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.