A meeting place for a world of reflective writers.
It’s hard to work with purpose and intention when you do not have a clear vision or context for what you are trying to create. Immersion is an easy – and JOYOUS – way to provide students with full-color clarity of the unit ahead.
The immersion phase of a unit allows us all to get to know our subject. For students, it might be ideas they have and for teachers, it is about getting to know their writers a bit better.
When we show students examples of what they should be creating before and during their writing, we are, in many ways, providing them a figurative ride up the chairlift with many good skiers in front of them. In two separate classrooms, I introduced an information writing unit with a classroom teacher with a pile of books and writing samples and the students sitting in a circle. “Your job,” I said, “is to look at these books and pieces like writers. What did the author do? How did they do it?”
The time investment you will spend in immersion may seem like a lot – especially if you’re providing students with four days to understand a genre. However, students will gain a greater understanding of the kind of writing you are asking them to produce if they have a clear vision for what the end product should look like.
Janiel Wagstaff’s books will help you teach primary writers about the four types of writing in an engaging way. Leave a comment on this post for a chance to win her series of Stella books.
When I first began coaching, Barb Bean and I worked together. Throughout the year, we were intentional about immersing students in the kind of writing they were making. Often this … Continue Reading Dunk ‘Em!
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Deb asked me which texts I’ll be using on day one of the memoir unit. Well, the answer is that I will be reading When the Relatives Came by Cynthia … Continue Reading Immersing them in the memoir genre
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TWO WRITING TEACHERS 