Chapters 5,6, and 7 - Math, Social Studies, and Science

Please share with the group the most important information you gained from your content area.  What will you do differently with your students this year based on what you read?

Chapter 4 - Best Practice Writing

I am adding this post coincidentally on the day before our Lucy Calkins training.  I am wondering how the training tomorrow will coincide with what I just read in Chapter 4 and thinking it will probably mesh very well.  As I have each chapter, I enjoyed chapter 4.  Writing instruction was a challenge for me as a teacher and huge emphasis was not placed on portfolio type writing in 5th grade.  That being said, I enjoyed reading the descriptions of the various writing classrooms and the writing workshop structure makes sense to me.  I was drawn to the last few pages of the chapter.  I like the chart titled Recommendations on Teaching Writing on page 155 and again wondered if this is something to share with all teachers at this point.  Strangely, one of my favorite parts of this chapter were the parts about grading/marking student work.  It is nice to read that it is not best practice to try to grade/mark each student's paper each time they write and that this can actually hinder their writing.  As a teacher, I think this would encourage me to allow students to write more and not get so caught up in feeling I need to grade/mark each paragraph in each piece.

What did you like most about this chapter? 

Courtney, Jodi, and Britt,
How can you take a step in the right direction toward being an even better writing teacher this year?  Did this chapter prompt you to want to work on something specific?

Heather & Jim, what is our role in supporting teachers as they weed through all that is "writing instruction" and make it the most effective for students and the most manageable for teachers?