It’s amazing how one day the weather is freezing cold and the next day it’s beautiful. I wrote an etheree about spring. See Ruth’s entry and Stephanie’s entry.
Spring
is in
the air now
but not for long
tulip leaves emerge
birds chirping songs of love
people walking their furry friends
trees swaying in the breezy wind
the sun and clouds dance across the sky
don’t you wish spring is here to stay a while?
My students have a writing binder that stays in the classroom. It has 5 tabs in it to help organize their binders. This idea came from Judith Gould except for the rubric tab. That’s my idea.
The order of tabs:
tab 1 = my work – this is where their current writing is located (choice of writing, assigned writing, etc)
tab 2 = conferences – all the essential tools needed for conferencing are located here
tab 3 = rubrics – this is new this year! I have several rubrics for my students to use (self editing, peer editing, & teacher rubrics) I found that having a place for their rubrics helps me and them stay organized
tab 4 = writer’s helpers – all the essential tools to help them be better writers (transitions, proofreading stuff, whatever you would like for your students to have, etc)
tab 5 = tips from writers – any pieces of writing from other authors that they may want to use for guidance in writing styles
Each quarter I have my students turn in a choice of writing. This writing is anything that they choose to write about. (poems, songs, stories, etc) They are given time in class to work on these pieces. Once the pieces are done, I have them use rubrics to help edit themselves. The rubrics consist of self editing, peer editing, and teacher rubric. The self editing is where they edit their piece of writing themselves and once finished with that they get a peer editing sheet. The students are to give their piece of writing and the rubric to any peer to edit. They then conference on what was edited. Now, my students are to make any revisions that they may have. After making revisions and they are ready to hand in the writing of choice, they are to get the teacher rubric. The teacher rubric is the one I use to grade their work. Each of these rubrics have the same criteria on them except the teacher rubric has a scale of 5-1 and the self/peer rubric has yes and no check sheet. I found last year that giving students a scale of 5-1 didn’t work because they didn’t know what consisted of each criteria. Yes, I need to model each of these and that would show them each, but right now I haven’t had the time.
Back to organization:
To organize their rubrics, I bought color coded folders and labeled each of them. Each folder has a different type rubric in them because you know that poetry is different from essays.
Blue folders= 7th grade poetry/songs
folder 1 = self editing rubric (students are to get this rubric first)
folder 2 = peer editing rubric (after self editing, they are to peer edit)
folder 3 = teacher rubric (get when ready to turn in)
Pink folders = stories or essays
folder 1 = self
folder 2 = peer
folder 3 = teacher
Yellow folders = 6 poetry/ songs
I have a rubric station where they can get these rubrics when they need them. I took time to explain the rubric folder system. We’ll see how it goes. Next week I plan on going step by step on each rubric to explain what the criteria means.
My Jammed Window
My mind is like a jammed window
Ideas, thoughts, and images
Trapped inside
Wanting out
I tap, bang
Tug, and pull
At the panes
Nothing happens
Ideas, thoughts, and images
Shift side to side
Ruffling my mind
Rattling the panes
Un-sticking my jammed window
Crack! It opens
Allowing my ideas, thoughts, and images
To be free
Free to dance
On the lines
Of my writer’s notebook’s
Blank pages
By: Andi Neihoff
 | Chang on My Merrells |
 | Joe Zenir on How Often? |
 | Dee on Thoughtful Responses |
 | Meg Nicholson on Commas and Because |
 | davisbg on Commas and Because |
