Isn’t This A Journal?
Warn your students that this is not a diary or a journal. This is not a place for secrets. All writing must be something you could share with anyone in the room. Share this post on Facebook
Q&A
Can My Students Use A Tablet To Type?
Yes they can. But, I can type a lot faster than I can write by hand, so you would need to do an assessment on their tablets, with a different count when they are using a device. Also, they would then be trading devices in order to read and respond …
What About My Special Needs Students?
Students who are significantly below the others need a target number that fits their needs. They will need a specific assessment of how fast they can write and an assigned number that is within their grasp. The same applies to students who use a device to write. Share this post …
What If I Don’t Have The 20 Minutes Of Writing In The Schedule Each Day Even For 2 Weeks At A Time?
Originally I had a vision that you would give them 5 minutes in class to start and the rest would be homework, or something to be completed if their math, or other class work was done. If they have a target number of words, that can be completed at any …
What If My Students Don’t Have The Stamina To Write For A Solid 20 Minutes?
Good point. Many teachers start with a 10 minute write and work their way up as student skills strengthen. Tell them it’s about training for stamina just like long distance running. Usually, grade 4 students will not have the stamina for a solid 20 minute write. But, some grade 7’s …
What If I Want To Respond To Student Writing?
My advice is: Don’t get yourself worn out. There are lots of professional tasks you can do, including designing amazing writing lessons. Think of yourself as being willing to work 60 hours a week at being the best teacher in the world – how should you spend your hours? But, …
Won’t My Students Get Enough Work On Fluency Just Naturally In The Classroom?
Fluency is one of the three pillars of writing – code, comprehensibility, and fluency. Code. English, and all languages are a code, a printed representation of language. English rules of code include left to right, top to bottom, spaces between the words, punctuation, subject/verb/object, etc. We spend a lot of …
What Does It Matter If Students Are Not Fluent?
Imagine two students. Both of them are hard working, intelligent, persistent in the face of challenges – they have all the virtues of good students. BUT one of them writes at half the speed of the other. Now imagine high school homework – 3 hours a night for the one …
What If My Students Still Have Trouble Writing Enough?
If you are asking for 100 or 400 words, some students will still find it hard to think of enough to write. Does it have to be true? No it doesn’t. The point of this is to develop writing fluency and the ability to ideate quickly. You could tell them …
My Students Won’t Know How to Respond to Each Other’s Writing.
So what should they say when they finish reading a partner’s writing? It’s not about spelling, or quality of sentences, or messiness. This isn’t even a draft – if it were anything it would be a pre-draft – the kind of thing you write to find out what you think. …