Saturday, January 24, 2009
Writer's Notebook ch. 3&4 group c 4pm
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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Writer’s Notebook Ch 3: Planting Seeds
ReplyDeleteThis chapter was SO helpful in terms of sparking both the teacher and student mind. It truly proves how the writer’s notebook is a place where students can express themselves with such freedom that they are truly compelled to write openly and honestly. What this chapter taught me is that you really can record about just about anything that comes to mind in your writer’s notebook and that can eventually become something perfectly acceptable to further expand upon and work into a masterpiece!
Although the “seed” seems like it could leave no writer without ideas, there is always the issue of motivation and interest in the writing process. Not wanting to write and not caring much about learning, self-discovering, or the past, is something that students in my classroom may propose. What I plan on bringing back to the classroom is the fact that the smallest of ideas, sketches, an opinion, an object, or whatever it may be is important to you as a writer. If it is meaningful to you, then you can make it matter to others. This chapter provided many diverse topics and I believe it will help change the dreaded words middle/high school students so fear; theme, quote, metaphors, similes, narrative, persuasive, etc. If teachers truly leave this door open and not classify everything students write into a literary term, I believe that students, such as mine, will be more open to the idea of writing, and in turn, more honest with themselves as writers.
I plan to use one of the activities mentioned in this chapter as a part of my Integrated Literary Unit. Using the ideas of memorabilia and artifacts that Chapter 3 describes, I think when learning about the idea of the fifteenth and sixteenth birthday parties in the American and Latin American cultures, it would really create insight for students if they were able to use a hands-on as a “jumping off point”, or a “seed”. For example, I might suggest that students bring in a picture of one of their birthday parties or bring in one object, or a representation of an object, that they wish to include as a part of the “sweet sixteen” experience in the future. By having that manipulative, students would be able to have a tangible sense of this exciting notion of a quinceañera.
As I think about my own writer’s notebook I know that I am one of those "students" that needs a seed. Writing on my own, especially in a creative style, is not something I feel instinctively and therefore need some kind of guidance or starting point for which to write. I tend to use my wonderings as the basis for my writer's notebook. In my writer's notebook I find myself asking questions like "How does that work?" "How do they make that?" Sometimes it feels silly to be pondering on things like how boats float or how planes fly when these have been proven theories of physics. Nevertheless, I could see myself taking a totally different approach that what we already know. Writing creatively can be quite intimidating, if I do say so myself and yet when I explore the idea of the "seed" the possibilities are endless.
Writer’s Notebook Ch 4: Observing Our World
ReplyDeleteThe power of observation is once again proven in this chapter relating the five major senses to the writer's notebook. The idea of touch, sound, smell, sight, and taste is something that we, as new millennium teachers, need to acknowledge on a daily basis. Using the five senses as a transition to the writer's notebook is something that could easily be implemented into differentiated instruction with all of types of learners. As a visual learner, I often sympathize with students that learn visually but are challenged by the idea of writing. Allowing students to experience the world as they interpret it is a great way for teachers to be able to motivate and inspire students to write freely.
This idea of "observation" could potentially be a very effective summative assessment for my unit on "La Quinceañera". Students could be given the option of describing what the quinceañera means to Latin Americans versus what the Sweet Sixteen means to Americans with clothing; dress, a song, a food, a drawing; painting; film; photobook, writing. These choices would allow students to take their observations of the quinceañera and display in a creative and original format.
Personally, I know that people-watching is engaging and almost the best form of learning. Although it may seem rude, I truly enjoy taking an outside perspective and creating some sort of "story" from the bits and pieces of a story I may gather whether it may be at the mall, in the street, at a park, or even sitting in traffic. In my writer's notebook I have jotted down a note about what someone was wearing and pondering on that notion of site. More frequently, I write down a story that I may have devised from a conversation I may have witnessed inconspicuously. Also, as a Spanish teacher, it is REALLY interesting to pull various words and chunks of conversation from someone that may not realize that I can understand their language! Just the other day I heard a couple arguing about the mother and (to the other) the mother-in-law. They were shopping for a card in CVS and did not agree on the two cards they each had picked out. I enjoyed the man's comments as he said he "did not have the feelings the card expressed." Haha!
The major question that came to mind when digesting Chapter 4's idea of observing the world involved time. It seems that we are always given more to do from year to year and yet not another minute to do so. As a middle/high school teacher I do not possess the continual period of time in which students have the opportunity to brainstorm, outline, write, revise, edit, etc. I don't feel that assigning writing bit by bit is conducive to students' organization skills or fluency of writing. Is there a good way of incorporating the writer's notebook and writing in general while trying to teach a second language in 48 minutes per day?
Response to Chapters 3 and 4 in Using the Writer’s Notebook
ReplyDeleteThere are several points in these chapters that I find interesting. First, I agree that we need to plant seeds in our students. There are always a few students who say they have nothing to write about. How do we motivate the students that say they do nothing and they never go anywhere? They often don’t realize that they have interesting things to write about until they hear others telling stories or teachers asking them to write about a particular topic. For example, the activity suggested on page 16 of the text, using a web and writing the word fear, sparks ideas for writing. Children need assistance in generating ideas and chapter 3 provides many ways of doing so. One activity I have used is the quick write and I write along with the students. Then we share our writing. I have found that as time goes by, the students look forward to these quickwrites and the amount of writing increases because they feel more comfortable with the activity. I know that I would like to use other activities mentioned in this chapter: create webs, things you love or hate and wonderings. The activities give me ideas for my own writer’s notebook and I now have some more topics that I will add to my book.
Life is different now than when I grew up. I spent much time outdoors as a child; playing with my friends down the street, in the schoolyard or at the beach. I don’t ever think my parents felt it was unsafe for me to be walking around alone in my neighborhood. Some students stay home alone because their parents work and feel it is safer for them to be inside. There are some students who appreciate the outdoors and spend time riding their bikes or playing in the woods. However, many students go home and play video games or watch television. How do we encourage students to pay attention to small things and becomes aware of their surroundings? It is so important to get them to observe the world around them and pay attention to sounds, feelings and the small things that often go unnoticed. In the section Going Outdoors in Chapter 4, I was reminded of a book I bought for my own children by Jim Arnosky called Secrets of a Wildlife Watcher. This book still resides in our kitchen so that my husband and I can go outside after it snows and see which animals have walked through our yard. It shows the footprints of many animals that live in the northeast. Now I have another topic I can add to my writer’s notebook; the animals I have observed and the footprints I have seen. I will also be able to incorporate these ideas into writing activities for my students. I can take them through our school building listening and writing comments about what they hear, see, smell and feel. We can also go outside and observe and experience the different sensory images. I realized that I used to do an activity like this when I worked with fifth graders. Since our building no longer contains the fifth grade, I forgot about that particular lesson, but now I think I will resurrect it because it is a great way to get the students to listen and observe.
In response to Stefanie’s comments, I agree that planting seeds is important when motivating students to write. Students often complain about the writing task unless it is about a topic they like. It is also difficult to let yourself go and put thoughts on paper. It is scary! To think that someone might read it and not like it or think it is stupid. However, if writing is kept personal and sacred in a writer’s notebook, no one can criticize it. Therefore, in time, even the most skeptical of students might begin to write.
ReplyDeleteStefanie’s ideas to incorporate a comparison of a Spanish custom with an American one is a great idea. Bringing in an artifact to help them describe an event that they might have in the future will help her students visualize the experience. A photograph or object could be the spark a student needs to help describe the event.
In response to Stefanie’s question about time, I think that managing time is the hardest job teachers have. There are only so many minutes in the period and so much information in the curriculum. Sometimes having a set time to write every week could be a good idea. I scheduled a couple of writing times during the week when I taught language arts. I tried to allow at least twenty minutes so the students could accomplish some writing. Since I did it the same days every week, the children were used to the schedule and actually were ready to write. I know it is difficult, especially since you teach a second language and need to make sure the students are becoming proficient at learning Spanish. Perhaps the students could have a writer’s notebook that incorporates both English and Spanish.
In response to Phyllis' great question, how do we encourage our students, or children for that matter, to pay attention to detail or to wonder about their surroundings? I feel that my experience as a babysitter as a teenage taught me a few skills about observation. I always remember watching the neighbors' children for hours upon hours and thinking to myself, how do these parents make these kids so smart? I mean, certain kids, just like our students, want to know about everything they can possibly get their hands on, but also there are those kids that would sit in front of the television and watch movies all day long. As a babysitter, and now a teacher, obviously, I have come to learn the power of the question? I would ask those kids, "what is this?", or "how do you think that works?" or even "what do you see?" questions like these can be posing for all ages, even small kids that aren't even verbal quite yet. Inquiry is so important to life and especially important inside the classroom.
ReplyDelete