ObservationsReflections
He told me he asks students who don’t answer questions often to read excerpts and similar things for him.This is a great way of upping student involvement so a larger number of students gain from these activities. When only calling on the eager students, I think the learning can unevenly be weighted to engage those students. Others will feel less connected and as though their presence is less crucial to the classroom dynamic.
For Composition 12, my mentor teacher talked about having a “monkey mind” versus an “editor mind.” Students can get stuck in their writing when they go at it with an editor’s perspective from the beginning. Perfectionism stops them from freely writing whatever comes to mind. It is good to write everything in a way that feels safe, then refine it into a final draft once you have something to edit. He created a visual of tying up the editor so the monkey can run free.In EDUC 310, we talked about exceptional students in the classroom. I can see how encouraging students to get into their “monkey mind” would help those who struggle with learning disabilities that affect spelling and reading/writing comprehension. Relieving stress about perfectionism and spelling can help these children create something beautiful. They can get their thoughts on paper without the anxiety of being corrected which can prevent them from writing much. Allowing students to begin with “monkey mind” creates a more inclusive space where children can think about their ingenuine ideas before some of their practical abilities. As I learned in EDUC 401, using formative rough drafts along the process until students are satisfied with their work can also encourage those who struggle with grammar and spelling. They can write in peace, knowing they will receive feedback, improvement instructions, and allotted time to correct the work before it is summatively assessed.
The class did a free write. They were prompted to use imagery, describing a room that was meaningful to a story in their life. The challenge was to write using any sense (smell, taste, touch) except sight to do this because writers often depend on sight more than the other senses. Using many senses adds richness to writing where the reader can feel themselves in the scene more than they could have with only a visual description. These writer’s journal entries are not graded.He does many exercises like this. I want to do this in my classes because it strengthens students’ skills in a zero-risk environment. They can experiment–letting their monkey brain out–in ways that bring out ideas they might not have thought of if they were writing for a massive, stressful assignment. By doing several exercises to develop skills, students will feel prepared. When the large written assignment comes, they will know they can accomplish it because they have done it before with smaller pieces. They can even use beautiful aspects of their journal entries in their larger stories! Quick-writes like this would be good for forming growth portfolios, as we discussed in EDUC 401. Students can collect practice exercises that form their characters and scenes, compile them with research, and then present them as a portfolio that shows where they began and where they are going.
He mentioned that he does not like saying “rough draft” when talking about the first draft that is submitted. This is because it excuses students for submitting poor work. He says “first draft” instead. While there is still space for feedback and peace, as I mentioned before, students are expected to hand in the best work that they can. He says this is because he wants his feedback to be relevant, needed, and helpful to real confusion.I like this mindset because it saves time for everyone and prevents students from feeling unnecessarily corrected. The teacher will not waste time giving feedback about things that students already planned to do but did not get around to yet. Also, I know speaking from experience that it does not feel great to be corrected on something I already know. When someone makes a suggestion for my work that I was about to change or just did not have time for, it is a bit annoying. It feels like the person thinks you are less intelligent than you are.

Because of these two things, I also want students to think of their first submitted draft as a polished piece of work. It should be the best they can do to make the most of any feedback I give.
He gives models of proficient and extending so students know what to aim for in their work.This aligns with the concept of teaching students how to self-assess to know where they are at in their learning with the five keys of quality assessment.
My mentor teacher uses consistent rubrics for writing assignments so students feel confident and secure. They are familiar with what is expected and do not have a lack of clarity of what they should be looking for in their work.I remember learning about general and assignment-specific rubrics. I see the benefits to both. A general rubric gives consistency and the specific ones are easier to follow and make sure they are hitting all of the desired learning targets. I will have to experiment with this to see what I like to use where in my classroom.
As he circles the room, he does not correct too much at the beginning when he sees mistakes. His goal in this period is to inspire and push forward rather than get students to second-guess and go into their “editor brain.”I noticed myself struggling with this when I circled. It is easy to point out blatant mistakes that would be an easy fix. I challenged myself to instead focus on asking inspiring questions that show curiosity about their work. I also gave a few ideas they could consider when part of their work was exciting to me or they seemed stuck.
The questions he equipped me with as I circled were “What are you considering in your story?” “Have you changed anything since your original plan?” “What do you like about your beginning and end?”I notice that these questions are very open-ended. They leave it up to students to say what is on their minds and what they want to talk about. I enjoyed hearing their stories. Some were stuck and nervous. It seemed like my questions got them out of their minds so they could get their ideas out into the air. It was a little nerve-wracking approaching students who seemed like they didn’t want to be interrupted. They were pretty kind and open about the fact that they were not ready to share though, if that was the case. I got more confident as I went.