Writing the Room Reincarnate

I have always been a big proprietor of the literacy job, "Write the Room." As students wonder around the room with their clipboard and their writing tool, I think, "Man, my kids are really being independent as they write words they see around the room in my awesome print-rich environment." What I failed to see for many years was the lack of intention and evidence of transferable skills that I was seeking for children to acquire while engaging in that task.


After leaving the classroom, I have had the luxury of seeing many incredible teaching practices in action, one of which I wanted to highlight here. Jessica Wallace's intentional and purposeful use of 'write the room' is one I hope to emulate when I step back into the classroom. Like all great instruction, Jessica's use of students' strengths and next steps drive her 'write the room' instruction. Not only is her 'write the room' developmentally appropriate but also open-ended so any child can engage in the work, regardless of their learning level.

At the forefront of her mind at the beginning of the year is pre-teaching skills so that students are successful when engaging in this task. Every move she makes is intentional to that students may reap the benefits and in turn learn the skills to be independent. "I love the job because it gets kids up and moving and helps them practice being independent with their materials" she says.

The structure and routine of 'write the room' is the same from week to week: At the start of each day, students who need a job (in the morning to be successful) are able to 'hide' the 'write the room' cards by taping the cards to all surfaces of the classroom. By choice, students are given the opportunity to get a clipboard, a recording sheet, a writing utensil and find the picture clues hidden around the room.

To ensure developmentally appropriateness, one must first understand the student population, what strengths they come with and what their next steps might be. In this year's case, Jessica started with pre-teaching skills such as: what is a circle?, how to draw a circle, pencil grip, where the clipboards are located, matching items that are the same, how to move about the classroom safely and respectfully. With phonemic awareness at the front of her mind, Jessica didn't start with letters, she started simply with pictures of the alphabet in sign language for students to recognize and match the symbol while simultaneously practicing singing and signing the alphabet.

The way that Jessica moves this literacy job from "busy work" to an intentional task that students can be engaged and independent with is noteworthy. However, what is most exciting is the level in which a teacher can differentiate the task so ALL students can be successful at their level of learning. Students can have different recording sheets based on their strengths and the picture cards can be different as well. Here are other ways to differentiate:

• Match picture cards
• Only find half the alphabet, certain letters, etc.
• Attend to the initial sound
• Find famous words
• Find rhymes
• Write the number of syllables
• Find numbers, shapes
• Attend to the ending sound
• CVC words
• Continuing to peak kids' interest and heighten motivation is yet another aspect teachers think about. Using thematic cards such as super heros, pumpkins or monsters is another fun way to 'spice-up' the job. 

As one can imagine, there are several other ways to differentiate and scaffold this learning task. Most of all, this literacy job serves as a positive reminder to push past the busy work of literacy jobs and gives energy to responding to student strengths and next steps and becoming more intentional with what we ask students to engage in.

Thank you to Jessica Wallace for opening up her practice and sharing!

Warmly,

Nina