Also, I am sorry that I haven’t been updating my blog much!  I’ve been seriously busy!

I can see how older students would be so engaged and interested in books like To Dance.  I wish more teachers would see the benefits of graphic novels and would encourage students to read them.

In first grade we have a very basic social studies curriculum.  One of the things we always do in the Spring is a unit on Community Helpers.  We learn about them in class and then take a field trip around town and visit the Post Office, Bank, Police Station, Fire Station, and a restaurant.  The kids love it!

My idea is to make a sort of scrapbook out of artifacts from the field trip.  I want to have my character be a little girl who goes on this field trip in first grade with her teacher and steals these artifacts.  She would take everything she could get her hands on… informational pamphlets about fire safety, post office to-do lists, love poems from the police chief’s wife, restaurant menus, etc.  I’m also thinking about adding to my fictional field trip and doing hospital and farm as well.

Any ideas?

It’s really refreshing to see what Cookie has done for her students in the Multigenre article.  I am really impressed with the creativity her students exhibited while writing their multigenre papers.  I know that if I had been assigned this type of paper in high school, rather than a traditional research paper, I would have really enjoyed working on it.  I think it is very important that she let her students select their own topic, and that she pretty much gave them no limits.  This allows students to choose something they are truly passionate about.  I’m sure writing poetry, letters, articles, etc. comes much easier when he topic is something you enjoy.  This type of paper also forces students to truly analyze the subject they are writing about.  Rather than just reading, paraphrasing, and writing students are forced to take it to the next level and totally immerse themselves into their chosen topic.  I think this makes the quality of learning multiply.

The portion we read from the book really laid out this innovative method very clearly.  It was interesting to see all of the different components that can be used (like the workshops, study groups, and conferences).  I also liked seeing student work samples.  But really I am very interested to see if and how this type of project can pan out in my classroom.

This is modeled perfectly for us in the book Love That Dog.  Even though Jack is using well known poems as inspirations for his writing, his poems are very creative!  The Certo article states “By reflecting on, imitating, and “trying on” other poets’ styles, a child can find his or her own voice in poetry.”  This is exactly what Jack has done in Love That Dog… I’m sure my students could do it too!  

I really enjoy how the author of this article has included tips for implementing this kind of poetry writing into your classroom.  I especially like that the tips can go for younger students and older students alike.  I think I will definitely be trying this in my classroom soon.  I think many of my students aren’t quite ready for independent poetry writing at this point in the school year, but think of what great poems we can create during a shared writing time!

I think motivating students is as simple as just getting them to care about what they are doing, or in this case, writing.  For me being able to motivate students to write can be one of the easiest things and one of the toughest things at the same time.  My students are just learning to write.  Their levels of confidence as writers differ just as much as their writing ability.  We journal and have writing conferences each day.  For some of my students the words “You can write about whatever you want to write about” are magical.  They can easily turn out two, three, or four sentences (a lot for new first graders!) in no time at all.  They really put their heart in it.  Unfortunately, many of my students are really turned off by the words “You can write about whatever you want to write about.”  These are the students that think they can’t write.  These simple instructions are too broad for them.  They still need me to hold their hand as they are writing.  They want me to tell them exactly what to write about.  I always help them find a topic, but sometimes it can be a stretch.  Luckily, as my students become more comfortable with me and the way I teach writing they will become more courageous as writers.

I don’t think writing about something you care about is always the best thing to do.  I can think of a lot of things I care about that I would never choose to write about.  I do think that to write about something you have to be interested in it,or at least care about it, but not the other way around.  I always tell my students to choose their own topics.  If they absolutely cannot think of a topic I help them choose one.  Pets are always a great suggestion… and we have several class pets!

In my classroom I really try to make all writing worthwhile.  I integrate writing into Science and Math weekly.  We also have writing conferences where students choose some of their best works to revise, edit, and publish.  I love making class books and putting them into our classroom library.  This is my students’ favorite thing!  They love being able to share their writing with their peers.  Another favorite of ours is Shared Writing.  Students love being able to come up with stories together without the fear of spelling something wrong or making an error.  Most importantly I try to vary our writing so students don’t become bored with it.  Making writing a social experience is very important to me.  I do this through writing conferences and shared writings.  As my students grow as writers I let them stop conferencing with me or my assistant and instead meet with a peer.  They love this!  I love seeing my students share ideas and critique their work together!  They love being able to mark on their papers with colored pens!

Dreams
by Langston Hughes

Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.
Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.

Be Glad Your Nose is on Your Face
by Jack Prelutsky

Be glad your nose is on your face,
not pasted on some other place,
for if it were where it is not,
you might dislike your nose a lot.
Imagine if your precious nose
were sandwiched in between your toes,
that clearly would not be a treat,
for you’d be forced to smell your feet.

Your nose would be a source of dread
were it attached atop your head,
it soon would drive you to despair,
forever tickled by your hair.

Within your ear, your nose would be
an absolute catastrophe,
for when you were obliged to sneeze,
your brain would rattle from the breeze.

Your nose, instead, through thick and thin,
remains between your eyes and chin,
not pasted on some other place–
be glad your nose is on your face!

Careful, considerate writing is a lengthy process.  At a young age students should be shown a writing process:  brainstorming, planning, drafting, revising, and finally students are ready to compose a final product.  Teachers need to engage students from the start.  They should model good writing and show students how easy and fun it can be.  Teachers need to show students how to take pride in their work.  Rather than pointing out every flaw in a paper, find something good to say about it first, and then give constructive criticism.  Teach students how to find their own errors or room for improvement, and let them do the marking with the red pen.  Brag on your students in front of them and display their work proudly.  These are things that will help students enjoy writing.  Afterall, they won’t be engaged unless they enjoy it.

Students can and should participate in all types of writing.  Students need to write personal narratives, non-fiction essays, book reviews, letters, informational flyers or brochures, poems, and every student should be encouraged to keep a daily journal.  Teachers need to be modeling all of these things as well.  Not just model for school’s sake, but explain how they too use these tools in their everyday life.

I begin teaching the writing process to my students very early on in the school year.  My students each have a writing folder where they house writings they are currently working on.  Each day students listen to a quick writing mini-lesson and watch me write in my class journal (actually giant tablet of chart paper) where I model things like capitalizing letters only when necessary, using punctuation, spacing, neat handwriting, how to phonetically sound out words, and other first grade appropriate things.  I show them how I use colored pens to revise and edit my writings… nobody is perfect from the start!  I begin new stories… or re-visit old ones.  I show them that it is important to love what you’re writing about.  I let my students choose their topics most of the time, but am always willing to help those that don’t know what to write about.  I meet with my students, or conference, to discuss how they can edit their stories.  I try to guide them into editing it on their own.  I may point to a misspelled word and say something like “how can we make this better?”  Or I may read a sentence out loud and ask them if they can add words to make it more interesting.  As students complete writings, they illustrate them.  I display them on the wall or make class books.  When I send them home I always write notes on them.  Everyday my students also write in their daily journal.  Here is where they can write whatever they want and not necessarily have to edit it.  At the end of the day I collect daily journals and write things in them.  I don’t edit any of the work, but I may write something like “Don’t forget to use periods!”  or “Remember to use your neatest writing!”  Most importantly, I teach my students to love writing and I never criticize their work!