Nancy Conway
Many teachers do not feel confident about themselves as writers. Nancy loves putting them at ease and building their confidence. Having worked as a trainer for eight years now, Nancy gets her enthusiasm from the teachers, students, new situations, and the gratitude expressed to her. "Teachers are some of the finest human beings you could ever meet. Having a job that allows me the opportunity to spend time with teachers is a dream come true."
Nancy's tip for today is about preparing visual materials:
This summer, teachers will be preparing materials for the next school year. Level 1 students need instructional visuals on the walls of the classroom. This is a reminder to prepare visuals about writing as part of your classroom displays.
Many teachers have writing folders and give students information for writing in those folders. Unfortunately, not all students open their writing folders when they write. This is the reason we need writing visuals for our students.
Level 1 writers need to see
- number statement words
- transition words
- concluding words
The students should be given a choice of two words for each of the categories mentioned above. For example, the visual aid for transition words could have "first" and "first of all" as their choices for transitions. The list of words displayed would be controlled by the teacher to reflect the age and ability of the students.
For narrative, they need to see a chart with:
B (characters and setting),
M (problem)
E (solution)
They will also need to see a few generic movers.
Level 1 students also need to see a color-coded paragraph displayed.
Teachers can make these visuals or The Write Tools has beautiful posters available for purchasing. The posters include number words, transitions, concluding words, B.M.E., generic movers, and much more. There are poster sets for the Primary and Intermediate Levels.
Frequently students stare at a wall...who knows, maybe next year they will read a writing poster in their staring time!
Alice Greiner to Present at
