Shared+Reflections+and+Wonderings

We plan to use this page as a place for "jottings" and informal conversations that we may have had around our syndicate writing focus.

We talked a lot about the power of 'talk buddies'. We can use talk buddies during general class discussions but in particular at the start, middle and end of writing sessions. This gives every child the feeling of being able to answer questions and the guidance from each other to assist with their writing. When using this technique we have observed marked improvements in chn's confidence and ability to articulate what is happening and what is the focus of the lesson.

When discussing at our meeting during the term 1 holidays, we shared concerns about handwriting. Of particular concern was the prevalence of capital letters in inappropriate places. Caryn reported that she had put a section of handwriting on the board with incorrect capital letters. The number of children who were unable to recognise the errors was a concern.

Katy has used practice of spelling words to link with handwriting. Children write these 5x each in their handwriting sessions. Jan has found getting children to locate their best example of handwriting and be able to explain in terms of the success criteria why it is the best to be a successful strategy. She found that is motivating for the children, and also reinforces their use of the success criteria.

A challenge is that while some children can "parrot" the success criteria, they do not then take notice of them when they go to do their own work. * A suggestion is to make greater use of peer assessment at handwriting time and have a "sharing" time when children can identify and share examples of best practice.

Mary has one or two children who are "Punctuation Stars." It is their role to get alongside other children and have a conversation with them, modelling how to look carefully at the work and articulate the exact conversation to help them become aware of when they need to use the appropriate punctuation. It has been extremely helpful to have a child from one of the lower reading groups to do this task. The child was well-received by their peers and having the responsibility of teaching the others has been extremely motivating for the child in question.

Jan and Caryn have both been teaching lessons to their target children. There is some concern that the noise involved when doing so is causing a distraction for the remainder of the class, who perform better when the background is very quiet.