Chapter 3: Share Your Writing Life
• Write together as a staff
• Note your writing practices
• Tell students why you write
Chapter Two of Regie’s book segues right into her third chapter, “Share Your Writing Life.” In this chapter Regie drives home the importance of teachers sharing their writing process with their students. She encourages teachers to become writers in front of their students, on their own and with their staff, and also to share their daily writing practices with their students. The purpose of the assignment below (Assignment #3) is to get you writing.
ASSIGNMENT THREE: Sharing Your Writing Life!
For many of us, writing is not enjoyable and/or is very difficult. Perhaps it is because we ourselves were never celebrated as writers. Or perhaps we only remember the “skills” based comments written in various colored pens on our papers…that always sliced deep (and turned many of us into “non-writers.”) These comments never really helped our writing become any better. As a requirement of a summer writing institute (which I was conned into attending “so that I could become a better teacher of writing”) I (Jackie) bit the bullet and wrote extensively throughout the course. What they say is true: the more I wrote, the more I enjoyed it, and I believe I grew as a writer. The goal of this two-part assignment is to get you writing.
Part One:
For the first part of this assignment you need to think about topics for your own writing (ideas/stories that you can share to excite your students) and then actually write a short piece (ideally in front of your students.) If you do not presently have the opportunity to write in front of your students then please complete the activity on your own.
1. Use the topic idea list from Regie’s “Try It and Apply It” on page 26. Choose several topics, and then create a list of sub-topics for each.
2. Choose the sub-topic that most interests you and write a short piece that you can use to model writing in front of your students.
Part Two:
1. On pages 45-46, Regie gives suggestions for writing exercises for the start of school (or really anytime you need to get writing started.) Follow her criteria for “Capturing A Moment” (from the summer or any other time ) and draft a short piece. Follow the directions in the chart on page 46.
2. After completing the draft, which should take no more than 10 minutes, take a moment to write down some of your observations of your writing process. Again, use the suggestions from the chart or the bullets below:
o What are you thinking about as you are composing?
o What exactly did you do to plan, to get started writing, when you got stuck, or when you completed your piece?
o What does your process look like? Do you write straight through? Stop to re-read? Revise as you go? Look up information? Edit?
The goal of this activity is to get you to write - which will hopefully get you more comfortable writing in front of your children! Complete this activity and let us know how it went by sharing your answers to some of the bulleted questions above.
Please post your comments to the course blog. (We don’t need to see your writing piece. We are more interested in your thought process as you completed the exercise.)
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1. Use the topic idea list from Regie’s “Try It and Apply It” on page 26. Choose several topics, and then create a list of sub-topics for each.
ReplyDeleteList of Topics:
Start of school
Setting up
Meeting with colleagues
Special Memory
Childhood memory
Hiking in Hawaii
Birth of children
Backpacking trip with kids
Family
Daughter
Son
Sports
Cycling
Being an expert
Bike repair
Home maintenance
This is a topic that I actually wrote in front of my students. Last summer, I hiked down Pololuu valley in Hawaii. I tried to think out loud and write as I spoke. It felt natural and I asked the students about a couple of different options. I crossed off what did not seem to work.
As I began to write, I visualized the hike as I remembered it. I focused on the beauty of the natural surrounding, the terrain of the trail, and the memorable events along the way. As I wrote, I was cognizant of opportunities for deeper description, quotes, and specific noun selection.
o What exactly did you do to plan, to get started writing, when you got stuck, or when you completed your piece?
The first thing I did when planning my writing was to consult my list. This reminds me how helpful it is for kids to have a list as a starting point. I thought about a few options from the list and chose what I remembered the best. I made a mental list of things I thought would be helpful but for the most part I just started writing my experience. I tried to “hook” the kids with a good lead by describing the setting in detail. I can see where kids would really benefit from frequent short writing that is not graded or edited. It seems this would really get their writing flowing. When I got stuck, I thought about other parts of the experience or wrote anything related to what I was trying to say. If what I wrote was not very good, I revisited it and re-worded it. When I completed my piece I reread it to check the fluency, message, and conventions. I asked the students if they had any feedback and if they would help me create/choose a conclusion. I offered a few choices and we voted on our favorite. Finally we re-read it once more.
This exercise helped me to see how valuable writing in front of the students can be. The talking about my topic first, helped me to come up with the general structure of my paragraph and I see how kids benefit from talking before writing. I think seeing me cross off words and passages was beneficial as well and even a bit surprising for some. I think this really freed the students of some preconceptions that writing is somehow static once on the page despite what I have mentioned in the past. Another realization I had during this assignment is that I often have kids work with graphic organizers but I myself rarely use them! I can shift my teaching to include more spontaneous writing where the students share before, during, and after writing.
Hi,
DeleteI enjoyed reading this and laughed about the graphic organizers as I rarely use one either, however, I don't offer a lot of opportunities for my kids to use them either as I am not always comfortable with them beyond the basic ones. My goal is to incorporate more of them into their shorter bits of writing as a way to organize their thoughts and to "force" them to think logically especially when dealing with summary writing.
Thanks!
Assignment 3:
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, love the idea that we need to see ourselves as writers if we are to teach writing. Removing adult fear of writing in front of peers or a class is a challenge. I tend to apologize for my errors or the fact that I can stumble over spelling as I swear I have seen so many misspelled words, I no longer know how to spell anything correctly!
I don’t write often enough in front of the kids except for short sentences and brief responses to model thesis statement or commentary on a particular passage in a novel/short story etc. I don’t mind showing the kids how overly verbal I am and just today talked about how I tend to run on at the mouth and that several teachers had to remind me as a student to “get to the point, Mary”. I like to think that those stories entertain the kids but also help them see that not everyone is perfect at writing and that the only way to get better is to WRITE and to write for a purpose or with an audience in mind. I am going to add that to my list of instructions when the kids are writing an analysis. I tend to tell them that they have my permission to consider me “ignorant” as their reader and that helps them expand an assignment at times.
Sports:
Teams: How do I feel when I don’t make the team I want? What do I do about it?
What happens when I make an error?
What is it like to “start” in a game when you are a rookie?
I liked the topics for the older kids as they speak more to issues my kids deal with every day:
What do you worry about?
What would you do if you saw someone being bullied?
What happens when kids don’t help other kids?
What’s it like to be a “part” of a bigger whole?
What is the best thing an adult can say about you and why?
A day I will never forget!
Describe the feelings you experienced in the moment.
Why is the day special to you?
Does anyone you know share this type of experience?
What is the best “thing” about me? Why is it my best?
If I had a super power, what would it be and why? ☺
Part 2:
ReplyDeleteOkay. I actually took 15 minutes and wrote on the topic of the day I shall never forget. It actually fit with our unit on Night in a way as it dealt with my memories of the Vietnam War and my brother enlisting. It also fit in with the current interest in Afghanistan and Iraq and most of my kids either know someone personally who is involved in the armed forces or know someone who knows someone who has one.
The experience was intensely personal for me as I remember the colors of the kitchen and the wall telephone and what was cooking in the oven the day he called us and told us he had enlisted. It was 1968 and I was 8 years old. I will admit that as I wrote, I talked to the kids about my feelings and got a bit teary and I struggled a bit to write my thoughts and crossed out and reworked what I had written as I remembered the events. Since I wrote this randomly, they were surprised, but as an intro to a writing assignment where they need to write about a personal experience, I think it will work well. I didn’t mind that they could tell that I was choked up a bit and not at my best. I plan on taking in my paper again next class period and reading it to them and asking for their input.
I am hopeful they took away from it a feeling of community. I want them to know that we all struggle at times to put our thoughts into words on paper. Some of us talk and can weave a story orally, but it is another matter to put thoughts into words on a piece of paper and that it takes practice and courage. I also will talk about “audience” and the purpose of the writing. Hopefully I have answered all of the questions involved in the assignment. I know I will do more of this as it helps me as a teacher feel the “sweaty” palms of a nervous writer! I believe it gives me more insight into their world also and walking a mile in their shoes is not a bad thing.
Oh… and I think this relates to the previous assignment but one of the new things I have tried with writing is to simply make comments and not put a grade/score on the paper so the kids actually read what I write to them! A colleague and I were talking and he suggested doing that and it worked! They were jazzed about what I had written and then came to me for a score!
Essentials of Writing: Assignment 3
ReplyDeleteJenny Lucas
Sharing Your Writing Life: Part One
Topics & Subtopics
Start of School
o Setting up my classroom
o Getting to know my new class
o Excited anticipation
Special Memory
o Memories of my sister
o Mexico
o Moving Day
Family
o My two Aunt Helens
o Grandma
o Ben and Sarah
Pets
o Snickerdoodle and Neo
o Buddy eats wood
o Mary, the dog who ate everything
Snickerdoodle and Neo
I have a dog named Snickerdoodle. He is tiny and cute and very sweet. And, he has the colors of a snickerdoodle cookie. The best thing about Snickerdoodle is that he keeps my family laughing all the time with his cute and crazy antics.
Snickerdoodle loves to play with his tennis ball. We have about a dozen tennis balls lying around our house and yard that he can play with. He ignores all of them except one. That one tennis ball is his favorite and it has become tattered and dirty while the other balls look just like new. My children have named his special ball “Neo”. Neo is a word that means “one”. My son often hides Neo in a pile of tennis balls. Everytime he does this, Snickerdoodle can find Neo. Snickerdoodle loves it when we throw Neo around for him. However, if we are busy doing other things, he doesn’t mind. He can toss Neo around by himself! He picks it up in his mouth, throws his head back, and lets Neo go! Then, he runs after Neo and starts all over again. The cutest thing Snickerdoodle and Neo do together is cuddle. We often find Snickerdoodle napping under the coffee table with his little paws wrapped around Neo. Awe!
Essentials of Writing: Assignment 3 continued
ReplyDeleteJenny Lucas
Sharing Your Writing Life: Part Two
Capturing A Moment
I couldn’t believe we were finally done! My husband, Derek and I had taken seven long days to build a water feature in our backyard. It was beautiful and, I have to admit, one of our finer home improvement projects. It was sturdily built with no leaks and a lovely trickling waterfall. The consultant from the water garden store assured us that it was a three to four day project. Why had it taken us so long? Several years ago, we took just two days to build a smaller, but similar feature in the backyard of our old house. What was different about this project? After much discussion about the details of the project, the set backs, the weather conditions, and the size of the pond compared to our previous one, Derek and I could not come up with a reasonable explanation for why it had taken so long. That is, until our son came out to admire the water feature. As he listened in to our conversation, I noticed him shaking his head back and forth. When I asked him why he was doing so, he looked at us with a bit of pity in his eyes. “Mom, Dad”, he said, “It’s obvious that the reason why this project took so much longer than it should have is because your old. “
Now, why didn’t we think of that?
Observation of my process:
o I knew that I wanted to set the reader up for a surprise ending. I wanted it to be funny because it was a funny memory.
o I rehearsed the gist story in my head before I started writing. It’s a story I have told before, but never attempted to write, so I know it would sound a bit different: more formal. I knew what my beginning and ending would be, but some of the middle came to me as I drafted.
o I found myself revising and editing as I drafted. Often, I went back a sentence or two to re-read and then make changes. When I was all done, I re-read the entire paragraph and made a few more edits.
Part 1
ReplyDeleteThe following are topics/subtopics that I would have explored with my first grade students:
Start of School
-first day nerves
-being new
-buying new supplies/clothes
-recess
-riding the bus
-new teacher
Special Trip Memories
-plane ride
-Disneyland
-Maui
-Grandma’s beach house
-hotels
Pets
-loss of Casey
-Taffy
-Teddy
-Jax
I currently do not have the opportunity to write in front of students, however if I did, I would have written about my favorite pet, a cocker spaniel named Taffy. Many of my students loved to write about the funny moments that occurred with family pets. I would have written the following to show my students how to take a simple statement (“My dog ate a donut last night”) and turn it into a story.
When I was seven I had a cocker spaniel named Taffy. She was a friendly little dog, but she often got into trouble. On Taffy’s first Christmas morning, she jumped onto the table when no one was looking and snatched a donut from a plate! We all tried to get the donut out of her mouth but it was no use. Taffy would not let go! We all decided that the donut was a pretty good present for her first Christmas and we let her eat the entire treat!
Part 2
First, I want to mention how pleasantly surprised I was to find myself enjoying this writing activity. Writing often felt like a chore while I was in school and I rarely to this day write for pleasure. When I do craft pieces of writing, even just emails and thank-you notes, I usually agonize over each line, wanting everything to be phrased perfectly. It felt really good to choose a topic that was meaningful to me and just write. This was one of the most valuable parts of the assignment, and a good reminder that we as teachers need to provide students a chance to make their own choices about writing topics, at least some of the time.
I chose to capture the last 10 minutes of my first flight to Hawaii, which took place when I was 13 years old. I traveled with my entire extended family to celebrate my grandparent’s 50 wedding anniversary. Before I even began writing, I took myself back to that moment so that I could re-capture all of the excitement and anticipation that I was feeling for that long-awaited trip. I made a quick list of the feelings, sights, and sounds that come to mind. Once I was ready to start writing, I kept that mental picture of being inside the plane present in my mind, and my list close by, and just wrote what came to me. Several times I crossed out words or groups of words and started again, and when I was stuck I stopped and gathered my thoughts/consulted my list.
I tried not to get distracted by some very obvious misspellings; my brain was working much faster than my hand and it was a struggle to spill everything onto the paper. I was surprised, actually, at how well my thoughts were coming out and I think this is largely due to the fact that I tried to let go of having the need for perfection in each sentence. When I was finished, I re-read my piece (silently and then out loud) and edited for spelling and re-worked a few parts so that it sounded more polished.
I can see how doing this activity more often would help me become a more comfortable and confident writer, which would in turn help me teach my students. It is so valuable for students to see their teachers as humans who have to plan, struggle, and sometime make mistakes with their writing. It’s all a part of the process, and the beauty of becoming humble in front of our students is that they take away so much more than if we are constantly showing perfection.
Hi Don. We’re glad you found the activity useful! It is helpful for the students to see our process and as you said realize that adults do not create perfect products the first time around. I just posted in the last weeks assignment about how I use lists when I write and rarely (if ever) any other type of organizer. :D It’s worthwhile for teachers to try some of our assignments that we give students.
ReplyDeleteMary, I chuckled when I read that your teachers told you to “Get to the point.” My mom has report cards of mine that say, “Maryidious is going around” I assume that they meant diarrhea of the mouth. My mom also says that they would call me “Mary Mouth.” I laugh now but isn’t this horrible, can you imagine saying this to one of your parents? :D
I actually had my homeroom changed in 7th or 8th grade because I talked so much. It’s funny that I became a teacher. Actually my close friends from college also would get into trouble for talking so much when they were younger and they are amazing educators. I seem to recall Jackie and her twin getting reminders about talking so much in college and grad school. Maybe us talkers are the best educators? ;-) I think leaving the grades off is a great idea. Interesting that they wanted to know what the score was. I bet more students will read your comments this way.
Jenny, thanks for sharing your stories, they were fun to read. :D
Hello Amy! I agree that giving students choice is essential. I like to think of it as choice within structure. Often I give a frame or topic to guide them, but allow them the freedom to take their story in the direction they want. Sometimes if a student really wants to write a different story or doesn’t follow the direction but produces a decent piece I just let it be. No sense beating a dead horse and I know they’ll be writing tomorrow and the next day and the day after that.
Part One: Topic Idea List
ReplyDelete1. Start of School - fears, what are excited about, what do you see in the classroom
2. Pets - Needs, Different types, which would you like
3. Favorite food - different types for different meals, create a recipe for favorite food
4. Sports - what type have you played before, which would you like to play, what equipment you need for the sport
Model piece topic - First day of school fears
First I would talk out loud while making a list of ideas or feelings about the first day of school.
Then I would begin to write four or five sentences about First day of school fears, which might look like this:
I get scared when I walk down the hallway to my new classroom. My stomach hurts and I wish I was back at home. Then I see a friend and I feel better. I wonder if we will get to sit next to each other. My teacher smiles at me and I don't feel so scared anymore.
Part Two: Writing Exercises
Spring Break
As I loaded the monorail, I knew my destination was the Magic Kingdom. My excitement grew as the voice on the intercom spoke the words “Next stop, Disney’s Magic Kingdom.” I began to wonder how Disney World’s Magic Kingdom would compare to Disneyland’s Magic Kingdom. My stomach was all butterflies as I waited for the monorail doors to open. I tried to remind myself not to run, but a fast walk would suffice. Then I looked around for the shortest ticket line and waited impatiently for the cast member to scan my ticket. Now through the turn style and as the sign says “Let The Magic Begin.”
Observations of my writing process:
I frequently stopped to get a better mental picture of what was happening and reflect on how I was feeling in that moment. A couple of times I erased what I wrote because after I read it I thought of a more vivid way to write it. It also seems to be a habit to stop and revise as I go. I want to make sure my sentences are clear and precise before moving on. This did at times distract me and I had to go back and reread to get back on track.
Hello Megan,
ReplyDeleteYou raise an important point when you reflected on your writing process. You liked to "frequently stop... to get a better mental picture...and reflect on how I was feeling in the moment." I think it is so important for student to have the time (and permission) to pause, think and reflect on their writing and what they want to say. Many times students are accused of "daydreaming" or told "get back to work" when in fact, they may actually be thinking about their assignment or writing piece.