Writing PD with Louise Dempsey Year 0-2

What was the highlight of the session?

One highlight of today's session was when Louise Dempsey reminded us to do less but to do it well! She encouraged our class to set one or two goals from today's workshop and make it a focus to use it well in our pedagogical practice- even if it takes weeks to get it right. Coming into term 3, I have been feeling a little overwhelmed and unmotivated with my writing programme so I personally found this very empowering and refreshing to hear. I am feeling more excited and inspired to move forward with my writing programme with clear goals and deliberate acts of teaching to raise my students achievement in writing. 

What aspect caused you the most difficulty?

• integrating some of the ideas from today's session into my current writing programme which has been strongly influenced under Toni's facilitating
• guided writing vs. independent writing- Do I even want to go there with independent writing?

Was there any aspect that suprised you?

Louise Dempsey suggested seeing one group a day while everyone else is writing independently. She used the concept of 'I Do, We Do, You Do' to explain the process of moving children towards independent writing. Louise Dempsey also spoke about the teacher's role during independent writing which involves the teacher actively roving, making quick-stops and guiding groups. I was suprised by this approach because the expectation set by Toni is for teachers to work with every child everyday. Toni has also made it specifically clear that our students should not be writing independent at this year level. 

What were the three most important things you took away from the session?

1. learning about the knowledge toolkit during reading- use reading to help kids get to know what they need to do in writing e.g. identify capital letters, finger spaces, capital letters, etc.
2. generating ideas for writing- curriculum, shared experiences and activating memories/experiences
3. clear criteria and challenge- make it visual, memorable and measurable

Which aspects could you include in your own work practice based on your learning experience?

1. I will use a range of resources and experience to generate ideas for writing e.g. picture prompts, role playing/drama, big books, video clips, etc.
2. I will tighten up my model by having clear criterias and RTs 
3. I will allocate some time at the end of my writing programme for a lesson wrap-up/review

Evaluation:

I found using picture prompts for writing very successful and effective for my learners, especially those who struggled with ideas or who were repeatedly writing about the same things. Having the picture prompts available for them every writing session gave them a visual opportunity to tap into their prior knowledge or remember experiences related to the image. I used real life images not cartoon images purposely to make it even more real for my learners. 

One specific example/ highlight was when one learner who was always writing about mum and going to the park picked an unexpected image of a door. I asked her why she chose this particular image only for her to share that she remembered a time a door slammed onto her finger and it "was really sore Miss". So I said to her I would love for you to tell me more about what happened. Off course this set in motion an engaging writing session where the learner was determined to add as much information as she could remember about the incident.