I've also found that when introducing or reintroducing a written response of some kind it has helped for the kids to do it with me in the circle. I do this with writing notebook entries and reading responses, as well. If they have questions everybody gets the benefit of hearing them and if they need an answer they can listen in. Otherwise, just being together somehow has helped. And, as Kim has mentioned below, giving them time to turn and talk with a partner also produces better results and lessens the anxiety of those who might be apprehensive. The oral rehearsing gets them going. Elisa
Elisa Waingort Grade 2 Spanish Bilingual Dalhousie Elementary Calgary, Canada Jenni- We have been doing a journal writing where my second graders learned about writing on a topic and adding three details. After a couple of weeks of instruction and practice time, this became an independent work for them. As I read them over, I decided to make it an instructional tool again since several children were thinking a line of writing was a sentence. I did some whole group work, and then assigned topics to groups to write about individually while they discussed among their groups. It seemed that encouraging them to discuss or verbally rehearse while writing was motivating along with introducing a paragraph writing check list. I hope these little steps to independence are helpful to you too. Journals are again an independent writing time in my classroom. Kim
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