Friday, April 16, 2010

Not assessment, but a most interesting observation

This morning I was in the 1/2 day Kindergarten for Writer's Workshop. The students had been writing little three page booklets for several weeks (one day a week). The teacher had encouraged their own ideas, invented spelling, and the other supports for initial writers. Today's lesson was on revision.

Revision! for Kindergarteners? The teacher modeled rereading her pieces and choosing one to make better--ready to publish. The topic was going outside to see the class tree in spring, which they had done on Tuesday. The first page example was one where she had omitted a pronoun--I or we in her sentence. The students read the sample on the smartboard and told her what was missing. They also had discussion as to whether it should be I or we; she showed that her picture had several stick figures, so agreed that we was the better choice. They also recognized that the sentence needed a period. The second page was "I saw stuf." What did we see? she asked. The picture showed ground and a bare-limbed tree. The children suggested a flower and leaves on the tree and a bird. She added both the picture and the words. Wow! Was I impressed!

Then I saw the children take out their folders, read through their own pieces, and begin to work. I was working with one of my ELL students trying to get oral language (he doesn't have sound/symbol correspondence yet). I prompted, tell me more, which he did. He doesn't have letter sounds yet, but even he tried to do more and revise.

This lesson gave me a little hope that the writing process is not dead or discarded.

3 comments:

  1. Revising in kindergarten!! yes, yes, this is very inspiring.

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  2. Heck, if Kindergardeners can do it - so can my 4th graders!! :)

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  3. I think our primary teachers are some of the best at teaching through the writing workshop model. Don't you love spending time in kindergarten?

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