Art and Writing

​I've been discussing writing with other teachers and have confirmed that more emphasis needs to be placed on students learning to write well.  While we do live in a digital world, writing is a fundamental step to reading well and because of classroom pressures, it can be overlooked.  Trading writing time for reading time doesn't support students overall learning to read, it actually decreases it. (Dorn, Jones 2012).

With my center rotations in my resource classroom, I have made time for writing through Writer's Workshop which I do on Thursdays with students.  This week, I created a project using an old idea:  inkblot painting which is completely fun for everyone.  Even the most reticent students were eager to plop paint on a crisp white paper.

I created an explempar to show students the direction of the writing process.  At the end of this process, I wanted students to:
1 - Reflect on their reading in general education classroom which was on a variety of levels:  4th grade - geology (volcanoes, earthquakes), 5th grade (The Renaissance, and 6th grade (Black History Month, specifically Tulsa Race Massacre)

2 - Focus on their writing skills, specifically making their letters correctly. As they wrote, I tried to notice and make notes of where they were struggling in printing their letters for future intervention.

3 - Participate in writing free verse with stem or writing prompts.  
"I see..."
"I feel..."
"I want to..."