Literacy Project One: Reflection

I have really enjoyed working with A thus far and being able to reflect on her capabilities as a writer.  A is a student who loves to write, and is very proficient at it.  Although the writing that I reviewed for this project was a prompted piece, A has explained in conversation that she really enjoys writing.  At this time she is working on a scary story for her friend who is moving away.  Knowing this new information makes me realize that the lesson we chose for her is especially appropriate, as this is the main activity of the lesson. 

There was a question in my blog responses asking if I feel that spelling or juicy words are more important to focus on.  At this point in her writing, I believe that the better selection of adjectives, nouns, and verbs would most improve her writing; the spelling would be done in the editing phase before her writing was published.  A is a very proficient reader, reads daily, and sets personal reading goals.  Through this reading of high level books, such as Harry Potter and Little House on the Prairie, A's writing skills will continue to improve as she sees examples of descriptive writing. 

For my lesson plan, I would add a step of shared demonstration from Routman's Optimal Learning Model. 
IV. Instructional Strategies
1. Teacher will explain the purpose and meaning of descriptive vocabulary including the utilization of the five senses.
2. Teacher will show a list of ordinary words and ask students to provide synonyms to make these words more descriptive.  Chart of these words will be created.3. Have student brainstorm ten each of: sights, sounds, objects, emotions, and creepy names that could be associated with a scary Halloween situation.  Teacher will encourage the use of concrete words and descriptive adjectives.  Student will write the words on index cards and sort into appropriate piles (i.e. emotions, adjectives, etc.)
4. Give the story prompt of: One dark, stormy night I walked down the street and saw... (or she can create her own).
5. Student needs to use 20 words from the index cards in her story and can only use the common words of said, yelled, scared, and spooky once.

I look forward to further working with A and watching her writing continue to improve.