I started my third AR plan in writing and am loving what is happening in my room. To start, I researched the topic of writing and found that I could do more than what I was already doing by adding a guided writing group to my writers' workshop. I formed a small group that I would pull each day after my mini-lesson to do a guided lesson.
We started our unit on Biographies. Here is a little back ground on how the unit is laid out. . Each student picks a person to research. I have a variety of Who Was books in my classroom. If you haven't read one of these books, I suggest you try it. After researching, we write a 3-5 paragraph paper on what we found on our person. And to end the unit they create a presentation using an app called notability and present it to the class. We get to learn a lot about many different people.
What I am loving is how well my guided writing groups are going. In the past, writing has been, at times, frustrating for myself and some of my students. Frustrating because I couldn't help my struggling writers all at the same time. With doing the guided writing groups, I have found that I am able to stop the frustration by meeting the needs before problems arise for these writers. Plus I am able to keep these writers going at the same pace as the rest of the class. The guided writing groups are working!
As my students say "It's time to put our thoughts on paper. Let's write!"
