The Literacy Place - Reviewing and Celebrating Writing

 Reviewing and Celebrating Writing was a zoom PD presentation during Covid 19.

In my classroom I have always celebrated writing but during this PD it came apparent that there are more explicit ways of not only celebrating but reviewing writing in an explicit way.  

As the side below shows, reviewing our writing gives the student more of a chance to improve their writing by firstly going through their writing and making changes or adding more information before they share it with a peer and/or the teacher.

Using resources to checkmark where the learner is at with their learning is something that I will be using in my teaching.  Having a simplistic visual resource for the learners to use will be a benefit to them as they can monitor where they are at rather than having to come and ask what next after each activity.  Some of my favourite visual cues from the PD are below.

I think it is important for the learner to share their story to at group or class as below in the 'Sharing Circle' as it is giving their work more of a purpose.  Knowing that you are sharing your work gives the incentive to ensure that you have made sure you work makes sense, is interesting/exciting and keeps the other students engaged.

 

The Literacy Place Workshop - Retelling

During the Covid 19 lockdown I had the opportunity to do a 'Retelling Workshop' through zoom with The Literacy Place.  It was the first time I had done a PD over zoom and I was quite anxious about it.  It was in hindsight a great opportunity to talk with educators from all over New Zealand, where that would not have been possible in another setting. 

The workshop itself was very interesting and reinforced the ideas behind retelling a story.  The importance of orally retelling a story was solidified, where previously with time constraints I wouldn't utilise retelling as an important part of the learners writing lesson.  

Another aspect of retelling that I have introduced into my reading/writing plan is to get learners in work in pairs or groups and get each other to retell sections of the story that I have read to them.  Once they have done this either one person or the group stands in front of the class and retells the story, this way they are increasing not only their vocabulary but gives them the confidence to talk in front of an audience.

A few ideas of retelling that I will implement are the picture sequence and ice block sequencing.  I really like the idea of the short sharp story to retell with the ice block sticks.  It is something tactile that the younger learners can really get their hands on.