2019 Goals: Writing

In this last of my 2019 goals series, I’m focusing on writing. Hence the blog! I figure if I’m going to help teachers and students write, then I need to be in the process myself. There is actually a record of me saying I hate teaching writing on Facebook, back in 2009 when posting answers to 25 questions about yourself was trending. Shortly thereafter, I came to discover that I actually loved teaching writing. It was through a professional development series that was actually based in technology that I grew to love the writing process. It’s funny how things can work out that way. Take something I love (technology) and then embed something I’m not interested in (writing) and a spark ignites. I’d like to think that same thing happens for our students as well.

So how did I go from hating writing to loving writing? The process was based in helping my students navigate their brand new laptops (our grade level had been given a laptop cart to share). While they were writing letters to pen pals, I started to realize that I couldn’t try to correct everything possible in their writing. It would sound unnatural – not like a 4th grader. I also learned that there would be many, many questions in this process, and I couldn’t spend 10 minutes with each child. Writing conferences became more like writing drive through’s, where I would know of one or two items in the student’s writing that s/he was working on, and I would focus my brief attention there. I never focused on spelling during these writing stages – I’d file that information away for a lesson to be done shortly thereafter. Plus, I made sure they were aware of how to use spell check! The whole world of writing opened up to me – I realized the power of a mini lesson and the power of meeting students where they were at. Now, Google docs (through the use of Google Classroom) really makes the writing process a fun one for teachers and students. Click here for a short overview of what I love about Google Docs.

I’m super excited to take a group of teachers to see Carol Jago at the end of January, as she presents on opinion writing. I love that she is not only talking about the process, but also how to provide feedback and manage the paper load that teaching writing creates.

One of my biggest interests is in the area of mathematical writing, and will likely be the focus of many future blog posts. Currently, I’m working with many teachers on a set of lessons based out of Think It, Show It Mathematics.

This was suggested to me after attending a workshop from a professor at UC Davis, where she had shared lessons they had created from this book. So, we have worked with them and tweaked them for the needs of our teachers. At this point, we’ve had rave reviews on our PD. Teachers who have really focused on mathematical writing are finding that by having a rubric by which to evaluate the work, along with language for the writing itself, has helped their students’ explanations soar. Here are a couple of examples of fourth graders’ recent math writing. Note the use of transition words and a clear statement of the answer.

I just happened to grab a couple of snapshots as I was in the room for another purpose – to observe their collaboration as partners! But, I was so struck by the fact that after collaborating with partners, there weren’t any questions of “How do I explain this?” It was fascinating to not only observe their conversations, but then see them explain their thought process so clearly on paper.

I’m looking forward to doing even more investigation into mathematical writing with my teachers, through a few different lenses. First, there’s work from UConn including the original recommendations from the Elementary Mathematical Writing Task Force. Linked there, but I think also important to link here is the article, “Why Should Students Write in Math Class?” from Educational Leadership (2017). Last, is a piece that I found on Twitter a week ago called 17 Prompts For Writing in Mathematics. See a glimpse below:

So that’s it – my three big goals this year are to investigate Intervention, Listening & Speaking, and Writing. Keep in mind though – all of these investigations will also come through the lens of coaching and support, so I certainly intend to blog about coaching as well. What are your goals this year?