Saturday, January 24, 2009
Writer's Notebook ch 7&8 group c 650pm
View the first sample chapters (available on line) Using the Writer's Notebook in Grades 3-8: A Teacher's Guide at (http://www1.ncte.org/library/files/Store/Books/Sample/35006chap1-2_x.pdf) and begin your writers notebook then post entries on Class Blog. Engage in an online discussion group on our class blog. Please read designated chapters and 1)propose “meaty” fat questions to discuss, 2) make connections to your teaching and work with students, and 3) make connections to your work as a writer (ie Keep your own notebook and share your response to it), 4)Please respond to two of your classmates’s entries in your study group, 4) Consider how what you have learned from this book might support the work of your integrated language arts unit.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
CONNECTION TO MY WORK WITH STUDENTS:
In Chapter 7, Elliot spends a bit of time discussing using the students’ writer’s notebooks with mini-lessons. In this section, she explained she adopted the “Have-a-Go” technique in which students follow a mini-lesson with practicing that skill using either a previously written piece, starting a new piece, or even using a piece the teacher has given him/her. I have had the same dilemma as Elliot on numerous occasions. Many times I teach a mini-lesson on a particular writing skill, but when I tell the students to use the piece they are presently working on to practice that skill, I get the response “I don’t have any ___________ in this piece.” (Examples include dialogue, irregular verbs, etc.) I think the two “back up” plans are perfect. I now plan to either have them start a new piece in their journal using that skill, or I will give them a piece that has already been prepared with those skills in mind and have them practice using that piece (which they can glue in their notebooks as Elliot suggested).
QUESTION TO DISCUSS:
While I really like this suggestion of Elliot’s, it does lead me to one big question. While I think it’s a great idea to have the students practice the skills taught in a mini-lesson using their writer’s notebooks, I wonder how the teacher can check that the student is using the skills correctly. Since these notebooks are supposed to be “safe” places students can write privately without someone reading and/or critiquing it, then can teachers ever assess if that skill has been used correctly if a student practices it in their private writer’s notebook?
Another question I have is actually a really broad one. While I am getting a lot of wonderful ideas from this book to use in my writing instruction, I am constantly feeling confused as to how to use them in the students’ writer’s notebooks. I was under the impression these were places the students could write whatever they wanted without anyone ever reading them. It seems, however, that many of Elliot’s chapters explain what teachers can have students do in their notebooks as well as how teachers can use notebook entries as a means of assessment. Is anyone else confused by this, or am I just misunderstanding the purpose of these notebooks?
CONNECTIONS TO MY WORK AS A WRITER:
In Chapter 7, Elliot lists several forms of writing teachers can have their students experiment with including advertisements, bumper stickers, greeting cards, menus, and songs. While I definitely plan to use some of these ideas with my students, I also feel like they are great idea for me to use in my writer’s notebook as well. There are times I am stuck about what to write about, and these are great sources for me to use in those occasions. Also, this list has given me some great ideas for pieces of writing I now plan to take a closer look at in my world, as they may spark some great ideas for my writer’s notebook.
CONNECTION TO MY INTEGRATED UNIT:
Some of the genres Elliot mentions in Chapter 7 gave me some ideas for my integrated unit. For instance, Elliot mentions having the students experiment with writing interviews. Upon reading this, I had the idea of having the students pick a person from the American Revolution (it could be a well-known hero like Paul Revere or a lesser known person like a Native American) and write an interview with that person after the American Revolution. The students can ask questions about how the person felt during it as well as what their role was in the war. This is a great way for the students to not only relive some of the key events in the war, but it also provides them an opportunity to make that personal connection to what that person felt like during the American Revolution.
REPLY TO DISCUSSION QUESTION:
Krysta, I was wondering the same thing for a while; I thought how could we do both at the same time? This is my thought on the subject-I think it depends on your student's age and maturity level. The small group of 4th graders that I have right now are very immature socially and their writing skills are not as developed as the other students. For these students I would focus more on giving them more freedom as far as choosing the topics or genre. When they "free-write" I won't count off for spelling, grammar or mechanics. I think these students are a little too immature to focus on the "private writer's notebook".
On the other hand-I used to teach middle and highschool girls who had emotional and behavior problems; with these girls I would focus on the "private writer's notebook" because they would be mature enough to understand the concept and they would benefit from this type of writing assignment. The writer's notebook could be a tool they use to express their feelings. I also think I would have a "private section" of the notebook or a separate notebook altogether for this type of writing. I would still want to teach the mini-lessons and use some of Elliot's great ideas.
CONNECTIONS TO MY WORK AS A WRITER:
I also thought it was a great idea for students to create bumper stickers, greeting cards, menus, and write different types of letters. But I didn't think of using these ideas in my own writers notebook-thanks for the idea! Sometimes it is difficult to think of things to write about-this gives me a new perspective.
CONNECTION TO MY INTEGRATED UNIT:
For my science unit the students are going to write a news article about the weather-I could have them include an interview with someone who has just witnessed a severe storm!
I thought ch. 8 was very helpful because of the book lists for both student and teacher; "mentor books" and teacher resources.
RESPONSE TO MY GROUP
Krysta, I wonder the same thing about writer’s notebooks. It seems that students would almost need two notebooks, one for school that would be used in the classroom and read by the teacher and one to keep at home for “private’ writing.
Rene, I also like the idea of a private section—this way kids know we will only read the sections that are intended for our eyes.
Another idea that I have is to have the student sit with you in conferences and only read certain parts together. I think that Elliot is assuming that we wouldn’t take our students notebooks and read through but would always inform them ahead of time about what writing would be publicly viewed and shared
QUESTIONS TO DISCUSS
I love the idea of studying various genres of writing and fully exploring each genre like Elliot mentions in chapter 8. However, I find as a fifth grade teacher our focus is on expository writing for most of the year as this is what students are expected to have mastery of on the CMTs. I do believe that good writing is good writing no matter what genre but I also feel the pressure to prepare my students for this type of writing as they will be tested on it. How do you deal with these pressures?
CONNECTIONS TO MY UNIT
Krysta, it’s so funny that you mentioned American Revolution interviews. I recently finished my Revolution unit and had my kids research a historical figure in pairs and then use that information to write up interview questions and answers. Once they wrote the scripts, they revised and edited, rehearsed, and then presented the interviews in front of the class. Not only did the kids learn a lot but they also had the opportunity to write scripts- which was a new genre for us.
I gave my students specific options for historical figures so that multi-cultural perspectives would be presented and they really did a terrific job. I would definitely recommend doing something like this with the Revolution unit and plan to use it as a performance assessment next year too.
CONNECTIONS TO MY WORK AS WRITER
I also seem to struggle with what to write about and I plan to explore some of the ideas in chapter 7 as well. I think that this book is full of terrific writing ideas. I especially loved the idea of writing a recipe for things like making friends. After just arriving home from Easter dinner with my fiancé’s family, I think I might write up a recipe for getting along with your in-laws!
Thank you both for your suggestions. I think that the suggestion of dividing their writer's notebook is a good idea. Then they can have that private section in which they are free to write whatever they want in private, but there would also be a section for me to review, and possibly grade. Also this section will be the writing pieces that they can revisit to turn into full pieces for publication. That makes much more sense. Thanks for the suggestions!
Post a Comment