Saturday, January 24, 2009
Writer's Notebook ch.9&10 group b 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.
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8 comments:
Question to Discuss-
In chapter 9, Elliott mentions experimenting with words. Do you think kids struggle the same way we do when writing, like Elliott describes on page 76?
I think often times third graders find one word and go with it instead of taking the time to really try to find the one they're looking for and expanding their vocabulary. I think they try by using the thesaurus or our vocabulary word banks, but sometimes it is to no avail. Perhaps the process and the struggle is all they need right now so that they can expand upon this as they get older.
Connections to teaching-
I really liked the way the author suggested making a separate section of the writer's notebook for words. I think this would help students when they do hear words that sound neat. I think that William Steig's books are a great place to find interesting words that kids can use. My kids also frequently use the words from Aaron Shepard's Reader's Theater scripts because they are frequently descriptive as well as cultural.
I was also very excited to read chapter 10 on poetry, as we spend May and June in a poetry unit that the kids usually love. It is totally true that students have a great sense of power when they realize they don't have to rhyme. They are using imagery, metaphors, personificaiton, onomonipia and all while thinking it is a relaxing writing activity. I think the shortness of poetry helps the students to feel less overwhelmed by the new strategy. I'm always surprised by what they are able to accomplish.
Connections to my work as a writer-
I am going to use a section for words that I enjoy in my writer's notebook too. I think that this section can help me to remember some of those neat words that I don't always put the effort in to remember. I also think that writing them in a way that exemplifies their meaning is fun and meaningful.
Integrated Unit-
I am definitely going to have the students write poetry about the rocks and minerals in this unit. It is a fun way to assess their knowledge about rocks. I also think a web of descriptive words that describe the rocks can help to improve vocabulary in the content areas. They can use their texts to help find those descriptive words.
Connections to my teaching:
In chapter 9, Elliott referred to using read alouds to model the use of rich language to students. I often do this and love using read alouds in the classroom. Recently, I just read Chicken Sunday, by Patricia Pollaco and I loved the way she described the characters in the story. She used rich language and my students had a great discussion around her word choices. I love her books.
I loved the poetry ideas presented in chapter 10. I can see my students really flying with some of the topics Elliott mentioned such as list poems, I am from poem and percent poem. I have found that my students really enjoy writing poetry. I think it is a great form of writing because it is so free. In the fall I had my students write senses poems using apples. They really enjoyed it and the finished pieces were great.
Another great idea I loved was word storming. This is a great way to set up students for success and increase their vocabulary! I can’t wait to give it a go.
Connections to my notebook:
In chapter 9 Elliott states that the notebook is a great place to borrow words and phrases that you want to remember. I have a place in my notebook where I have recorded powerful quotes that I love, and don’t want to forget. I think my students would enjoy writing down words they love “sparkle words” and that are fun to say. This will help them to heighten their awareness to words and author’s use of word choice in text.
In chapter ten they mention a poem for 2 voices. When I went to the Literacy Conference, I attended a session on author’s craft and one of our activities was creating a poem for two voices on spiders. I had such a good time with it, as I worked with a partner I decided to record my poem in my notebook. I realized how beneficial it is to have students work with a partner, especially when they are exploring something new for the first time.
Connections to my unit:
In my unit I could have my students write poems about plants. I could see shape poems as a nice tie in. Students could choose a flower or a tree, some type of plant to shape their poem around. This would probably have to be done at the end of the unit. Then with word storming, I think my students would be successful.
Meaty Questions:
I was wondering if anyone currently does a poetry unit with their class. I tend to focus on poetry in April and Jack Prelutsky comes to mind. I was wondering who you focus on and what kind of poems you use. In the past my class has done cinquains, acrostic, shape…Any ideas that you have tried and would recommend?
Response to a classmate:
Allison, I too struggle with expanding my students’ word choice when writing. I think that many of them are struggling with a limited vocabulary and expanding that is tough for them. I have some students who are ELL and even simple vocabulary is challenging at times. However, for the students that can expand and choose more appropriate words often I find that they won’t unless prompted to. I think this is an area that I could do a mini lesson on and discuss how to revisit a piece and pump it up with more delicious words. I know that some classrooms have posters up for words like said and nice and they provide better word choices for them. That may help as well.
Response to Diane,
As I mentioned I do focus on poetry for the last months of school. My students have a poetry share during the last days of school where we dress up the room with table cloths and flowers and read our poetry to an audience of parents. I do some formula poems like cinquain or haiku, but I feel the most memorable and powerful for third graders tends to be free verse. I think this may be because they only focus on the words and line breaks without having to pay attention to syllables and other key elements of the formula poems. I always read Love that Dog by Sharon Creech as a read aloud during the unit because the kids learn so much through it. In the book a boy won't write poetry because it is for girls. (the whole book is a poem) Along the way he tries several things out that he sees in the poetry his teacher reads... the kids in the class always on their own experiment with some of the same ideas. It is really neat to see them experimenting with words the way they do in poetry.
Response to Allison:
I think that some kids struggle with writing and word just as Elliott discusses on page 76. I think that this especially becomes more challenging as students have more tools to work with. I find that at the start of the year my students are stuck on the same words over and over again. As we begin to work on this, it is great to see the variety that their word choice can now display, but at the same time it makes choosing the right words all that more challenging. I agree with Elliott in the way that I think students need to really experiment with their work and look at it from different angles. I think that truly helps them grow as a writer.
Response to Diane:
I do the same thing when I come across a quote that I find to be powerful to me at that moment. I love going back and reading through them and really thinking about what it meant to me then and if it still holds that same meaning now.
Meaty Question:
I have never used writing poems for 2 voices in my classroom. Prior to this semester I had never heard of them at all. I have really enjoyed working with them in class and Elliott mentioned this style of poetry in chapter 10. I was wondering if more often than not when this style is used to you have students work together to write them( one as each voice)? I would think that this might help students become more familiar with the structure of the poem. Have any of you used this style in your classrooms before?
Classroom Connection:
Just as Elliott mentioned I find that students think that all poetry has to have rhyming in it. I find that I do a lot of read alouds in the classroom for poetry because the students love it and I can fit it in at so many different times during the day when we have a few minutes. I love the idea of having students write list poems. I think this style of poetry is a great way to help struggling or hesitant writers get started. I also love the “Where I’m From” format that is presented in the text. This is something I think would be great to do at the start of the year when everyone is getting to know each other.
Unit Connection:
The text that I am using for my cyber lesson starts with a poem in the beginning. It is from the perspective of a water droplet and he is talking about the journey he is about to begin. I think that this poem is a great one to use to have students respond to in their notebooks. It will help them activate prior knowledge and also get them questioning and thinking about the various forms of water.
Notebook Connection:
I have also encourage my students to have a word notebook where they can record exciting new words for them to use in their writing. I haven’t done this myself in my own notebook though. After reading these chapters I felt inspired to jot down some words that I enjoy using and like the sound of them.
Response to a classmate:
Tracey, after I read your question about the poem for two voices a great idea popped into my head. I think they would be great for point of view. I could see students making awesome poems for topics they are familiar with like the three little pigs. One voice could be the pigs, the other the big bad wolf. We are all familiar with the True Story told from the wolf’s point of view. That could be a great jumping point to lead students into making poems for two voices. I haven’t done it yet, but I think I will give it a try!
Tracey,
I agree that the poems for two voices is a good idea to use with students. I wrote a couple during the Central Connecticut Writing Project Fall conference this year and had a lot of fun with my group. I think that I am going to try to write a couple with my students this year during our poetry unit so that they will be comfortable writing them on their own or in groups. Thanks for the reminder!
Hello again!
Meaty questions:
I was wondering how often you all read poetry aloud to your class. I remember loving hearing poetry as a young student and I feel that there is less and less time in the day to include it on top of all of the comprehension strategy lessons, guided reading, and whole group lessons. Aside from doing a poetry unit, are there times you all read poetry aloud? Do your kids seem to love poetry? Some of my kids love it and others seem to only love books that have characters and events. I'm trying to get them hooked!
Another question I have is : Do you feel like most of your children are read to at home? Allen stresses the importance of this because it gives kids access to great word choice, flow, and new ideas in writing. All of my kids love when I read aloud and to be honest, it's one of my favorite times of day too. It seems to me that many parents are so busy these days that they don't take the time out to read to their kids. It worries me that they lose this over the summer. Any ideas on how to get more parents involved? I stress it at open house and conferences but wasn't sure if you had any other ideas as to how to get them more involved in their child's reading!
Class connection: One thing that chapter nine made me think of was keeping a page of great words that they come across. I let them title their own page, and we started a page in our class and named it "scrumptious words". "Scrumptious was actually one of the words that is on it. We added words that we just liked the sound of too like serenade and pashmina. One of my girls brought one back from a trip with her family. My kids love it.
In response to Alison:
We do experiment with word choice at times because my kids definitely get caught with simplistic word choices. I've come up with something called "plain vanilla" or "hot fudge sundae words" and we made a list of how to make words like "said" get tastier by changing them to strolled, ran, sped, hopped, etc..". It's been growing as the year has went on and I see that it really carries over into their writing. As our lists get bigger, I've been photocopying the list to keep in their writing folders and they've been updated along the way.
In response to Diane:
I've done poetry units in the past, but this year, I've tried to keep poems in a binder and it's simply called our "poetry binder" and there are lyrics to songs in there as well as poems kids have written and seasonal poems. I can't say that I love what I've done with it because there's not a lot of carry over and response. I want to improve on this but I've gotten away from teaching kids certain poem styles in isolation and Sara Holbrook, who came to my school, said it's better to show them different free-verse poems because they're more apt to start writing a poem when they know there aren't any rules about the number of syllables, lines, etc.. I find that some kids like those rules better though because they want to "do the poem right". I agree that poetry is much better without all the rules.
Notebook connection: In my own notebook I tried making a heart poem , which was harder than I thought. The first few things that I loved were easy and then I realized that some of the things I love, I really don't do anymore. Most likely, because my life is changing and I'm busier. But it made me want to make time for those things. I agree like we talked about in class, that this would be great to do with your kids at the beginning of the year!
Connection to unit: I have my kids write a poem about a famous African American and allow them to write in a way that they choose. I think it's important for them to respond in this way because it's a great way to show me what they've learned in the unit.
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