Evaluation and Revision April 23, 2008

I find it very difficult to evaluate and revise my own writing and it is especially difficult to revise others writing.  I know that it is extremely important in writing, and this is a definite weakness of mine. It is imperative to good writing and one must be able to do it themselves because it is not always practical or unethical to have someone proof read your papers.  I do not have the talent and, therefore, find it a difficult talent to teach.

I have never thought about revising being close to comprehension.  It is amazing how different aspects of learning are so closely linked.  It is easy to understand why and how they correlate with one anther once they have been pointed out.  Both areas have to do with making sense of what you read. 

I liked the different ideas this chapter gave for the writing plan.  I think it is good to see options because the same thing does not always work for all teacher or all classes.  I think that at some points and for some classes all the ideas sounded very useable and appropriate. 

I like all the integration of reading and writing.  I try to integrate as much as possible in my class.  It is very important for students to see how successful writers set up their stories, words they choose, and ideas they use.  Analyzing published writing and letting children use text to mentor their writing is a great way to get students excited about writing.  The mentor text gives them support and some ideas to build upon.  This may not seem as scary and intimidating as just making them write. 

I defiantly have some work to do in learning how to evaluate and revise but I do think that I am learning.  I started the graduate program with each paper looking like a page from Chainsaw Massacre after having someone proof papers, and now they are much less gory.  I feel that as I learn and become better at it, it will be easer to help my students.

Presentations April 17, 2008

I can not believe the impact all the projects had on me the rest of the week.  I am glad I had computer trouble the night of the presentation.  I have had time to reflect and really to use some of the information I learned from other people.  As I was moving some chairs in my sister-in-law’s garage, I noted that the chairs seem to be in the best position for lung function.  I would not have a clue without Kari’s presentation on the Cure Cottages in N.Y.  I told several people about Elvis being a twin and dying his hair and they were just as stunned as I was, thanks to Christy’s presentation.  I have listened to my Christian radio station and thought about Tony’s interpretative dance.  I think that took real courage and know that I do not possess the talent or the guts to do something that artistic in front of others. 

I thought it was great how they were all so very different.  The topics, presentations, and feel of the project really seemed to reflect the individual.  I really enjoyed the personal history of Mary and Kari.  They were really touching and made me think of my own history.  I really do know a great deal about my family history and have a quilt from my great-great grandmother. 

Holly peaked my interest in Lord Byron and now I want to learn more about him.  I loved that she just wanted to prove the stereotype of girls not being good in math are not true to her students. 

Amy did a great job of teaching me something about racing, but also “gearing” her project toward her classroom.  I loved the games she made for her students and also the books that they made and now get to look at in their reading station.  Nicole also wrote her Poe project so that her students could learn from it and increase their interest in the study.   I found him to be an interesting topic and wish I could have read her chapter book.

Sonia and I both chose our projects based on our curriculum so that we may use them in the classroom (Others may have too, but I do not know their curriculum).  I loved Sonia’s fluttering facts about butterflies and heard several that I did not know.  I think that children would love making the expandable caterpillar too. 

Heather’s huge leather back sea turtle really made a great first impression.  Her love for the turtles was very evident and a passion always makes the subject more personal and exciting. 

I learned a lot from my project but I took back some great ideas for my classroom and new general knowledge about other subjects I did not have before. 

Wordless picture books April 7, 2008

I have never used wordless picture books in my class because I did not understand them.  I had no idea the purpose or intent for classroom use.  Boy do I feel like an idiot.  This is why I love learning new things.  I would never have thought to give a wordless picture book to a struggling reader so they could feel success.  I think that success is something we all need and this can give hope to those students that do not feel success in school. 

I also think that it is great for those struggling in writing.  This way they do not have to start from scratch but build on something concrete.  I know that in second grade my students are very concrete learners and this would just really excite them.  I can’t wait to try a wordless picture book in my classroom to write a story with.  I think it would be great to have several groups writing about the same book and when published compare the books and see how they had different things to say about the same book.  My second graders would love the challenge I think.

March 19, 2008

April 2nd post 

The reoccurring theme I continue to see is instruction need to be on the level of the children.  Whether the subject is writing, reading, spelling or any other subject, the child can not learn what he is not developmentally ready to learn.  I liked the clear steps given for each block and the examples given.  This made their process easy to understand and they had several points I had never considered in writing.  I talk about character analysis and plot more in reading than in writing I think.  I have not really ever asked a child how they worked on developing their main character.  I discuss elaborative detail of the character but I do not really think they are the same thing. 

I do find it difficult as a teacher to maintain every ones instructional level when the levels are so vast.  I try but each child is different and has very special needs.  I have writers at the beginning of the cycle and also at the end.  I just find it very hard to scaffold for each level.  What do you do in the classroom to help everyone write a story?  I feel that I do help everyone improve but know that I could be doing more.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

Actually doing the muti genre project is helpful in truly understanding what I would be asking my students to do.  I do think that students of all abilities would benefit from the project because they have options on what to write.  In theory the more advanced students would challenge themselves and do more advanced writing.  I think that sometimes my struggling readers and writers try much harder and put more thought and effort into their work.  That is where the strengths and needs assessment part comes into effect.  I really like the example in Writing Without Boundries that stated “She might have listened more closely to her revision conversations and expanded on this writing, as was suggested by other students and the teacher.”  The student is now aware that the teacher knows she did not listen and make her project better.  I do think that multi genre is a great way to get children involved and interested in a subject, especially if they get to choose what they write about. 

Reading the assessment chapter really made me think about assessment, evaluation, and test.  What and how do I really use these in my classroom? Do I use my formative assessments to effectivly decide what I need to teach to help the children understand what they need to know?  I think that these questions go across the curriculum. 

I also thought a great deal about the prompts and how they affect the writing.  I was amazed at the difference the wording made in the prompts that they gave.  I have never stopped to think that simple wording of a prompt makes a huge difference. 

In teaching there is so much to think about and mandated for us to do that it is getting harder and harder to be effective.  (or at least feel effective)  I agree that the assessments that are given by the state are difficult and high pressure for the students.  Neither do I think they are going to get any better in the near future. 

Multigenre (take two) March 5, 2008

I think that I have said it before, but I want to say again, I think it is wonderful when people give step by step instructions on what is supposed to be done in a classroom.  After reading this, I feel that I could really help someone understand how a multigenre project should be implemented in a classroom.  I know that they had and example of a teacher’s second grade project, but I think that is a little much for a second grader.  I am happy to have one decent writing about a subject from my second grade classroom.  I think that it would be difficult and very time consuming to require more than two genres for one particular content area.  I do like exposing children to different genres.  I think that it would be much easier for me to pick different subject matters for a specific genre.

There was also a lot of group collaboration that was integral for the understanding and completion of the assignment.  I like putting the project on the student and then they have a real sense of accomplishment and learn problem solving, cooperation, and general thinking skills as well as about their subject and genres.  This seemed to be such an important part, and I felt that my second graders do well to stay on task without a teacher for about 5-8 minutes.  After that, the conversation tends to not be on task.  I am not saying that it can not be done, but I feel that it would be a definite challenge.  I have completed a multigenre project and was not aware of it until now.  I still remember the project and some of the things we completed for a high school English class.  I do not remember a lot of assignments from school and think that it is interesting that once I started reading about multigenre that this particular project really stood out in my mind and brought back a lot of fond memories.  I remember my classmates and I preparing for the presentation of our project.  I think that I is a gift tot be able to learn for a lifetime and that is what I did with that particular project.

Multigenre projects would have to be memorable to a student just because it is so different from what they are used to doing.  Teacher, including myself, must think about what is going to be the greatest impact for our students.

    Project Idea

I might do my multigenre project on Abraham Lincoln.  I think that he and his life are fascination and ideas for several genre have come to my mind:

Letters from or to him

News article about his death

Calendar or schedule of what he might do

Journal entry of his, his wife, or John Wilkes Booth

List of things he might need to get completed in a day

Poem

Invitation to the play

Election Poster (or whatever form of advertisement they used)

Banner about his election

Story about his loss of the ?congressional election?

Sign to advertise to fight in the Civil War

Eye witness account of assassination

I am sure there are many more

There are a lot of ideas that I have but have not done research and will need to see what will work best with the information that I find.

I also thought about Harriet Tubman.  She is an amazing woman and some of the same genre ideas can work for her too.

 

Recipe for a multigenre piece 

several students to work cooperatively                          one interesting topic

6 (or more to taste) cups of previous genre                    motivated students and teacher

lots of time to work                                                       teacher direction

students to inquire

  

                                               

Preheat writing workshop for months before starting.  Then       have students pick a topic and work, work, work.  Celebrate the final draft with a party to enjoy and share the project together.                 

Multigenre February 27, 2008

I think it is a great idea to put a twist on a normal boring research paper.  Doing a mulitgenre paper allows the students to really understand and appreciate what they are learning about and place themselves in a position to really think about the subject and what would be going on in their existence.  The examples in Multon’s article really helped me to understand the project better.  I liked the idea of the end notes and The Defense in Youngs and Barone book.  I think that they are the same idea and really help the paper to make sense.

I did do a mulitgenre project in high school English class.  We worked on a Shakespeare project that included songs that represented a character, acting out a scene, and making props that actors would use in the play.  Everyone enjoyed the project and I still remember doing it.In my opinion, and with very little background in this area, I think that it would make more sense to study about a subject and look at all of the different genres written about the subject.  Using their example about the Grand Canyon, look at all the different non fiction genre you can find about the Grand Canyon and see how the author used that particular genre to tell about the natural wonder.  Then find a multigenre book about the Grand Canyon and let the children see how an author can create a book using different genre.  In Writing Without Boundaries I took it that they did it the opposite.  I just think that students come from finding out all they can and then learn how to combine it into one paper.  

I like the choice and all the scaffolding that really supported the student research and development of the piece.  If a teacher did try to do a mulitgenre piece they would have to have the scaffold in place.  Students have not seen this before and would need a lot of help.  

Persona Poem thoughts February 20, 2008

After reading all of the persona poems I noticed a few interesting things.  First is that the poems are intuitive and the author made me think of things in a different way.  Each of the poems I read was unique and had a different approach to the object that they were written about.  I think that is what makes it so wonderful.  I also found that many had a repetition of a sentence or phrase to bring each stanza of the poem together.  I like the way repetition tied the whole poem together. 

In an “I” poem, authors place themselves in a different position.  They have to think about what this object would experience, think about, and how it would react to certain things.  I really had to think hard as I attempted to write my “I” poem.  They are interesting to read, but I found personal poems a humongous challenge to write.

   

The Manuscript

The manuscript gave a step by step approach with specific examples of how to teach.  What a great idea.  I love reading things that help me teach.  So many of the articles that I read tell what the teacher should not be doing but does not go on to tell what they should do instead.  I feel that reading this article could improve a teacher’s ability to teach poetry and give them ideas of how they can start in their classroom.  I found the scaffolding process and explicit directions and questions asked to be very helpful and gave me a great picture of exactly what was going on in the classroom.  I would especially love to read the rest of the second grade story as I am a second grade teacher.  Thanks for sharing.

“I” Poems February 13, 2008

 

I think that this is very exciting.  I have never heard of an “I” poem before and thought that this was a great idea to really get students to think.  What better way to get students interested in what they are reading or studying than by placing themselves right into the text.  That this is a great way to continue thinking about a story, think about things from a different point of view, and put part of the story in your own words.  This takes a great understanding of what was read and a teacher can gain a wealth of knowledge of what the students are learning.  I also think that students would get really excited because of all the possible ways to approach the poem.  I love learning new things!

I will say that I attemped one of these today and I found it very difficult.

Best Practices in Teaching Planning February 6, 2008

  I feel so much better this week.  I did love the discussion in class last week and it helped me relax about the reading and about my classroom.  Not only did the discussion give me some relief, but then to read this weeks reading was just another pick-me-up.  Now I have a much better outlook.  Graham and Harris gave me strategies of what teachers should be doing and then took it a step further and gave examples of how to do it.  THANK YOU!  They went back to what we have been talking about in class-modeling is the most important thing you can do as a teacher to help your children learn how to write.  I believe that the planning is important and in my second grade we do all of our planning together.  My students have a choice on what they put down but I give them my ideas about a topic and then I give them time to form and write their own ideas on their paper.  I think that this way the students that just need light support for an example can twist and make the ideas their own and they usually do a great job.  I also have several students in my class that are not ready to do their own plan and they can utilize my plan to start them off.  Even at the end of second grade I do not think my students are independent enough to plan their own stories regularly.  I am comfortable with this idea, thinking that my job is to prepare them for third grade and hopefully they will develop the skills in second grade to become independent in third grade.  There are a lot of steps in planning a story and a seven year old still needs direction and guidance.  Graham and Harris gave great suggestions on how to make topics authentic to students and still help them plan out strategies and information they are going to include in their writing.  I love the example of going through the entire process and then asking the children how they thought it could be better.   Not only was it a great idea for the teacher to ask but also the students came up with logical and important steps that were missing.  I think that the facts should be numbered so the writer knows what they are writing about and when.  There are several ideas that I am going to try in my classroom.  I love getting information that I find useful.   

Chapter 10 January 30, 2008

Promoting Motivation for Writing

After reading chapter 10 and the article, I feel deflated as a teacher.  I hear a lot about what teachers do not do.  I do try to motivate my students and give them entertaining things to write about.  It is my responsibility to help prepare for a test that I do not agree with nor like the pressure the test puts on the children or on teachers.  Even though I do not like it, I still have to work to get the children ready to take the test.  I also have to do what the state and my county tells me to teach.   Teachers are put in a very stick position especially when you look at writing examples such as these.  I do think that it would be great to just let the children come in and write what they choose to write daily and in response to things in the classroom.  Two mornings a week I give my students time to write in a journal.  They may also choose to write more if they so desire.  Most of the time I do give them an idea or topic to write about.  This just works better for me and I get more writing out of my children.   I have read several things on the Internet recently about journals and many teachers say that if they do not give prompts, the students do not write.  It is hard to prepare for a prompt test with out writing from a prompt and it gives the children ideas that they can build upon.  It would be a great injustice to give the children the third and fourth grade writing test after only having the students write what they want to write about. 

 I struggle with writing not only as a teacher, but also personally.  I try very hard not to show my struggles and frustration in my classroom.  I model for my students and think aloud as I write.  I also must have a preconceived idea of what I am going to say.  I always have a prewritten story before I model a story for my class.  I may not even use a word on the paper but I must have the support of a story already written.  This is one way I have developed to help with my confidence in writing.  I think that as my students see me write and then write themselves they get excited about telling me a story.  We collaborate as a class together and plan our stories.  I have a story I am writing on the board and the students change it to fit their idea or if they need to they can use mine.  I think that if I did collaboration as small groups I would just have arguments.  I also have the students respond to things that we do in class, but usually I do not find that this is a great writing exercise.  I can find out what they know but the writing part is really lacking.

I feel very confused about writing now.  I want to do what is best for my students and want them to love writing and all aspects of learning.  I want to do what is best for them and also want to do what my superiors expect.  I do not know how to get it all in.  I am searching to find a balance.