Saturday, January 24, 2009
Writer's Notebook ch.9&10 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.
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3 comments:
CONNECTIONS TO MY TEACHING/WORK AS A WRITER
I loved the ideas in chapter 9 about teaching children to appreciate language. One of my favorite books for teaching children to love words is Andrew Clement’s "Frindle." In this book, the main character Nick invents a new word for pen in an attempt to drive his teacher crazy. It is an adorable story but also is a great book to use in the beginning of the year to show students the power of words. This year I read it with one of my small groups and we still pick out words that Mrs. Granger from the book would love. Next year, I plan to read it aloud to my whole class in the beginning of the year to build enthusiasm for language.
I also love the idea of building a collection of other writer’s words in my notebook. I think reflecting on these quotes will inspire me as a writer. I plan to have my students begin to collect delicious words and phrases as they begin to read historical fiction in our next genre study.
In chapter 10, Elliot mentions Georgia Heard’s idea of “heart mapping.” I did this with my students last year and they were totally inspired. We created the heart maps early in the year and went back to them again and again to find seeds for writing. They worked not only for poetry but for many genres of writing. I had forgotten about heart maps and I plan to create one in my writer’s notebook as well.
QUESTIONS TO DISCUSS
There are so many great ideas in this book I sometimes feel overwhelmed with what to focus on in my unit. I think we are lucky in that our language arts state standards are general and leave teachers so many teaching options but at the same time I am constantly worried about the value in what I am doing with my students. Am I making the right choices? Is there something better that I should be doing instead? How do you decide what to focus on as you create your units?
CONNECTIONS TO MY INTEGRATED UNIT
These two chapters present several new ideas for students to use as writers. Since my unit integrates social studies and language arts, I plan on having my kids keep a collection of great historical words in their notebooks.
I found a great poetry book called “Colonial Voices” to use in my unit and plan to have the kids write poetry as well. I like the idea of having kids use their senses. I think asking them to write about this questions would spur some terrific poetry. What does the American Revolution look, feel, smell or taste like?
CONNECTIONS TO MY TEACHING/WORK AS A WRITER
Brianne
I also loved chapter 9-I think this is my favorite chapter so far. I haven't read Frindle-but I'll have to check it out this summer. One great book we read last semester in RDG 588-Childrens Lit was a book called PUNISHED by David Lubar-It is a modern fantasy for grades 3-5. It is a great book that focuses on WORD PLAY. It introduces students to word play such as; oxymorons, anagrams and palindromes.
I went to Savannah over this vacation and I brought my writers notebook and Elliotts book: I had so much fun applying some of her ideas to my own notebook. I added a favorite word section and recorded some of my favorites,I added a poetry section, and I also drew a HEART MAP-It was so cool! I had never heard of the HEART MAP before.
I also thought it was very interesting when she talked about reading aloud to adults: I never really thought of adults enjoying a read aloud.
QUESTIONS TO DISCUSS:
Yes, I agree with you that there are so many ideas in the book to try out-It is hard to narrow down what you want to teach and where you want to start. Since I teach special ed students who struggle to read and write-just getting them motivated and excited about writing is a big deal. As long as you are addressing some of the standards in the writers notebook I think you are covering that aspect of your curriculum; along with motivating your students and actually having fun along the way! I'm very excited about planning a writers notebook with my students next year-It will be fun to start from the beginning of the year and watch how students react to these activities. I also think that once you start your notebook that your students will help guide you as to what they can do and what excites them.
CONNECTIONS TO MY INTEGRATED UNIT
I thought we could focus on words that describe CLOUDS in our science notebooks. The book I'm using focuses on the different types of clouds-Maybe we could even include some type of poetry writing as we describe clouds. I also like the idea of using the SENSES-in third and fourth grade the teachers have focused a lot on senses so they are used to that already.
QUESTION TO DISCUSS:
First, in response to you, Brianne, I also agree that there are too many aspects in this book to focus on within our integrated unit. I, too, was having the same feelings of being overwhelmed. As I was developing ideas every week for my unit, I began wondering how I would in fact use them all. Like Rene, I feel that the key is finding what’s crucial. Personally, I plan to look over all the ideas I developed over the course of reading this book and then picking out a couple that really will impact my unit and be a nice activity for my students to help their understanding of the American Revolution.
Like both of you, I also really enjoyed these chapters and their discussion on using different aspects of language in one’s writing. I really enjoy poetry, and I enjoy exploring different forms of poetry with my students. One predicament I find myself having every year, however, is how much I must help my lower ability writers, especially my students with identified language issues. Due to the fact that poetry has such a strong focus on language and creative use of it, I find that my students who struggle just to write complete sentences cannot typically think of language in any creative ways, especially to express a thought with few creative words. While I help them generate ideas and even make word banks at times to help them, I just find they need so much help with this form of creative writing that it doesn’t seem authentically theirs anymore. Do either of you have any thoughts on how to help these students without taking away their ownership in it (maybe you, Rene, will have some ideas…)?
CONNECTIONS TO MY TEACHING
While these two chapters provided many ideas for me to use in my teaching, there were two ideas that really stuck out to me. The first idea was having a section in the back of the students’ writing notebooks in which they record words they like; either words someone else has used that they like or words they think of or hear and would like to use at a later point. I feel this is a great tool to help students use creative words or even find a particular word that will work in a piece when they are at a loss of words. I definitely will use these idea next year with my students’ writing notebooks.
The other idea I liked a lot was the percent poem. I feel this is a great back-to-school activity for students to do and then decorate and display on a bulletin board. In addition, I feel this is also a great poem to keep recorded in their writing journals, as they can return to it in the future if they are looking for a topic with which to write about. They can find one of the items that are important in their lives and then write a piece about it. Also, this activity has a great tie-in with math and can even be revisited when we study percent!
CONNECTION TO ME AS A WRITER:
One other idea I liked in these chapters not only for my students, but also for me, was the heart map. I think the process of making this heart map for me would be somewhat therapeutic as I must reflect upon what’s important to me as a person. Then, when I am looking for a topic on which to write in the future, I could return to this map as Georgia Heard suggests, and I can explore one of the sections in more detail. It would also be interesting to see, if over time, any sections of my heart map would change at all. I am also even thinking I can tie in this heart map to the percent poem, and I could make the size of the sections in the heart directly in proportion to how important that item is in my life.
REPONSE TO MY CLASSMATES’ ENTRIES:
(I responded to Brianne’s above.) Rene, I have heard of the book “Punished,” but I have never seen it or used it. I am always looking for good books to use with the older students to help them notice creative uses of our language and how writer’s can bring a lot to a story by the words they use, and I appreciate your suggestion. I definitely plan to look for that book over the summer, and then I can hopefully use it next year with my students as we discuss author’s craft and creative writing.
CONNECTION TO MY UNIT:
Considering I was really impressed with the idea of a percent poem, I think this could even work well in my unit about the American Revolution. I am thinking that the students can choose one of the major contributors (or minor contributors…i.e. the Native Americans) and make a percent poem to illustrate what is important in that person’s life during the time of the American Revolution. This will also help them make a nice connection to their American Revolution study.
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