revisions and conventions

Routman speaks about an internal conversation that a good writer needs to have in order to be able to revise a paper. I think that this is a really important lesson to teach your students and I actually recently had some firsthand experience teaching this. Last week I taught a lesson to my 7th graders that had to do with having this internal conversation. I read a story out loud to my students and throughout the whole story I was having an out loud conversation to myself so that the kids could see what was happening. I was trying to show them the process of having this conversation so that they could all have an idea of what that revision consciousness looked like.
Another lesson that Routman talks about is making sure the students understand why conventions are important. This hit home for me because I have recently had an experience with a kid who came to this realization through a conversation with me. I was reading this student’s paper the other day and it was filled with incorrect conventions. When I brought his revised paper to him he was very reluctant to fix his mistakes. He said that it didn’t matter and that those ‘rules’ are stupid anyway. I asked him to sit down with me and listen to me read his story out loud the way that I understood it. I read his paper to him without stopping and even if I knew he intended for me to pause, I wouldn’t if there was no punctuation. Throughout the whole process this student was laughing out loud but at the same time he was starting to understand the importance of conventions. This was a really good experience for me as a teacher because I felt like I helped a kid in a very creative way. If I would have sat down and lectured him he probably wouldn’t have gotten a single thing out of it. However, I showed him the importance of conventions in a way that he not only got but that he enjoyed as well. It’s moments like these that remind me that teaching can be fun!

Geoffery Canada

I watched a you tube video on Geoffery Canada and instantly became inspired. In the beginning of his speech he talks about the disappointment he had as a young boy when he found out that Superman didn’t exist. He said that the reason this made him so sad was because he realized that Superman wasn’t going to swoop down and save us all, that there was no man with a super power that would come and change the way our world was functioning and he realized at that moment that if he wanted to make a difference, he was gonna have to do it himself.
One thing I particular enjoyed in Canada’s speech was his attitude towards excuses. I loved how he explained that when he started this program he made sure that the people working for him knew very well the families and kids that were going to need the help. He did this so that months down the road they wouldn’t come to him and say, “Well that family was on drugs” or give any other excuse as to why they couldn’t help that particular child. I thought this was so important because as teachers I think we are so quick to find excuses as to why we couldn’t help a student out.
Canada speaks about how one of the most important parts in the Harlem Children’s Zone is motivating the families to not give up. Without the families on board, this project cannot work and motivating them can be the hardest part. These families look at the glass half empty after everything they have been through and the Harlem Children Zone’s job is to get them to believe that even though everything in their life may be telling them differently, there is faith that things can change. He further explained that America has the highest suicide rate in children than anywhere else in the world. He rationalizes this by describing how these children take on their family’s perspectives and if the families have no faith that they will ever get out of this poverty lifestyle, the kids believe it to. Canada gives an example of his old football coach who was always able to see the good in things no matter how bad they got. He explains that this is the hope and the attitude that needs to be given to these families because for many of them, things can’t get a whole lot worse.
The most important message I got out of Canada’s speech was that it’s not about the money, the publicity or even the schooling that makes the biggest difference. It is reaching out to the families of the children and helping them to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Canada realizes the role that these families play in their students lives and is not naïve to the fact that if the families have no faith for change, the children won’t either.

What a great book :)

In this weeks blog I couldn't help but write about Lamott's final paragraph on page 237. I have enjoyed this book so much and it has not only inspired me to continue reading and writing but it has given me so many important lessons and ideas that I can share with my students. Lamott ends his book by explaining the importance of reading and writing. He talks about how reading and writing can "deepen and widen and expand our sense of life: they feed the soul". I thought that this was so well put and so true. Sometimes when life gets hard and things don't go your way, escaping in a book can be the only cure. Loving to read and write is not something that comes naturally to a lot of kids. However, I do think it is something that teachers can help students learn. A lot of students don't ever get a chance to pick a book that they really enjoy or write about something they feel passionate about. These are two things that a teacher can make sure happens in a students life.
I loved how Lamott ended this book with the analogy of singing on a boat. He says, "It's like singing on a boat during a terrible storm at sea. You can't stop the raging storm, but singing can change the hearts and spirits of the people who are together on that ship". This is such a beautiful analogy because that is exactly what good writing can do. Sometimes we need to write or read about tragedy's, heartbreaks, or unjust actions in this world. Good writers can take these things and either shed a little light on them or even inspire people to go out and do something about it.
Throughout Lamott's book I have remembered how important it is to express yourself through writing and how important it is to dive into a good book. Ending Bird by Bird with this paragraph was perfect because I think it summed up the importance of Lamott writing this book. As a teacher I hope that I can inspire my students to read and write and show them the important life lessons you can learn and teach through the acts of reading a book and writing a story.

The Importance of Planning

To put it nicely, I have been put with a dyad teacher that doesn’t necessarily believe in ‘planning’. This has been a little bit of a struggle for my dyad partner and myself simply because as students aspiring to become teachers, it would be nice to see how things are properly done. However, I have learned the importance of planning through seeing the lack of it. I realize that as the years roll by teachers become less and less elaborate with their lesson plans but without a plan and a goal in mind, the classroom seems to lose purpose and structure. I have watched this classroom spend an entire period working on other homework because my teacher had nothing planned. I have watched dance parties happen, nonstop computer games and a 2 hour gossip session occur all due to the lack of planning. I understand that planning takes time, that teachers aren’t paid great and that ‘winging’ it can be very tempting. However, we are dealing with students lives here and to not have a higher purpose for what you are doing is very disturbing to me.

I think that this was a very valuable lesson for me to learn. Just like any other job, teaching can become tedious and teachers can become burned out. I can only hope that by seeing the effects of a teacher who does not plan it will help me when I get to the point where I might not want to plan either. Teachers must have a greater purpose for what they’re doing. These kids are smart and they catch on to a class that has no structure. I think the biggest lesson I have learned through this experience is that no matter what happens you cannot go into a day of teaching like you would a waitressing job. I hope I can always remember why I teach and never lose sight of my greater purpose.

Falling Behind

In observing a first grade classroom I have seen kids who were obviously at different levels in their reading, writing or picture drawing skills. However, unless we’re talking about a severe learning disability, the kids in this first grade classroom were all relatively on the same level. On the other hand, observing a 7^th grade social studies classroom at Hamilton middle school has given me a rude awakening. There are kids in this classroom that cannot read a picture book let alone a 7^th grade level reading book. Unfortunately, the assignment is always for the whole class to read this 7^th grade level book and then to write a book review on it. I have watched kids bring long division math homework problems in to the classroom and yet when I ask them to add two double digit numbers together they are at a complete loss. Because of these things, kids are failing, being perceived as ‘lazy’ or as ‘having a bad attitude’ and then essentially are given up on... once again. This has been such a disheartening experience for me and makes me wonder what happens to these kids throughout school. Who was the first teacher to let them slip through the cracks? Was it a domino effect from there? And most importantly, how do we, as educators let this happen?

Although there is no part of me that could ever see myself teaching middle school I must admit that it was the best experience I could have ever experienced. I can only hope that I will always remember how bad my heart hurts every time I come home from school and realize that there are kids out there who are simply receiving zero help because everyone around them has given up on them. My goal as a teacher is to never let a kid slip through the cracks.

Originality

From the time we are young students we are told to use proper grammar, conventions, paragraph formation, etc. We are told to put a certain amount of sentences in each paragraph, we are told the topics to write about, the voice to write in and many times we will turn in a paper and get it back with negative feedback about our own personal ideas. Although, I do think that some of this is beneficial, I think that sometimes it can teach us, as writers, that there is a "right" and a "wrong" way to write. However, Lamott writes that, "All the good stories are out there waiting to be told in a fresh, wild way" (Lamott, p. 181). He speaks about how we all offer our own perspectives and ideas and originality and in order to write a good story we need to use these things.

I think this was a very good lesson to learn as a teacher because I think it is important to teach your students to be creative, to express their ideas in an original way and to not simply re-write stories they have already heard. I think it is important as a teacher to create a safe environment where the students are not scared to make mistakes, scared to write in their own way or scared to turn in something that is not exactly the way a writing book tells them to do so.

I also want to acknowledge that I do think it is important for students to know the basic principles of writing. Nobody wants to read a story that they can't understand or follow. However, I think too often we can hinder students creativity by shooting down ideas that don't follow the 'norm'. Lamott understands the importance of a "fresh" story and I think this is an idea that gets passed over a lot in schools.

It may take a whole book....

The passage from Lamott that I want to talk about today is on page 103. He states that, "There may be a flickering moment of insight in a one-liner, in a sound bite, but everyday meat-and-potato truth is beyond our ability to capture in a few words. Your piece is the truth, not just one shining epigrammatic moment in it."
I thought that this quote was very powerful because so many stories have pages beyond pages of mindless writing and then attempt to capture the hearts of their audience in one sentence at the very end. Lamott explains that it takes a whole book sometimes to get that moral message across to the reader and a good story will have the depth and consistency that will allow the reader to feel what he is trying to convey.
I think that this message is really important for new writers because I have noticed in the middle school that I have been in the last few months that a lot of the students will write 3 pages about a toy wagon and end the story with, "and the lesson I learned is to always be nice to others". Although, the story was very interesting and the moral very nice, there is no connection between the two to make it very powerful at all. I think Lamott has something when he says, "The core, ethical concepts in which you most passionately believe are the language in which you are writing". Your message should come from your whole piece, not the ending sentences.

The writing process

Anne Lamott writes, "Almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts. You need to start somewhere. Start by getting something- anything- down on paper. A friend of mine says the first draft is the down draft- you just get it down. The second draft is the up draft- you fix it up. You try to say what you have to say more accurately. And the third draft is the dental draft, where you check every tooth, to see if its loose or cramped or decayed, or even, God help us, healthy" (p.25).

I chose this passage for a few reasons, the first reason I chose it is because I feel very strongly that this is the best way to produce a paper. I think that people try too hard to write a perfect first paper and they lose substance because of it. When a writer is allowed to think freely about their ideas without worrying too much about sentence structure or punctuation they will be able to express their thoughts more vividly. I also like how Lamott uses the second draft not as a final draft but as a "fix it up draft". I think this is important because many times writers will use their second draft as a final draft but this does not give them enough time or editing to create their best piece. The third draft he calls the "dental draft" because this is where you can go through and make all the final changes to make sure that it is the best piece you can turn in. I think this is really important because at this point the paper is in its final stages and should be relatively organized and clear. This third process allows a writer to go through and make sure all the I's are dotted and T's are crossed.

The second reason I chose to talk about this passage is because it directly relates to what we are doing in class right now and it's very interesting to see the process put down in writing. When we were asked to write our rough drafts for the literacy vignette I thought really hard about what Lamott says about first drafts and tried to keep it in the back of my mind while writing my paper. It was very hard for me not to go back and re-read each sentence to make sure it was written correctly or fit in to my story. However, once I made myself just continue writing without re-reading I was able to get a lot more ideas down and I actually found that I was able to write more ideas in a more efficient time.

This passage spoke to me because of the clever way that he explained each draft of writing and because when I think about the times I have written my best pieces they have always resulted from going through this process. It is important as a writer to have a specific plan while writing a paper and Lamott lays out a great plan to do so. I am really enjoying Lamott's outlook on writing and even more so am enjoying his sarcastic and entertaining way of writing himself.

My students at the pumpkin patch

Before he cheats video

Making teaching fun!!

Writing Essentials

I chose to write about the 12 writing essentials because I think the most challenging aspect of writing is becoming overwhelmed with everything that is supposed to go into a writing piece. I think that many students sit down to write a story and instantly become stressed about the many features that are required to create a solid piece. I really like these 12 writing essentials because it paints a very clear and manageable picture of what needs to be done from both a writer’s perspective as well as a teachers.
From a writers standpoint I think it would be helpful to go through this checklist and use it as a guide in starting a writing piece. I really like the order in which they are distributed because I think the first couple skills are essential to think about before you even put your pen to the paper. As the list goes down it focuses more on revising your paper such as “reread, rethink, and revise while composing” and “apply correct convention and form”.
I think that each of these writing essentials is a skill that can be taught. For instance, writing for a specific reader is a skill we are working on in my middle school dyad as we speak. The students are required to take the same subject and write to two separate audiences. It is fascinating as a teacher to watch some of the students grasp this concept and watch some of them really struggle. It took some students a few tries to get how to change the voice of their paper but after a few lessons where they were shown how to correct what they had wrote they were finally able to grasp it. This shows me that this is a skill that can be taught and more importantly, is a very important skill to teach these students.
The writing essential that I found to be the most fun and at times easy for students to grasp is to, “create engaging leads”. We worked on this in my dyad as well and the entire class really enjoyed doing this. It was an opportunity for them to use their imagination and they all seemed to grasp the importance of the “hook”. I think the trickiest part for the young writers is to find a way to engage their readers from the beginning with a sentence that relates to the rest of their story. Many of the students wanted to begin with a catchy sentence that had nothing to do with their story but after a few tries and examples they were able to see that it needed to somehow relate back to their main topic. This made it a little more challenging for the students but they were all still able to come up with some wonderfully creative openings.
I think the most powerful writing essential is to “read widely and deeply- and with a writer’s perspective”. I found this to be the most powerful because as writers we forget how important it is to read in order to become a successful writer. This essential is saying that not only do we need to read but we need to read from a writers perspective meaning we need to notice what other authors are doing and trying to pay attention to the different characters and genres. It’s amazing what we can learn from different authors if we pay attention. I think this is extremely important and something that students don’t do enough. Reading and writing can go hand and hand but one must actively connect the two in order for it to benefit their skills as a writer.

The reading and writing process

In this weeks journal I wanted to talk about something that has been a hot topic in my main placement classroom and that I can now greatly relate back to the Fox chapters. A few weeks ago I attended the writers workshop training because that is what I will be teaching in the winter and spring. While I was at this workshop there were a lot of angry teachers that were explaining that they did not like writers workshop because it does not teach students to write properly, spell correctly or edit their work. This got me thinking a lot about this program and has sparked some pretty interesting conversations between my master teacher and myself. Our conversations have consisted of a back and forth conversation about how on one hand, writers workshop allows children not to get tied down by worrying about spelling and proper conventions and worry more about expressing all their ideas, but on the other hand, is that such a good thing? When do these kids learn how to spell? Is this another curriculum? Could they do both? Most of these conversations have been left unsettled and left with the realization that since the school is telling us to do writers workshop that is what we will do.
However, after reading these chapters in Fox, I feel much more settled with writers workshop because I see the process that kids go through in developing their vocabulary, reading, and writing and I can see now that these kids are in fact learning every day that they write (even if its no where near being "correct" writing).
One thing I found really interesting was the idea of word configuration. "Configuration consists of a word's shape, it's length, or an eye catching letter" (Fox, 71). Even though the kids aren't following direct alphabetic rules they are still starting to really think about text. In trying to write using these skills they are using the knowledge they do know and getting more comfortable with it every time their pen hits their paper. At the pre-school and kindergarten age I fully believe that the use of "configuration cues" are extremely helpful in moving along the process of these young readers and writers because looking for these cues "require that children actively think about written words" (Fox, 71).
One example in the text that I see a lot in my classroom is the example of Lexi. Lexi spells semiphonetically, meaning she, "uses letters to represent some, but not all, of the important sounds in words" (Fox, 78). I can't help but see how this helps a young reader rather then hinders them because they are actually trying to use there phonemic awareness to write what they are trying to say. They are taking what they know about a certain word, such as they know ball starts with B so they simply write B to represent ball. This is starting their process of sounding out words and they are starting to make connections with the sounding of a word and the written word.
Overall, I really enjoyed reading Fox's 3 chapters because it gave me much more knowledge about the process of kids word identification and phonemic awareness. It is a struggle for me as a teacher not to just tell a kid how to spell something when they ask. However, it is so important to help them make the connections of sounding out words and trying to connect those sounds with a written letter. Fox does a really nice job of giving his readers activities as well as explaining all the different phases that children go through in this reading and writing process.

Emerging readers

Throughout the last few months I have spent in a classroom I have seen a lot of support for emergent literacy learners. The first aspect of emergent literacy that I read about in this article that I have seen in my classroom is that the kids that were read to at an early age are far beyond the kids who were not read to. The way I know this is because my teacher sends out a survey to all the parents at the beginning of the year that asks them questions such as: Do you read to your child? At what age did you start reading to your child? How frequently? I found this very interesting as she pointed out our highest readers and then showed me the results of the survey. It was very fascinating to then read this in the article and see that it is not just a coincidence but that it in fact does make a huge difference.

The next aspect I have seen is using a greater goal to implement writing and reading. My 7th grade teacher set up a lesson where the kids were supposed to read about one particular common issue that comes up in middle schools and then as a class they were going to choose one issue and write a letter to the principal proposing a change. This lesson incorporates reading and writing but gives the kids a greater purpose for what they are trying to accomplish. They were so excited about it and didn't even realize they were developing their reading and writing skills.

Another aspect I see being used to support the growth of young children's literacy is demonstration. In my main placement my teacher starts every morning by sitting down with the class and she asks them to help her write a list of everything they're doing that day. This shows the kids that she is using her writing and reading skills for her organizational purpose and helps them see the higher purpose. The kids enjoy doing this and are subconsciously grasping the importance of being able to write.

I really saw consistency in what Sulzby and Teale were saying about reading to their students with the way my master teacher reads to her students. "Preview the book, establish a receptive story listening context, briefly introduce this book, and read with expression" I also see her engaging the children in discussion about what is being read and talking about the characters and motivations (pg. 7). The kids look forward to reading aloud time every day and without these things I cant help but think that it would be different.

I also really like the way she sets up her library in the room. She has open shelves, there is room for at least 6 students to go back and pick books out together and there are lots of fun and colorful posters and bulletin boards all around. These are the exact things that Sulzby and Teale talk about and I have seen first hand why these are important. The classrooms I have observed make reading fun and directly coincide with the concepts for emergent literacy. I found this article extremely encouraging considering I have seen most of these concepts be successful in the classroom I have observed.