The baby is here, so the writing is still on hiatus. Here are some adjustments that have worked well to start filling in the cracks I noticed at the end of the first quarter:
I’ve taken back the first 5 minutes of class every day. Colearners can choose between reading/annotating their independent reading books or to respond to freewriting prompts. Anyone who’s ever done a warm-up or a bell-ringer knows this isn’t rocket science. It’s just a way to get them in the door and immediately into productivity mode.
We’ve defined the spaces in the room: Front of the room is for collaboration and workshopping writing; back of the room is for self-paced grammar & mechanics exercises; tables outside the room are for silent independent reading.
The colearners redesigned my weekly accountability sheet to better suit their needs and developed their own progress board using white boards and post-its. After the first 5 every day, everyone puts their name on a post-it in the proper column (showing what they’re working on) and row (showing whether they’re working, stuck, or finished). As they shift from activities, they move in the room and move their post-its accordingly. At the end of the day, they self-assess their productivity on a scale of 1-5. I tally up those numbers and average them out at the end of the week.