Where does the time go!? It's hard to believe that we're already nearing the end of our second week at the UIWP Summer Institute. It has been incredibly inspiring to see the creative and innovative strategies that our local teachers are applying in their classrooms.
There is a sense of invigoration here as we find ourselves still at the relative start of our summers, but eager to get back into our classrooms to get our kids writing again. In the meantime the leadership team has been putting the finishing touches on our newsletter that will be sent out on Monday for the second Make Cycle for the CLMOOC.
In today's teaching demonstration, Bridget reminded us that becoming better writers is done through consistent practice. Some of our inquiry maps have to do with making our classrooms spaces that have a strong space for writing. It's important to make sure that we are not just cutting out time for intentional, audience- and purpose-based writing in our classrooms, but also that we design our classroom spaces to facilitate that writing. |
Another interesting point that we probably don't think about as often as we should is how often we rely on the explanation that our students "just have to do what they're told." Bridget asked us to consider why a student would respond to such a direction. Not a bad thing to think about.