Writing Facilitator and Coach for Novice Teachers

Summary: Worked with a group of new teachers and instructed them in National Writing Project strategies.

Project Rationale:

Writing and teaching are my two passions in life. In the summer of 2012 I applied and was accepted into the National Writing Project’s summer intensive at UCSD. There I was trained in leadership and professional development skills. I was taught the strategies utilized by the National Writing Project and graduated as a Fellow in August 2012. I can now provide PD in writing to staff members. Therefore, when a group of our new teachers were struggling with writing instruction, I teamed up with my 4^th grade colleague and created a writing group.

Leadership Role:

My colleague and I worked together and gather anchor papers, rubrics and notes to provide to the teachers. We had a series of meetings. The first meeting Jennifer and I focused on introducing the writing process and how to implement it with their students. We first focused on personal essays/opinion writing. We introduced the envelope systems the teachers could use to help the students create thesis statements and claims to support the thesis. In the following meetings we checked in on how the implementation was going and reviewed student work. We then taught mini-lessons on how to teach the student ways to support their claims via anecdotes, surveys, interviews, or articles.

In the meeting during the January-March we taught the teachers different ways to write a response to literature with a focus on comparing and contrasting different items. This writing was linked to the district-wide benchmark assessment. We provided the ladies with anchor papers, rubrics and outlines.

During the final months of the school year I taught the group different warm-ups that the National Writing Project implemented. I showed them power writing and “The Toss-in” method. These strategies are easy to implement and show great results. The group loved these short activities and so did their students.

Reflection:

Sharing writing instruction with my colleagues was so beneficial. I learned new strategies from the other teachers that I utilized in my classroom. I grew as a coach and mentor and learned how to work with another teacher with different views on writing instruction. Jennifer and I were able to combine our ides and create even better ones. The challenge during this time, was actually finding times to meet. There were a few months that we never had a meeting or not all people attended the meeting. This was a problem. I tried to hold the meeting the same day and time monthly, but it was still a struggle. This is an area I will continue to reflect upon and try to improve.

CAPE Connections:

CAPE 5- Implementation of K-12 standards, Pedagogical Skills, Effective Instructional Practices and Student Assessments for Content Instruction by facilitating a cohesive writing program for new teachers across 4^th and 5^th grade through the National Writing Project strategies.

CAPE 6- Evaluating, Analyzing, and Providing Feedback on Effective Classroom Instruction to Promote Student Learning and Teacher Professional Growth by providing feedback to the new teachers and helping them reflect on their own teaching practices.

CAPE 14- I Helped teachers improve their individual Professional Practice through Professional Growth activities by holding monthly writing meetings where I provided writing lessons and warm-ups for the teachers. In addition, we reviewed writing samples and rubrics.