Friday, August 28, 2009
Group B Ch. 3 & 4 Blog
View AND Read the first sample chapters (available on line) (Chapters 3 & 4) 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( Keep your own notebook and share your response to it AND try out an idea in your class)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 ). 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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With my students:
ReplyDeleteThis book has been helpful in reflecting on my use of the writer's notebook. The seed idea is something I talk a lot about at the beginning of the year but inevitably gets lost in the shuffle as the year goes on. I see the value in continuing this mindset throughout the year. I believe it will allow my students to value the notebook and writing throughout the year. I already began discussing how to be a little more creative in their notebooks than I typically teach. For example I told them everything doesn't have to be in the one brainstorming format I taught - they could just list words or things. They were immediately intrigued and began some excellent writing. For other students that were having trouble thinking of something to write I asked them to observe what was happening outside our window. It is only a blank courtyard but even my most reluctant writer filled up a whole page in no time!
How do you both think this notebook idea will progress as we begin other studies such as expository writing?
ReplyDeleteHow do you expand the students writing vocabulary? I find they use the same words again and again to describe.
Response to Molly:
ReplyDeleteI had the same question as far as how what the students choose to include in their notebooks then translates into different genres of writing. As you know, the way East Hartford sets up their writing curriculum is by genre and the prompts are geared towards a particular genre. Of course, it is important that all students write and are exposed to a variety of genres for a variety of purposes. I guess this doesn't really answer your question as I am telling you what you already know. I guess expository writing could come from the observations either indoors or outdoors. Maybe they can further research what they observe to create a nonfiction piece. SOme of the ideas they brainstorm might lend themselves to "all about" books which would also be nonfiction writing.
Student writing and speaking vocabulary is a challenge at times. Whenever we read a book, I always try to pick a few vocabulary words that can be applied to several writing contexts. We discuss them and then I put them on my word wall. I encourage the students to use them in their speaking and writing and I have noticed some of them doing so. I was thinking of incorporating this type of word discovery in a literacy station. If you also see that students are reusing particular words, you may want to have a mini lesson teaching them how to use a thesaurus or brainstorming a list. For example, "Instead of writing "happy" use...." Lucy Calkins has a good mini lesson about "showing, not telling" that may help to develop vocabulary.
A question I had for you lovely ladies:
ReplyDeleteDo you have any other suggestions for generating seed ideas that you currently use with your students?
How can we teach students to take their ideas and create meaningful writing from them? I feel like this needs to be modeled explicitly, however, I need suggestions from you to make this work.
My teaching and work with students:
In my classroom, I closely follow the work of Lucy Calkins, however, I still modify her lessons to my style to teach writing. I like this book because it provides me with even more ideas to generate ideas to spark a meaningful topic for students. Instead of just creating lists, I decided to try using a web with spokes as suggested in the book. The ideas and writing that developed from this type of brainstorming were amazing! I think the web appeals to many visual learners. They also could see the quantity of their ideas by looking at the spokes.
My work as a writer:
Keeping this type of writers' notebook has rejuvenated my love of writing. I find that I am being more observant and recording more everyday things that occur to me. By writing them down, I relive them, ponder them, and validate them...it slows down my life which is what I really need.
In my integrated unit:
I think that the skill of observation will be vital in my science unit. The students can use what they have learned through their writer's notebooks and transfer it to the scientific process and procedural writing.
Kathleen:
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on the web idea. Just presenting a similar activity with a different set up enabled some of my learners to be more successful. With the pace of our curriculum it is easy to forget to embrace the creativity. As I continued to think about the seed ideas I realized the questions and wondering ideas could easily lead to come scientific or social studies type inquiry project. Unfortunately we cannot do whatever inquiry we want, but maybe we can 'lead' them to pull the ideas that we want them to study from their notebooks.
Kathleen:
ReplyDeleteAs to your meaningful writing I believe most do pull meaning stories to write about. I feel the students lack the vocabulary and story structure to pull off a exciting story. The students took the writing prompts today and there is a lot of room to improve. I think I may lead them through some revisions of their writing by having them visualize, discuss with a friend, and then I think I will meet with them to discuss some new and interesting words they would want to include in their story.
I have also really enjoyed writing in my writer's notebook and have used it at times to reflect on my day. As I begin teaching my integrated unit I think I will pull out some of those reflections to show my students why I will be teaching that unit differently. I have not been overly excited about how my math block is going and I think this unit will be a boost for my class.
ReplyDeleteHi Ladies!
ReplyDeleteYour enthusiasm for the Writer's Notebook and your ideas on how to implement this tool in the classroom have really boosted my confidence about using them. I have found that my students are really enjoying the use of their notebooks-they beg to take them home and frequently choose to jot ideas in them during the day. I am also beginning to use mine more, and I really started to realize that I do a lot of writing, I just never put it in one notebook before. I journal about runs that I go on, I write on sticky notes in the car when I want to download a song I hear on the radio, I post sticky notes in my room of things people have said that I don't want to forget...all of these are starting to find their way into my Writer's Notebook.
This text has also helped to improve my implementation. I especially liked the ideas in Chapter 3 for gathering "seeds". It seemed to synthesize a lot of the ideas I have read about before in different sources (Fletcher, Calkins, Lamott)but this was more straightforward and teacher friendly. THese truly are "mini-lessons" that are easy to teach and model, motivating to students, and, as Kathleen said, help students to see the quantity of their writing (and that quantity doesn't always mean a story that goes on for pages and pages!)
Kathleen,
ReplyDeleteI also tried the web, but the one where students brainstorm ideas about someone special to them. Most chose one of their friends, and not only was this a community building activity, but the students were trying to come up with creative words to describe their friends. For vocabulary and elaboration, you might try challenging students to come up with the most juicy words they can think of to really capture their subject's essence. I have found that keeping a "WOrd Jail" (brown bulletin board paper with black bars glued on) and having students physically put overused "bad" words in jail, has also helped improve vocabulary in the past.
So I'm really glad you both brought up the issue of jiving "prompt" writing (especially expository) with writer's notebooks, because I thought I was the only one who struggled with this! The best way that I have been able to ameliorate the two is to make a clear distinction to students about the various purposes of writing. We kind of had a group therapy session (since so many are stressed about writing to a timed prompt) about the purpose of writing to a prompt versus the purpose of generating and writing about ideas from a WRiter's Notebook. We focused on audience as well, and students really seemed to understand that the audience, purpose, and strategies for writing to a prompt often differ from the goals we want to accomplish with topics in our Notebooks.
ReplyDeleteTHerefore, I still prefer to keep prompt writing and notebook writing separate, although I do believe that if students use their notebooks regularly and well, there will be some transfer of skills. Still, I find that direct instruction in how to respond to a prompt has helped alleviate stress. So, some of my writing blocks are geared toward students responding to a given topic (we go through planning, drafting, and editing, much like a prompt, sometimes under a time constraint), while other writing blocks are devoted to mini-lessons for ways to generate notebook seeds and a variety of personal entries. I don't know if I should be keeping the two separate, but it seems to be working for my class...their motivation to write is high, and I am happy with the quantity and quality of writing so far.
I do have a question that maybe you ladies can help me with...do you have any students who spend too much time sketching in their notebook rather than writing? I think that the mini-lessons on generating seed ideas have helped to alleviate this in my classroom, but I still have a few students who seem to be avoiding meaningful notebook writing by sketching. Maybe if I taught a mini-lesson on the purposes of sketching as delineated in Chapter 4 (for observing more closely) I might see a difference. Any other thoughts?
ReplyDeleteAnnie:
ReplyDeleteI really like your comment about an important person being their friend in class. As I have said in previous posts I am really trying hard to build a community of learners and friends. Normally with a favorite person I model with a family member, perhaps I should model with a friend. THis would perhaps encourage them to do the same. Thank you Annie for another way to incorporate my teamwork mantra into the school day in a meaningful way!
Annie:
ReplyDeleteLucy Calkins does suggest teaching prompt writing as an individual writing skill so I do think you are on the right track. Normally I don't have my students sketch a lot in their notebooks. However, this year I have emphasized it more because of the developmental level of my kids they do need to sketch more. I think it really depends on your class and their needs. Perhaps a mini-lesson would help with those that should be beyond the elaborate sketching stage and more into the writing.
Annie-
ReplyDeleteIn regards to your question about sketching, I don't usually allow my students time to sketch because I found that a lot of students take advantage of that (even though I do realize its importance). You could set a timer for the artists to finish their sketches and begin writing. I think the main purpose of sketching is to plan what you are going to write about so you could model other ways to do this like writing a time line, storytelling, and drama!
I agree with Molly about prompt writing being taught separately. It is important that we convey the "common threads" to writing that exist across genres! This always helps alleviate the stress about prompt writing. I find that we need to help students with time management. I find some students can't think of what to write fast enough or they begin without planning and have a scattered story. These are all mini lessons where we can show examples of "typical" writing that illustrates these problems.
ReplyDeleteDoesn't sketching represent student thinking? Do you think it is a way to avoid writing? When I write I move back and forth from sketching and writing. I often draw a model of how my ideas connect or - perhaps I will draw something inspiring and then write from that. Maybe there is a mismatch between curriculum and use of time to encourage student exploration through sketching and drawing. Do you sketch in your notebooks?
ReplyDeleteDr. Kurkjian,
ReplyDeleteI agree that sketching does represent student thinking. I don't choose to sketch in my writer's notebook because I would rather write, but maybe I shoudl try it! Thanks for the interesting idea!
Dr. Kurkjian,
ReplyDeleteI find that the students who want to avoid writing tend to sketch more. I struggle with time for writing in my classroom anyway and I hate to see them drawing during what I feel is a short amount of time that I am able to devote to journal writing. But your comment did remind me that some students probably need this strategy to explore their writing ideas and I should find a middle ground in allowing sketching.