Instructional tips that might make a difference

At this week’s leadership meeting I introduced John Hattie’s article on building teacher quality. We began talking as the instructional leaders of the school of our individual journeys to making a greater difference in student learning. Hattie explores this learning journey from novice to expert. The conversation turned to some key influences over the past few years and with some sense of relief and excitement they began to list some key instructional strategies our coaches: Anne Hammond and Kath Murdoch had supported them in learning. Two tips they shared that struck a chord with me were about proofreading in student writing [student writing being a focus for our school in 2008 / 2009] – when teaching students to proofread for spelling get them to start from the bottom of the page and work up [thus not focusing on the meaning] and when giving senior students feedback on writing [if its spelling focus] write sp in the column and get them to do the work, find the error and work out its correction – its about student ownership and work – remembering also that if the writing purpose is not bound for publication then don’t over correct – students take in small bits of information – focus and specific feedback on a few items rather than a page of red marks.   The team leaders then carried these thoughts forward when they presented at the annual parent information night – one using this quote  from Shelley Harwaynne (from the teacher’s college writing project in New York) “We let children paint their faces, swing around poles, blow bubbles, build cubby houses, go down the street in their ballet dress or superhero suit and we accept them as children. So when we look at children’s writing we must accept them as children and their writing as children’s writing.”