Crab Salad, Pickles, and Cookies while Listening to Ralph Fletcher and Lindsey Moses!

     

Excited to be heading to Eau Claire this weekend to help my oldest daughter, Bailey, and her husband move into their first home! I decided to make a few items to bring with. While I was cooking I continued to play PD Summer Bingo and one of the choices was to listen to a podcast and share your new learning or wonders. You should definitely check these out!

My first podcast was Joy Write with Ralph Fletcher. Ralph shared that he feels in today's academic writing world teachers are just checking things off a list based on the genre expectations. He adds that's not much fun. Ralph said, "I don't want those kids to be saying the same thing. When you start to see letters like that, you realize it's not about the kids really saying what they want to say, they're following a format that's been given to them, and it's not really authentic anymore. I mean I'd like to know what the kids think and not following the format."

Things to remember:
Choice is not just a matter of what to write about but also how to write about something. I am hoping to take Ralph's idea of a writing greenbelt and provide a comfortable space for my learners to compose.

  A writer's workshop that flourishes in today's classroom!

My next podcast was with Lindsey Moses. I love how she secured my thoughts that reader's workshop is not WORKSHEETS or busy work. It needs to be purposeful. 

One important thing Lindsey says is that anything your learners might need they should be able to know where it is and have access to it without help from us. During the podcast she also suggests having a place for students to review strategies or ways to talk with partners.

Lindsey said, "So in order to facilitate independence we have to provide additional visual supports, reminders and spaces where students can interact freely, and they know what the purpose is."


Things to remember:
Personal Learning Experiences (PLE) need to be purposeful and to support our learners independence teachers need to give them CHOICE.

Looking forward to meeting and listening to both Ralph Fletcher and Lindsey Moses at the WSRA 2018 Convention!

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