Hear from principal Jennifer Leupold and classroom teachers Sarah Pryor and Patricia Calkins of Cary Reynolds Elementary School in DeKalb County, Georgia about how Being a Writer has helped teachers become more confident in developing students as skilled and enthusiastic writers.
Jennifer Leupold, Principal of Cary Reynolds Elementary School
Please tell us a little about yourself, Cary Reynolds Elementary School, and the students you serve.
I have been fortunate to serve as the principal of Cary Reynolds Elementary School (CRES) in DeKalb County, Georgia for the past 11 years. Before going into leadership, I also worked for two years as an instructional coach at CRES. My extensive history here affords me unique insight and perspective regarding the instructional wants and needs of both CRES teachers and students.
Cary Reynolds Elementary sits within the DeKalb County School District, an urban, diverse school district serving 95,000 students. Our school has approximately 280 students; 84% are Hispanic, 10% are Asian, and 205 students are English Language Learners.
We are a Title 1 school with 95% of students receiving free/reduced-price lunch. In addition, the majority of our students perform below grade level in all core subjects based on a variety of standardized measures.
How has Being a Writer shifted teaching practices in your school?
Our Being a Writer journey was 100% initiated by our teachers a few years ago. It grew organically from them recognizing that they needed a writing program that better fit our students’ needs.
During grade-level PLC discussions, they expressed that they wanted to be more confident writing teachers and to find a program that supported their striving writers. We openly discussed how teaching writing in a virtual setting during the Covid shutdown was particularly difficult, and teachers feared our students would grow even wider instructional gaps if we didn’t find a solution.
For these reasons, our teachers were excited to dig into Being a Writer from the very beginning. During the summer prior to our kick-off, teachers attended Being a Writer professional learning to familiarize themselves with the kits and be ready for a solid implementation.
Right away I received positive feedback from teachers and students. In the building, there was a renewed energy about writing from both sides and across grade levels.
Today the hallways and classrooms are filled with students’ writing. We even highlight student writing during our weekly CRES news broadcast!
Today the hallways and classrooms are filled with students’ writing. We even highlight student writing during our weekly CRES news broadcast!
Our teachers’ confidence has increased tremendously, and they are able to clearly articulate details about their students’ writing growth over time and throughout genres. In addition students are also more confident and practice writing every day. They often smile when you ask about their writing and use academic language when talking about their writing.
Students are also more confident and practice writing every day. They often smile when you ask about their writing and use academic language when talking about their writing.
What thoughts or insights would you share with a school or district that is considering Being a Writer?
I have a few thoughts to share:
- Include your teachers in the process, meaning do not throw this on them as “one more thing.” Help them recognize the need and then realize how Being a Writer can be a very “do-able” part of a solution. This may take longer to get started, but if done well, you will already have buy-in from Day One.
- Commit to ongoing, well-developed, site-based professional learning; this is not a sit-and-get or one-and-done process. For us, this meant including Being a Writer in our grade-level PLCs, providing Being a Writer extended workshops at mid-year and during summer that were catered specifically to CRES’ implementation, hosting onsite demo lessons in every grade level, and coordinating grade-level planning sessions with Being a Writer expert. I work closely with the team at Collaborative Classroom to respond to student data and teacher surveys in order to plan professional learning. This way, our teachers remain an active part of implementation and own what they want to do/learn as part of next steps.
- Celebrate success! Find ways to showcase student writing and spotlight student progress. Seek ways to do the same for high-flying teachers, too!
Sarah Pryor, Kindergarten Teacher
Sarah, please tell us a little about yourself.
I am a Kindergarten teacher and have been teaching for seven years, all of them at Cary Reynolds Elementary School. I graduated from Berry College with a degree in Early Childhood Education and an ESOL endorsement.
How long have you been implementing Being a Writer? Tell us a little about your implementation.
This is our first year implementing Being a Writer. Last summer, we attended a training with Collaborative Classroom where we got an overview of the program and time to explore the teacher manuals, books, print materials, and online platform. This allowed us to hit the ground running in August.
In my classroom students are engaged in the writing block for at least 30 minutes a day. We follow the lessons from the curriculum and extend instruction with the extension activities as needed. As a grade-level team, we meet frequently to review the lessons we are teaching and to go over student work samples to monitor student progress.
We had additional training in January and March. These learning opportunities gave us time to come together to talk about the implementation, look at student data, and study the lessons more deeply.
What do you appreciate about Being a Writer?
I love that Being a Writer lessons are tied into literature. On Day 1 of most weeks, we read a mentor text that demonstrates features of the genre we are teaching and serves as inspiration for writing. This has been so impactful for my students who are English Language Learners because it provides the background knowledge and vocabulary they need in order to get started writing.
I love that Being a Writer lessons are tied into literature… This has been so impactful for my students who are English Language Learners because it provides the background knowledge and vocabulary they need in order to get started writing.
What have you noticed about your students’ learning and engagement?
Writing is one of my students’ favorite parts of the day. They are so engaged in every lesson and have gained a deep appreciation for writing. I have seen so much growth in my students this year.
At the beginning of the school year none of my Kindergarten students were able to write sentences independently and many were not able to dictate a detailed story.
At this point in the year, most of my students are writing stories with at least four sentences independently. Several students will write much more. Their stories are very detailed and on topic, which is not always easy for Kindergarteners!
Patricia Calkins, Teacher
Please tell us a little about yourself.
I have been teaching for 18 years. Other than one year of teaching middle school, all of my teaching experience is in the K–5 setting. This is my sixth year at Cary Reynolds. I enjoy playing card games and board games with my family.
How has Being a Writer affected or changed your own teaching and learning?
The lesson structure of Being a Writer is really supportive of developing our students as writers.
Each lesson begins with a Getting Ready to Write section. This provides opportunities for students to examine mentor texts and work with a partner to generate ideas before they go off to write on their own. As a result, students get lots of opportunities to practice speaking and listening skills. They are more ready to write on their own when it’s time.
The lesson structure of Being a Writer is really supportive of developing our students as writers.
What advice or insights would you share with an educator who is new to Being a Writer?
Being a Writer is very engaging for students. The structure of the lessons and the genres students explore help them feel excited about writing and motivated to try new things. You’ll quickly see how students respond to the lessons.
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