Step by Step

One of the best ways for a teacher to learn what her students need to learn is by asking them to show you what they know. Then to take the time to observe. What do the students say? What do they do? What do they talk about? Last week, we introduced our first genre in writing, Personal Narratives. Students did some prewriting and wrote some rough drafts. For some students, one prewriting and one rough draft was their learning speed and need. For other students, they had time and inspiration to write out two or three ideas. It is important to offer students opportunities for success where they are at. Then I looked at those rough drafts. What skills did we need to develop? Several.

This week, we started with developing events. We are learning to write using steps in a process, "first", "next", "then", and "finally". There are synonyms and phrases we could use for these terms, but it is helpful to give all students a starting point and common language.

Learning should also involve the sensory details ... such as taste ... and should be fun ... so we pulled out some Oreo Cookies.

After we washed our tables, grabbed a paper towel, the cookies arrived, and we took out our writing notebooks, the students weren't sure what to think about it ... the question, "How do you eat an Oreo Cookie?"

Soon, it was time to take a bite into our learning and really get a taste of our writing.

(May I just say, I LOVE this job and these students!!)

First, we eat our Oreo Cookie and write down the four steps.
Next, we learn the transition words we will use when we write: first, next, then, finally.
Then, as we learn each new term, Ms. Leom models with us the steps. We write our paragraph together. She walks around and supports students, observes what we are doing, and offers reminders (capitals letters ... and more).
Finally, it is time to finish our cookies, turn in our rough drafts, and head out to Recess.

Before, Ms. Leom gets to start the entire learning experience with a new class of students! (

 (Maybe she wasn't clear earlier ... BEST JOB and really AMAZING students to learn with everyday!)

Each group of students needs their own writing experience and support for their learning experience.

Just how we learn, step by step.