Writing Instruction

What constitutes best practice?
What ideas do you plan to incorporate in your own teaching? Why? What is your plan for doing this?
How do these readings/videos/experiences match up with your own teaching or the way most teachers you know approach ___?
What pedagogical approaches discussed do you want to learn more about?
What questions do the readings/videos/experiences raise for you?
After trying out a specific approach, what did you learn about yourself? Your students? Is one attempt enough?

What do you notice about the poem? What stands out for you?
How does the poem make you feel? (emotional connections)
Does the poem remind you of anything from your life? (personal connections) Anything else you have read? (text-to-text connections)
What do you notice about the way the poet writes?
What patterns do you see?
How important (significant) do you think the title is to the poem?
What do you notice about the beginning/ending of the poem?
Does this poet do anything special with the words? Are there words that stand out for you? Surprise you? Words you don’t understand?
What pictures do you see in your mind?
- Invite students to free-write what the poem means to them; describe the poem in your own words (prose).
- Invite students to circle or underline parts they don’t understand.
- Invite students to illustrate their “mind pictures” or what they visualize. Then, ask students to explain their opinion of the poet’s message. “I think the poet’s message is…”
What is the poet talking about here? OR What is the poet trying to say
- NOTE: This is NOT the same thing as asking, “What does this poem mean?”