Announcer (00:01): Highlighting the amazing stories from inside the North Clackamas School District, this is the Proud To Be NCSD podcast, hosted by longtime principal and current community relations director, Curtis Long.

Classroom Teacher (00:14): There's a big shift, a big difference between our new unit and our last unit, our launching unit. You got to choose the genre right?

Curtis Long (00:24): Sit up straight and sharpen your pencil because you've just joined. Teacher Liz Maxwell's third grade classroom at Mount Scott Elementary, where every day after lunch, the students begin working on their favorite subject of the day. And it may not be what you think it is. Art. Nope. Don't draw that conclusion. Recess tag. That's not it either. Social studies. Nah, that's history. What subject do these Mount Scott, third graders, along with more and more elementary school students across the North Clackamas School District look forward to most every day? Well, let's let them tell you.

Multiple Students (00:56): Reading and writing. Reading and writing. Reading and writing. Art. Reading and writing. Reading and writing. Oh my God. Art and writing. Reading and writing. Math and writing. Reading and writing. I like science and writing. pe. Writing. Science. PE and writing. Science. Writing. Reading. Science. Writing. Reading. pe. Art. Writing and reading. Science. Reading. PE. Art. Reading and writing. Math and writing. Math and writing. And pe. Reading. Plus writing.

Curtis Long (01:23): Sure. Reading science and PE got some votes, but did you notice what every super spirited student in Mrs. Maxwell's class made sure to mention.

Student (01:30): Writing.

Curtis Long (01:31): That's right. Whether it's descriptive drama, expository essays, narrative novels, persuasive prose or even hair raising. How-tos. Elementary students across our school district are falling head over highlighter for...

Student (01:44): Writer's workshop.

Curtis Long (01:45): Now. Why do you love writer's workshop so much?

Student (01:48): I like it because I like writing stories and I also like reading and I like reading my own stories. And I like coming up with ideas 'cause I'm good at coming up with ideas.

Curtis Long (02:01): That's third grader, Callie Mera, who just finished writing her own fantasy story about a hero out to save the universe from a cosmic conundrum.

Callie Mera (02:09): But now I have one more memory of it. Because the moon is fading, the stars are growing corrupted. The evil is back.

Curtis Long (02:16): Classmate Charlie Dee Reyes sits right across from Callie and she can't wait for writing time either. Of all the things you do in third grade, Charlie D, what's your favorite thing to do?

Charli Dee Reyes (02:25): Writing.

Curtis Long (02:26): Why do you like writing so much?

Charli Dee Reyes (02:27): Because I get to make illustrations and writing is really fun for me.

Curtis Long (02:32): What makes writing so much fun?

Charli Dee Reyes (02:34): That you get to write stories and non-fiction and fiction stuff.

Curtis Long (02:39): Okay, so you've got a story here that's non-fiction 'cause it looks like this really happened, right?

Charli Dee Reyes (02:43): I wrote about how I got my puppy Peanut?

Curtis Long (02:45): How did Charlie D come to adopt Peanut The Puppy? Well, we'll answer that question a little bit later on, but the real question on this podcast is why have so many NCSD elementary school students discovered a newfound love of writing.

Callie Mera (02:58): And I feel happy 'cause I wrote all this in my big book until the end.

Curtis Long (03:01): The answer can be traced to many factors, curriculum, teaching approaches, even bringing in a nationally recognized writing instructor to personally provide tips and tricks to all NCSD elementary teachers.

Teacher (03:14): What other characteristics have you noticed that these stories all have in common?

Curtis Long (03:20): Today on the Proud To Be NCSD podcast, we talk to Mount Scott's, Mrs. Maxwell herself, along with other district leaders about this welcome writing revitalization that has student interest climbing and some kids even rhyming. Watch

Student (03:33): A spooky movie or go trick or treating, whichever one you choose, it's candy you'll be eating.

Curtis Long (03:40): Ah yes. Poetry. Also a part of this writing resurgence in North Clackamas. Well, when it comes to our guests today, we can do a little rhyming. And when it comes to writing instruction, she's certainly a whiz. Please welcome to the podcast Liz <laugh>. Now Liz Maxwell, that is, how was it hearing yourself and your students during the introductory segment?

Liz Maxwell (03:56): It makes me so happy to just hear the joy that comes through when they talk about their experiences in writing lessons. And you can feel it

Curtis Long (04:04): And I can certainly feel it too. Spending about an hour in your classroom the other day. It was really fun to be a part of that room. Well, things can never go wrong when we have Rachel Wong, the pride of Oak Grove Elementaries here. Welcome Rachel.

Rachel Wong (04:15): Hello.

Curtis Long (04:16): So nice to have you here. Now can you relate, we didn't get to your classroom, but that's Miss Maxwell's classroom. I'm sure your room sounds very similar at writing time.

Rachel Wong (04:23): Yeah, I think my students love writing because now I really love teaching writing. So they are very excited. If we have to skip writing for a day, they mention it to me. <laugh>, uh, they always like, Hey, we haven't written our books yet. When were we gonna get our books out? And so they are just as excited about writing as the third graders

Curtis Long (04:39): Can't wait to hear more about that. Well, when new literacy lessons for elementary teachers get a little scary, they call Kari <laugh> welcome, emergent literacy specialist. CarKaririe Tunstill making her second podcast appear. It's great to have you back, Kari. Thanks. And as our district's early learning instruction continues to improve again and again, a lot of that is because of Jen Early Learning coordinator Jen Burkhart joining the podcast. Jen, thanks for being with us.

Jen Burkhart (05:02): Oh, so happy to be here. Thank you for having us.

Curtis Long (05:04): Alright first things first. You heard the students from Mrs. Maxwell's classroom, they love their writing time. And Rachel said the same thing about her room. Liz, let's start with you first. Has every class in your career been as enthusiastic as this one when it comes to writing time?

Liz Maxwell (05:16): Oh, absolutely not. And this is a newfound love since last year I taught first grade, so I have a year of experience teaching it at that grade level. And then I got to start with third grade this year. I have to echo what Rachel said, that kids are loving writing time more than ever before in my entire career actually. And it's only scheduled for four days a week. And on that fifth day, they let me know they're disappointed, <laugh>, that they don't get their writer's workshop time. And

Curtis Long (05:42): Rachel, you mentioned that before. Has it always been this enthusiastic in your room for writing?

Rachel Wong (05:47): No. I would say like last year when I started taking the professional development and was implementing the new curriculum, I was excited about teaching writing and that's where I saw my students shift. And I think it's because they can all access it. They can all write books no matter the level. Some have a few words, some have just some letters, some are many sentences long. But no, I have not always had this excitement for writing in my class.

Curtis Long (06:07): So Jen and Kari, we have Liz and Rachel here. You're hearing this, but this was an effort that has been in the making for a while. What started this resurgence of writing instruction in our school district?

Jen Burkhart (06:19): Well, I think it began in the spring of 2022 when we were having our first literacy institute. We were really trying to think about what our teachers were hungry for and eager to take on. And we kept hearing about writing instruction. So we had had the great privilege to work with a national consultant that you mentioned in the past named Matt Glover. And he's written several books about early literacy K through five, and his specialty is in the area of writing. And so we brought him in to do some professional development. And the excitement in the room was palatable right from the beginning. Teachers were hungry, they were eager, and they were really excited about some of the shifts that he was presenting. For example, what's very new to writing instruction with what we've been learning is that students are not writing to a prompt that the teacher created.

Jen Burkhart (07:06): And they're not always writing maybe on a sheet of paper. Oftentimes we think about giving a child a sheet of paper to begin writing, but students don't read from a sheet of paper. They read comics, they read picture books, they read chapter books. And when you give them the opportunity to act like real authors mm-hmm <affirmative>, you get very excited about that. And it's very engaging to have the opportunity to write a picture book or a graphic novel or a chapter book or nonfiction piece, maybe even a magazine article. That's much more engaging for students and especially because they get to write about something that really matters to them that they may have a lot of knowledge about or that is just really something that is dear to their hearts. And

Curtis Long (07:47): Kari, your job is helping teachers with lesson planning and planning for units ahead. How has this changed your job with this new enthusiasm for writing and teachers being so excited to teach writing?

Kari Tunstill (07:57): Well, I think one of the biggest changes is rather than handing them like a textbook of curriculum that's laid out for them, we've put the, I say the thinking back into teaching, which has been really nice with these units because we don't write the whole unit and say just teach it. I work with a group of teachers typically over the summer and we develop what are called unit projections. So we have a unit and we project what might happen during that unit, what are some lessons that teachers could teach and then it's up to teachers to really think about their students and what their students are needing in order to put together the whole unit.

Curtis Long (08:32): Liz and Rachel, what are you seeing differently among your students now? We've mentioned it a little bit and it sounds like from what Jen was describing, it's a little more freedom in what you get to write as a third grader, as a first or second or fourth or fifth grader.

Liz Maxwell (08:44): Yeah. And to piggyback on what Kari was saying, and it ties in nicely, I think with our focus with SEL is that choice and that autonomy over what they're writing about. Writing is a lot less formulaic. It might not be writing to a prompt, but students then are engaged because they feel like they have power and control over what they're writing about in terms of topic, sometimes with genre. And then choice also goes back to the teacher. So we are having choices to best meet our students' needs. And what my students might need could be different than what Rachel's students need. And even the classroom next door to mine might choose something different though we are able to be much more responsive in our teaching and really meet the needs of all students. So

Curtis Long (09:28): What you're saying is the kids at Mount Scott Elementary not necessarily writing about the same things that they are at Oak Grove Elementary?

Liz Maxwell (09:34): Absolutely. Yeah.

Curtis Long (09:35): So kids have their own choice of what they wanna write about and we'll listen to some of your kids read some of their creations. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. I wanna especially get to one who was writing about how to use a stapler, which I never thought about would be something to put in writing. But he does a great job at that. We'll listen to that a little bit later. What are some of the unique things that some of your kids are writing about or maybe that's have surprised you about what your kids are writing about?

Rachel Wong (09:54): Well, what I really love is that they get to choose. And one thing that Matt says is like, they should choose something that's authentic to them. So we think about the, the time I, and they choose a a sentence to go off of that. But a lot of my kids this week wrote about the jog-a-thon. Hmm. because we just had that on Friday. I had three different kids and they're like, well, I'm gonna draw the bird's eye view of the jog-a-thon, or I'm gonna draw half the track, or I'm gonna show movement of kids running around. But the really cool part is they each get to choose and then they get to celebrate at the end with our book celebration, which I think is a huge change in shift that we celebrate being authors. We are authors, we're not just readers. We're not just mathematicians, but we're authors and they really see themselves. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> as authors, which I think is so amazing and exciting to see. And we even Matt Glover says, well, sometimes we should read our books as a writer. So how would, if you are a writer, why did they write that? You know? And if you're the reader, you read it aiff different way.

Rachel Wong (10:44): When you're reading a book, they look at it and go, I could do that. I could write that. I could draw something like that. And that's really exciting to see. But every book is different. I have a kid writing about a baby chicken nugget and a baby french fry, <laugh> don't know where, don't know where they got that topic. But the whole book is about that topic. And there's some conflict and they're solving it and their, their illustrations are just amazing. 'cause that's, our unit right now is on illustrations. The topics range just as differently as the kids in my classroom, which is really cool to see. It's not one prompt. We're not all writing about the jog-a-thon, but each kid gets to choose something and that's what they enjoy. That's what engages them.

Curtis Long (11:18): Now, before I had this job, I was an elementary principal and before that, as Kari knows, I was an elementary school teacher. And talking with all of you just makes me feel totally inferior. Now my poor kids had to write about the same prompt. They all had to write about it. And some of 'em probably could not relate to the prompt whatsoever. And Mr. Long tried to be as encouraging as I could to 'em, but I, I really wish they could have experienced what you guys are experiencing in your classroom. It just sounds like kids take a lot of ownership in what they're writing and they're proud of what they're writing.

Jen Burkhart (11:44): I think you just said something that's really important. It's really about engagement. And I'm sure from, you know, working with you Curtis, you are very engaging as a teacher.

Curtis Long (11:53): Not sure they learned a whole lot, but we had a lot of fun. <laugh>.

Jen Burkhart (11:55): Well, engagement isn't just a thing, it's everything. Especially when we're talking about elementary students. And it's much easier to come alongside a student and support their language development, their writing development, maybe even their conventions when they're excited and eager about what they're writing to begin with. Because they are proud of their work. They want to share their work with others. They're more interested in learning tips and techniques to strengthen their writing and make it more engaging for their peers to read it.

Kari Tunstill (12:22): Yeah. Because these units, there's a lot of choice in it, but there's a lot of teaching going on involved in these units. So yes, students are getting to choose fun, interesting, engaging topics that, that are meaningful to them and important in their lives. But teachers are very clear about what the unit goals are, what we want students to develop skills as writers that aren't just for this unit, but for all units. So going back to like Rachel's idea around this illustration unit that's going on. So it could sound like, oh, kids are just drawing pictures about things and making books that sound interesting. It's much more involved than that. They're learning about illustration techniques and how as young children reading picture books, going back to what Jen said, they're making picture books because that's what they're typically reading. And how the illustration techniques that they're learning are adding to the meaning so when they don't have all the language and spelling skills as first graders to write, you know, longer stories, they can add more detail by adding details to their illustrations. So that's one example. But all the while they're write, they're still involved in writing, they're still using the skills that they're learning during phonics time to use those phonics skills in order to spell. So there's a crossover between our reading curriculum and our writing curriculum. So it sounds all fun and stuff and it is, but it's very intentional on the part of teachers as far as what they're teaching during those units.

Curtis Long (13:38): And I wanted to talk about that. 'cause you mentioned the integration of writing and reading. So listeners who are listening to this thinking, well that's great. My elementary school puts a lot of words on paper, but none of 'em are spelled correctly. How are we working on say, conventions in this type of model of writing?

Rachel Wong (13:52): Well I know we work a lot on phonics, especially in first grade, and we spend a lot of time on, on correctly spelling words during that time. One thing that Matt wants them is not to get stuck up on that. And one of our unit goals in the last unit launching the unit was being able to work the whole time.

Curtis Long (14:08): Okay.

Rachel Wong (14:08): And being able to solve small problems like that on your own. So not worrying about, I can't spell this word, I have to stop. Yeah. So not Stopping. Right. But they Should all know how to sound out words and what's the first sound like? Maybe they don't know all of the letters, but they might know, I know the first sound and the word jog for jog-a-thon and they put AJ on it. And then as we continue to go on phonics, as we get to confer with students, we can say, Hey, I actually think you could probably add a few more sounds there. And then we get to work on, you know, finger tapping J OG and Oh good, today you got jog. And the next day, the next time I meet back it might be, hey, you know, some other words, some sight words that we could add on those pages, but We should only really Be correcting things that we've taught. Yeah. You

Rachel Wong (14:43): Know, so if we've taught them those sounds, then I say, Hey, you know, that's one we've been working on. What's the rule or what's the spelling pattern for that? And we do, we do have high expectations and standards for our kids during writing, but also making sure that they feel comfortable to just put on the page what they do. But we also talk about revising and editing our books before we have our celebration and going back and doing our best work and seeing, you know, oh, I missed some words there. Or I could actually add some more sounds. I've learned more since the last time I looked at this book. So always improving.

Jen Burkhart (15:09): I think the connection between reading and writing is so powerful and profound. And we often say that in early literacy we wanna major in writing and minor in reading. It's exactly because what Rachel's talking about, students, when they're learning their phonics patterns often apply them first in their writing before they're ready to apply them in their reading. So making those connections between what teachers are teaching in phonics to what students are writing is really powerful for their literacy learning. Also, we don't want a child to stop at the word brilliant or beautiful or sparkling and think, oh, I can't write that word so I'm gonna stop. That would not help their vocabulary development. It would make their word choice and their writing not as good. We want them to be able to express themselves in any way they can and use the phonics. They're learning to apply to the words that they can.

Curtis Long (15:54): And Rachel, I heard a key word from you and the word was confer. So you're spending time and, and Liz, you too. You're meeting with all of your students one at a time. Now you have classrooms of 23, 24, 25, maybe bigger. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. How do you manage that? How do you get to every student and how do you see each one of them as their own independent, unique writer?

Liz Maxwell (16:14): Part of our first unit was the launching unit. One of the goals was to build that stamina for writing so that students, um, see themselves as capable. And they're not coming to me for all those spelling Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> questions that I used to get. I used to run around and write words on post-It notes for kids and it was not helping me and it was not certainly helping them. And I learned from Kari, don't do anything for them that they could do for themselves and put it back on the student. So they are capable and they are working hard independently during that time so that I have time to meet with students individually. I could pull small groups for a focused lesson, mini lesson.

Curtis Long (16:52): So when you pull kids for a mini lesson, these are kids who maybe are all writing different stories, but maybe all had the same difficulty with a certain topic, maybe adding commas. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> or capitalizing. Or maybe I'm being too simplistic. What kind of things do you teach mini lessons about when you bring a certain group of kids together?

Liz Maxwell (17:08): It really varies on students. Yeah. And their skill. I mean, it could be as sim simple as adding ING and Ed endings to words. It could be adding dialogue to make their writing more interesting and more rich. It could be a word choice lesson.

Rachel Wong (17:21): Yeah. I think it's just like if they're getting stuck or they're finishing books really quickly, maybe it's like, Hey, Let's See how we could add to our books. You know, he talks about expanding our book books horizontally or vertically. Like, could you make the story longer or can you add more detail to what you have? So sometimes it's just like, hey, you're a really strong writer and you have a lot of skills. What other things could we add to that? Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. So there's a lot of kids you could pull. Or it could be something like, Hey, I noticed you're not using any of the illustrations that we've been studying. Which ones do we all think we could try in our books today? And look at each other's books. So it's just depending on the, the skill that they need to work on.

Curtis Long (17:52): And there's a lot of sharing among students, right? Yeah. You, they're sharing what they're writing with each other. And I imagine, Jen, as you mentioned, they're learning from each other at the same time.

Jen Burkhart (18:00): Absolutely. We use students a lot in the mini lesson and in the closing circle, which is so beautiful to see when teachers are gathering at the rug at the end of a lesson and they pull two or three students to come sit in the author's chair and share one of the strategies that they're trying. It is amazing to see. You'll see the children's chest puff up a little bit. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. They'll sit up a little taller. And it's really encouraging to see that with a student who maybe was a striving writer or they were a little reluctant to writing, and that they are now teaching their peers and kind of being held up as a model for what other students can do.

Liz Maxwell (18:32): Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. I've had a parent contact me this year saying they were so proud their child came home and talked about how their work was selected for sharing and how they didn't see themselves as an author and they didn't think that they were a writer. And now they're seeing themselves in that light. And

Curtis Long (18:48): I would say the goal of this approach we're taking at North Clackamas is that every student will see themselves as an author. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. Everyone sees themselves as a writer and that can only build self-esteem and make kids feel good about what they're doing. Mm-Hmm.

Jen Burkhart (18:59): <affirmative>. Absolutely. You can hear The Excitement with students, but you also even in this room can hear the excitement among teachers.

Curtis Long (19:05): Yeah. You're smiling the whole time.

Jen Burkhart (19:07): Yes. I think the way this is a little bit different than what we have done in the past is that we kind of started with this professional development with Matt Glover and then teachers became more and more excited. They started sharing and sending emails to us at the district office about what their students were writing about what they were excited about teaching. And they wanted more and more support with this. They started becoming the leaders in this work and working with Kari to develop the unit. I just went to a professional development on writing last week and there were two classroom teachers leading the work with their peers. So this has kind of become a groundswell effort where it's coming from the teachers and from the students. Their excitement is building excitement across our entire district.

Curtis Long (19:46): And let's be honest, I mean it's no secret all of you have been teachers before. I have to. Teaching is a hard, hard job and the public who have never done it before probably doesn't have a good sense of how hard this is. It's gotta be nice then to approach a writing lesson, excited about it. I know there were times when I taught, it's like, oh gosh, I gotta teach 'em about personal narratives and I don't know what they're gonna write about. And, but this has gotta be exciting because they're taking a lot of ownership in it and the kids are kind of pulling you along it sounds like.

Liz Maxwell (20:14): Oh absolutely. I remember I taught first grade last year and I would have students say, I made a choice. I, I made an author's choice about why I did this or that. And so they are really owning that role as a writer and the choices that they get to make and they feel power in that. And that gets the teachers excited for students to have that sense of ownership in their own education.

Curtis Long (20:37): And you can feel that level of excitement, not only from teachers, but from the students themselves who feel like true authors and also feel a whole new level of self-esteem. How's It make you feel when you, you finally finish a piece of writing?

Student (20:49): Uh, proud of myself. And we talk about like other books And how they make it More interesting. It looks at the end of the sentence. So you wanna learn More about it

Curtis Long (20:58): Wanna learn more about NCSD's writing resurgence? Still to come. What does writing look like for students as young as first grade?

Rachel Wong (21:06): And then I have kids that are writing whole pages about elephants and All the Different things that elephants Could do. So There's a wide range of skill level, but they all look at themselves as capable Writers And they all look at themselves as they still have things to learn and things that they can add. And they're waiting for the next lesson to see what I do and what I teach. And then they wanna instantly go and I'm like, oh wait, we still have a little bit more of the lesson.

Curtis Long (21:25): And we still have plenty more of the Proud To Be NCSD podcast as we sniff out even more student writing.

Student (21:32): Next we bought my new puppy home. She sniffed and sniff and sniff and sniff

Curtis Long (21:36): "Write" after this...

Speaker 8 (21:38): Are you looking for a job right now? Looking to work in a fun and supportive environment with great pay and a rewarding career? The North Clackamas School district is hiring. We're currently filling full and part-time positions. You can work and make a difference in young lives and education as a classroom assistant or a substitute teacher apply to work in one of our school cafeterias where our lunch staff serves up big smiles with great food every day. We're also looking to hire before and after school caretakers, custodians, and bus drivers in North Clackamas. We promise it won't take you long to learn why our employees say they're proud to be in NCSD apply today on the North Clackamas school district website or call 5 0 3 3 5 3 6,000. That's 5 0 3 3 5 3 6,000

Kari Tunstill (22:32): Last year we rolled this out with, we began with K two teachers. Okay. Quickly It became, well when is three five getting, This Is three five getting this. And so we began some work this summer for three five and enrolled it out with three five. And we have even a higher percentage of of teachers that are attending. We offer some in-person trainings that all teachers go to. And then we offer quite a few optional trainings just to expand on the learning. And we have even more three five teachers participating I think because they saw what their K two teacher colleagues were getting from students and heard from students. And I think if they weren't teaching it this year, especially third grade teachers, because so many second grade students Right. Had the opportunity. I think if this year if teachers were telling students what they had to write, you know, animal reports on specific animal Right. <laugh>.

Curtis Long (23:17): Oh, I did that. I did that.

Kari Tunstill (23:19): I knew you were gonna say that. Yep. I did that. <laugh>.

Jen Burkhart (23:21): I love that you're speaking to the alignment because I do think that's so important for our students to feel some Consistency as

Jen Burkhart (23:28): They move up through the grades. But also for our teachers to be able to collaborate. For example, our dual language immersion classrooms are working with a different consultant, Lucia Rocha, who's an amazing consultant who's been also Supporting the writing work and what they're doing and what our non DLI classrooms are doing Are very similar In their Approach to writing. And so this is giving opportunities for both our DLI teachers and our non DLI teachers to collaborate more closely and work together on supporting all of their students across the grade level.

Curtis Long (23:55): So Kari, you're telling me that it wasn't quite best practices when I had the overhead projector and just listed a bunch of animals and checked them off as a student chose one. And then we had an argument about who got to choose the cheetah first. Then we

Jen Burkhart (24:07): Yeah. Everybody Wants the cheetah.

Curtis Long (24:08): Yeah. We had to resolve that first before we moved on.

Kari Tunstill (24:11): Yeah. One thing that's also changed, I think going along these lines of not only students getting choice of topic, you know, and sometimes choice of genre in some units, but a big difference also in third through fifth grade is this idea Liz mentioned of us not doing for students what they can do for themselves. Reason being Right. We want children to be thinkers. Yeah. We want children to feel like they have choices. And so in third through fifth grade, one of the differences is like we're no longer handing kids paper graphic organizers and saying, this is the graphic organizer you'll use. We might suggest a graphic organizer, but if they can draw the graphic organizer, they're drawing it in their notebook, they're owning the graphic organizer. I just taught a lesson in a classroom and I said, here's three different graphic organizers. Here's why you could use each one. Here's the one I prefer for whatever reason. And now you go try different graphic organizers. So I think that's a big shift in thinking not only in third through fifth grade, not only about genre and choice of topic, but also thinking about what can we have kids do for themselves in making other choices about writing also.

Curtis Long (25:13): So Liz, you have third graders this year. You had first graders before. Yep. Could you tell from the beginning that they'd had this before in second grade? Last year? 'cause this was K two last year.

Liz Maxwell (25:22): Yeah. And I could tell the students who might have been new to North CLS or new to Mount Scott who didn't have necessarily the same writer's workshop experience in second grade versus the students who came in with that stamina built already seeing themselves as authors ready to dive into different genres ready with strategies for coming up with topics. And having had all those mini lessons from second grade, it's been incredible.

Curtis Long (25:47): And Rachel, you have first graders and for the listener who maybe isn't involved in school so much, they may be thinking, well first grader, what can they write three words in a row? And maybe we're lucky if they get a period? What kind of writing are you getting in first grade? And it's only October right now. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>.

Rachel Wong (26:01): Well again, it totally depends on the Students. Yeah, of course. I have students that, you know, they came in and they actually joined our district maybe, you know, a month late. But after three weeks they're no longer saying, I can't write and crying <laugh>. And now saying, look, I'm also gonna write a book about slugs. Yep.

Curtis Long (26:16): Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>,

Rachel Wong (26:16): You know, and they started on their own and their book might only have a few, a few letters because they've only learned a few letters coming to me with no letter sounds or sound recognition. And then I have kids that are writing whole pages about elephants and all the different things that elephants can do. So there's a wide range of skill level, but they all look at themselves as capable writers and they all look at themselves as they still have things to learn and things that they can add. And they're waiting for the next lesson to see what I do and what I teach. And then they wanna instantly go and I'm like, oh wait, we still have a little bit more of the lesson <laugh>. But we get all kinds of levels in our classrooms and, but all kids feel like they're authors, which is so important.

Curtis Long (26:50): And I know, and you've mentioned this before, the correlation between reading and writing. You tie a lot of these lessons to published authors. I know when I was visiting your room, Liz, you had just finished a unit with Patricia Palacco. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. Do you find kids pointing out, even in first grade when you're doing a read aloud, Hey that's that strategy. Or I can see why the author did that. Do you find kids picking that up in elementary school?

Liz Maxwell (27:11): Oh, absolutely. They have become stronger readers. So reading like a writer, you're thinking from the author's perspective about the choices that they might have made in terms of characters, in terms of where to start my book, the details, the word choice. And so students are reading not just for the content of the plot or the characters, but also thinking from the author's perspective why they made the choices that they made. And then we have mentor texts from published authors as Matt calls them, but also from the teachers and students seeing their teachers as authors while not published. They see us as able to do this. And then we also show student mentor texts from either past class or other students. And so they see their classmates as authors too. And so then I think that helps build themselves that capability within themselves and that confidence to go forth and be a writer themselves.

Curtis Long (28:06): And what a great way to build relationships with your kids if you are sharing things out of your own life. I know that you had a published story about the time you lost your dog.

Liz Maxwell (28:14): Yep for a while. <laugh>. I did.

Curtis Long (28:15): And that what a great connection for kids to know, Hey, teacher has the same things happen that happened in my family.

Kari Tunstill (28:21): Liz's books could be published

Liz Maxwell (28:23): <laugh>. Um, but it's also about, you know, the process. And that I think prior to this way of teaching writing, I was worried about that finished product. And this shift has really also been about that process. And you know what Rachel said about revisiting a book, the authors are rarely ever done with them. That we revisit them, we share them with multiple people and we make our changes. And a piece of writing could never actually be finished. And the end when we're celebrating, we're not celebrating a perfect book that has every punctuation mark. Right. And every word spelled correctly. We're celebrating all the growth that they've made and all the work that they've done.

Curtis Long (29:05): So, so far we've heard from Rachel in first grade, we have Liz in third grade, but Jen, I know you know this, we have kids not only in kindergarten, but we have a group at Oak Grove Elementary School who is pre-kindergarten and preschool. Is this going into effect for them as well?

Jen Burkhart (29:21): Absolutely. And we talked about alignment before and I said K five and I should have said pre-K five because I just spent the morning in preschool over at Oak Grove and watched our students at the writing center working on their own books in preschool, we call it a writing focused read aloud. So the teacher reads a picture aloud and helps the students imagine themselves

Jen Burkhart (29:41): Writing that kind of book. And then the students go off and start writing books. Now in preschool it could start off with some illustrations, even some squiggly lines, maybe a string of letters. But there is a place for all students to enter into this work. And I just, I get so excited thinking about what those students experience will be like as they move into kindergarten and first grade and see similar practices, similar ways of thinking about writing and how that transition will be so smooth and support their writing.

Curtis Long (30:10): I think our middle school language arts teachers, they probably can't wait for two or three years down the road when some kids have had this through every year and we send them on to middle school. I'm sure they're very excited to receive some excited writers for sure.

Kari Tunstill (30:21): Absolutely. Yeah. I think one of the biggest things around that is that kids see themselves as writers. I think that would be the biggest challenge as a middle school teacher. Uhhuh

Curtis Long (30:29): <affirmative>

Kari Tunstill (30:29): The skills, teaching the skills is one thing, but convincing them that their writers by the time they're in middle school, oh my gosh. Talk about an uphill battle to climb. The other thing I wanted to comment about was kindergarten.

Curtis Long (30:41): Okay.

Kari Tunstill (30:41): And was talking about pre-K. So in kindergarten we did some switching up of units this year based off teacher feedback and what they saw around beginning of the year, kindergarten skills. And so we started this year off with a unit built around play in oral language. So we say we're doing writing units, but really for our youngest students, that is really around being able to tell a story, to use language, to talk about a story or to talk about things that they know about. And so that was hugely successful with our kindergarten teachers to incorporate play and then have students use play and then tell stories based off of their play experiences. It also then just really like levels the field as far as when kids are writing about things that happen in the classroom and in play versus this student that may feel like, well I didn't go on a big vacation. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> Or I Don't have, I don't have a lot of stories to tell. But here we're teaching kids to tell stories through play, which happens in every classroom for every single kid. So what that might look like in terms of play is they may have a couple items on the table. We call them loose parts. In kindergarten they could be a pine cone, some beads, some scraps of paper and felt, and even little figurines. And then we ask students to be inspired to think about a story that's coming to life in them. And they use these loose parts and little figurines to build scenes and tell the story with their classmates. The oral language that Carrie is talking about explodes when students are able to speak first and share their ideas before they need to grab a pencil or a crayon or a marker and put some words to the page. We really want students oral language to develop so that that same oral language can then turn into their writing.

Liz Maxwell (32:20): And that doesn't stop in third grade. <laugh>, uh, we're starting our personal narratives unit and part of the beginning phase will be that oral rehearsal of their stories so that they're sharing their stories with their third grade classmates. And it supports our English language learners, but it supports all third graders having that oral practice of saying their story before they take pencil to paper.

Kari Tunstill (32:41): I just did a training with fourth grade teachers and they were gonna make their own books. And I Did the same thing with fourth grade teachers. I Had them tell their story to a partner before they started

Curtis Long (32:49): The adults.

Kari Tunstill (32:49): The Adults, yeah. <laugh> to get their juices flowing too. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>.

Jen Burkhart (32:54): I wish we could've told this story before we started the podcast. <laugh>.

Curtis Long (32:58): Well, speaking of stories we had mentioned before that we wanna find out how the student in Ms. Maxwell's class adopted Peanut the puppy. So we'll hear that. Then I also wanna play a couple of other things 'cause I think listeners are thinking, okay, what's it sound like? What does writing sound like? Okay, so earlier we had Charlie D who had Peanut the Puppy, and she kind of teased us a little bit about how she got him. Let's play that right here. Okay. So you have a puppy at home named Peanut, and you wrote about how you got it. Can you read the first part of it for me? Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. Okay, let's hear it.

Charli Dee Reyes (33:27): How I got my Puppy Peanut. We got it from people who had 11 dogs and one cat. So we paid for her. Next we bought my new puppy home. When we got there, she sniffed and sniff and sniff and sniff. Then do, do do, she went up and down sat side where I was chasing her. Then she slowed down, then I grabbed her in her blanket, then she fell asleep in her blanket.

Curtis Long (33:52): Wow. I like all that. I like the dot.dot part. Okay. Listening to Charlie Dee. Now Liz, what do you think about your students' writing in that instance?

Liz Maxwell (34:00): Oh, she's so sweet. <laugh>. I love that she chose a story that was dear to her heart. You could tell she was, you know, cared about the topic. She used several different author's techniques like her ellipse, her dot, dot, dot to kind of carry that story on and build that suspense. I heard her, what'd she say? I slowed down <laugh> and then her little puff puppy with the sniff, sniff sniff. Like I could just picture the puppy going around, sniffing the whole house. And, um, so it was very well done. I pictured it in my mind.

Curtis Long (34:29): And, and that's the goal, right? Yeah. And remember Charlie Dee is third grade. So what, eight years old? Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. Maybe nine years old. I saw Jen with a big smile on her face the entire You love listening to this stuff, don't you?

Jen Burkhart (34:38): <laugh> Oh, I absolutely love listening to student writing. You just get to see, you get to hear their personality come out. Mm-Hmm, <affirmative>, you see what they're interested in and you can see that they're getting to try out new techniques and use their creative juices to bring in others into their story and into their world. It just, it warms my heart.

Curtis Long (34:55): Well let's warm Jen's heart some more because there was another student in Liz's class who wanted to, wanted to explain how to use a stapler. So we've got a how to staple story. <laugh>, let's hear that one. And you wrote a how to story. Tell me about it.

Xander Sievers (35:07): Um, I wrote a how to story about how to fill a stapler. If somebody ever like doesn't know how, then they could just read my book.

Curtis Long (35:14): How'd you come up with that idea?

Xander Sievers (35:16): Um, I just kind of like staplers. They're kind of fun.

Curtis Long (35:18): <laugh>. Does Ms. Maxwell have a lot of staplers in a room?

Callie Mera (35:21): Very much.

Curtis Long (35:22): Okay so let's hear the first part of your story.

Xander Sievers (35:25): How to fill a stapler slash use a stapler. Xander. Okay. To fill a stapler, first you have to get the staples. Gently pull the staples out of the box, make sure you do not puncture your fingers. Next, take the stapler and hold it from the top and the bottom. Pull the stapler sideways and open it. Check if it is empty or it or jammed. If jammed, check out the next book about how to unjam a stapler by zander. Okay. Back to filling. So get the staples in one hand and the staples in the other and the stapler in the other. And put the staples in. Make sure the staples are put in the correct way. That way is pokey side down

Curtis Long (36:02): The pokey side down. That's a good way to describe that.

Xander Sievers (36:04): To open. Pull both sides. Opposite of each other to fill, put the staples in pokey side down the staple window will have lines.

Curtis Long (36:13): So you Gotta put the staples in Pokey side down. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. Okay.

Xander Sievers (36:17): To close, push in to staple, push down on The paper

Curtis Long (36:21): You did it. And that is how to fill a stapler. All by Xander. Okay. So there was Xander explaining how to use a stapler. Now he said Mrs. Maxwell has quite a few staplers in the room. Are you a stapler? Hoarder, Mrs. Maxwell. What's going on?

Liz Maxwell (36:32): <laugh>I do not have a ton of staplers, but I have enough. And students actually get to use them this year because they are stapling their pages of their books and their chapter books. And usually I would keep those on my desk and kids weren't allowed to use them 'cause they would jam them. Xander is just a doll. I love him. And his personality just shines right through. He used so many different techniques. He took something maybe mundane and he broke it down into just the tiniest steps. He used tips for his reader for how to really make sure you're doing a good job of this. He used some really precise language with gently and pokey side <laugh>. Um, not to puncture your fingers, he's giving safety tips to his reader. And, um, I also loved that he said, you know, stay tuned for the next book where I'm going to unjam staplers for you.

Curtis Long (37:19): Yeah. There's part two coming.

Liz Maxwell (37:20): <laugh>. Yeah. Uh, Xander writes Sea shanties. He writes how to books. He writes narratives. He writes imaginary stories. He really writes it all.

Kari Tunstill (37:29): I think what's amazing about listening to Xander write that how to is in third grade, you haven't taught how to writing yet. Mm-Hmm. But how to writing that genre of writing was taught in second grade last year. So he incorporates Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, all those mini lessons. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> that were taught in second grade that like stuck with him to where now when he has a genre, a free unit, he's choosing to write about how to books. So I think that's super cool.

Liz Maxwell (37:51): Yeah.

Jen Burkhart (37:51): Yeah. I also think about how we talk about culturally relevant or Culturally responsive practices Across Our district. And Xandr got to Show Up as his whole self. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> In this piece of Writing. Right? We would've never known that Xandr was obsessed with Staples. <laugh>. Right. You said <laugh>. But he was able to bring himself to his work and that provides engagement for our students.

Kari Tunstill (38:11): I think that also goes back to what I said earlier about, that we're not doing for students what they can do for themselves. That's a way of being culturally responsive. Because oftentimes we do so much of the thinking for them. We in the way in which we wanna help them. But when we're teaching writing this way, we're teaching them to be thinkers themselves. We're teaching them to make choices for themselves rather than the way in which we typically have done it. Which is to tell them how to do everything, which takes all the thinking out of it. That's not what we want for students. We want students to be thinkers.

Curtis Long (38:42): And Rachel, I feel bad that we don't have any of your students on tape reading. Tell us some of your favorites that you've read so far. Can you think of any?

Rachel Wong (38:48): Well, I must say the chicken nugget and the french fries.

Curtis Long (38:51): Oh, you told us that one. That's right.

Rachel Wong (38:52): Pretty funny.

Curtis Long (38:53): That's a great one.

Rachel Wong (38:54): Um, I have a lot. I had a math book, which always brightens my heart because I love math. So I had two students that sat at the table together. I think one kind of started it and the other one joined it. This was our last unit. So last week they shared this book at book celebration, but they wrote all about math. And so that was pretty fun to see that this student really, really loved teaching other people about math.

Curtis Long (39:12): Wow.

Rachel Wong (39:12): Um, so that was fun. The Elephant book was a, a longer one. I've had books about caterpillars turning to butterflies. Um, and that was probably something that they did in kindergarten, so they remembered that experience. So lots of different topics, but I think the chicken nugget so far wins.

Curtis Long (39:25): That's a great one.

Rachel Wong (39:26): Baby Chicken nugget.

Curtis Long (39:27): A baby chicken nugget is is the main character. Yeah, for sure. Well, after hearing all those great stories, I think it's time we close the book on this conversation. A great conversation about student writing and the resurgence we're having in the North Clackamas School District as a function of all of the staff development that Kari and Jen are doing with teachers like Rachel and Liz. And it's certainly catching on and we have so many excited writers throughout our district. So much fun to watch. And it was a great time being in Liz's classroom earlier this week. So I hope all of you that are listening learn quite a bit. And maybe you have some young writers at home, or some kids younger than five years old who will soon be writers in our school district. Thanks so much for joining us and a special thank you to Jen and Liz and Kari and Rachel, just like the title of this podcast. Each of you truly makes us proud to be NCSD. Thanks so much for being here today.

All guests (40:16): Thanks for having us.

Curtis Long (40:18): Thanks for listening to The Proud To Be NCSD podcast. In North Clackamas. We know that education is a community effort and we're so thankful that you and your family are a part of our community. Until next time, remember, there are always great things to see wherever you go in NCSD.