Guest blogger ~ Lori

Happy 1^st Blog Birthday to Castles and Crayons!

I have loved this blog since I started blog stalking almost a year ago. Kelli is very talented and I have tons of her products. I am so happy to be here as a guest blogger to help celebrate this momentous occasion. 

My name is Lori and I am the author of Teaching with Love and Laughter. This is me:

And, this is my blog:

I teach primary writing, science, and social studies. Since I teach writing and I love to talk about teaching writing, I thought I’d share part of my writer’s workshop procedure. I’m sure all of us who do writer’s workshop have a sharing time at the close of every writing session. Young children love to share their pieces, and they should read them to as many other writers as possible. Conferences and sharing provide the response mechanisms young writers need. When they hear their writing and get a positive response (a compliment or a comment) they are encouraged to write again. My sharing time is called Author’s Chair. I usually have about three writers share their piece each day. If I have more than three, the children usually get restless and stop listening. I keep track of who shares on a checklist so my students know that they will all get a turn. Not all children are comfortable sharing, so if they are not ready to read in front of their classmates, I do not call on them until they are confident enough to share. Once they see that Author’s Chair is safe, most children are happy to participate.

When a writer has finished sharing, it is time to give some compliments. I spend quality time teaching my students what a compliment is and why and how we give them. I even put the word on the word wall. Not my main word wall, but my Writer’s Workshop vocabulary word wall. I teach my writers right away that simply saying, “I liked it” or “Your pictures are nice” will not suffice. I model for my students what a proper compliment sounds like. Using the words, “Your reader”, helps my writers realize that their first responsibility is to their reader. Once I model some quality compliments, I place a small sticker on their writing at the very spot I complimented the author.

“Your readers will like how you used finger spaces.”

“Your readers will love the part where you used alliteration.”

Typical first reactions from my students tend to be general and not reflect listener engagement with the piece.

“It was good.”

“That was good writing.”

“That’s a pretty picture.”

This is when I ask the responders to pick out exactly what they liked, using the word specific. Once my students start to give specific compliments, I write it on my clipboard, along with the responder’s name. This way, they know that their response was quality. I actually compliment the children who give a good compliment! Then, I make a class chart of these compliments for all to see. My main goal here is to achieve specificity of compliments. The chart reminds my writers to add the things being complimented to their writing. Writers see how techniques they hear used and complimented might apply to their own writing. 

I use a pocket chart for my compliment examples. Of course, writing them on chart paper is a great idea, too. I call my chart Quality Compliments. If you would like to make a Quality Compliments chart, as well, you can find my signs over at my blog.

 

As a matter of fact, here’s where you can really help me out! You see, I would love some new followers because I am looking forward to planning a 1,000 follower giveaway. It will be a HUGE celebration! I’m not there yet, but it is my goal to get there before the new school year begins so I can help make several teachers incredibly jubilant with tons of prizes. So, if you would PLEASE follow me, I will send you the Quality Compliments signs for free. 

All you need to do is:

1. Click my blog button
2. Follow my blog.
3. Leave me a comment in my latest post about Kelli’s incredible blog, saying that this is where you found me.
4. Make sure to leave your email address in the comment and I will email you the signs.

If you are already a follower, I appreciate you, very much, too! If you would like the signs, please leave your email address, in a comment, as well.

In conclusion, I would like to thank Kelli, once again, for allowing me to be a guest on her blog and wish her blog a very Happy Birthday! I hope you have enjoyed my post about Author’s Chair, and, I hope I have inspired you to include this process in your daily writer’s workshop. I look forward to seeing you all at my blog!

LOVE the Quality Compliments idea for the Author's Chair! Thank you so much for your sweet words and awesome post, Lori! :)  

Tomorrow is the last day to enter Castles and Crayons 1st blog birthday giveaway! Click {HERE} to enter!