Let me just start by saying that the writing unit my students will be doing for a large portion of this research is my absolute favorite unit we do in 1st grade!!
Since returning from Winter Break we have entered the world of reading and writing informational text. We have spent this time learning about text features and characteristics of non-fiction texts. Starting this week the students are starting to get their hands wet with actually writing informational texts. Our final project in first grade at Eagle Academy is an animal book. The students are assigned animals that they research using both the internet and books and then write their own informational book about it. It is a very long and drawn out writing project because both the research and the organization of the books are very supported by me as the teacher. However, I have never seen a writing project that the students own as much as they do this one.
Prior to starting our animal books we have decided as a school that we will try our hand at "on demand" writing at all grade levels. The on demand writing prompt for 1st grade is an informational text prompt. The students will independently write about something they are an expert about and what they can teach the other students about. They will then be given 30-45 minutes to completely write their informational text. I think that this writing piece will really help me to see which students are going to be in my collaboration group and which ones will be in my technology group. I will likely be including information from this on demand prompt in my data section of my paper.
Question: I am trying to decide what I think is best for my collaboration group and would love some feedback. The plan is that every student would be researching a different animal because we have on-level non-fiction books about enough animals to do it this way. However, if my collaboration group involves a reluctant/struggling writer being placed with a stronger writer should they research the same animal? I definitely see some pros and cons to doing it this way. My concern is that if the students are doing the same animal the struggling/reluctant writer may just copy what the stronger writer is doing. Another possibility is for the collaboration group I could have them collaborating with an instructional assistant instead of another student. This would enable them to be able to each do their own animals and have very guided instruction from an adult. I'm not sure that providing an instructional assistant as their collaborator will help move them toward becoming independent writers.
Any and all feedback is welcome! :)
I love reading your blog posts because I can closely relate to your classroom of first graders. That’s wonderful that you will be using your favorite writing unit to do your research! We are actually researching Artic Animals in my classroom right now. We research the animal and then write a paper on the animal of their choice. I love that you also have them write an informational book about it. I’m sure the book is very motivating since they can take ownership of their work and will always have something to show for it. The topic of writing informational text can be a challenge to teach.
ReplyDeleteOn your question about your collaboration group, I think it would be okay for them to research the same animal. I think it would be confusing for the students if they were paired with another student yet weren’t researching or doing the same animal. I think it might be harder for the higher student to help the lower student with two different topics. Copying could be an issue but I just think it’s important to give the students your expectations before you begin. Do you have enough instructional assistants to help these struggling writers?
I LOVE this!!! I wish I could come be a volunteer in your classroom and help with the struggling writers. It sounds like a super fun project. Do you feel comfortable enough with the assistants to explain that you want them there as a support, but to offer minimal help? Just an idea. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteHmm, I like the idea of pairing a stronger writer with a struggling writer. I would say go ahead and pair them this way, but, have them research different animals. This way, they can focus more on the "how" to make their writing and research more effective, detailed, and overall just better; that way, you would not have to worry as much, about the struggling writer copying the stronger writer. Does this make sense?
ReplyDeletewhat does the research say about this approach, Rachel. How should the buddies be paried?
ReplyDelete