This means we spend a lot of time asking and answering questions, telling stories, and modeling/practicing complete sentences. We want students talking, using vocabulary, answering in complete sentences, and being exposed to words. Your students may need some of these and they may need none of them.ĭictating + Lines (words) + Dots (sounds)īefore we ever touch a pencil, we must give opportunities for students to think, to learn, to play, to create.
As teachers, we are responsible for making in-the-moment decisions about the just-right ways to push students based on instruction provided, student confidence, and writing samples.īelow are some of my go-to ways for scaffolding kindergarten writers. While other students will start with dictating and not need tracing or rewriting. Others will be ready to independently write. ( Read this post about scaffolding 1st grade writers.) Some students will need ALL of them. There are many different ways to scaffold students. Over scaffolding can led to dependence and helplessness. In general, the goal is always to reduce scaffolding over time. There is no hard and fast rule about offering support. Gradually we build independence in our students and our role, as a teacher, evolves. It takes time, intentionality, daily opportunities to write, and appropriate scaffolds. Also, teaching writing is all about the l-o-n-g game. It’s responsive, on-the-spot, and individualized. Teaching writing is truly the art of teaching. They aren’t created in a week or a month. Independent writers aren’t created in one day, one mini-lesson, or one mentor text. Trying to meet with and support all of your writers is hard. Deciding how much support students need is hard. Meeting with a group of kindergarten teachers about writing throughout the year, there is often a common feeling on “HELP! We are never going to be independent writers.” If this is you, take heart.
0 kommentar(er)
