Note: All quotes and page numbers correlate to Nancie Atwell’s Second Edition of In the Middle: New Understandings About Writing, Reading and Learning.
“They get bored telling what happened to them and bored listening to stories about other kid’s experience” (370). The solution is a memoir. “Memoir is how writers look for the past and make sense of it. We figure out who we are, who we have become, and what it means to us and to the lives of others: a memoir puts the events of a life in perspective for the writer and for those who read it. It is a way to validate to others the events of our lives¬–out choices, perspectives, decisions, responses” (372). The memoir not only includes a detailed account of the event, but it reflects on the importance of the event. Why it was significant in the writer’s life and how it shaped them or changed them.
In order to teach this, Atwell suggests modeling and studying specific memoirs while having students analyze what the author does and how the memoir works in mini lessons. She also gives a non example in which student are to create a list of “what doesn’t work.” Below is her non-example which could be adapted for your classroom:
MS. A’s BAAAAAAD MEMOIR
We were going ice-skating at Dieners’ pond.
“Will you wait for me?” Mom said.
“How come?” we asked.
“I want to go skating with you.”
“But you never go skating,” we replied.
“I have borrowed Rose’s skates,” she said.
Then we walked down to Dieners’ Pond. When we got there, we changed into our skates. When Mom skated, she was really good. She did figure eights backwards. We have never seen our mother skate before. It was a big surprise.
After about two hours we went home and had hot chocolate. It was a great day.
Once students are given a bad example, they will make a list of why the above memoir is a bad example. Students should be able to recognize the following:
The memoir only gives the facts
There are no thoughts or feelings
The tense is not first person singular
A lot of the characters do not have names or what they are like
Description is missing
The setting isn’t clear
There is no reflection for the reader or writer. The story seems pointless.
Once studying a series of memoirs, students can come up with another list of “Qualities of Memoirs That Work For Us.”
Some Memoir to use for these lessons are listed below:
Thursday, March 21, 2013
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Reading Conversations
Note: All quotes and page numbers
correlate to Nancie Atwell’s Second Edition of In the Middle: New
Understandings About Writing, Reading and Learning.
I wanted to
take today to reflect on reading letter writing that Nancie Atwell uses and
suggests. This procedure makes a lot for sense to me as a 7th grade
English teacher. This year I have had to teach letter writing and responding to
reading. However, they have been isolated and as a result have not stuck with
my kids. I am 300 pages into the book now, and will go back and reflect on some
other important sections of the book, but wanted to make sure I took the time
and reflected on how to create reading response journals and how I plan to use
them next year.
I will be
using Nancie’s model for her introductory letter for her student’s journals.
She types out a letter that introduces the reading journal and the requirements
and weekly expectations for the journal. This letter is attached to the inside
of each student’s journal. She admits “Although I know it will take kids a
while to get the hang of the system, its rules and regulations are in place
from the beginning; so are my expectations” (297).
Upon receipt
of their journals, students are to “number the pages because this data…[is
reported] to their parents at the end of each grading period, along with the
number of books and the range of genres represented”(297).
I also plan
on using the same expectations as Nancie Atwell:
“Students write and answer letters both
during the workshop and for homework. This means that at any given time in reading
workshop some students will be reading, some will be writing letters in their
own journals, some will be answering letters in others’ journals, and some will
be retrieving or delivering notebooks. All of this happens silently. The
twenty-four hour rule about writing back ensure that letters answered outside
of the class are back in time for the next days’ workshop, and that students
don’t loose track of each other’s journals” (297).
When I
started teaching our department was using SSR logs in which student explained
three details of the text they were reading and either made a prediction, or
connection, or asked a question. However, the only accountability with this was
that students got a grade for their work. I think the Journals would help students
be more motivated as they are writing to their friends and the requirement is
not to be writing every night about what they read.
Nancie also
has a suggested weekly homework schedule in which students read for a half an
hour each night. Ultimately their logs and their end of the quarter reading
list they develop track their overall reading.
I will
reflect more on Evaluation of the reading and Writing Workshop later. Until
next time.
Sunday, February 17, 2013
Modeling reading- What I am teaching my kids...
-->
Note: All quotes and page numbers
correlate to Nancie Atwell’s Second Edition of In the Middle: New
Understandings About Writing, Reading and Learning.
Oh Nancie
Atwell! I am learning so much from you! I am continuing my reading of In the
Middle and will continue to respond to my readings weekly because Nancie’s
writing is inspirational to a teacher of English.
Within the
second chapter of Nancie’s book are many quotes that got me thinking about my
own practices as a reading teacher this year and what I would like to change
for next year. The first thing that stood out to me was the following quote:
“But we rarely make time in class for students
to read or allow them any say in what they read. And Students almost never see
their English teacher reading” (28).
I have found
myself guilty of not allowing enough times for my students to read. I am
supposed to be letting them read 20 minutes a day as it is, but rarely find
time for that with the curriculum I have to cover, the many tests my students
have to take, and the other initiatives that come my way throughout the year.
And very rarely during students’ SSR time, do they see me reading. I have to
use that time to work on lesson plans for the following week, and grade student
essays, start ups, and quizzes.
Upon further
reading, Nancie points out “Twenty One Lessons Teachers Demonstrate About
Reading” from which 3 stood out to me that I am sure I do.
#11. “It’s
wrong to become so interested in a text that you read more than the fragment
the teacher assigned” (29).
We finished Tangerine
by Edward Bloor a month ago. A few of my students loved it! They loved it so
much they read ahead! And what did I teach them?... That reading ahead was bad.
I tried explaining, I was glad they thought the book was great, but I also said
they needed to stop reading so they did not get ahead of the class. Reflecting
on this, I now realize I should have let them devour that book up. It was my
own lack of abilities and creativity as a teacher that made me not want them to
finish before the unit was over. What would I have them do when they finished?
What if they spoiled the ending for the rest of the class? What would I do
then?
#14. “Rereading
a book is cheating, so are skimming, skipping and looking ahead” (29).
Again, with Tangerine,
this was our first and my first class novel. And guess what? It was not the
first time some of my students had read this book… and what did I teach them? I
did not encourage them to thoroughly reread the text. I did not explain the
importance of rereading and the enjoyment one can get out of reading a book for
the second or third time…
#20. “There’s another kind of reading, an enjoyable,
secret, satisfying kind you can do on your free time or outside of school” (29).
While I let
my students pick their own books and they enjoy SSR time and it is not a secret
endeavor, I don’t think I always portray the same enthusiasm in reading with
the class our class novels and other readings. And so what am I teaching them?
The school reading is boring and not fun
Nancie’s
solution to these woes is not only having the writing workshop I talked about a
few weeks ago, but also a reading workshop. She creates these worshops by
having “frequent book talks about new additions to the library as well as old
favorites, and I schedule frequent ‘book shares’: times for readers to go
around the circle and describe their books to classmates” (37). She also gives
students a readers notebook to write letters to their friends and teacher about
what they are reading. This create an authentic adult-like conversation about
literature as students and teacher write back and respond about their books (41).
“I also
guessed that a written exchange between two readers, a student and an adult,
would move kids deeper inside written texts, with the give and take of the
dialogue helping them consider and develop their thoughts about the writing
they were reading” (41).
Sunday, February 10, 2013
Other Blogs
In research to find great English Teacher blogs here is what I have found and would like to share:
A world language arts site
To help you find books that grab your male students' attention
And another one
My professor's own LA blog
A dear Friend of mine's witty experiences in life and teaching College English.
A teacher's ideas and own blog for differentiated instruction.
MORE COMING SOON
"Learning to Teach Writing" Part 2
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Continuing in my reading, I am
becoming more inspired to give my students some of the reins to my classroom.
Maybe I can call it a “free writing” workshop, where students can choose
whatever they would like to write about and whatever format they would like to
write in. This will be my own personal workshop test. While Atwell encourages
the workshop, she also stresses the importance of still teaching directly the
skills students need as writers such as “procedures, conventions, craft, genre,
and topic development” (Atwell, 15). She also stresses the importance of giving
students time to write in class. I am now convinced that the teacher needs to
function as a guide: “a mentor of writing, a mediator of writing strategies,
and a model of a writer at work” (Atwell, 21). To me this means that I am not only
teaching my students directly, but that I am showing them how I write and I am
participating in the workshop with them to demonstrate constructive criticism
and revision and to learn from my students also.
Some ways, Nancie instills
structure in her classroom is by always having a mini lesson and by having certain
guidelines for student workshop participation. She says, “I expect students to experiment
with different genres, attempt professional publication, produce minimum pages
of draft each week and finished pieces of writing each trimester, attend to conventions
as they draft, take notes on mini lessons, be quiet, and work as hard in
writing workshop as I do” (Atwell, 25). By the end of this chapter I have not been thoroughly
convinced that I can do this workshop class with all of my current students. I still
have a hard time wrapping my mind around how this will work for my most needy students
and my students who consistently demonstrate disruptive behavior. As I continue
through this book and venture into setting up a workshop classroom I hope to
have these questions answered and worries resolved.
Friday, February 8, 2013
"Learning to Teach Writing"
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While I hope to read and reflect on
multiple writings for my own professional development, I am intrigued by my
beginning readings of In the Middle: New Understanding About Writing,
Reading, and Learning by Nancie Atwell. I began the first chapter of this
book today: Learning How to Teach Writing.
At first, I felt her stories a little wordy and I just wanted to get to the
answer: how do I better teach my students to write? Like Nancie did, I fear
that using the workshop format for LA will cause utter chaos and severe
classroom management problems with my 7th graders. However, I know
the ones who could handle less structure would excel greatly and love the
chance to write what they want and explore the Art of Language. Her writing
challenges me to trust my students and learn from them as a teacher, to let
them write about things they care about, things they know and things they can
share with others (Atwell, 14). While I am still a little leery with trying
this with all students, I am intrigued that Atwell argues, “Freedom of choice
does not undercut structure. Instead, students become accountable for learning
about and using the structures available to writers to serve their purposes”
(15). I have yet to finish the chapter, but am becoming convinced to at least
try this workshop approach with at least one of my classes this year.
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