Collaborative Writing Circles

My role at school has changed since we last posted.  I was approaching the writing circles for an intermediate grade level class, grades 4 and 5.  I am now going to be teaching middle school (grades 6-8) science.  I am truly excited about this change! However, my desire to look at writing circles in the classroom has not changed.  As we all know, no matter what the subject matter, there is writing. I've done writing for math, writing for social studies, creative writing, and so on.  Writing for science is no different.  What I am now reflecting on is literacy in science. 

Young scientists in my classroom have always worked in small groups to complete labs (yes, I do labs for fourth and fifth grade science).  Writing circles is a way to make an extension of the groups. Given an overarching question, students should make a hypothesis based on the knowledge that they have regarding the theme for the exploration. This would involve talking and writing.  Our scientists should then conduct the investigation.  Following the investigation, students should share ideas about their results. They would then learn to do some research on the topic, consider re-doing the investigation to see if they achieve the same results, and write a conclusion based on their experiences and query. This process works best done in small groups. 

Small groups can inspire new ideas or extend ideas that already exist.  What I have discovered, especially in small math groups, is that students do not always want to value one another's ideas, and to really listen to one another's thoughts and solutions. Strong personalities can dominate.  I think that it would be very important to craft the groups carefully, including student voice about who they can work with, and what group dynamics I think I can deal with, and to set norms for responding to one another.  One of the phrases that has helped me tremendously was crafted by a student a few years ago: "There is more than one way to peel the potato." This adapted phrase has created a safe environment for students to discuss how they arrive at their answers or conclusions. The benefits would go far for looking at how students will then be peer mediators for open discussion. With open dialogue, students will be able to deepen their knowledge and understanding of the writing process, topic discussions, and personal communication skills.  

Another challenge I anticipate is the student who cannot generate ideas or more questions. I often tell my young scholars that answers to questions, should lead to more questions. I utilize a lot of AIMS materials for science and have grown to love their final question for many of the investigations: What are you wondering now?  This is one way to generate more topic choices for which to investigate and to write.  Unfortunately, there are young writers, scientists, historians, and mathematicians who state that they don't have any further questions and that they know all they need to about the subject matter.  This always saddens me. I try to encourage them to be as outlandish with their ideas as they want, but this does not always work. I do appreciate the Lucy Caulkins methods to find topics to write about, taking large watermelon ideas and working them to small seed moments. Working in small groups that listen and respect ideas, I am hopeful that peer modeling will be successful.

Using small group collaboration will encourage kids to do more than scratch the surface of a topic.  They will have to push towards the higher level thinking skills in Bloom's Taxonomy. It is always my desire to get students to do more than regurgitate what they and I already know. The goal would be to look for deeper meaning: evaluate and analyze in order to create new ideas that start them back at the bottom of the taxonomy.  I am wondering what kinds of ideas students will collaborate to create together. In reading, "Writing Circles," I am reminded of reading classes I took at Eastern Michigan University with Dr. Mary Bigler.  She encouraged us to have kids share what they were reading and writing with one another regularly by pairing up for two minutes following a writing or quiet reading session. I have utilized this in my classroom with great success.  I see that writing circles are really an extension of this as a more formal peer instruction, teacher facilitated process. It is also a great way to differentiate instruction. I like that feedback comes from peer to peer, instead of from me. Students need to be able to be independent writers and thinkers, not writing what they believe I want them to write or how I want them to write.  I want them to take risks with ideas and questions. I want them to become great thinkers and to question everything. I am wondering what kinds of great ideas will come forth from these young visionaries.