Thoughts from the Ripon Teachers:
We asked the teachers to reflect on their involvement and share their thoughts with us. Here are some things they said.
The GVWP Implementation Lab has been a great experience. I learned how important it is to use charts to help students with writing. The Writing Camp allowed me to work closely with other teachers and learn from their lessons. The writing camp only lasts two weeks but the students really learn a lot in those two weeks. I plan to use the Opinion Paragraph, "Window Pane," and "Noodle" activities with my students. As I am a Resource Teacher, and can differentiate the lessons, so this is all relevant and applicable to all of my students.
— Silvia Deleon (RSP Teacher)
My first year working at GVWP has been a wonderful experience. Being a new teacher, I have gained many new ideas and strategies to use in my classroom. What I found to be the most effective is the use of different graphic organizers. For me, the opportunity to observe veteran teachers implement the different organizers has been extremely beneficial. Another strategy I loved was the picture walk. The kids enjoyed it and were engaged the whole time. It also got them thinking about what they observed and writing about it. I have had a great experience and would love to be a part of GVWP again next year.
— Alyssa Miculinich (3rd Grade Teacher)
As a teacher working at GVWP this summer, I valued working with other teachers. This year I will take the charts from our lessons and use them in my classroom. I will use the “Opinion Paragraph Window Pane” and the “Noodle Frame” with my class. These ideas were of value to me.
— Paula Overbeck (3rd Grade Teacher)
This will be my fourth year attending GVWP Demonstration Workshops and Implementation Labs. Every time, I learn new strategies. I never pictured doing the compare and contrast chart instead of the Venn diagram. I really liked the narrative writing book that Mr. Brian taught. I will be implementing that in my classroom this coming year. It is good to be able to bounce ideas off teachers from different school districts and take those ideas to implement them in our own schools.
— Hilda Gutierrez (2nd Grade Teacher)
The GVWP Implementation Lab has given me great strategies on how to help students become interested in writing and become confident writers. The different charts will be very useful and I will be able to adopt them to my high school Spanish class. I really enjoyed working with the teachers, especially the collaboration and learning by doing with my partner teacher. I’m excited to go back to my classroom and share strategies learned with my students and fellow teachers. From my point of view, I would have liked the teaching schedule to have been a bit more structured as I am a high school teacher and not used to planning in such an open-ended way.
— Gloria Martinez (Foreign Language Teacher)
I improved my writing instruction during this lab. What helped me learn the most was having a group of experienced teachers to whom I could address questions. For a suggestion, I think teachers should fill out a survey when they sign up, stating what they would like to learn more about during the lab.
— Brian Jex (2nd Grade Teacher)
This year I really valued learning new strategies for charting in the classroom. One of my favorite strategies was the “Noodle Chart.” It is a great ELD tool that incorporates sketching with notetaking and listening skills. We had a plethora of fiction and non-fiction texts for the students to explore and for teacher read-alouds. Our ant farm was also a great addition to the classroom. It would have been great to have the students keep an observation log!
— Sasha Cope (GVWP Teacher Consultant / 2nd-3rd Team Co-Leader)
Every year I say this was the best workshop and the best group of teachers I have worked with. This year, the Implementation Lab teachers went above and beyond. They were one of the very, very best teams I have been blessed to work with. I just retired from 26 years of teaching this year, but I look forward to visiting in some of my colleagues’ classrooms to do writing lessons, so I'll be using these charts and graphic organizers as a volunteer.
— Robin Hawks Alexander (GVWP Teacher Consultant / 2nd-3rd Team Co-Leader)
— Silvia Deleon (RSP Teacher)
My first year working at GVWP has been a wonderful experience. Being a new teacher, I have gained many new ideas and strategies to use in my classroom. What I found to be the most effective is the use of different graphic organizers. For me, the opportunity to observe veteran teachers implement the different organizers has been extremely beneficial. Another strategy I loved was the picture walk. The kids enjoyed it and were engaged the whole time. It also got them thinking about what they observed and writing about it. I have had a great experience and would love to be a part of GVWP again next year.
— Alyssa Miculinich (3rd Grade Teacher)
As a teacher working at GVWP this summer, I valued working with other teachers. This year I will take the charts from our lessons and use them in my classroom. I will use the “Opinion Paragraph Window Pane” and the “Noodle Frame” with my class. These ideas were of value to me.
— Paula Overbeck (3rd Grade Teacher)
This will be my fourth year attending GVWP Demonstration Workshops and Implementation Labs. Every time, I learn new strategies. I never pictured doing the compare and contrast chart instead of the Venn diagram. I really liked the narrative writing book that Mr. Brian taught. I will be implementing that in my classroom this coming year. It is good to be able to bounce ideas off teachers from different school districts and take those ideas to implement them in our own schools.
— Hilda Gutierrez (2nd Grade Teacher)
The GVWP Implementation Lab has given me great strategies on how to help students become interested in writing and become confident writers. The different charts will be very useful and I will be able to adopt them to my high school Spanish class. I really enjoyed working with the teachers, especially the collaboration and learning by doing with my partner teacher. I’m excited to go back to my classroom and share strategies learned with my students and fellow teachers. From my point of view, I would have liked the teaching schedule to have been a bit more structured as I am a high school teacher and not used to planning in such an open-ended way.
— Gloria Martinez (Foreign Language Teacher)
I improved my writing instruction during this lab. What helped me learn the most was having a group of experienced teachers to whom I could address questions. For a suggestion, I think teachers should fill out a survey when they sign up, stating what they would like to learn more about during the lab.
— Brian Jex (2nd Grade Teacher)
This year I really valued learning new strategies for charting in the classroom. One of my favorite strategies was the “Noodle Chart.” It is a great ELD tool that incorporates sketching with notetaking and listening skills. We had a plethora of fiction and non-fiction texts for the students to explore and for teacher read-alouds. Our ant farm was also a great addition to the classroom. It would have been great to have the students keep an observation log!
— Sasha Cope (GVWP Teacher Consultant / 2nd-3rd Team Co-Leader)
Every year I say this was the best workshop and the best group of teachers I have worked with. This year, the Implementation Lab teachers went above and beyond. They were one of the very, very best teams I have been blessed to work with. I just retired from 26 years of teaching this year, but I look forward to visiting in some of my colleagues’ classrooms to do writing lessons, so I'll be using these charts and graphic organizers as a volunteer.
— Robin Hawks Alexander (GVWP Teacher Consultant / 2nd-3rd Team Co-Leader)