[LIT] Quickwrites, l. rief

[Mary Dovey]

I used Quickwrites for the past two years and found that they worked some of
the time...however, the "quickness" of it was often the problem. Many times,
the kids couldn't fully connect to be able to think about the subject, let
alone write a response. I was disappointed when that happened because I
really felt as if the ideas were great. I gradually gave the kids more time
and it worked a bit better...I'll look forward to seeing how you do!
Mary



On 7/18/06 12:45 PM, "bmaddox at comcast.net" <bmaddox at comcast.net> wrote:

> I haven't read all the posts on Literacy Workshop for the past 8 days since
> I've been on vacation, but I just have to share a great little find I made in
> Powell's Bookstore in Portland, Oregon on Saturday.  It is a used copy of _100
> Quickwrites: Fast and Effective Freewriting Exercises That Build Students'
> Confidence, Develop Their Fluency, and Bring Out the Writer in Every Student_
> by Linda Rief.  Her book, Seeking Diversity, is sort of a bible for me, but I
> fear I backslid last school year and got away from true writing workshop.  I
> abandoned the daily ten minutes of writing in a journal to begin class two
> years ago because I felt it tended to establish poor writing practice as well
> as to discourage reflection and revision.  The students' work never seemed to
> mature.  Instead of free-writing,  I tried to provide some context,
> discussion, and reflection time prior to most writing. My kids did began to
> write with more "content" but I don't feel many were "mining their minds,"
> writi
> ng with insight, or developing passion and voice..
> 
> After reading the intro to 100 Quickwrites, I see how to establish a daily
> writing exercise that will generate the gist of thoughtful writing that could
> blossom into substantive pieces via reflection and revision, IF THE STUDENT
> CHOOSES.
> 
> I think quickwrites are going to be very important in my classes next
> year--maybe the most valuable 3 minutes of the day to me and my students next
> year.
> 
> Here's the strategy for teaching with Quickwrites, according to Linda Rief:
> 
> 1. Provide a short reading passage--a poem, a brief passage, another student's
> work or the teacher's--in short, a model piece of writing that contains some
> stimulus for a students initial ideas. Rief suggests using a transparency,
> reading it to the kdis, and leaving it up. Students need to see "a whole piece
> that is thoughtfully and carefully crafted...that touches them intellectually
> or emotionally," not simply "stand-alone phrases or three-word prompts."
> 2.  read the poece aloud
> 3. Ask them to try writing or drawing quickly based on any of the "try this"
> suggestions at the bottom of the transparency (she provides these)
> 4. write or draw your own quickwrite
> 5. if they are still writing after 2 or 3 minutes, extend the time another
> mnute or two
> 6. Give them credit for the quickwrites, considering it rough draft production
> for their writer's notebook or journal
> 
> Then, of course, they can share by reading their quickwrites.
> One can extend the quickwrites by providing choice in which quickwrites to
> develop, by having them go back to their quickwrites every couple of weeks for
> one that surprised them or they want to know more about
> 
> There is more to this system, but that's a bare outline of quickwrites.  This
> is a practice that some of you engage in, I'll bet, with success. How has it
> affected your writing classes?
> 
> By the way, the little book I bought is from the Scholastic Teaching
> Strategies series, for grades 5 and up.  ISBN 0-439-45877-3, $15.95  (I paid
> 7.95 used, the bargain of the summer!)
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