I have finally narrowed my thoughts for my memoir writing. After much thought and discussion with my parents about my life growing up, I have finally made a decision. I am going to focus my project on an incident which occured in the summer of 99….I was 16. It took hours to find the one picture of the incident. However, once I got started writing, it just flowed. The different genres that can be represented are endless. Coming up with 4 different genres was very simple. I honestly think I could just as easily write many more than 4. Who knows where this project will take me?
Memoir and Multi-Genre March 31, 2010
I enjoyed the article by Allen and Swistak. It is definately true that students must take ownership over what they are learning. It is so important that students have a say so in what they are learning. It is also important that as teachers, we ask appropriate questions to guide their thinking as they choose a topic. I can see the multi-genre project occuring along with the I poem unit or even as a response to the I poem unit. I sometimes underestimate my students abilities. They do surprise me. I can see a multi genre project going over with a bang in my classroom. I have almost completed the poetry unit with my students and have been overwhelmed with the level of work they have produced. More importantly, the amount of knowledge they are retaining is incredible.
Memoir March 15, 2010
Arnburg’s article was interesting. I enjoyed how it told of her journey with her students. It also helped me to better understand the difference between a memoir and an autobiography. I guess I always thought the two terms meant virtually the same thing. However, I now understand that a memoir is just a “snippet of a memory.” I also enjoyed learning more about Arnburt’s mini-lessons. This is an area which I know I need to improve on. I hold writing mini-lessons but not as often as I should. I could use them much more effectively in my classroom then what I am doing now. I can also see how mini-lessons would be a good way of introducing memoirs and then moving into a more in depth study of writing personal memoirs. This in conjunction with journaling would be a great way to get students personally connected with their writing. I can definately see the benefits if these two things were started from the beginning of the school year.
Poetry Unit Ideas March 9, 2010
For the past week and a half my students have been learning about weather. As the students have worked they have become very interested in tornadoes and hurricanes. I am thinking this will lead me in a great direction for my poetry unit. So far I have checked out all the books our library has on this topic and I am starting to think about how to start my unit. My next step is to search out appropriate websites that my students can visit to learn more about these topics. I have discussed the idea of a poetry unit with my students and they seem excited. One of the first questions one of my students asked was, “Does it have to rhyme?” He was overjoyed that it didn’t have to rhyme. Hopefully in the next few days and over the weekend, I can get my unit planned and started sometime next week.
I actually like this kind of dirty laundry… February 24, 2010
The readings this week were each unique and very different from one another. Out of all of them, Dirty Laundry Pile was my favorite. The poems were so kid friendly. My students would get a kick out of reading and listening to them. I think just in reading them the title, they would be immediately hooked. I also enjoyed the illustrations. I plan to share some of the poems with my students in the days ahead. I also see myself using the Atlantic book as we study geography in the weeks ahead. I enjoyed that the poem was woven throughout each page of the book. It was a different change from the other books we have read which are full of many poems. This book will be useful as I work with my students to produce I poetry. I Am The Mummy also had some interesting poetry. However, I feel this book is more appropriate for older students. It would be a useful tool when used to integrate with history and maybe some novel studies. I can not see myself sharing this book with my second graders but it would be useful to teachers in the upper grades.
Journal Invitation-Final Draft February 17, 2010
Inside of journals
Here is my journal invitation posted on my meeting board.
I began my surprise party by sharing my journal with the students. I even shared some of my entries with them, showing them how I marked many things out and even spelled some things incorrectly. I then read some of my entries to them. They especially loved the one about my childhood involving Mrs. Morrison who teaches across the hall. A few of my students kept whispering asking if they could keep a journal like mine. I ignored them at first and let the anticipation build. Then, I asked them to share their questions and then told them we would begin keeping journals. They were super excited. I then presented them with a jounal. Their first journal assignment was to decorate their journal. They spent the next half hour or more decorating their journal. Each journal had a guideline page glued to the inside cover and a person letter to them from me. Each child’s letter was unique and written especially for them. The next day the kids came in begging to write in their journals. This is where our first writing assignment began. As a class, we brainstormed the different things we could write about. Then we narrowed the list down to our top 3 choices which were: write about a time you played in the snow, write about your favorite things, and write about your family. My students then chose which topic they wanted to write about and the adventure began. I have never seen them so interested and excited about writing. Wow! My kids are so pumped up about their journals. They beg to write in them which makes me feel wonderful!
Silver Seeds, African Acrostics, and More February 17, 2010
First off, the writers notebook is wonderful. As I have said in previous weeks, it is such an easy read and I take away so much from the book each time I read it. Teaching writing is my favorite time of the day and that book gives me so many more ideas to try. I do teach my students about poetry. My students have experienced writing acrostics on several occasions. Some do really well with it while others struggle (like with anything). I enjoyed the book African Acrostics and can’t wait to share the poems with them. It will be wonderful to share the examples with them. The beautiful photography just enhances each poem. Many of my kids struggle with acrostics because they think they can only write one word. Although, I have modeled a great deal, some still struggle and often don’t or can’t write phrases, thoughts, or sentences. This book will give them examples of how to do that. Silver Seeds also will be a helpful tool when teaching my students about acrostics. The poems are more simple than the ones in African Acrostics and are based on words that are more simple. I will use the acrostics in Silver Seeds first and also share some of the entries in African Acrostics which are a little more complex. These books will serve as a useful tool as I continue to teach my students about poetry.
Class 4-Virtual Class Meeting February 10, 2010
Got Poetry PowerPoint
I enjoyed the poetry powerpoint. I enjoyed each person’s perspective on poetry. I enjoyed how Alice Schertle compared poetry to photography. Poets do write about things from many different perspectives. They often make their readers think about or picture things in a new light. I also like how Kristine O’Connell George says a poem is good if it stays with her. I agree. Whether it is a song, quote, or poem. I can tell I like it if I find myself repeating it over and over to myself. When I find a song I love, I often can’t get it out of my head or find myself having trouble sleeping because I want to keep singing the song. So, I agree with her statement. My children have experienced writing poetry. The following poem is the first poem written this year by one of my students. I am going to type it exactally as it was written by him.
School is cool.
It makes me want to drool.
You work like a mule.
So you’ll do good in school.
Donte ack like a fool.
So you will be cool.
School is so awesome.
It makes me ack like a posome.
Wooldrige stated that it is impossible to teach children to write poetry. We must create those circumstances to where students are likely to write poems. How do we do this? What can we do to promote poetry writing in our classrooms? What additional strategies can we use other than the ones shared in the PowerPoint? How do we get both girls and boys interested in writing and poetry? In Love That Dog, Jack wasn’t happy that his teacher made him start writing. He even remarked that boys don’t write poetry so what can we do to get all of our students interested in poetry writing as well as other types of writing?
My Paper Clip Poem
Wound like a worm,
it lies as flat as a pancake
Silver and dull
It is a very useful tool
Opened it holds papers
When this worm opens up flat
it can become a weapon
It then has a sharp point ready to
stick you
Class 4 Wrap Up
While looking at the different websites for this weeks class session, I really enjoyed the poem format about if I could change the world. This would be very interesting to see how children would complete the poem. My first instinct was that it would be too difficult for my second graders. However, if it was discussed or even modeled I believe some of my students would do a great job with the poem. Some of my students would probably surprise me at what they wrote. I think this type of poem is a must for upper grade teachers. I also enjoyed the writer’s pep talk on Joyce Sidman’s page. This would be great not only for kids but adults as well. I could see this as being useful with adults who are returning to school. It would give them faith and hopefully cause them to see that they can do the work being asked. Hopefully, it would make them believe in themselves. There were many useful hints in these websites, but those two websites were my favorites. They would be great to share with my fellow teachers.
Journal Invitation-Rough Draft February 10, 2010
Attached is my journal invitation. I plan to print the invitation in color and on paper with a polka dotted border. My room is decorated all in polka dots so I decided to build on the polka dot theme for my invitation. My plan is to do a surprise party to introduce the idea of journaling. I didn’t want to overwhelm my second graders with a wordy invitation so I made it very simple. Instead of giving each student an individual invitation, I am going to post the invitation on our meeting wall and see what happens. Hopefully, the students will begin asking questions and talking amongst themselves as they question what the surprise party could be about. I have a huge supply of spiral notebooks to use for their journals. I would rather use the marble type notebook, but I don’t have any of those on hand and hate to ask parents to purchase anything. My kids are very responsible so I think they will do well with the notebooks. My plan is to begin each student’s journal with a letter from me inviting them to join in the fun.
