When Debbie Miller was here, she had recommended Tony Johnston's book, The Harmonica. I was instantly intrigued by the book and ordered it from Amazon. (You can too, by using the links in my SOLC post from today!) It arrived late last night & I read it tonight. It unexpectedly became my SOLC Story for… Continue reading thinking about pictures.
Category: authors
frank serafini.
Over the next few days I'm going to have a few posts inspired by Frank Serafini, author of numerous works, including Around the Reading Workshop in 80 Days. All-Write Consortium (which my school district belongs) hosted him last Thursday & Friday. By good luck, my home district was the host school. By even better luck, I had… Continue reading frank serafini.
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New Book.
I was looking for a sample chapter from Janet Angelillo's book Writing About Reading: From Book Talk to Literary Essays, Grades 3 -8 . Although I did find the sample chapter, more importantly, I found her latest release! Copyrighted 2008, Whole Class Teaching: Minilessons & More looks to be right up my alley. I read… Continue reading New Book.
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uplifting words.
I started reading Penny Kittle's book, The Greatest Catch, yesterday. It is fantastic -- I could hardly put it down! In her introduction, she shares these words, which I think are most uplifting on a Monday morning: "Lots of times you can go home after working all day with nothing to show for it, but you're… Continue reading uplifting words.
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So you say that teachers of writing must be writers themselves, eh?
I've found a common thread amongst those who've commented on Ruth's Post entitled "Key Beliefs." Nearly everyone has said that teachers of writing must be writers themselves. If that's the case, then it's time to submit that manuscript you've been keeping locked away for fear of it getting rejected. (BTW: I've had a children's book… Continue reading So you say that teachers of writing must be writers themselves, eh?
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becoming better.
Today in a workshop, Carl Anderson emphasized the point of being intentional about approaching our conferring from the point of strength of the student. Basically, we learn what they are doing and help them do it better. However, too often we find what they are not doing and then try to get them to do those… Continue reading becoming better.
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fantasy writing.
I'm working in a fifth grade classroom this week who studied Chris Van Allsburg and are now working on their own fantasy stories. I must admit I was a bit skeptical about the teacher's decision to begin the year with fantasy writing, but after a few days in the classroom, I think it's a brilliant… Continue reading fantasy writing.
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dear author.
Last year Mindy Hoffar (the leader of All-Write) had shared an exchange of letters between a student and Laurie Halse Anderson from the book Dear Author: Letters of Hope (Top young adult authors respond to kids' toughest issues) edited by Joan F. Kaywell. A few weeks ago, it jumped off the shelf at me while… Continue reading dear author.
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organizing.
Today I had a few moments to spare, so I worked on organizing my focus lesson binders. I pulled all my k-1 lessons and put them in a separate binder. I organized it according to Carl Anderson's qualities of writing: Meaning Genre Structure Detail Voice Conventions + Process & what Carl terms "Initiative" (determining purpose, genre,… Continue reading organizing.
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on writing
Today I was reminded of a story from Stephen King's book, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft. Here are his words -- My room in our Durham house was upstairs, under the eaves. At night I could lie in bed beneath one of these eaves-- if I sat up suddenly, I was apt to… Continue reading on writing
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I met George Ella Lyon!
George Ella Lyon and I started communicating with each other this past winter when I needed to request permission for my students to mentor their "Where I'm From" Poems after hers when they were writing DEAL WITH IT! Powerful Words from Smart, Young Women. We had dinner in Louisville on Friday night, along with Ann… Continue reading I met George Ella Lyon!
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Writing with Writers
I found a great section of Scholastic's Website entitled "Writing with Writers," which is a place devoted to helping kids learn how to write better by taking a workshop with a published author. The writing genres that can be explored on this site are: * Biography Writing * Descriptive Writing * Folktale Writing * Mystery… Continue reading Writing with Writers
