[LIT] Quickwrites, l. rief

Wed Jul 19 10:51:37 CDT 2006

I wanted to share my thoughts about the Quickwrites, too.  I can't say enough wonderful things about the book.  Our state scores have been down and the students struggle to write extended responses, but the Quickwrites seem to be a great help in both areas.  I learned so much about the personalities of the students by their responses to the Quickwrites.  The students would take time after writing to share their responses with their classmates.  Sometimes we were brought to tears and other times laughter.  After using the book for a period of time, I cut back and the students requested that I added the Quickwrites back into the curriculum.  We even started using student work to create our own Quickwrites.  
I hope you will give it a try.
Sandy Casson
Madison Accelerated Middle School
Madison, IL 

-----Original Message-----
From: macwendy at cox.net
To: lit at literacyworkshop.org
Sent: Wed, 19 Jul 2006 9:45 AM
Subject: Re: [LIT] Quickwrites, l. rief

Thank you for shariing your thoughts about Quickwrites.  Our literature series 
for the middle grades includes Quickwrites before each story.  Some are good, 
some are not.  I used journal writing this year with great success in students' 
thinking out loud and writing responses.  I used quotes from famous authors from 
Jesus to Mohammed to Dr. Seuss.  I asked students to copy the quote, explain the 
quote and then to apply or connect the quote to themsleves, or to give an 
example.  These were the best moments of our day as we shared each others' 
comments and opinions.  Truly, the discussions went on and on.  Then, every so 
often, I would ask them to go back into their journals, choose one of their 
better responses, and asked them to revise and publish.  At the end of the year, 
I put together  a Book of Wisdom from Room 21.  I hope to be able to transfer 
this activity to a brand new life for me as a 7th grade middle school English 
teacher from a 6th grade, self-contained elementary school teacher.  Thanks for 
sharing.

Mrs. Mac

---- 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!)
> _______________________________________________
> The Literacy Workshop ListServ http://www.literacyworkshop.org
> 
> To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/lit_literacyworkshop.org.

_______________________________________________
The Literacy Workshop ListServ http://www.literacyworkshop.org

To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/lit_literacyworkshop.org.
________________________________________________________________________
Check out AOL.com today. Breaking news, video search, pictures, email and IM. All on demand. Always Free.