Teaching Grammar and Mechanics using Patterns of Wonder
Time: Friday, December 8, 2023
Grades PreK - 1st, 12-3 pm
Location: HCDE 6300 Irvington Blvd, Houston, TX 77022
Description:
How can we engage our youngest writers in authentic writing experiences and effectively teach them how to make meaning regardless of where they are developmentally? Join us for an interactive and playful session of professional development. National presenter, author, and Texas-based literacy consultant, Whitney La Rocca, will demonstrate how to engage students in the Patterns of Wonder process that invites students to play with the conventions of language. Beginning with an explanation of the Patterns of Wonder Phases of Emergent Writing, Whitney will then model an inquiry process that allows for students to wonder, notice, and experiment with grammar and conventions, the meaning-making activators of reading and writing. As students become confident in their choices as writers in these foundational years, they will take that knowledge to their performance in later years
on the STAAR test. Whitney will provide strategies for building this confidence and understanding.
Whitney La Rocca, co-author of Patterns of Power (Grades 1-5) and Patterns of Wonder (PreK-1), has been a teacher, a literacy coach, and a consultant, working with children and teachers across grade levels, schools, and districts. With a deep knowledge of content, standards, and best practices, Whitney enjoys delivering professional development and coaching teachers to support children as they develop their identities in the world of literacy. She continues to learn from children each day.
Objectives:
Teachers will learn and retell…
How the Patterns of Wonder Phases of Emergent Writing are a way to reflect on the work
young writers are doing and plan for effective, scaffolded instruction
Why the Patterns of Wonder process is an authentic approach to teaching grammar and
meaning making in emergent writing
How this learning builds the foundation needed for the performance zone of STAAR
Teachers will learn and practice…
Highly effective teaching techniques, appropriate for all learners in all grades
The study of authentic texts to stir curious classroom conversations