April 3, 2009
In the mid eighties Nancy Atwell came out with the book, In the Middle. It was a one of our first looks at Writing Workshop. In this pivotal book, Nancy was able to help us get our arms around the structure of the workshop model in the classroom: mini-lesson, work time, sharing. She also helped us understand the power of having children check in with the teacher via her status of the class procedure. This quick student check-in process provided accountability for students who learned to articulate what they were going to work on and allowed the teacher in on their plan as well.
We had the wonderful opportunity to visit Russell Academy in Portland, Oregon this weekend. It was there in Beth Hoffman's second grade classroom that we experienced a different look at students checking for Daily 5™.
After a quick and explicit focus lesson, Beth announced who she was going to work with in a small group and then did a whole group check-in that sounded something like this:
"Boys and Girls, if you are choosing to go to the classroom library and Read to Self, put your thumb in the air. You may go get started."
"Now, who would like to Read to Someone?" Once their thumbs were in the air indicating this as their choice, she either put them into partnerships or had them choose a partner and move away from the whole group to begin.
She continued the whole group check-in by saying, "If you are going to choose Word Work on your own, put your thumb up. Go gather your materials and get started."
"Now if you are going to do Word Work with a partner, put your thumb up. Please find someone else who also has their thumb up and get started." Those children then moved away, gathered their materials and found a spot at a table to get working.
"Those of you who are choosing to do Work on Writing, please put your thumbs up." She then did a quick check-in with each child as to what they were writing about. Once they were set, she sent them off to get started and was now ready to begin her small group.
Thanks for the great idea Beth!