How Do We Launch the Writer’s Notebook?
Read aloud a children’s book that connects to your group of writers...use the book as a springboard for writing and pass out the notebooks when they are ready to write about their connections!
Play a video connected to being brave! (Sara Bareilles' song "Brave")
Create an invitation to begin the notebook—wrap the notebook up like a present and include an invitation and/or a poem!
Invite students to decorate their notebooks!
(Frye, 2019, slide 13).
What Are the Benefits of the Writer's Notebook?
Promotes fluency in writing —a safe place to practice writing AND to grow writing volume
Builds writing stamina
Encourages risk taking
Provides opportunities for observation, discovery and reflection
Validates personal experiences and feelings (everyday experiences)
Promotes visible thinking
Promotes the development of written language conventions
Provides a record of writing
Provides an opportunity for writers to find significance
(Frye, 2019, slide 11-12)
Differentiating the Writer's Notebook
The blog posting by Beth Moore, does a wonderful job of breaking down what the writer's notebook should look like in each grade. It discusses the importance of student choice and providing students with materials to try out and see what works best for them. The author discusses having an organized space in the classroom where all the materials can be kept, free for students to engage with throughout the day. She mentions that using writing centers is a great way to stay organized and promote student writing (Moore, 2018, para. 17). Here is a link to another blog post by Beth Moore about setting up writing centers: https://twowritingteachers.org/2017/03/06/back-to-basics-writing-centers/. Lastly, the blog talks about how we need to provide differentiated tools and incorporate technology into our writing time. Using things like google docs, digital notebooks, and even voice to text devices, will help to accommodate all students' needs (Moore, 2018, para. 18-20).
When Students Get Stuck, What Do I Do?
When students get stuck or frustrated with their writing, it is always a good idea to take a break, step back, and move students' minds to another subject. In Dr. Frye's presentation, she provided some ideas of what to do to change course:
"Pause during the workshop and read aloud from another student’s work. Compliment this student and suggest you know that others are engaging in this strategy. Suggest that you can’t wait to read others’ work as you move around the room" (Frye, 2019, slide 35).
"Pause during the workshop and share something compelling that you have recently learned about; this can be connected to pop culture, world events, etc. HAVE THIS ON HAND. Prepare to share this content and show how you are inspired to write about this. Perhaps you model how to write a list poem or a question poem about this content" (Frye, 2019, slide 35).
"Read aloud from a book that serves as a springboard for future writing...POETRY is always an option!" (Frye, 2019, slide 35).
Furthermore, you can prompt students with writing ideas if they are stuck on what to write about. Here are some ideas:
use newspaper or magazine clippings (words, pictures)
my favorite person/animal is...
a special place to me..
look at an object and write about it
write a list
write about a scar you may have
read a photograph
More ideas: (Frye, 2019, slides 37-49).
I explored the prompt, clippings:
Heart Maps
The idea of heart maps comes from the article, Heart maps: Helping students create and craft authentic writing. In this article, it discusses heart maps as a way to promote student writing and ideas. The article provides 4 different heart map ideas for students to choose from, listed below. Teachers, if you are interested in trying heart maps with students, this article does a great job of showing you examples of each, providing prompts and questions for students, and listing mentor texts that you can use to introduce each type of heart map (Heard, 2016, pg. 24-76).
Blank Canvas: fill in your heart with memories, important people, wishes, dreams, likes, dislikes, secrets, talents, or anything you have in your heart.
Small Moment: think about a small moment in your life. What feelings did you have, what happened, how did you feel, what did you smell, etc.
My Pet or Favorite Animal
Special Place
My heart map from my writer's notebook:
Professional Readings:
This week we read the beginning of Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson. In this book, the author writes about her life growing up as an African American during the 1960s-70s and her family history. One page that really stood out to me from the book was page 14. The quote, "A moment when you walk into a room and no one there is like you" really resonated with me (Woodson, 2014, pg. 14). I think this quote is very relatable to all because at one point or another, you have probably felt out of place or like an outcast. Maybe you spoke another language, looked different, or had different interests than the people you were around. I think this quote really reminds readers that you are not alone and everyone has felt out of place, while also tying in a piece of U.S. history. Having learned about the south during the Civil Right Movement, I think the author comparing the idea of feeling out of place to a brown boy in an all-white school, really emphasizes how hard it was for African Americans during this time.
Furthermore, this book is a wonderful mentor text for teacher's focusing on identity and/or poetry. It dives into the author's life, discussing her birth, her name, and her experiences in both Ohio and South Carolina. On page 6-7, the author discusses how she got her name and how her father wanted to name her Jack, but her mother did not want her to have a boys name (Woodson, 2014). I think using this section to talk about names and the importance of names to one's identity would be a great way to show students how you can write about your name and make it into a story. Under 'useful links', there are other links, sites and lesson plans that will help you teach names and identity to students.
This week we also continued reading Mentor Texts: Teaching Writing Through Children's Literature, K-6 and Textbook Amy Krouse Rosenthal. Chapter two of Mentor Texts discussed how students can develop personal stories through the sharing of literature. Read-alouds are imperative to the writing process because "when students connect to literature on a personal level, they can begin to see that they have similar experiences or feelings", sparking writing ideas (Dorfman & Cappelli, 2017, pg. 22). The chapter goes on to discuss how reading books to students creates connections between common experiences they have had, emotions from the book they too have felt, or connections with the book characters through pictures. Furthermore, an idea the chapter brings up that I think is really neat is the 'outdoor writer's cafe'. The outdoor writer's cafe involves students going outside and writing what they hear, smell, see, etc, or using objects they see outside to spark writing. I really like this idea because it gets students outside, engaging their imagination, sparking future writing ideas, and enjoying nature, all while participating in writing.
This week, I went on a nature walk, or bear hunt, as my nanny kid called it, listening and observing what was around me. This sparked an idea for my writer's notebook.
Lastly, Textbook Amy Krouse Rosenthal continues to provide prompts and be a mentor text for writers (Rosenthal, 2016, pg. 60-101). In the end, "read-alouds do not always have to be whole books. They can be one or several passages from a chapter of a more lengthy text" (Dorfman & Cappelli, 2017, pg. 24). So, Amy Krouse Rosenthal's book would be a great read-aloud, allowing students to write off a word or phrase, add to a story, or spark a new idea from one of her stories.
Useful links:
My name my identity campaign:
Student Voice: Respecting the Name, Respecting the Identity: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOipDe7lhYM&feature=youtu.be
When I am among the trees poem by Mary Oliver: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OGZTEF8fODLJAM2SO0m6FyLIGjxGYy5k8gLbl-85vW0/edit
Sources:
Dorfman, L.R. & Cappelli, R. (2017) Mentor texts teaching writing through children's
literature, K-6. Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers.
Frye, B. (2019). Effective Writing Instruction and Launching the Writer’s Notebook [Powerpoint slides]. Retrieved from
Heard, G. (2016). Heart maps: Helping students create and craft authentic writing.
Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Moore, B. (2018, November 9). Differentiating the writer's notebook for every stage k-
8: notebooks as a writer's tool. [Blog Post]. Retrieved from
Rosenthal, A. K. (2016) Textbook Amy Krouse Rosenthal. New York, NY: Dutton.
Woodson, J. (2014). Brown girl dreaming. New York, NY: Puffin Books.