Technology Review #3

Writer's Workshop-Conferencing

     I teach Writer's Workshop for K-2 at our school using the Lucy Calkin's program.  We have been trained in this program over the summer and also received training throughout the year.  This was the first year implementing it and as I was thinking about a web resource for my own content area I thought I could benefit finding a site that could help me with conferencing with my students.  I feel that is an area that I am weak in and I found some great sites that offered just conferencing tips with students.  I listed several sites that I found that were beneficial and hope you will too!

This site shows Lucy Calkins conferencing with a child on revision.  It helps seeing her in action with a child. The first thing Lucy says is, "What are you working on today?  What are you doing with your revision?"  She puts the the child in charge of their learning.  The little girl left out parts of her story, something all my kindergarten students will do.  She simply teaches her how she needs to do a 'Does this make sense?' test before moving on to the next page.  Something so simple, but needs to be taught.
http://www.teachertube.com/video/186708


This site gives advice for conferencing k-5 and gives common questions teachers ask about conferencing.  It also has a video for both roving and individual conferences.  The video is kind of boring but has some good information.
http://writestepswriting.com/Blog/tabid/241/EntryId/6/3-Secrets-to-Great-Conferences-with-Young-Writers.aspx


I love this site!  This kindergarten teachers also uses Lucy Calkin's Writer's Workshop.  She discusses sharing, folders, mentor texts, conferencing, publishing and more.  She also has 9 units for kindergarten writing.
http://writingfix.com/workshop/jodieb.htm

I didn't really like some of the anchor charts that Lucy provided.  I think Pinterest is an excellent source teachers can use to find teaching ideas. I found these and will be using these this fall.  I think anchor charts are a good writing tool for kids to refer back to.

                                 http://www.pinterest.com/pin/430304939368952484/

                                     http://www.pinterest.com/pin/430304939368952511/

                                   http://www.pinterest.com/pin/430304939368952400/