Christina's questions about literacy ("who is missing?") were great! Can anyone share them? I was processing the idea and missed writing them down. Thank you!

We're not nearly as well trained as most English teachers in writing and composition but we're still expected to help students produce papers that meet a high standard.  What are some of the go to support systems you reach for first when you have a student who struggles with writing and even getting started filling that blank page?  I hear things like chunking and scaffolding and outlining - I wonder what folks tend to find most successful. 

Loved this session! Literacy is really about expressing and understanding what is expressed. Practice, practice, practice - low stakes/no stakes writing. Produce because their words/work matters. 

I think they were: What’s the missing lens? Who’s voices are missing? What are we missing from those missing voices? Who benefits from those missing voices? Who’s voice has the power?

Who wrote this? Why or for whom did they write this? Whose voices are we missing? Who benefits from that?

Someone else also mentioned whose voice has the power in this scenario

"Have your students write more than you can grade." Thank you - this lifts a huge weight off my shoulders.

+ Δ: Choose one to focus on improving.

Producing : because my words matter.

I like the 4 questions about literacy, and the low stakes writing. Both of these will be implemented for my Middle Schoolers!

Aside from Social Studies, I also teach Spanish and the idea of practice, practice, practice as an integral part of the learning process resonates with me. Practicing SKILLS and valuing them over content is crucial in both subject areas, especially in no/low stakes environment where it is ok to take risks, feedback is necessary for growth (and does not produce shame), and affords us some way to make meaning and express ourselves in some way to share our learning. In order to help make it a place where it's ok to make mistakes, having those routines and tools to lean on is important. In the end, it comes back to community once again: I'm learning to consume, produce, and communicate because my words and ideas matter in my community, AND I have the power to make change.

 Joshua Niese , the biggest help has been to be on the same page as my grade level team. We were all using different mnemonics, and our team finally decided on the Cl-Ev-R format. We were also annotating texts differently, so we all settled on using the SPACE CAT method. When kids go from class to class, they don't have to keep on relearning strategies. Instead, they can focus on applying strategies to content and writing. It has significantly impacted our program.

I also ask my English teachers for a lot of support. The English teacher at my grade level will pre-teach counter-arguments so that I can focus on my struggling learners. I spend more time conferencing individually with the struggling writers.

And I love the idea of no-stakes writing! I've always used the low stakes expression, but I think no-stakes helps take some of the fear out and gets the kids to actually write. 

Benjamin Denomme , me too! I am going to work this into my practice!