A Week in the Life of a Teacher (Week 5): TRTW, Collaborative Posters, and Class Filming!

The vlog highlights a 5-day window of the fifth week of school during the 2017-2018 school year. Watch as I show clips of flexible seating, introducing two new instructional strategies, and talk about my current frustrations. You can also check out pictures and additional details below the video!

During a staff development last school year, I was introduced to a process known as Talk, Read, Talk, Write (TRTW). I'll spare you with the small details, however, I remember it was a process that I immediately implemented. Although, after reading the book this past summer, I realized that I had implemented a majority of TRTW incorrectly (as described by its author, Nancy Motley). As I planned for this school year, I knew that TRTW was a process that I wanted to incorporate in my class to help increase literacy in my classroom.

My second period class was filmed on Wednesday of this week, however, I had originally planned to give the first test of the year on Tuesday and Wednesday. Therefore, I decided to push the test back a class day and come up with a collaborative review that would help students with concepts we had been covering leading up to this week.

I decided to combine the TRTW process with a collaborative poster (which I've written about here). For Talk #1, I provided a picture prompt with two guiding questions. I gave students 2-3 minutes to jot down their thoughts and then gave 3 minutes for them to discuss with the people at their table. After, I had asked for volunteers to share what was discussed at their table; or I used Popsicle sticks to call on students if no one volunteered. Then they read an article that connected topics that they had learned in class to a real-world event. Prior to the reading, I had given the students a Pay Attention to List, which outlined some important ideas to help guide their reading; as well as a strategy known as Highlighting Plus.

Next, students engaged in Talk #2 for 2-3 minutes and then shared out with the class. I did modify the process and left out the individual writing component for another time. Although, students did do some writing on the collaborative poster. With that said, the posters came out great. Normally, I would have students present to the class, however, I am behind curriculum-wise and could not afford to push material back any longer. Feel free to leave questions in the comment section below!