Chapter 8,10.11,& 12
Using the Writer's Notebook in Grades 3-8: A Teacher's Guide engage in an online discussion group on our class blog.
1)propose “meaty” fat questions to discuss,
2) make connections to your teaching and work with students, and
3)Please respond to two of your classmates’s entries in your study group.
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As I was reading this book last night, I find it to be more of a resource than a document that is presenting new, thought provoking ideas. As a teacher I will find it very useful when I am looking for quick write activities and mentor texts. That being said, in my opinion the first three paragraphs of chapter 8 are very important. They make the shift from teaching content to teaching craft. This is a discussion we had in class the other day. I think as teachers we get wrapped up in the content when we view students work or when we are conferencing with them. But teaching craft, like Katie Wood Ray recommends, will have a greater impact on our students writing. If you take this theory into your classroom, it changes the way you approach a read aloud, reading minilessons, and books choice. I think our biggest challenge is when we conference with students. How do we make the shift from content and management conferences to craft minilessons? How do you approach writing instruction within the classroom? Do you focus your lessons on craft? Do you reflect this in you reading minilessons? This chapter also reminded me of our discussion in class about choice and ownership in writing. This idea of choice is echoed in the chapter about engaging boy writers. It emphasizes the importance of choice and freedom to choose a content they are comfortable with. If we as female teachers are always dictating the topics, this will not allow any of our students to gain a sense of ownership, male or female. Once again we are back to the idea or craft vs. content. Now that I feel like a broken record, I will stop.
ReplyDeleteSo here is the question. Do you agree with her statements regarding the importance of a craft focus vs. a content focus? Also, as a teacher, think about your minilessons and conferences. Where do the fall in the divide?
I am so sad. I wrote a great response and then the "thing" started happening where the screen opens and opens. Anyhows, here I go at recreating what I already wrote down. I empathize with trying to engage boy writers. I find that when I allow students to make choices about the topic there are to write for they are much mor motivated. They need to feel supported when writing indepently and in order to support their transfer of ideas into narrative it is imperative to teach students how to organize their ideas down on paper before writing. I also believe in including free writing once a week where students have choice of the topic. This book does a great job of providing a framework of what a successful writer's notebook should include. It also sets up a place where students feel that they can express their ideas and encounters in a place that is personal and private. I do agree with teaching craft vs. content. It is the student that should be able to choose the content. This is how writers develop their writer's voice and style, which each teach should encourage students to do. When a particular student found their humurous voice in writing, that reflected her personal style in the classroom, her peers and other students in the class would light up when she read her writing. This was more motivating than anything I could of said to them because it came from someone that they could identify with. Much like teaching comprehension skills in writing, it is just as important to teach craft in reading. May times teachers pay too much attention to whether or not their students will recall the information and details in the content they were reading for a particular subject. It is the application of the skills that we teach in new settings that will make the student succesful.
ReplyDeleteThe author refers to the three components that disengage boy writers, one being the choice of content. I'm curious Rose about the performance of your boys when they have a free write compared to narrative writing. Do you see them applying the craft mini lessons to their free writes? Also, how do you handle the content they choose to write about? Do you find it difficult to accept as Elliot refered to? Finally, Elliot refers to units of study. Do all of you teach units of study or do you teach to the prompt?
ReplyDeleteWell Beth, that leads me into my question. Do you complete units of study in writing, and if so what units do you do? I feel that poetry particulary lends itself to a unit of study. Are there any other examples that you can think of? At the end of the year I also did a personal narrative chapter book where students brought in pictures and other realia to the classroom to help them write their own biographies. Even with the choice of chapters, such as your favorite restaurant or best friend, I found that my writers that struggled still struggled even when give the option of making choices. I need to support much of their writing in small group instruction. We also have a lady from the bushnell that comes in for one month to complete a unit of study on poetry and at the end the students participate in a language arts festival where musicians from the bushnell orchestra come in, listen to the students poem, and then plays improv music according to the poet's words. This is fabulous. It is a great way to integrate music with writing. I enjoyed reading about the other content areas that were integrated with writing in the text. For example, the 100% Molly where she breaks down her interests and identity.I have completed the "I Am From" poem with my class and feel that this is a great introductory activity to allow students to share a bit about themselves with the new class in the beginning of the school year. It is great to listen to a person or child desribe their lives through imagery and the senses. Another technique that I use and saw that was also incorporated into many of the story ideas is images and pictures. I often ask my students to draw a picture of the setting, which allows students to visualize before writing. I also like to ask students to choose only four pictures to summarize a story after reading it in order to determine importance, retell, and tell what the story is mainly about with supporitng details. Creating images and visualizing is a great technique to use.
ReplyDeleteUnits of study should link and follow your reading focus. Choice with structure. Students are learning the elements of the genre while choosing their own content. Memoir, poetry, fictional narrative, how to, mystery, small moments, letter writing, editorials, personal narrative...the list can go on and on. I spent some time in Simsbury last year. They are very structured with regards to their units of study. Every six weeks the units of study changed. Teachers had spelled out for them possible craft lessons, possible choices for read alouds, and how it related to reader's workshop. It was amazing!
ReplyDeleteI agree with your comments regarding drawing first. I think that can be very helpful. The chapter regarding engaging boys speaks to the power of drawing first. I suppose it is all about how you differentiate.
Rose - the woman from the Bushnell sounds great. I used to use music as an inspiration for writing lessons. It was very successful.
ReplyDeleteHi Girls,
ReplyDeleteI just had a major computer glitch and my comment was wiped out. I will have to start again.
sounds like that is going around
ReplyDeleteWe do poetry writing, narrative writing, and expository writing. We talk a lot about writing for an audience. The Writer's Notebook is many times (not always) more personal. It is writing for yourself. Where the genres make students think about who they are writing for. When I teach writing in the beginning of the year, we move through a series of minilessons on getting ideas, working on organization, building details with similes, metaphores, vivid verbs, onomatopea, etc. All of these mini-lessons allow students to develop their writing while still having choice. I also agree with the book that the sharing portion is another teaching opportunity and should not be neglected.
ReplyDeleteHey girls,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed chapter 10 on poetry. In April we just finished a poetry unit and I was able to relate to many things in this chapter. First off, I liked the idea of immersing students in poetry starting in the beginning of the year. Since our poetry unit is towards the end of the year, I feel as though months of immersion in the genre would have a very positive effect on students.
The section of this chapter that talked about how poetry does not have to rhyme was also very relevant to me. Many of my students had a difficult time getting themselves to write poetry that didn't rhyme, and I've seen poems that were not as good as they could have been because the writer was trying too hard to rhyme them. I loved the ideas that the book gave about different types of poems (list, I am From, and 100%) Rose, that's great that you've tried the I am From poem. I bet it was really interesting to hear what they came up with.
By the way, when it says Melanie, it means Danielle. There is something wrong with my email so I'm on my mom's!
ReplyDeleteOk, I think I've got it now...sorry!
ReplyDeleteIn response to the units of study question, that's what my district does. We have set units of study for the year, along with tons of possible teaching points and mentor texts to support it. It's worked out really great, but I always try to give the students time for free writing a few times a month. After reading the chapter on encouraging boys to write, I have started thinking on what topics my boys choose to write about when they free write. Many choose scary stories, or mysteries, but they are always fiction! I really thought about the part in the chapter that encouraged teachers to step outside of their comfort zone and let boys "be boys" basically and write about the topics they want, even if it's uncomfortable for us. However, my question is, when does certain topics or details in writing become inappropriate? I know I have a few boys who include violence often in their pieces of writing, and I don't know where to draw the line.
ReplyDeleteThought I would post a section before it disappears.
ReplyDeleteAll of those lessons that I use for the first few months are connected to picture books as Elliot discussed. A short story like a picture book is much more manageable for students and drives a particular element home quickly.
In chapter 8, I noticed the author mentioned Jean Little again. I have a reading assessment that my students complete that is a short biography of Jean Little's life and how she struggled to write. I think using the Little by Little book would be a great way to connect our writing to what they learned. I'm curious if any of you use books by some of the authors Elliot talks about? (I know most of you use Lucy Calkings and Ralph Fletcher).
I agree with everything you and the author says about poetry. I devoted on day a week to poetry and found it to be very powerful, especially for my spec ed kids. They were able to focus more on the message and not the punctuation and grammar.
ReplyDeleteI also liked the ideas in chapter 12 of how to incorporate the notebook into the content areas. I have strictly used my students' notebooks for writer's workshop, but this book has opened my eyes to various new ways of using them. Many of the writing opportunities listed in chapter 12 are relevant to my curriculum. For example, one of the ideas is having the students write after attending a Civil War reenactment. Our fifth grade just did that, and now I'm realizing what a wonderful opportunity it would have been to have them use their notebooks to enhance the experience.
ReplyDeleteDonald Graves, Katie Wood Ray
ReplyDeleteI think violence is okay as long as you know the student. If the student has violent issues, then the writing might be a red flag. But as the author suggests, boys enjoy transformers and star wars and there is a lot of violence that occurs in the story lines. I would also question whether it has value or is it just over the top? If the writing is very good then I would let it go. If it's just violent to make people shocked, then is it helping the student to grow?
ReplyDeleteI particularly liked the idea of letting students with writer's block draw before writing. Once they have a picture, they can then write about it. I find I have had some difficulty with this and should loosen up. Drawing often seems like a way to avoid writing. If I could use it "for good" then it would be helpful.
Lisa,
ReplyDeleteI use Lucy Calkins and Ralph Fletcher mostly. Lucy for the units of study and Ralph to support our units/minilessons. I haven't read anything by Jean Little. That assessment you use about her sounds interesting.
Starting the year with poetry as the book mentioned, can be very beneficial. One year I did this and realized my students understanding of language was extremely weak. It's great that poetry doensn't have to rhyme, but when fourth graders can't rhyme, that's an issue. Starting with poetry really helps students explore creative language, description, and their own feelings. When you move into other types of writing, the lessons they learned in poetry transfer over nicely.
ReplyDeleteThe idea of collecting poems is one that I would probably use in the Writer's Notebook. Then students could reference them again and remind themselves about what they liked.
Lisa,
ReplyDeleteI also need to loosen up with the drawing. It's been my experience, though, that some students use it to get out of writing. Others use it as a strategy that has proven helpful to them.
Since I teach specific units of study for writer's workshop, something I have been struggling with is how to fit in all these extra great ideas that I get from books like this. Does anyone else feel limited by their writing curriculum? I think the more years I teach I will find ways to incorporate all these great ideas and strategies. Right now it's a bit difficult.
Lisa, I agree with what you said regarding violence. If they are growing as writers let them go.
ReplyDeleteThe drawing always seems tricky. I suppose you know your students and if they are wasting time or really planning their story.
Does anyone use Diary of a Wimpy Kid to spark writing in the notebook? I know the boys love this series and I can't believe I never tapped into using it to motivate writing.
ReplyDeleteI have recently been enlightened to the power of graphic novels. They are highly engaging to boys and girls. I use them often in reading and would also use them for writing.
ReplyDeleteHave a great night girls! See you tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteDanielle, I too found chapter 12 to be valuable. I have writing notebooks in math and science as well as of course reading and writing. The book openend up many ideas of how we can utilize the writer's notebook to showcase what the student learned in a lesson. I enjoyed the section on integrating the arts and allowing students to analyze a song and have been asked to to do this in my eight grade english cours. I chose Imagine by John Lennon. I also was asked in a college course to create an image after reading a the fairy tale the Three Little Pigs. This is a great way to introduce other cultures, like the example they used where they played tropical music and asked the students to respond. I am sure that this would be a great way to access many different experiences that students have encountered outside of the classroom.
ReplyDeleteDanielle, did you receive my email with the cyberlesson. I will do the reflection as soon as I receive it back :)
ReplyDeleteHaven't checked my mail...will do it now and send you mine.
ReplyDeleteI know I'm jumping all over here, but I liked the favorite first sentences idea. I could see using this in the beginning of the year as well. It's another great way to connect reading and writing. Collecting beautiful langauge is a good idea too. I collect similes and have interesting word charts (adjectives, traits, verbs) but I liked the title, words we love. It centers more on the students interest than what I am asking them to find. The smooth and bumpy words were interesting as well. I think any time we can get students to think about words we are helping them to become better readers and writers. I am becoming more and more interested in vocabulary and how to expand it within my students. The writing becomes much more interesting as the vocabulary broadens. Danielle, you said you have a hard time fitting in ideas beyond your prescribed curriculum. Do you get to do a lot of vocabulary development for writing?
ReplyDeleteThis was a bit hard to follow- a bit jumpy. You did address concerns about the issue of violence and school appropriateness, issue of craft versus content- Beth I loved your question about application of mini lessons to free writing. I wonder if you would first see it in revised work and then in free writing??
ReplyDeleteSometmes questions and issue asked were not addressed. Perhaps too many people inthe group and our short time frame makes this blog difficult