Well my Uh Oh is that I forgot to post this last week, so now I have had time to read over lots of posts and I can connect with many of them. I am not teaching reading this year, only writing, but still have used the units in the past. I think my first one would be "Really Lucy?!" She has to be the queen of wordiness. The lessons were so long, and extremely intimidating at first. I commented on Amy's I think, noting that we spent our first year summarizing the lesson's into shorter versions, but always keeping the teaching point.
I also tend to forget about the online resources. Last year one of my awesome teammates always printed out the posters for us to make the anchor charts. and then I laminated mine and only tape them on, so I can re-use them yearly. I file them away with the lesson they are needed for. This year I am teaching only writing and have moved up to second grade, so everything is new to me. I have consulted the online resources and I downloaded and saved to my own computer, the scoring rubrics, checklists and some student samples. I need to go back on and see what else I can find for my new unit.
I think the Aha is that this doesn't always go as planned, so sometimes the lessons need tweaking. I've learned after many years, that you don't have to follow it exactly. You know your students, and their needs. You may need to make modifications to lessons, or create ones of your own that supplement what has been taught or address the needs of your students; and that is okay!
I love laminating things, so I'm not sure why I didn't ever think of laminating the posters for the anchor charts!! AHA!! I'm going to have to do that!!
ReplyDeleteSummarizing the lesson was so helpful. Now that I'm teaching them for the 3rd time - I finally feel like I have a grasp on how to approach them. I have figured out what I should do exactly like Lucy and ways to make the lessons my own.
ReplyDeleteThis thread is interesting because the sharing leads to Ahas for some and will make their planning easier as they go on. I also am noting that Eileen mentions the third year is making it finally feel doable!
ReplyDeleteHi Jess-
ReplyDeleteAs a first year teacher, Lucy Calkins was overwhelming at first. I agree with you that she loves her words! She likes to go into extreme detail during each session. At first I was with you- overwhelmed and a bit intimidated. Once I realized that the information could be summed and modified to fit my teaching style, I felt instantly relieved. Now that I am on unit 2, I have started really just taking what I need and picking lessons I find beneficial for the group of students I have. I am so glad someone else can relate, I thought I was helpless at first!
Yes I agree it is
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