I have developed my Professional Growth Plan to help me grow in the area of writing. Therefore, I was super excited to find the "Writer's Checklist." My students always struggle with conventions and word choices when writing. This checklist is something that could be kept in their writing folder. I would give them a copy of it for each piece they are writing as well as have a class size poster hanging in the room for everyday writing. Hopefully this tool will help them remember to add the correct conventions and help them organize their writing. How will this permanently change my teaching? After the skills are taught explicitly, I will expect the students to carry this over to their writing. I will spend less time during conferencing talking about punctuation and staying on topic.
Here is the link to the page...click on Another Checklist for First Grade Writer's Workshop to open the word document.
http://www.carlscorner.us.com/Write.htm
A writer's checklist is a great idea. I am going to be teaching writing in my class for the first time in a while so I am looking for some new ideas. What I really like about this checklist is that the children are accountable for their own work and what still needs to be done. One problem I may encounter would be students who may not be honest about what they really have and have not completed. We will have to have a big discussion on trust and responsibility in the beginning. Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteI also like the straightforwardness of this writing checklist. One thing I would like to add to the checklist is "My sentences make sense." :) How will you set up the writing "block" in your classroom? I know that you said you will keep the checklist in the writing folders. Is the checklist something that the students will just refer to and check in their heads when they are finished? Or, will they actually fill out a checklist for each day they write? I feel like I do a good job of building in time for my kids to write. However, I need to work on teaching them more direct writing lessons and taking the time to look at their every-day writing (conferencing with them). How do/will you accomplish this?
ReplyDeleteI wanted to comment on your discussion board reply on here to make sure you saw it. :) If you happen to have a copy of either the graphic organizer or a completed feature article from last year, could you email it to me (BarkerEE@fuse.net). I've seen a few graphic organizers, but I'm trying to gather information from everywhere. I might take all of the graphic organizer ideas and coordinate them with the website subtitles. Working with the librarian is a good idea. How long is your library time and how often a week do you have it? Did the students type their projects in class? How long of a process did you make the feature article, from the beginning to the end? What time of the year did you do this? (I know I can't start with this at the beginning of first grade, but I don't really want to wait until the end of the year. It fits nicely with our curriculum around Nov/Dec, so I'm just curious if yours were "ready" by then.) I think those are all of my questions for now. :) Thanks for all of your help and ideas!
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