Journals in class today

I started journals with my class today.  I have given each child their own three ring binder.  The journals are kept on a shelf in the classroom.  With much excitement each student was presented with their own journal.  Each child excitedly opened up their journal and flipped through the pages.  I could not believe how excited they were.  ALL of them.  I told them that this was their special place to write.  I told them that I was not going to look in their journal.  They were amazed that I was not going to look.  They asked me, not even a peak.  I said no, not even a peak.  They are yours.  You will pick one thing a month to share with me.  But you get to pick what you want to publish and share with me.  They excitedly got started writing about their name which was an adventure.  Every pencil flew across the pages and I did not have a single student moan, I don’t know what to write.  Instead I heard whispers of Mrs. Baker thank you so much for my journal.  I love my journal.  Thank you!  I love to write in my journal.   wow it is amazing how a 1 inch three ring binder coupled with a carefully scaffolded writing lesson could mean to 13 third graders.

Writing Without Boundaries

After reading these first 3 chapters, I have been challenged to re-think the way that I teach genre in my own classroom.  I teach genre to my students in reading.  In writing, I do not refer to the different types as genres of writing.  I have always wondered why my students seem to have a problem with genre in reading.  I think to myself, we talk about genre every time we open a book, why are they struggling with this?  I never stopped to think that maybe I hadn’t scaffold-ed that aspect of reading.  I loved the idea that when we study a genre, we really delve down deep into that genre.  For example, when we are studying a Nate the Great story in reading, I should really immerse my students in mysteries.  They need to see them, read them, bring in examples of their own, and write them to fully understand them.  Students need to talk at length about the elements that separate mysteries from other genres.

I do something similar with fairy tales.  The class brainstorms elements of fairy tales.  As a class we read several fairy tales. (both familiar favorites and new tales they never knew existed)  After reading each tale we add elements that we forgot or ones that we have noticed by comparing the tales.  I see now where I should have gone a little further with my students.  My students are very familiar with the elements that make up a fairy tale.  I know they would know them better if I had asked them to share their favorite fairy tale from home and then asked them and guided them through writing their own fairy tale story.

I am really excited about writing my own multi-genre paper and even more excited about using it in my own classroom.  I am still a little apprehensive about the project because at this point it seems to be a very challenging task for third graders.  But I am sure with the appropriate scaffolding and lots of patience it will be an awesome learning experience for us all.

Multi-Genre Paper

I really like the idea of using different genres to tell a story.  The article talked about how much more interesting and engaging this format is for the student who is producing it, but imagine how much more interesting this type of report would be to read.  To me it seems that a multi-genre paper would be far more entertaining than a regular plain Jane research paper.

We talked in class about how important it is for students to take information in and synthesize it.  We discussed that students really know the information if they can take what they have researched and use it in some creative way.  The student has not just memorized in the short term for the test a random fact that is meaningless to them.  The student has taken information and applied it to a different situation that causes the student to really know the fact.

I also like the creative aspect of this project.  I like that it is sort of backwards from how it is normally done.  The article stated that this type of paper takes the research and plants it so to speak in a format that displays how the information could have been gathered by a researcher.  This puts the reader of the paper in the unique seat of discovery.  The reader must delve deep down into the gathered reconstituted research to put the story together for themselves.  Genius.  I believe that since the reader has to use these different peices to peice together the story, the reader will also learn more from reading this type of paper as opposed to traditional research papers.

I like the students in the article can not wait to tell my mother about this type of paper.  My mother teaches computer skills to freshmen.  She works with a team of teachers that are encouraged to work together to teach these students that they share.  I believe that I need to tell my mother about this paper and have her talk to her teammate and my classmate, Nicole about a possible collaboration for a multi-genre paper in their classes.  I am excited about that. I am even more excited about doing this with my 3rd graders.  My head is full of ideas about how I can do this with my students.  I know that I will not be able to set my students free on something like this.  They will need lots of modeling and I think at first it would be best for them to work in small groups on one genre at a time.  I will still have to think about how I want to do this more and formulate some specific plans.

Poetry Immersion

I really enjoyed sitting down in the quiet of my bedroom to totally immerse myself in poetry.  As I read through the concrete poems my head was flooded by thoughts of how I could make my concrete poem better.  I also thought, there is no reason why my students could not benefit from doing the same type of poems.  As I looked at these poems. I did not think about how complicated they were, I thought about how simple  yet thought provoking they were.

I also enjoyed reading the acrostic poems.  I loved the way that the book Silver Seeds began with dawn and ended with the stars at night.  It makes perfect sense.  I can remember doing acrostic poems in elementary school and thinking that there was not much to them.  But as I read through that book, I realized that there is so much more to the poem that I first thought.  I guess acrostics aren’t that difficult if you are using one word to describe each letter.  But to use sentences and phrases is much more difficult but meaningful.

I loved the I poems.  There was so much information in Sierra and Atlantic. My first read of the story was just to experience the rhythm and the expressive language.   I had to read them several times to get the information out of them.  I could not believe how much information was contained in these two poems.  I have been talking with my students this week about author’s purpose.  We talked about how authors can have more than one purpose for writing a selection.  I can show them that Sierra’s purpose is to give information but also to entertain with an outstanding poem.  I can also share that Atlantic is to give information, entertain with a great poem, but also persuade the reader to care for the ocean.  I loved I am the Mummy.  What beautiful language.  It is full of information, yet tells a wonderful story.  I loved how the first lines were repeated.  It really gave great emphasis on the statement, “I am the mummy Heb-Nefert.”

After reading the I poems, my definition of an I poem would be a poem that is written from the point of veiw of some type of object.  This poem shares this object’s point of view and perspective.  This type of poem also shares information about that object.

Journal Invitation

my-journal-invitation1.docI am submitting my journal invitation for all to see.  Please let me know what you think about it.  I am open to any suggestions.  I was a little worried how my students would react to the journal itself.  I knew that the boys would love the journal, it was my ladies that I was worried about.  But I noticed as I had the prototype journal laying on my desk, all of my students were inquisitive about the folder, especially my ladies.  Whey they asked, “Mrs. Baker, what is that folder for?”  I replied, well, it’s not for you.  They all pouted.  I was bombarded with whines of why it looks so cool.  I want one.  So I guess for my little ones, this journal will work out well.  To access the file, just click on the small purple title, My journal invitation.  Thanks!

I Poems

I really enjoyed reading about I poems.  At first I did not know exactly what an I poem was.  I think that it is really neat that through teaching a poem, I can also teach character, plot, setting and narrative point of view.  So many times I complain and hear others complain that there is simply not enough time in the day to teach everything that I need to.  This is a great way to incorporate reading and writing in the same lesson and ultimately maximizing instruction.  I have seen the the template for an I poem before, but I have not ever really used it.  Wow, have I missed out on an opportunity.  (Is it really a missed opportunity when I did not know how to use that tool effectively?) 

I particularly like the fact that through constructing an I poem about a character, my students can better identify with that character.  My students have a hard time relating to characters in books. (Why then is it so hard to convince my 3rd graders that realistic fictional characters are not real?  You would think that we were reading about their neighbor or their cousin’s best friend’s mother-in-law twice removed.  They fight to the bitter end)  I can not wait to use the I poem in my reading and writing class.  I know that my students will grow and learn lots.

Reflections on Best Practices in Teaching Planning

Apologies up front… I have medicine head.  So if a comment or statement sounds funny…disregard or you have my permission this time to play around with the statement until it made sense to you or completely skip the comment all together. (My favorite option, I might even suggest we just forget the comment ever happened.   )

I found this article to be interesting and full of fun facts that I can see myself using with my students.  (The fact that it took Dr. Seuss spent over a year on The Cat in the Hat was shocking to me. Since most of my 3rd graders see that book as a simple easy read, they will be astonished to know it took Dr. Seuss over a year to write.  I can’t wait to share that with them.)

I know in one of my previous entries I mockingly referred to a pre-writing strategy that was taught to me in the primary grades.  I do see that planning is very important and a necessary skill to teach to students.  I have never really been a good planner when it comes to writing.  I do plan, just not on paper.  Then again I have not really worked on a project that I wasn’t going to finish immediately. 

This article helps me to focus on what is good about the planning stages of writing.  I liked that the article said, “Planning is not just the domain of the professional writers.” p.120 That is important for all learners to know. I have found myself trapped into thinking that just write to get it down before you forget it.  And sometimes that is OK, but not all of the time.  I know that when I was working on my National Board entries, I did a great deal of planning and pre-writing.  I think that was one of the most challenging pieces that I have ever written.

I also wanted to comment about Louis L’Amour’s quote.  “A writer’s brain is like a magician’s hat.  If you’re going to get anything out of it, you have to put something in it first.”  p.121.  I love that quote.  I was watching Romancing the Stone with Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner, and Danny DeVito yesterday as I was trying to recover from the flu.  My mother used to watch that movie every time it came on TV. I love at the end of the movie where Kathleen Turner’s character has just turned in her newest masterpiece and her book editor is finishing reading it with tears streaming down her face.  You are left for a moment thinking, OK was the whole Colombian rain-forest, treasure seeking story we just witnessed her story or was it her life?  OF course you are answered by the next scene depicting Jack’s dream sailboat parked outside her apartment.  As he throws down the rope ladder to her he declares that he has read her novel…. This long drawn out picture is to show that (I know it’s a movie but work with me) a writer takes something that they know or have experienced to make an outstanding story.  Great stories do not magically pop up out of nothingness.

Specific Connections to the text

In my classroom, I do not ask my students to do anything without building prior knowledge.  The same goes for writing.  For example, my literature circle class is reading Mr. Popper’s Penguins. (Wonderful book)  In the book Mr. Popper takes his performing penguins on the road.  I take a break from the story to allow my students to do some research on the cities that the Poppers visited.  We re-read the chapters about their “tour”  and then the students write their own version about what happened in each of these cities.  My favorite was about how the penguins would toboggan down the steps of the Empire State Building for the experience of a lifetime.  The students were able to add in lots of details from the research that they did but they were also able to include some text structure from the book which was impressive. (This activity takes place near the end of the book)

As for the inquiry method in my classroom.  You see that more in my science class than writing.  But, I do like the idea that was presented in this section though about drawing inferences about a person through looking at some personal effects.  This would have to be scaffolded very carefully for my third graders.  Inferencing is a skill that they have trouble with, but if I were going to teach this to my students I would bring in object that represent me and model how to inference about a person.  I would then let students bring in objects that represent themselves to write about.  As a class we would make inferences about the objects.  I would finish up by bringing in objects of my husbands, the Principal’s or another teacher’s for the students to make inferences with.

Strategy instruction:  I am guessing that since I just really can not let my students go without the comforts of my scaffolding in the last paragraph, I guess that example should in reality go here.  I believe that children should be showed how you want something done, and why it is important to do it that way as compared to another way, let them practice with the comfort of knowing that you are there to catch them if they fall and that mistakes are fine and an expected part of the lesson.  Then after all of that has been accomplished does the student go out on their own.  (kinda like riding a bike.  You see people ride, you want to, so you get on your bike with the training wheels.  Finally you get the courage up to try with out the training wheels and you go sailing down the gravel driveway.)

How might I attempt to improve my student’s planning behaviors?  I really liked the strategy that Ms. Danoff in the the report writing section used.  I think that it is important for my students to hear what I am thinking about as I am reading or writing or even doing a math problem.  I think that is an integral part of  scaffolding your students.  I think that to make my students better self-regulators in writing I need to show them the thoughts that go through my head as I plan a writing.  I know that I will have to plant some artificial thoughts about strategies that I do not use but may be beneficial for my students.  I use the think aloud strategy several times and mention the self-regulating strategies aloud in class.  Also by conferencing with my students.  I can ask them how do they keep themselves on track?  Have them think aloud for me.

My thoughts on the SRSD Model.  I think that the 8 principles are an essential part of any classroom.  Is it easy to implement….no.  I think that as an educator, you have to eat a slice of humble pie and really get down and share with your students.  Much of how we learn is by seeing others do it, experiencing it and then going solo.  Why would we not continue that logical progression in our own classroom? (time constraints, pacing guides, that evil 4 letter word beginning with a T (Test), plus teaching like this is exhausting.  You have to be on top of your game from 8-3, 5 days a week)  Teaching the way that our students need and deserve is not impossible, but hard work.  It is the job that doesn’t stop simply because the time clock stopped.  The state couldn’t afford to pay a truly hard working teacher for their time, because as all educators know, we are never off of the clock. ( I mean really how many times have you awakened in the middle of the night with an idea that would help ________ learn _________ or how many of us have been shopping in July and just had to buy something because it would be a great part of this lesson or that.  I have even caught myself Christmas shopping for shoes and clothes for my own students.  Teaching is a 24 – 7 job)  Back to the principles, I do use a good many of the 8 in my classroom.  Some I feel I could do better.  And some I still need to implement.  I can get started on something, but following through to the end is sometimes a problem for me.  I have to watch it.  I am not so great at principle 8.  But since I know that I can work harder on it. 

I need to also work on the fact that I am too wordy.  That is one of my weaknesses.  It takes me 200 words to say the same thing that someone would say using 10 words.  Sorry.  Next time I will plan my blog a little more carefully! (By the way, I just got a call from the Dr. office.  They are calling in my strep throat meds to the pharmacy.  No wonder I felt so bad, flu topped off with strep.  What a way to fly!  he he he)