This week we were introduced to the writer's notebook and challenged to start our own. To me, a writer's notebook is a personal space where you can deeply reflect on your thoughts, life circumstances, or just be creative in your writing. Here, you can write about anything and everything your brain wanders to. Your writing may not look like a paper and that is okay. It can be in the form of a poem, a grocery list, an illustration with words, or writing about a picture or ticket stub for example. The important part of a writer's notebook is that you are excited and willing to write.
At first, I was a little nervous to start my writer's notebook. What would I write about? What if I have writer's block? How can I keep myself writing? These were common fears of mine as I began to think about my own writer's notebook, however, as soon as I opened my notebook, my pencil started to flow. Page after page, I was easily able to come up with new ideas to write about and at times, had to force myself to stop, which is always wonderful. After going back through my notebook and looking at the things I wrote about, my topics were random and all over the place, which made me chuckle. This past week I wrote off a poem, wrote a quote, used the word "inspiration" to write off of, wrote my own 3x3 poem, and even doodled a picture. Below are two of my writing pieces from this week that I wanted to share.
For this week's professional readings, we read from the books: Textbook Amy Krouse Rosenthal, Mentor Text: Teaching Writing through Children's Literature, K-6, and article: The Writer's Notebook.
Textbook Amy Krouse Rosenthal is a book that is hilarious and unique, but ordinary at the same time. The author writes about subjects that are relatable to readers. Her wit and play on words is so captivating and keeps you wanting more. Page after page, I would find myself thinking, yes I totally do that too! From "when my hand slips into the pocket of a coat I haven't worn in a while and I am unexpectedly reunited with a small but pleasing item" (Rosenthal, 2016, pg. 13), to being at a water park and being at the top of the park's highest and steepest slide thinking "Okay, he didn't die. Okay, she didn't die either" as the people go ahead of me (Rosenthal, 2016, pg. 21). The way Amy Krouse Rosenthal writes is very attractive to readers. It is easy to read and keeps one wanting to read, what more can you ask of an author! From the moment I picked up this book, I knew it was going to be a good one. The way the author starts out the book by thanking things like cornbread and the man that stands on the corner, to adding in the 'condition of the author' was so unexpected but done in a fun, carefree, and lackadaisical way. To think this book couldn't get any better, I soon found areas in the book where you can text the author and interact with the book digitally. Overall, I think this book is a wonderful example to students that writing does not have to be serious or boring, but you can write about everyday things. When you can connect with your own or someone else's writing, you are more eager and excited to read and write.
Serendipity. A word that if you are like me, sounds familiar, but you have not put much thought into the meaning behind it before. In Textbook Amy Krouse Rosenthal, the word serendipity is talked about in great detail as the author reflects on things in her life that brought serendipity. To me, serendipity describes pleasant things in life that happen by chance when you are not looking for them. It is a coincidence that something happens. Amy Krouse Rosenthal further explains the meaning of serendipity, but takes a slightly different course. She adds that "if you like something, you tend to be on the lookout for it. And if you're on the lookout for it, you tend to find it, or it finds you" (Rosenthal, 2016, pg. 24). To me, she is saying that we put ourselves in situations where pleasant outcomes are to follow. We may not be expecting something pleasant or worthwhile to happen at that moment, however, our actions help lead up to it. For example, on page 30 Amy Krouse Rosenthal talks about how one Sunday morning she heard a thump at the door. After seeing what it was, she finds that a bird had flown into the window. She then decides to pick up the bird, put it in a shoebox, bring it inside, and call a bird rescue service. Later, she notices a letter that her husband had written when he was younger that said: A bird was in our house..(Rosenthal, 2016). Yes, these two things happened completely by accident, however, it was Amy's decision to rescue the bird and bring it inside, rather than leaving it on the porch and forgetting about it. That is serendipity.
In chapter one of Mentor Text: Teaching Writing through Children's Literature, K-6 the authors put a great deal of focus on mentor texts and the importance of them when it comes to literacy. According to the chapter, "mentor texts are pieces of literature that we can return to again and again as we help our young writers learn how to do what they may not yet be able to do on their own" (Dorfman & Cappelli, 2017, pg. 6). Mentor texts are so important because they allow students to grow as writers, teach writing craft, help solve revision problems, allow students to take risks, think outside of the box, and give students ideas on how writers gather ideas (Dorfman & Cappelli, 2017, pg. 10-11). As a teacher, you may wonder "where would a mentor text fit into my day?". The neat thing about mentor texts that this book goes on to describe is how easily they can fit into the writing process. Typically, writing workshops consist of a short mini-lesson, being a great place to use a mentor text, which in return benefits all students (Dorfman & Cappelli, 2017, pg. 16). Overall, this chapter really opened my eyes to the importance of mentor texts in the literacy classroom and just how beneficial they are to motivating and growing writers.
This poem comes from the article: The Writer's Notebook by Ralph Fletcher (2001, pg. 2). When I came across this poem while reading, I decided that it does such a fabulous job of describing what a writer's notebook should be, that I needed to include it in my writer's notebook! This quote perfectly summarizes to students what a writer's notebook is and how its a place for students to simply write. An important lesson to teach students regarding the writer's notebook is that one should not worry about other things such as grammar or mistakes, rather, use the notebook as a place to experiment, observe, express, and wonder (Fletcher, 2001, pg. 2). Furthermore, this article goes on to describe ways that one can incorporate the writer's notebook into the classroom. One idea the article gave to get students writing is to use "seed ideas". If students are dealing with writer's block or need help coming up with ideas, providing students with prompts like "my favorite person... I've always wondered or It's not fair that.." are great ways to get students writing or thinking about a prompt that they can come back to in the future (Fletcher, 2001, pg. 2). Overall, this article does a great job of giving teachers ideas on how to motivate students to write and prompt them when needed. Like the article mentions, if students are "given time and good models, young writers will fill the pages of their notebooks with poetry, stories, and facts", further proving the importance of teacher support in the classroom (Fletcher, 2001, pg. 3).
Classroom Connections: For teachers wanting to use the writer's notebook with students, I think the biggest takeaways from this week's reading and my exploration with my writer's notebook would be to just try it! There is an abundance of resources that provide prompts and techniques on how to aid students in writing such as mentor texts, lifting the line, using seed ideas, and writing off a photograph that were discussed this week. As teachers decide how they want to incorporate the writer notebook into their classroom, I first urge you to keep a notebook of your own. By doing this, you will be a great role model for students, as well as, get to experience what it means to live like a writer through your observations, emotions, wonders and language. Just as authors Dorfman and Cappelli mention, when teachers partake in their own writing, they become part of the writing community, a fellow writer, and they engage in the same struggles and problem solving skills as young writers (Dorfman & Cappelli, 2017, pg. 12). So, in order to grow our students in writing, we as teachers, need to partake in the process as both a writer and a supporter.
Here is a video for teachers with more ideas on what to include in a writers notebook:
Useful Links:
Sources:
Dorfman, L.R. & Cappelli, R. (2017) Mentor texts teaching writing through children's
literature, K-6. Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers.
Fletcher, R. (2001, July). The writer's notebook, School Talk, NCTE, 6(4), 1-6.
Rosenthal, A. K. (2016) Textbook Amy Krouse Rosenthal. New York, NY: Dutton.
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