Literacy Observation: Mrs Allen

Today I had the privilege of observing Room 28 teacher Mrs Allen.

I observed as Mrs Allen co-constructed with the learners, of Room 28, how they can edited/re-craft their biographies. Prior to this session they had reviewed a Tiger Woods biography, researched their chosen person, located 10 facts, and began planning/drafting. Mrs Allen provided two examples of introductions, from the learners themselves, to work on collaboratively.
Mrs Allen asked specific questions to direct learners and provided succinct feedback/feed-forward: Mrs Allen's KQs are in blue...

- Today we are going to look at two sample introductions and think about how we can edit/recraft to hook in the reader.
Learners were on the mat and were chosen at random to read aloud, reading an introduction about Richie McCaw

- What would you do now?
- What do we notice?
- How many sentences are in a paragraph (at least 4-6, written on board)

- What do we need to do in the very first sentence?
Learners put forward a range of ideas: Hook them in; make it interesting...
- How?
Short, sharp, powerful sentences; start with a quote; direct speech...

Learners came up with:
"What a try form Richie McCaw as he wins the game once again for the All Blacks."

- Lets re-craft our crafting!
- What other ways can we introduce?
Set a scene; relate to the reader; imagine they were there; use a rhetorical question: have you ever wondered...

Richie Hugh McCaw is often known as a legend as the greatest loose forward. Although he retired he is still one of the greatest rugby players in the world and would dominate in rugby if he still played.

This was then crafted with learner input:
To be more specific about his position: One of the world's greatest Open Side Flankers
Take out "often" because it is not very powerful.
Change "in the world" for "of all time" because he is one of the best players the world has ever seen. 

Mrs Allen moved on to 'ending' an introduction
- How do we end the introduction?
- What's something we could do?
Learners responded with:
- State a personal opinion: I believe he is the greatest
- Use a fact
- Use humour
Mrs Allen stated: Not one person is right, not one person is wrong; independent writers continually recraft throughout writing.

Together the learners co-constructed the success criteria
- Hook (Quote; Rhetorical Q; setting the scene; relating to the reader/make it personal; state a fact)
- Introduce the person
Effective language/descriptive
- Economical language: short/sharp
- 4-6 Sentences

Mrs Allen then gave the learners explicit instructions, reminders about staying on task, and answered learners questions.

- 20 minutes of silent work, one minute to get settled; read, recraft, edit; 40 seconds, 10 seconds...

Learners asked:
- Can we restart our intro?
Mrs Allen directed her response to the whole class:
- Those who would like to restart their introduction or begin again with a new person can if they want. 

Reflection/Implications for my teaching:
- Be really precise with KQs
- Provide opportunities for learners to think/pair/share
- Use examples of learners work to recraft, they relate to it and have more of a sense of ownership and responsibility.
- Keep the teacher time to a minimum to get the learners writing/re-crafting using the knowledge they have just acquired.
- I teach somewhat differently, but that isn't a bad thing because I believe I ma meeting the direct needs of my learners.
- Small group teaching could reach target learners to enable them to be successful and develop confidence about their abilities as writers.