Hi Mary, TIme is time and when you don't have much you need to make the most of it. Mini lessons should be just that - mini. If a mini lesson lasts more than 5-7 minutes you've probably gone too far. Make the most of your mini lesson by teaching a small piece and instead f taking questions or comments from students, have them turn to a partner and discuss if they have used the strategy, if they think it would be helpful, or whatever the mini lesson lends itself to. You should make it short and sweet by spending the time giving the lesson. If you notice that it is taking to long - wrap t up as quick as you can and send your students off to try it out.
Writing workshop mini lessons... Read texts by authors like Donald Crews, Patricia Polacco, Cynthia Rylant, and so on. Find Mentor texts that show how authors use dialogue in their own writing. Teach your students to read like a writer. Have them pay attention to how authors use dialogue in their own writing. I went to the Lucy Calkins writing institute tis past summer and learned so much about writing workshop. Try and Google the site. It's Lucy Calkins + teacher's college. i am not sure of the exact web page. Hope this helps you a bit, :) Camille -------------- Original message ---------------------- From: Mary Manges <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Hi everyone, > I'm wondering how long most of you have each day for teaching language > arts? I teach fifth grade and have about 90 minutes to teach reading > and writing. I've basically divided it into two 45 minute blocks. > This is the first year that I am following STW and Comprehension > Toolkit, but I'm really struggling to get everything in. In the past > I taught strategies, somewhat haphazardly, but I wasn't struggling as > much with time. I know that with STW and the Toolkit I am doing a > better job, it is just taking so long. I'm not sure I can speed > things up without sacrificing the depth of thinking that comes with > the lesson. Today it took almost 35 minutes to get through the lesson > on questioning, which didn't allow much for independent practice with > the strategy. I also try to incorporate literature discussions into > everything as I know how important talk is to reading. Add in testing > pressure, in PA I have to prepare them for both the reading and > writing assessments (by February and early March). Every time I think > about testing season my heart starts racing. My scores were the pits > last year, so there is a lot of pressure to show some improvement. I > have that "hamster in the wheel" feeling. > > I'm also struggling to get through writing workshop in the alloted > time. I have had trouble keeping my writing workshop mini-lessons > mini. I've always had this problem to an extent, but it just seems > worse this year. We're working on using dialogue in narrative, which > is a difficult thing for fifth graders, as most have not used it or > been taught how to use it. My mini-lesson turned into a maxi-lesson, > I didn't get it finished, and they didn't even have time to write. > I'm wondering if it is me or the time that is the big issue. I'm > basically the only person in my small, rural district who teaches this > way. Everyone else uses the basal texts for both subject, so I'm > desperately seeking some help from this group. > > Thanks! > Mary > > _______________________________________________ > Mosaic mailing list > [email protected] > To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to > http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. > > Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive. > _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive.
