets added to the classroom bookshelf. 

After scanning the bookshelf and reading at least 5 books, students headed to DotStorming to leave their reflections and to collaborate with each other. 

(Click the photo to grab a copy)

A look at our virtual bookshelf for literary essays!

How do you CELEBRATE student writing in your classroom? I'd love to add more ideas to my repertoire! Happy Writing!