Guest Blogger: Amanda Nickerson

Hey, friends!  It's Amanda from One Extra Degree, and I am so excited to be guest-blogging today on Creekside Teacher Tales!  Believe it or not, although I have been blogging for almost three years, this is my very first guest post.  I guess you could say, I'm a late bloomer.  :) 

Anyway, I have to go on record to say that I just adore Tracy, and she has so many fabulous ideas, so I am honored to be here with all of you.  Virtually, of course!

If you haven't stopped by my blog before, allow me to share a little bit about myself. This is my seventh year in the classroom, which is SO hard to believe!  It's my fifth grade in third grade alone!  {Time obviously flies when you're having fun!}  In seven years, I have worked in an urban district, a rural district, and currently a suburban district!  I've instructed kiddos ranging from 1st through 8th grade.  {No joke!}  I've worked for SIX different principals, and I've taught with and without a core ELA curriculum.  I've been self contained and departmentalized. I've switched classrooms five times!  I've also coached two sports and served on lots of committees.  So, basically I feel like I've had my share of diverse classroom experiences thus far.  I am so excited to see what happens next!  :) I currently hold an Early Childhood license (preK-3), and a reading endorsement (K-12).  I also earned my Masters in Literacy Curriculum and Instruction. 

To make a very long story short, I am a big of a literacy nerd.  ELA makes my heart go pitter-pat! Ha!  So, it makes total sense that I am here to share some tips and tricks for teaching the Author's Craft today!  I am going to give you a brief overview.  It's certainly not comprehensive, but it should help you dip your toe into the water a bit! First of all, let's take a looksie at the connections between reading and writing, shall we?  As you can see, because of the way reading and writing fit together, it makes perfect sense to study authentic literature to teach our kiddos to write with pizzazz!!!

Education trends ebb and flow, but one thing remains the same.  Scaffolding is the way to go!  Whether you're teaching reading, writing, science, social studies, math, or Martian, kids need to progress through the following stages with the teacher as facilitator.  Teaching the author's craft is no different!

In my humble opinion, the ultimate key to unlocking the magic of writer's workshop (in general) is to have realistic expectations.  While my students are talented, they are third graders.  I don't expect a Pulitzer Prize worthy composition every single time, nor should I.  I have realistic expectations, yet I maintain high standards.  I model, model, model.  I support, support, support.  At then end of the day, I expect my students to hit the target, and they usually do.  Kids can really surprise you!  As you can see, everything on the following list is reasonable and doable.  It's all about perspective.  :)

Now, the author's craft encompasses several different areas.  Here are just a few possibilities:

One of my favorite things about Writer's Workshop and teaching using the Author's Craft is making time for peer conferencing.  If you read the mini-posters below, you can get a good idea of how this looks in my own classroom.  This takes lots of modeling and practice, but it is such a powerful way to create a strong writing community.  It definitely should not be overlooked!

Of course, students also need time to conference with their teacher.  I believe that this one-on-one time is so critical to student success.  It's so important to be able to sit down with a student to allow their compositions to move you, to make you wonder, and just simmer for a bit.  This allows you to slow down, read, and respond to move your individual students along (often with different skills).  Conferencing is one of my favorite ways to differentiate, because I can help kids to improve at all levels, and best of all, it's meaningful.    In a nutshell, here's how this looks in my classroom:

There are many pros of utilizing the Author's Craft in your classroom.  Here are a few reasons:

Of course, like most everything else, there are always drawbacks.  Before you read the list, let me say first of all, all of the cons are WORTH IT!  Teaching quality lessons is hard work, but your students definitely reap the benefits.  My advice is to start small, add a few lessons at a time, and be responsive to the needs of your kiddos.  Everything else will fall into place!  :)

If you are interested in checking out how an author's craft lesson looks in action, feel free to click on the  image below to check out a lesson I recently modeled at a workshop.  I used "Jumanji" by Chris Van Allsburg to teach strong verbs!  The entire lesson plan is available, if you want to see how all of this fits together in a more tangible way!  I'd love to have you stop by!  Happy Teaching! :)