Leytia modelling writing

 Leytia came and modelled writing in my classroom on Wednesday.  She brought in a lift-the-flaps book about insects in the garden.  Before she read it she did a quick brainstorm to check prior knowledge.  She drew a flower and pointed to the stem.  "Who knows what this part of the plant is called?"  The children suggested "the stick?"  She asked them what lived in the garden.  She wrote the things that they supplied in the petals on the flower.  As she went through the story she added more information about the characters.  I liked the way she explicitly referred to their prior knowledge, introducing the children to this term.

The children had to write a description of one of the characters.  Leytia modelled this.

Takeaway: I liked the way Leytia used the brainstorm to check prior knowledge about the topic - I have usually been doing brainstorms after we have read a story to check understanding.  I liked the way she added to it as the story progressed.  This is something I would like to do in future.  

Observing Leytia modelling a writing lesson

Yesterday I observed Leytia teaching a writing lesson with my class.  Her focus was on vocabulary.

Leytia started with some quick formative assessment.  She asked "Where do sounds belong?"  "In a word" was the answer she was looking for.  "Where do words belong?" "In a sentence" the children replied.  

She wrote up a sentence "My hair is black."  "What's the noun?" she asked.  "What's the adjective?"

She got the children to describe their hair and eyes and supply her with some sentences.  She got them to identify the noun and adjective in each one and reinforced the idea that an adjective describes a noun, you can't have an adjective without a noun. 

Leytia then brought out a "feely box." The children had to reach in one by one to feel what was inside without looking in the box.  They then had to come up with words to describe what they felt.  She wrote them up classified into "Feel" and "Touch."

She then got the children to guess what the object was.  They guessed glue, slime and paint.  It turned out to be a small shoe covered in slime.  She asked what the noun was..."shoe!"  

She then gave the lowest group a writing frame, which she wrote in the modelling book.  This was "The slime felt_____ and ____.  She got them to write a new sentence with the same structure.  Prinze, for example, wrote "The slime felt cold and sticky."  

Takeaway:  I liked the way Leytia scaffolded the lowest group by giving them a frame to use and giving them the freedom to choose the adjectives they wanted.  This would work with lots of different topics.  I also liked the way she did  a quick formative assessment at the start of the lesson to check the children's understanding of a noun and an adjective.

PTC 4. demonstrate commitment to ongoing professional learning and development of personal professional practice i. identify professional learning goals in consultation with colleagues ii. participate responsively in professional learning opportunities within the learning community iii. initiate learning opportunities to advance personal professional knowledge and skills

Writing PD with Leytia

This term we have been having writing PD with Leytia Leota-Preston.  I observed two writing lessons with her (in Shabnam and Sandhya's classes) and she observed one of my lessons.  One of Leytia's key messages has been that language experiences are valuable for engaging writers (especially boys).  One of the language experiences she talked about at our PD session in the holidays was dissecting a hammerhead shark.  When I watched Shabnam's lesson on adding adjectives, I got the idea of using post it notes to collect student voice.
When Leytia came to watch my writing lesson I got the children to taste a small piece of mango.  I got them to go around in a circle and describe the mango.  I then got them to write their description on a post it note and identify which of the senses it belonged to. I added the post it note to a a chart organised into the different senses.

The resulting writing had some great descriptions using a range of adjectives.