I filled in the last three boxes of my story mountain during today's W.W. I just added my character's feelings/thinking in blue to the mountain when I got home. Then I started thinking that I shouldn't have done that since (pink), I now think I want to have my main character's, Ava, best friend, Nita,… Continue reading Messy Mountain
Category: fiction
Working My Way Backwards
I started a story mountain for my W.W. minilesson demo today. I started with the climax of the story: Then, I started working my way backwards: I'm hoping this will illustrate for my students that you don't start at the beginning of and work your way forward. Sometimes, you have to go backwards and forwards… Continue reading Working My Way Backwards
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Walking the Walk
As I was conferring with my students today, I realized that many of their fictional characters were just them, but with different names. (They were choosing seed ideas today and developing their characters.) One boy in particular was stuck on recreating himself, so I sent him out of the room to do a character walk.… Continue reading Walking the Walk
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Teaching Fiction in a Pin-Drop, Silent Room
WN Entry - Fiction pg. 1 Originally uploaded by teachergal Today's Writing Workshop Teaching Point came right out of Calkins and Cruz's Short Fiction Book - Session 1. While I used the skeleton of their lesson, my demonstration was all my own. During the active engagement, I reread an old entry from August 2006 to… Continue reading Teaching Fiction in a Pin-Drop, Silent Room
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Being inspired by a great picture book…
Today was spent immersing my students in the short fiction genre by reading picture books. Here are the texts my students read and enjoyed either by themselves or with a partner: Beatrice's Goat by Paige McBrier Betty Doll by Patricia Polacco * Duck and Goose by Tad Hills * Imagine A Day by Sarah L.… Continue reading Being inspired by a great picture book…
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Getting Ready to Launch a Short Fiction Unit of Study
Touchstone Text: Knuffle Bunny Too -- Craft Moves Chart Originally uploaded by teachergal One of the many books I'm going to use as a touchstone text is Knuffle Bunny Too: A Case of Mistaken Identity by Mo Willems. Why? My kids simply loved it! (Not to mention the fact that the character is well-developed and… Continue reading Getting Ready to Launch a Short Fiction Unit of Study
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Picture Books
pic bk announcement Originally uploaded by teachergal Instead of writing short stories, we're having our students write picture books. (Did this last year... loved it and HIGHLY recommend it.) In order to get the kids excited and immerse them, I'm asking them to bring in their favorite picture books this-coming Monday. I'm hoping they'll be… Continue reading Picture Books
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One notebook or many?
Last week I blogged about a Recipe for Conferring Success. I've done some more thinking about it in recent days and am left pondering the following questions for myself as a teacher of writing: 1. One notebook or many? a. How many notebooks should teachers of writing keep to use in conferences and strategy lessons… Continue reading One notebook or many?
