Continuation of Writing Ideas

I teach Kindergartners. I suppose this is why the writing process starts off slow. At this stage in the students development many of them will not be able to move beyond the point of drawing and labeling pictures for some time. The goal is to make certain that writing is non-threatening for my students and to promote a love for self expression. I feel that if I approach it in this manner my end results will be more beneficial. In all honesty, the first couple of weeks of school I will more than likely spend a great deal of time teaching students their ABC's and the sounds the letters make. The writing for the first part of the year will be drawings for most students and once they began to understand that letters make sounds and sounds help to form words the writing will start to progress. Then it's just a matter of allowing my students to guide my instruction. I will learn from them where to go and which steps to take next. Hopefully through this open discussion I will get some good ideas to implement throughout the year.

Writing Ideas

Well since the last time I was on here, I attended a professional development workshop to train on a new reading program our school system has purchased to be used over the next six years. The reading series is named Reading Street. It is published by Scott Forseman. In the series there is a section outlining the implementation of writing. It seems that this may provide a good start for me, considering I have not been as pleased as I would like to have been with my past experiences. Now I will say , I did see some amazing writing with some of my students by the end of the year. Again my goal is to continue to search for the best writing program that promotes the highest success rate. The new reading series suggest that you start with something simple like having a student draw a picture, then label the drawing. The book suggest continuing these steps for at least the first month or two of school. According to the Teachers Edition the drawings will change based on the theme being covered weekly. I can't wait to try this! Of course, if I see some students that can go beyond this point I will do what I can to further advance them. So do you think this could be a good beginning?

Searching For New Ideas

I previously began blogging in another course I was taking. As you can see I received no response to the topic of discussion. Prehaps it was a topic of little interest. I am a Kindergarten educator. I work hard to provide my students with as many life experiences as possible. I take pride in my profession and I am constantly searching for ways to improve my teaching and the success rate of my students. Every year my goal is to enhance my teaching in all areas. I am sure you know that while this is not an easy task when broken down into parts it becomes manageable. My main focus this next school year is to revise my writing program for my students. I constantly search the internet for new ideas and I have visited our local education stores to look for materials. If any one has some ideas of a quality program to help improve kindergarten writing please feel free to advice! I am interested in hearing how you start your program at the beginning of the year and how you advance throughout the year. If someone teaches a grade or two higher than kindergarten your thoughts would still be helpful. Look forward to hearing from you.