Saturday, January 24, 2009
Writer's Notebook ch.9&10 group d 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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2 comments:
MEATY QUESTIONS:
In chapter 10, Elliott focuses on integrating poetry into writing. We are currently finishing up a unit on poetry in reading and I found it quite challenging to motivate many of my students to get inspired by poetry. I tried using poems that middle school students could relate and connect to; I found song lyrics, I allowed for lots of discussion, but still did not have much success with many of the students (boys especially) in my class. Do any of you do a poetry unit in either reading/writing? Have you found some of the same challenges? Are there any motivating strategies/lessons that you use to inspire these reluctant poets?
CONNECTIONS TO MY TEACHING:
In chapter 9 Elliott talks about the importance of language in writing and reading. I think immersing our students with language that is rich and memorable is so important in their development as a writer and a reader. Personally, I am obsessed with words. I have always kept a place in my journal of some of my favorite words to use. I was laughing to myself when I was reading the part where students were remembering certain words that their teachers use on a consistent basis (facetious, twitterpated). One of my favorite words to use in the classroom is "verbatim". The kids now love that word and will use it constantly in the correct way! It's neat to know the impact that our love for language has on our students. I try to integrate language-rich words into my vocabulary on a regular basis as a good model for my students. I hope to use some sort of word wall next year in my room. I think that consistently seeing the word and hearing it used allows for students to make it one of their own. Do either of you use a word wall in your rooms?
CONNECTIONS TO MY WRITER'S NOTEBOOK:
Poetry is something that I personally enjoy to read, but will only occasionally write about. I think the reason for this is the lack of ideas. I feel like my poetry is silly and my ideas are stupid! Elliott offers some neat ways to find ideas for writing poetry. I look forward to buying the book she mentions in this chapter (Awakening the Heart: Exploring Poetry in the Elementary and Middle School) to get even more ideas. I'm going to try the heart map in my writer's notebook to see if that sparks some good ideas. Like Georgia Heard says, "it is the poet's job to know the interior of his or her heart".
CONNECTIONS TO MY INTEGRATED UNIT:
I plan to have my students write poems based on the content we will be working on in the water unit. I will allow them much choice in the style of their poetry, but seeing as though we just finished a poetry unit in reading and they are currently working on poetry in writing, it will be a sensible integration. I'm excited to see what they are able to come up with!
Hey Sarah,
RESPONSE TO YOUR QUESTIONS:
Hope you had a good week off! Your point about boys and poetry is well taken. A lot of boys that I have had are very literal and don't like to explore figurative language or anything like it. Even when reading poetry, they'll say something like, "Why didn't the author just say that?"
Poetry is difficult for all students to write, though, I think largely because they have been conditioned to write in a formulaic 5 paragraph format that sucks all of the richness and exploration from their writing. When given the freedom to explore poetry, though, a lit of students rise to the occasion. I used to teach a unit that tied poetry to the 5 senses. For example, one day students would all be blindfolded and given an object--like a feather, a rock, or something else that they could feel. They would feel the object, give it back without looking at it and write about the way that it felt. Another day, I had them listen to music that they were unfamiliar with and write about how it sounded. These activities at least started to get them thinking about ways to describe something without focusing solely on how it looks.
CONNECTIONS TO MY TEACHING:
It's funny that you mentioned word walls and love of language, because I was just having this conversation with a colleague the other day. The major component that is missing from our reading/l.a. program at my school is vocabulary. I've never been able to find a way to successfully integrate it into what we do without it becoming either a "shotgun" approach in which words are explored at random or a "drill and kill" approach in which students learn words from lists and spit back definitions. I love the idea of having students write down words or snipets of language that they like in their writer's notebooks, since that might foster the kind of interest in language that you are talking about. Like you, I think if we model an interest in new words and show a love of language, we can instill a little of that in our students.
CONNECTIONS TO MY WRITER'S NOTEBOOK:
I haven't written much poetry since college. It is incredibly hard to do well. I do think that I might try to write something resembling a poem in my notebook this week. After all, it is Spring and I have the whole week "off". I'll be interested to see if I have any kind of poet's voice left.
CONNECTIONS TO MY INTEGRATED UNIT:
I get new ideas on how to use the writer's notebook in my integrated unit with every new chapter we read. Unfortunately, I think that I need to narrow my focus a bit. I could see myself using poetry as a way for some of my more creative students to create a response to their books, but with them already writing a journal in the voice of a Civil War soldier, I don't want to pile too much on them or confuse them. Maybe some students would like to use a poem as part of their journal.
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