Week long field experience and Ch 12 (Katie Wood Ray)

      This week my field placement has been a great experience. I finally taught a whole class lesson about light during science. It was so great to have the students view me in a more professional manner. I included powerpoints, center activities, flip books, and a quiz. Being at JJ Harris and in my placement classroom all week long has been really beneficial to see how an entire week plays out. It was so nice to understand everything that was going on instead of only catching last two days of the week.
     I actually experienced more writing instruction this week than I had in the past in my field experience classroom. I led a writing center during ELA time two days this week.  My teacher put a writing prompt on the smart board. This prompt basically had students think about the warm weather and the summer season and discuss three activities they enjoy during this season. The students used a four square to show their introduction sentence, conclusion sentence, and three body paragraphs. Once they had their ideas organized on the four square, they transferred their ideas into a paragraph including lots of details and interrogative, declarative, exclamatory, and imperative sentences. I was open to questions for all the students and was able to look at each student's writing and give feedback since it was a center with a few students.
     In Ray's reading this wee, I agree with the idea of spending time in the beginning of the school year explaining to the students "how" the writing workshop "works". This allows for less questions about the process later in the year. I really like how Ray thinking writing practice is so important for students. She states, "Our students learn many, many things about writing and about themselves from engaging in daily work as writers." Some teachers think that students will get their writing experience by just writing, when in fact, writing instruction is important for our students to grow as writers.