I’ve been trying to think through how to explain thinking in scenes to young writers in a way that makes it accessible. It seems they either write two scenes and call it done (when it really isn’t enough) or they write micro-scenes, making about 50 of them when there should only be four. How do… Continue reading Scene Changes
Category: narrative
Q&A with Patricia Polacco + a Giveaway
Patricia Polacco has long been one of my favorite children's authors. I've led author studies of her works with my former students in both reading and writing workshop. I have used books like Mrs. Katz and Tush and The Butterfly in my consulting work. She an author whose books take up a good deal of… Continue reading Q&A with Patricia Polacco + a Giveaway
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What do you think of this minilesson?
I've been working on a few sample minilessons to give my grad students next month when I start teaching "Children's Literature in Teaching Writing." I've been making tweaks to the traditional minilesson structure I've used in the past based on Lucy Calkins's session, "In the Complicated World of Today, What's Changed and What's Stayed the… Continue reading What do you think of this minilesson?
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The Book Stack
An eclectic little stack today. Click on the images to go to a link about the book. I've been enjoying books I can read a little here and a little there. This book, however, is one I found myself engulfing. Even though there are 21 conversations with different illustrators, and even though I started with… Continue reading The Book Stack
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Approaching Common Core + PARCC
Yesterday I heard James Kofi Annan tell his story of child slave to business man to freedom fighter for the children in Ghana. Check out this CNN video for a taste of what I had the privilege of hearing first hand. His story moved me and compelled me to think about how I can use my corner… Continue reading Approaching Common Core + PARCC
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How to Write
This past week I've had several conversations with young writers about how to write something. Not the logistics of making letters or spelling words, but how to craft their writing in order to make the reader feel or know something. With our youngest writers this conversation has centered around illustrations. With intermediate writers it has… Continue reading How to Write
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Stories Matter
“If stories come to you, care for them. And learn to give them away where they are needed. Sometimes a person needs a story more than food to stay alive.” —Barry Lopez Stories matter. A lot. Here are some reasons why . . . Stories help us reflect on life and understand where we've been… Continue reading Stories Matter
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Highlights from the Week
I have been in a lot of different writing workshops lately. Just this week I've been in 13 writing workshops and have met with 13 different teachers in either reflective practice meetings or planning meetings. Therefore, I have SO MUCH I want to record. Which leads me to my current dilemma: what do I not… Continue reading Highlights from the Week
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Show Don’t Tell
In narrative writing, it is difficult to shift from telling the story to showing the story. I've helped launch a fiction study in a couple of fifth grade classrooms this week, and we've decided to really focus on helping students make this shift as writers. So we made a chart with four "telling" statements: She… Continue reading Show Don’t Tell
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Making Characters Talk
Dialogue. It's something we wish students would use purposefully inside of a piece of writing. Too often, when our students do write with dialogue, it sounds like this: "Hi," I said. "Hi," my sister said. "What do you want to do today?" I said. "I don't know," she said. "Let's go to the park," I… Continue reading Making Characters Talk
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Assessing.
Today my students turned in their narratives. I couldn't wait to read them, so I began today during my lunch. I was touched by their writing, and impressed by the significant revisions many of them made. Tonight (as my kids were coloring) I looked over the narratives again and began to pile them according to… Continue reading Assessing.
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Writing in Second Person… A Mentor Text by Hopkinson
I was delighted to happen upon Deborah Hopkinson, who was signing books in the NCTE Exhibit Hall, on Saturday afternoon. I've used books of hers, such as Saving Strawberry Farm and Shutting Out the Sky in Interactive Read Aloud with my students. So, when I saw was signing her 2006 book, Sky Boys: How They… Continue reading Writing in Second Person… A Mentor Text by Hopkinson
