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. 

Thinking About My Practice with Christine Syme

Teaching Pedagogy



Deliberate Acts of Teaching (DAT)

The term instructional strategy is used to mean a deliberate act of teaching that focuses on

learning to meet a particular purpose.

When teachers interact with their students they use a range of deliberate acts of teaching. They

use them to develop students’ knowledge, strategies and awareness in terms of learning.

The importance of deliberate, strategic teaching cannot be over emphasised. However, much learning is incidental, and improved student outcomes result from both planned ad incidental learning experiences.

When using instructional strategies, teachers should be aware they need to do the following:

Modelling

Modelling is providing a model of how a good learner works by demonstrating and articulating how a solution was derived – thinking aloud as a process is followed.  Modelling often involves providing the language that the learner needs.

Prompting

Prompting is encouraging the learner to use what they already know and can do. Prompting may take the form of a strong hint, a clue, or a gentle “nudge” to help students use their existing knowledge and strategies to make connections and reach a solution. A prompt often takes the form of a question and involves allowing “wait time” to give students the opportunity to develop and express their own ideas.

Questioning

Questions are a productive way of bringing out what students know and can do, so that they can apply their expertise to their tasks. Questioning can be used to build student knowledge, and encourage thoughtful discussion and critical thinking.

Feedback

The purposes of feedback are: to affirm, to inform, to guide future learning.  Feedback is most effective when it relates back to specific learning goals and to the ultimate goal of enabling students to monitor and regulate their own learning.

Telling

At its simplest level, telling means supplying what the student needs, such as an unknown word or piece of knowledge. The idea is to fill a gap at that moment to enable the student to move on.

Explaining

Explaining can be thought of as an extension of telling. Teachers may explain the task itself, or they may explain the content of a learning activity. For example, the teacher may explain: what they want the students to do, how a certain task will help the students to achieve a particular goal, the background to a topic (for example, as an introduction to an activity).

Directing

Directing is simply giving a specific instruction.