WEBVTT 00:00:03.860 --> 00:00:10.259 My name is Sandi Poteet. I teach sixth grade at Eagle View Elementary in Fairfax, Virginia. 00:00:10.259 --> 00:00:17.259 I know that as a writing teacher, collaboration is a pivotal part in the classroom. Your students 00:00:18.210 --> 00:00:22.620 should never feel like they’re alone because that’s when they shut down. They must always 00:00:22.620 --> 00:00:27.750 know that there is somebody to turn to. So whether it’s somebody sitting at their table, 00:00:27.750 --> 00:00:31.950 maybe it’s the teacher, maybe it’s a small group, they have to have somebody that they 00:00:31.950 --> 00:00:35.120 can talk to just to bounce ideas back and forth. 00:00:35.120 --> 00:00:40.230 To participate in the class as a writer, the teacher’s role is huge. She must be seen 00:00:40.230 --> 00:00:45.710 as a part of this writing community. And I never ask my class to write anything that 00:00:45.710 --> 00:00:49.890 I haven’t already written myself so that I know exactly where the struggles are going 00:00:49.890 --> 00:00:55.140 to be, where the successes are easily going to come, where they’re going to need more 00:00:55.140 --> 00:00:59.790 time, which piece of it is going to take longer, where they’re going to need lots and lots 00:00:59.790 --> 00:01:05.030 of guidance. So my students need to realize that I’m in the same boat that they are. 00:01:05.030 --> 00:01:09.360 So as I’m modeling, I’m writing it on the board, and we’re going through exactly 00:01:09.360 --> 00:01:15.620 the same process of idea building and sharing and pulling our thoughts and ideas together 00:01:15.620 --> 00:01:20.940 into sentences. When I share my writing with the classroom, it’s important that they 00:01:20.940 --> 00:01:26.229 see that it doesn’t come easy for me, just as it doesn’t come easy for them. 00:01:26.229 --> 00:01:30.640 Writing is hard, and it takes a lot of work, and it takes a lot of talking. So we start 00:01:30.640 --> 00:01:36.869 by talking. Whatever the concept is, we just have this brain sharing session, where kids 00:01:36.869 --> 00:01:41.159 toss out all these ideas that they know, and of course I am scribing up on the board, keeping 00:01:41.159 --> 00:01:46.640 track of all of this. And all ideas are acceptable because what we want is just a treasure trove 00:01:46.640 --> 00:01:52.490 of things that they can pull from and put their ideas, then, down on paper. So we share 00:01:52.490 --> 00:01:58.630 as a group, they’ll work individually, with partners, or in small groups, 00:01:58.630 --> 00:01:59.770 just talking it out. 00:01:59.770 --> 00:02:05.280 When students talk and get a chance to share, first of all it builds confidence because 00:02:05.280 --> 00:02:09.369 it’s a frightening thing to have to pick up the pencil and look at blank paper when 00:02:09.369 --> 00:02:13.319 you don’t have anything to back it up with. Writing is a personal thing, and you have 00:02:13.319 --> 00:02:17.360 to feel comfortable and in a safe environment, and you have to feel like you’re surrounded 00:02:17.360 --> 00:02:22.470 by people that are going to be honest with you and take care of you and 00:02:22.470 --> 00:02:23.640 be gentle with you. 00:02:23.640 --> 00:02:28.690 As a classroom teacher, there is nothing that could be valued more than for my students 00:02:28.690 --> 00:02:32.970 to feel safe and comfortable in that classroom. And it starts from the very beginning with 00:02:32.970 --> 00:02:39.040 us just building a relationship. We have class meetings all the time where we just talk about 00:02:39.040 --> 00:02:43.239 things that are important to them, things that interest them, things that they’re 00:02:43.239 --> 00:02:48.800 worried about, and we just talk. And I share from my life, too, and of course you have 00:02:48.800 --> 00:02:53.020 to filter and be careful what you say. But they need to see me as a person, not just 00:02:53.020 --> 00:02:57.910 as their teacher who is on the other side of the room and standing up, that I’m part 00:02:57.910 --> 00:03:03.590 of this class with them and I have feelings and I have concerns about things. 00:03:03.590 --> 00:03:09.140 And so the more I share about me, the more they’re apt, or at least are tempted in 00:03:09.140 --> 00:03:13.709 the beginning to share about themselves. And when we share our writing, it’s all about 00:03:13.709 --> 00:03:18.400 praise. What did you find in their writing specifically that you liked? It could be a 00:03:18.400 --> 00:03:23.050 word, a phrase, it could be how they began their story, it could be something that we’ve 00:03:23.050 --> 00:03:27.420 learned in class, the use of transition words. And they have a Peer Share form where they 00:03:27.420 --> 00:03:29.420 write down the things that they like. 00:03:29.420 --> 00:03:35.360 On the Peer Share form that we use, the first part is always about something nice—say 00:03:35.360 --> 00:03:40.150 something specifically that you love about their paper—and then we also give three 00:03:40.150 --> 00:03:47.150 suggestions. And again, we’re not trying to be cruel or hurtful, so we learn as a community 00:03:47.450 --> 00:03:51.760 how to say things nicely. For instance, they might want to say, “Perhaps you need to 00:03:51.760 --> 00:03:57.390 look at paragraph two again. I got a little confused as a reader when I was going through 00:03:57.390 --> 00:04:02.420 that. Maybe you should look at it again.” And then they can say, “I feel like there 00:04:02.420 --> 00:04:04.450 are several misspelled words.” 00:04:04.450 --> 00:04:07.659 So really what you’re doing is you’re telling them there are some mistakes in their 00:04:07.659 --> 00:04:13.040 paper, but you are saying it in a nice way. It has to be specific and to the point so 00:04:13.040 --> 00:04:17.259 that when the author gets it back and reads it, they can see where they’ve really been 00:04:17.259 --> 00:04:19.629 successful. And of course that builds confidence. 00:04:19.629 --> 00:04:26.629 As a teacher, I have to be very careful with the topics that I give, ensuring choice, clearly, 00:04:26.849 --> 00:04:32.189 always—huge piece of it is choice—and ensuring that I’ve hit the hot spots, something 00:04:32.189 --> 00:04:39.099 that every kid in there is going to be able to write about. Otherwise I have shut down 00:04:39.099 --> 00:04:43.719 what I wanted to create, which was a group of writers who believe in themselves, who 00:04:43.719 --> 00:04:49.430 believe that I’m going to be careful and cautious with them and not do anything that 00:04:49.430 --> 00:04:53.240 would hurt them. And that’s what community is all about.