Friday, August 28, 2009
Group A Ch. 9 & 10 Blog
View AND Read the first sample chapters (available on line) (Chapters 9 & 10) 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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As I read chapter 9 about gathering language, I couldn't help feeling frustrated because I kept thinking about the lack of language our students come to school with. She mentioned her grandson and how his verbal vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds as he soaks up langauge around him. Unfortunately, many of our students do not have rich langauge spoken or read to them.
ReplyDeleteOn a positive note though, I felt this chapter could help with this deficit we are faced with. I like her ideas on recording language when she mentioned having a space at the back of a notebook for a place to record words and phrases they love and want to rememeber.
For primary students, I felt this could be done whole group and maybe even become a bulletin board to add to throughout the entire year that students could use as a reference with writer's workshop.
As I read chapter 9 it reminded of the CCWP poetry workshop Dr. Valerie asked us to attend at CCSU. She mentioned that many students think poetry always has to rhyme. This is probably because that is the kind of poetry they are introduced to in the primary grades (I know I did a lot of that teaching K and 1).
ReplyDeleteWhat I liked most was how many of the ideas she spoke about had students using poetry to express themselves (i.e, 100% poems, heart maps).
Instead of writing traditional "all about me" kinds of pieces, the students use creativity to describe themselves.
There were some other ideas I felt were more appropriate for older students that I liked as well. In the section titled Respondng to Meaning, the comparison idea was unique. It gives students the opportunity to compare structures, moods and content of two different poems?
Jane and Courtney- Since you teach the primary grades as I did, do you feel the ideas were more appropriate for older students, or do you think you could try them with younger students? Could some be modified?
I enjoyed reading the chapters and I really think that teachers should know the importance of understanding how to present the language to the students. We need to find a way how to make them appreciate it. Opportunities that we choose as teachers, makes us succeed in our classroom. Reading out loud is a great idea to use for every grade in elementary level. I use this idea with my students every day. We all go to the library as a class and chose a book that we all like and agreed. At the end of the day before dismissal, we read out loud for 30 minutes until we finish the book and so on, we choose another one. The students seem to enjoy it very much. I do the same thing every night with my 5 years old son. We read 2 stories from the books those he chooses from “the library” in his room. I think this idea helps students to build verbal vocabulary and reinforce the writing skills for the future writers. Reading a beautiful language to students it helps to memorize the words they like from the text and also develop the ear language so they can be able to write a language that sticks with them. I tried in the classroom with my students to think about one special word they chose from reading the books at the end of the day and they did record it on their note book. They also have to explain in their note book what they think about the word, did they like the sound of it, or like to say it. They are able to do this throughout the day during the free times they can record as many words as they like. At the end of the week they can share the list of their favorite words. This is an excellent and useful idea to build a rich vocabulary for their writings.
ReplyDeleteIs it possible to like reading, but not writing? I love to read especially, a good novel. My favorite books to read are autobiographies. Unfortunately though, I do not enjoy writing. Finding the right words to put down on paper is difficult for me. Again, I will follow the suggestions to jot down words or short phrases that sound fun and interesting to me in my personal journal.
ReplyDeleteI personally like poetry. Sometime I find myself out of the blue, reciting my favorite poems. I think that introducing students to poetry is great way to get them to write. I think students will have less fear about writing poems because poems don’t necessarily call for complete sentences. Nonetheless, how do you get students from writing poems to writing essays?
ReplyDeleteWOW!! There were so many great ideas in these two chapters! I loved how they mentioned that reading aloud to children can really increase thier language knowledge. I am always doing read alouds of all different types in kindergarten and I always encourage parents to read and talk to thier children at home. It helps so much with their language and expressive vocabulary! I also liked the idea of keeping great words somewhere in the classroom or notebook. I am thinking of making a section of my board dedicated to keeping great words that the kids have heard or like. Many children do come in lacking so much language so maybe it will help with that. I also think that the kids will be excited about it. In chapter 10 which was dedicated to poetry I gained many great ideas and some I can actually try in kindergarten too!! I really like the wordstorming idea that you can make into a group poem. I think that the kids will enjoy it because they will own it and it will their own. I have a hard time with poetry in the younger grades because I feel so limited due to thier writing abilities, but if we did it as a group I think that they would really like it and I would get good results. I cannot wait to try it!
ReplyDeleteTo answer Carrie's question...I think that it can be done, but it would have to be done whole group to get any desireable results. I would maybe make a list and respond to each piece after looking at it, then it maybe easier for the kids to compare by just looking at the two lists. I would also model a few examples before I had the children respond. I think that you would get the best results from older students though.
ReplyDeleteI liked the idea of a chart of "Wonderful Words" that the teacher described as having in her classroom for the students to write or list the language they loved. Carrie stated that many of our students come to school with a real deficit of language ability.
ReplyDeleteI was truly inspired by this chapter 9 when I read it. In my position as a Special Education Resource Teacher for the kindergarten children I read aloud a new book that I have found in Barnes and Noble, Borders or my local library. Many times the children do more in their writer's notebook right after the reading.
Chapter Ten had the elements of the Poetry Conference at Central that we attended in October. The 100% Poem reminded me of the found poem exercise we did during one of the workshops of poetry.
ReplyDeletePoetry is a fun way to expose children to the power of words and language. I liked the idea of Georgia Heard's heart maps. In order to get to what children were really thinking about inside they were asked to draw a heart with words that are important to them.
This is something that I intend to use with the young children.