I head back to school tomorrow. I am starting a new unit of study in both Reading and Writing Workshop (nonfiction and notebook writing, respectively). Hence, I thought I'd share my first Writing Workshop Minilesson of the new year about the multiple purposes writers have for using writer's notebooks. Minilesson Teaching Point: Writers understand there… Continue reading Launching Minilesson: Writer’s Notebook Unit of Study
Category: writer’s notebook
Goals Restated
A reader, Sara, suggested, a few weeks ago, that I restate the students' goals for the upcoming Writer's Notebook Unit of Study as "I Can..." Statements, which I did for the two most recent units I taught in Reading and Writing Workshops. Therefore, I tweaked what I had and turned it into the following: Goals… Continue reading Goals Restated
Share this:
Share this:
Interviewing My Kids
I administered writing interviews to five of my focal children on Tuesday. One of them actually wrote about it. This was what one of them wrote as a notebook entry that night (N.B.: I'm not fixing spelling, grammar, etc.): Today at recess time I had a interview it was very interesting because my teacher ask… Continue reading Interviewing My Kids
Share this:
Share this:
Making More Time for Independent Notebook Writing
My grade-level colleagues and I discussed ways to make more time for independent writing during our last common planning session. One thing that was mentioned was setting aside some time in-class, whether it's during our separate from Writing Workshop, to give students an opportunity to do a Quick Write. It's something I've never tried before… Continue reading Making More Time for Independent Notebook Writing
Share this:
Share this:
Encouraging Students to Use Line Breaks
love is - line breaks Originally uploaded by teachergal One of my students experimented with other genres this week, one of which was poetry. She wrote a gorgeous poem about what love is in her notebook. At first, I thought, What does a nine year-old know about love? But then, after reading it a few… Continue reading Encouraging Students to Use Line Breaks
Share this:
Share this:
A Gift from a Young Writer
One of my former students e-mailed me this evening with the first draft and the final draft of a personal narrative she wrote for her seventh grade English Class. She invited my comments, positive or negative, which was flattering in and of itself. However, when I opened the first draft, I discovered something wonderful. This… Continue reading A Gift from a Young Writer
Share this:
Share this:
Two Exceptional Professional Books
In the past week, I've managed to squeeze-in some time to read through two professional books, both of which I picked up while I was at NCTE. Writing to Persuade: Minilessons to Help Students Plan, Draft, and Revise, Grades 3-8, written by Karen Caine, is a resource I wish I had four years ago when… Continue reading Two Exceptional Professional Books
Share this:
Share this:
A Fabulous Etsian Made These for My Kids!
Custom-made Idea Notebooks Originally uploaded by teachergal If you read this blog a lot, then you know I love Etsy! I've found many creative Etsians who have created wonderful things for my classroom this year with a teacher-budget in-mind. My colleague came into my classroom today and saw these notebooks laying on my conference table… Continue reading A Fabulous Etsian Made These for My Kids!
Share this:
Share this:
Revisiting
My colleagues and I are going to revisit writer's notebooks with our students right after the winter recess. We haven't written the teaching points yet, but our homework, over the holiday, was to come up with goals for the upcoming mini-unit of study. I came up with five goals for the unit -- what I… Continue reading Revisiting
Share this:
Share this:
Helping a Student Generate Non-Narrative WN Entries
One of my students seemed to be stuck as she sat in her writing focus spot today. She was supposed to be collecting entries and growing some thinking, but her pencil was barely moving. When I pulled alongside her, I realized that she needed some more structure. Hence, I created some crude graphic organizers to… Continue reading Helping a Student Generate Non-Narrative WN Entries
Share this:
Share this:
Words of Wisdom from Fletcher
I was rereading A Writer's Notebook: Unlocking the Writer Within You for pearls of wisdom to lend to one of the reluctant writers in my classroom this evening. Here are some of those pearls that I dug out of Ralph Fletcher's book that bear repeating. (If you don't have this book, then run out and… Continue reading Words of Wisdom from Fletcher
Share this:
Share this:
Writing About Issues
Living Life Twice, a blog written by Alan J. Wright who lives in Australia, has a fantastic post entitled "Writing About Issues -Big and Small." Here's an excerpt from his post: Students were asked to read an article that attracted their interest. Following this, they were asked to identify the issue, and then identify what… Continue reading Writing About Issues
