Brenna's 618 Blog

This week, Maddie's blog had my focus, specifically her entry asking " what makes a good mentor text ?" Her entry really stood out to me as her voice was incredible! I could almost hear her reading it out loud to me, which was really powerful. By using different formatting tools, such as different colored text to emphasize certain ideas, capitalizing certain words, and using informal language to express her interpretation of the text(s), her voice was conveyed very strongly. Well done, Maddie!  Regarding her interpretation of the text Supporting Young Writers With Award-Winning Books by MacKay, Ricks, and Young (2017), she did an excellent job of highlighting the guiding question "what makes a good mentor text?" Maddie also poses her own question: "Just because a text is an award-winner, does that mean it is the best mentor text for  all  students?" I too also thought deeply about this question, as I feel that too many award-winning books are used as...

I enjoyed the readings for this week because giving feedback on writing and assessing writing has been something I have struggled with as a first year teacher. Writing in 1st grade looks a lot different than what I was used to in my student teaching placements in 3rd and 5th grade, so it has been quite an adjustment. I have wondered many times if my students' writing is considered on grade level or is developmentally appropriate for their age. I have also wondered how missing out on essentially half of Kindergarten has impacted their writing. On top of all of this, as an (admittedly so) not-so-confident first year teacher, I started the year off wanting my students to like me so was very hesitant at first to make any major corrections to my students' writing. This may have been because I wanted my students to like me right off the bat, or rather I just was not entirely sure what was expected of a first grader. Nonetheless, chapter 4 of Tompkins and the article by Philippakos (2...