Raising Readers and Writers

A few weeks ago, I was having breakfast with an old friend. We’ve known each other since our girls (who are now 22 years old) were in kindergarten and we decided to take on the role of Girl Scout leaders. She is a gifted teacher and someone I enjoy spending time with. We share the same passion for literacy and can commiserate about our children. She’s contemplating starting a blog and is worried about having enough to say. As we talked that morning, I came up with about 4 different topics that she could blog about. I told her that as things happen in your classroom or even your life, you  automatically think about how you could write about that on your blog.  She laughed and said, “It’s Blog Curse, you know, like Math Curse!”

Well, I was afflicted with “Blog Curse” yesterday at the Dublin Literacy Conference. As I listened to Dr. Tim Tyson and the other speakers, I thought of a million things I could write about. As Dr. Tyson talked about the possibilities with technology, he kept coming back to the point of teachers as leaders. He said, “School can be anything you imagine. The hard part is not plugging in the interactive white board. The hard part is envisioning the possibilities.”

For the last couple of weeks, I’ve been thinking about the possibilities for my 4th and 5th grade after school writing club. We finished writing scripts for the drama club and are ready to start something new. I want each of them to choose a topic that is important to them and makes them feel passionate. I want them to think about what means to much to them that they want the world to hear their voices. And I want them to know that their voices matter. Our final project will be a multi-modal, multi-genre display. I sent an email with my rambling ideas to our technology teacher and we are going to meet this week to discuss the possibilities. (I think she’s afraid to open any emails from me!)

I’ve also been reading The Digital Writing Workshop and Teaching The New Writing to get some ideas of where to go. Since I meet with my writing club tomorrow, I wanted to get started on something.

To begin with, I want the students to create a page that tells about themselves. I am going to read Looking Like Me by Walter Dean Meyers. I read Karen’s review and bought it right away (thanks to one-click shopping). I think the kids will love the vibrant illustrations and jazzy language. (I looked in the mirror and what did I see?  A real handsome dude looking just like me.  He put out his fist.  I gave it a bam!  He said, “Jeremy!  I said, “That’s who I am.”) I’m going to use it as a springboard for the students to think about the different roles they play in their lives. Then I’m going to have them create a page that shows who they are using Glogster. I just recently heard about Glogster and I took some time to explore it tonight (which means I’ll be up really late tonight finishing up my lesson plans). Here’s my attempt at introducing myself. I’d love to spend more time with it, but I do have to get more school work done tonight!

Kevin Hodgson commented on yesterday’s post how attending conferences like these energize us. I so agree with him. I can’t wait to get to school tomorrow and see my little ones and my writing clubbers. I have so much to share with them!

In a previous post, I explained the new task presented to the teacher writing group. My friend, Sara, popped her head in today and said, “I was you today.” I wasn’t sure if that was a compliment or not. She told me that she began Writing Workshop today and it ended up taking her whole morning. She didn’t get to anything else.

You see, last year, Sara (who is one of our ELL teachers), did inclusion in my room for the literacy block. We were a well-oiled machine, and we both loved working together. However, it never failed, when she would come in after lunch, I was not where I was supposed to be in our schedule. I think I probably drove her a little crazy. So, today, Sara had one of those days. It happens to the best of us!

Today, Sara took her risk with a group of 17 ELL kindergartners. She wanted each of her students to write in the style of an author of their own choosing. Below is her description of her day. I wish I could have been there.

It was the first day, first lesson of letting children choose their own craft and/or mentor text. At 3:30 in the morning, this seems to be when I do by best thinking, I was already feeling a sense of panic, as I knew it would be nearly impossible to have all of the texts I needed for conferences at the tip of my fingertips, but it was a risk I promised my colleagues I would take.
Oral Story Telling- child one wanted to write a text on dinosaurs, non-fiction. We discussed a few facts he knew and off he went. Not exactly the type of text I had in mind but, oh well, he’s writing. Child two, three and four….not so sure yet where they wanted to go, many still looking through the texts. “Who wants to write like John Butler” I stated, and of course many hands went up. I began to feel secure again, as now I could guide my children together, using only one or two mentor texts…but just I was getting ready to model and read “Who Says Woof” out loud, Child Two raises her hand. “Remember Mrs. Kennedy, you said we could choose anyone. Today I am choosing Mo Williams, I am going to write a story like that pigeon except I want make-up” and off she went to write.

Oh to be five again. From there, I stepped back (refrained from hugging her tightly) and realized that today she had taught me, instead of me teaching her. Taking risks also takes time, and what we learn or try the first time, won’t be as strong or significant as what we might try with more practice and time and explorations. And by the way, I didn’t have that Mo Williams book with me today, but she knew it well enough, it didn’t matter, and tomorrow it will be on her desk waiting for her as she arrives!

Tomorrow is our next teacher writing group meeting. After reading Franki’s article at Choice Literacy(if you’re not a member, consider looking into it) about books for President’s Day, I decided to use the book Our Children Can Soar: A Celebration of Rosa, Barak and the Pioneers of Changefor our writing prompt. I checked it out of the library, but it’s one that I must own (which is true of my relationship with most books!) The book’s simple text and snippets of biographical information paired with the rich illustrations give the reader a deeper understanding of those individuals who paved the way for the Civil Rights Movement. After reading the prompt, please feel free to share your own stories in the comments section.

Rosa sat so Martin could march. Martin marched so Barak could run. Barak ran so our children could fly.

This quote, sent via text message, became well-known last year right before the election. As a result, the idea for this book was born.

Our Children Can Soar focuses on 10 different individuals who led the way for the Civil Rights Movement including an unknown Civil War soldier, George Washington Carver, and Jesse Owens. Each of these people is highlighted on a 2-page spread illustrated by a different children’s book illustrator. The illustrations are spectacular and even though they differ in style, they weave the story together in seamless fashion. There are short biographies of each person in the back of the book as well as a brief message from each illustrator.

After reading the book:

This story weaves a message of hope. We are who we are because others have led the way. Our families, teachers, coaches, friends, hobbies, and maybe even books have affected us in some way. Spend some time now writing about those people and things that have given you hope and paved the way for you.

This book could be used in a variety of ways…poetry, biography, famous African-Americans, the use of endnotes, repetition of a phrase to tie a story together, or to launch a piece of writing about heroes, hope, or ways to change the world yourself.

I love when our teacher writing group meets!  Teachers from all grade levels (and even other schools) come together to write, share, think, collaborate, and have fun.  We’ve been focusing on writing about our classrooms, so the writing prompt continued along that theme.  I shared Jim Burke’s post about his belief on how all children can learn.  This is one of my core beliefs; one that is a non-negotiable.  Next, I shared this short clip called The Heart of a Teacher, a poem written by Paula Fox.  Be sure to check it out.  It’s very inspirational and a great way to rejuvenate yourself during this hectic time.  (I found this on Two Writing Teachers).

So the prompt…What do you believe no matter what?  What are the non-negotiables?  Write about these beliefs in your personal or professional lives.

We always do a read around after we write.  Here are just a few snippets that I jotted down as people read aloud.

…keep learning, no matter your age.

…all children feel and feel deeply.

…every child is a growing, loving, living being.

…each face you meet is a box overflowing with gifts.

…I believe in God.

The read around gives us the opportunity to share our writing as well as listen to what others have written.  As we all know, sometimes reading  our work aloud is difficult.  It comes from our hearts and it’s very personal.   Dr. Bloome then asked us to circle something we really liked in our writing.  It could be something sentimental, you liked the words, etc.  Then we shared with someone sitting close by.  This is another way to share our work.  It’s a little less intimidating to read our work in a small group and may be easier for students who don’t feel comfortable sharing with the whole group.

Dr. Bloome then summed it up perfectly…No matter how badly a child (or adult for that matter) writes, there is always some gem.  Having them find that gem gives kids ways to evolve as writers.  It is so important to pick out the brilliance.

I love that last statement.  It is so important to pick out the brilliance. We all know what it is like to sit down with a paper that is full of misspelled words, run-on sentences, little organization, etc. (it doesn’t matter how old the writer is) and feel overwhelmed with what is wrong with the piece.  But if our goal is to help writers grow, we need to look at what is right with the piece, find that bit of brilliance, and use it as a foundation to build our students up.  Here’s to building strong, resilient, writers, one gem at a time!

Today was a great day!  I went to Cover to Cover Children’s Bookstore to purchase more non-fiction books for our non-fiction genre study.  Melissa, the doctoral student who will be doing research in my room, received a grant that enabled me to buy books for my classroom.  Can you think of a better way to spend a Saturday?  It was way better than fighting the crowd at the grocery store, which is what I usually do on Saturday.

As I drove to the bookstore, I was thinking about the kinds of books I wanted to buy.  My wish list fell into several categories.  First and foremost, I wanted a wide variety of books that would be interesting to my students.  That meant books about cars, construction machines, sports, creepy crawly insects, how to make things, space, etc.  I also wanted books with beautiful photography, detailed illustrations, and ones that used a variety of non-fiction conventions (labeling, diagrams, bold print, index, table of contents, captions…).  Added to that I wanted books that had rich language that would support my students’ writing.  Next, I looked for books that we could use in our content studies.  I chose books at a variety of reading levels.  Some of them my students will be able to read by themselves, and some will be read alouds.  My emerging readers and writers will be able to glean information from the illustrations and photographs when they are not able to read the text.  Finally, I wanted books that gave information about a topic in interesting ways.  Steve Jenkins’ books always fit the bill for that category and I was able to find other great examples. 

I can’t wait to share these books with the kids on Monday.  I bought more book baskets for my room so we can sort through them and decide how we want to categorize the books.  We already have many nonfiction baskets, so the task won’t be too daunting.  Here are a few of the books I bought.  I’ll share more later along with why I chose the books.  I’ll also be sharing our genre study, especially how the kids grow as writers and researchers through the process.  I think life has settled down enough that I will have time to keep up with my blog!

One World, One Day by Barbara Kerley is a beautiful book recently published by National Geographic.  It depicts a day in the life of children all over the world from waking up and eating breakfast, to going to school, to doing chores and playing after school, to eating dinner, to settling in for the evening and finally going to bed.  The photographs’ rich details give the reader an insider’s look into life in different cultures.  The last pages contain the author’s notes and thumbnails that give more details about each of the pictures (specifically where the photograph was taken and more information about what is happening in the picture).  Some even show the photographer’s notes.  This book shows the reader that even though we live in different parts of the world, we all have many things in common.  The author writes at the end of the book, “…the more we can embrace our commonality, the more tolerant we can be of our differences.”  I knew I had to have this book for our “Children Around the World” basket.  My kids will be able to relate to the every day happenings in the photographs.  This book also shows one way to organize text…making a comparison.   I can also show them how they can add more information at the end of their writing  just like Barbara Kerley. 

Mystery Vine: A Pumpkin Surprise by Cathryn Fallwell is actually a fictional story about a family planting  a garden and waiting to see what grows from the mystery vine.  (If I had written the story, it would have been non-fiction because I was certain that the pumpkin plants that I put in the garden this spring had died.  Imagine my surprise  when I found pumpkins growing in August!  I probably wouldn’t be so surprised if I marked my plants and actually kept up with the weeding.)  Anyway, I digress.  Sally Oddi, the owner of Cover to Cover shared this book last week at a book talk she gave for the Columbus Area Writing Project.  (One Day, One World was also featured).  What drew me to the book was not only the story that is very engaging, but the fact pages in the back of the book.  The author gives recipes for roasted pumpkin seeds, pumpkin apple bread (you know how I love to bake…can’t wait to make it with the kids) in the “Pumpkin Recipes” section.  In the “Gardening Fun” section, she tells how to grow grass hair in an empty egg shell and how to start bean seeds in a glass jar so you can watch the seed sprout.  She also gives directions on how to plant seeds from the fruits and vegetables you get from the grocery store and how to start a sweet potato vine.  The final page tells how to make a book vine where the kids  write the title of each book they read on a cut out leaf and create a vine around the room.  I will be able to use this book to show kids how to write “how to” pieces. 

There are so many more books to share!  However, I have an article waiting to be read before I meet with Melissa next week.  I’ll post more tomorrow about my great finds.

We had our first writing celebration on Friday afternoon.  The kids were so excited…they have been working on their writing for only 22 days of school and they truly view themselves as authors.  That makes me VERY happy!!  We started out by charting everything we had learned about being a writer.  They mentioned, “Writers write about what is important to them. (Yes, that means we have choices in what we write about.)  Writers get ideas from things that happen to them and from other people.  Writers can write about what they are feeling.  Writers go back and reread what they write to make sure it makes sense (first steps in revision).  Writers put spaces between their words (very important in first grade).  Writers spell word wall words correctly (the first steps in editing).”  I was pleased that they could verbalize all of the hard work and thinking that we had been doing in writing workshop.

I then told them that I was going to hang the chart out in the hall and put their writing all around it.  Well, the excitement bubbled over and this is the best part…their voices clammored as they said things like, “Maybe other authors at Avery will get ideas from our writing.”  (Isn’t that the best?)  “I think that kids will tell their teachers and there will be a long line down the hall so everyone can read what we wrote.”  (That’s from one of my sweet ELL girls who is so excited about sharing her writing with all the other students at our school.  She is continually giving me tips for my mini-lessons…her last one was  “if you have to staple papers together, it’s a good idea to put numbers on your pages.”  She learned that in kindergarten. )  These comments tell me that my first graders take their roles as authors very seriously.  They know that writing is important and what they have to say matters.

I’ve come a long way in my thinking about publishing first grade writing.  Coming from the intermediate grades, I was adamant about published work being mostly free of errors.  Imagine my dilemma when I started working with 6 year-olds and I saw the wide range of writing.  I had kids who drew pictures and told elaborate stories to go with the pictures, to kids who wrote a string of letters with some primitive drawings, to those who could use some inventive spelling and had a few high frequency words under their belts, to those who could write several sentences, add some details, and their writing was able to be decoded.  My first year, I started by putting interactive writing out in the hall in the beginning of the school year or typing any work that went into the hall.  Last year, I had an insightful conversation with 2  colleagues who used to teach first grade which broadened my thinking even more.  At the time, we were publishing books that would go into our classroom library.  Because other first graders would be reading these books, I decided to type  the pages so that readers would be reading conventional spelling.  Of course, all illustrations were original!  I realized that my final decision about publishing had a lot to do with my purpose for the finished work.  This year, I had enough confidence in myself to decide that I was going to put these first attempts at writing in the hall for all to see, even if it wasn’t perfect.   My purpose is not to showcase how perfectly my kids can write.  Instead, I want to honor all of the hard work they’ve done.  I want them to know that I think they’re smart and that what they have to say is a big deal.  Everyone deserves a voice, including our youngest writers.

So where are we going next?  I am reading lots of pattern books to my young authors as we prepare to create our own.  We will be making our first individual books this time!  Our audience?  Kindergartners.  What makes it even more special is that many of my students remember visiting my first graders last year when they were the youngest ones.  Now they are the older, more experienced authors!  Should be fun!

Writer’s notebooks and pens in hand,  14 teachers and our principal met for our first teacher writing group last week.  As the teachers gathered, an  overwhelming feeling of excitement  came over me.  It was like a family reunion where you get to see all of your favorite people that you haven’t been able to see in awhile.  Seven of the teachers had participated last year, and I was so glad that our community was growing to include more teachers.  I just kind of stepped back and enjoyed the atmosphere, feeling like a proud mom.

Our group is unique in that we are a group of teachers who meet regularly to write together, share our writing, and collaborate in order to better understand the process writers go through.  This understanding helps us better understand how our students feel in our writing classrooms, which in turn, helps us be better teachers of writing.

Dr. Bloome, the director of the Columbus Area Writing Project, led us in our first writing prompt which  was created by Robin Holland, “prompt creator extraordinaire,” from CAWP.   He read from Frank McCourt’s Teacher Man, citing the chapter titles and excerpts from a couple of chapters.  Then he asked us to reflect on our teaching lives and imagine we were writing our memoirs.  Our task:  create a list of chapters to form a table of contents, decide on what words would be in the index, and finally, write a chapter to go with one of our chapter titles.

While teachers shared their writing (called a “Read Around”), laughter filled the room when certain titles were read (my first chapter was called, “What to Do…Playboy Bunny or Teacher”), as well as moments of silence as people shared some poignant memories (“Where Creativity is Not to Be Honored”).  Herein lies the magic of our group.   Sharing our writing takes a level of trust.  We put ourselves out there for others to judge our work…Will it be good enough?  What will others think if I share this?  Will someone else’s be better?  I can’t even begin to explain the feeling that enveloped the media center during the read around.  You could feel the bonds begin to grow.  We learned things we didn’t know about the people we work with every day.

Then teachers began to talk about how they felt when they were writing.  They were excited!   They didn’t want to stop!  They were having fun!  This converstion led us to how important it is to develop that envirnoment in our classrooms.  We want our students to know that their voices matter and that writing is one way to be heard.   We want them to develop the life-long habits of writers.

I know this year is going to give us many more opportunities to experience the joys and frustrations of being writers and teachers of writers.    I also know that we will grow in ways we could never imagine.  I am looking forward to every step!

Wow!  I’m having a hard time keeping up with my blog now that I’m back to work full time.  I’m going to do better!  Today was a great day as I watched a new idea work as I had hoped it would.

  Each year, I ask the kids to bring in a lunch bag with 4 to 5 items that will help us learn more about them.  My bag held a picture of my family, a measuring cup (I love to bake), book and writer’s notebook (obvious!), a tomato (from my overflowing garden that badly needs tended), and a picture of me riding my bike.  After sharing my “All About Me” bag, I invited the students to bring in their own bag of items that represent the most important parts of themselves.  They couldn’t wait to share their bags and it was a wonderful way to build community in our classroom. 

As the kids were sharing, an idea popped into my head (isn’t that how we get most of our good ideas).  I thought that if I took a picture of their “All About Me” items, they could go back to the photo for story ideas.  For each child, I layed all of their items out on a white piece of paper, added their names (mainly so I wouldn’t forget which picture belonged to which child), and took a picture.  We then put the photos into their writing folders.  Now when students come to me and say, “I don’t know what to write about,” I can direct them to their “All About Me” photos to help them think of an idea.

My heart was leaping this morning as I watched my plan take hold.  (I wasn’t entirely sure it would work).  One of my little guys was stuck for an idea and we got his photo out.  One of the things he brought was a wooden snake that his grandpa made for him.  He had shared with us that his grandpa makes him a lot of wooden toys and that he loves to do things with his grandpa.  I asked him some questions about the snake and his grandpa and all of a sudden, he said, “I know what I want to write now!”  He took off and wrote a story about going fishing with his grandpa!  Even though the story wasn’t about the wooden snake, he was reminded about a special time he shared with his grandpa.  He was so excited as he began to write and I was so glad that the photograph was able to spur his memory.

I am so glad that I took these pictures.  They give me insight into my students, and my memory is jogged about some of the stories they told as they shared their “All About Me” bags.  I know that we will go back to these pictures again and again.  We will use them to for oral story telling (very important in the primary grades) too, as we work toward building our identities as authors.  It’s a very simple idea and one that took only a few minutes to produce. 

I’m curious to hear about others’ ideas as they launch writing workshop.  I’m sure there’s a wealth of information out there!  Please share in the comments.

My classroom is buzzing during writing workshop.  I love to watch the excitement in my young learners’ eyes as they create their first pieces of writing in first grade.  They eagerly go back to their places and can’t wait to talk with their tablemates about their ideas.  I know that this “talk time” is very important to helping my writers plan their writing.  Right now, we are finding the balance between this important talk and talk that is just silly giggling.  I know with some patience we will get there.

I’ve used 2 of my favorite books this week to help my students think of important topics.  Yesterday I read The Best Story by Eileen Spinelli.  The main character in the book wants to win first prize in the Best Story Contest.  If she wins, she will be able to ride the  Sooper Dooper Looper roller coaster with her favorite author.  She’s not quite sure how to make her story the best, so she consults her family members.  Her brother tells her that good stories need action.  Her father tells her she needs humor.  Her aunt tells her that great stories make people cry and her cousin thinks the best stories have lots of romance.  (That got a lot of “OOOOHHHHS” from the kids).  Finally, her mother gave her the best advice.  She tells her that the best stories come from the heart.  So after reading the book, we discussed that authors write about what is important to them.  My students couldn’t wait to get to their spots to write.  I had stories about cooking with Grandma, playing football with friends, and going to the park.

Today, we read, Taking a Bath With the Dog and Other Things that Make Me Happy by Scott Menchin.  This is another of my favorites!  In fact, I showed it to another teacher in our building and she spent her lunch doing “one click” shopping on Amazon so she could have her own copy.  In this story, Mother notices that Sweet Pea is feeling sad (very evident by the frown on her face).  Sweet Pea decides to ask anyone and everyone she meets what makes them happy.  Her dog (dressed in a robe and shower cap) likes to take a bath.  An older gentleman enjoys stripes (he’s wearing a very loud striped jacket with a striped cat sitting beside him).  The rabbit likes running on the hamster wheel.  The story is hilarious!  The kids noticed that as the story progresses, Sweet Pea’s frown slowly turns into smile.  By the end of the book, she is feeling much better and we find out that she likes taking a bath with her dog.  The kids couldn’t wait to share what makes them happy.  They were so excited and so full of good ideas that we decided to make our own class book  about what makes Room 14 happy.  Each child wrote one page and illustrated it.  We have pages about making cookies for Dad, reading with my brother, playing with my monster trucks, and swinging with my family.  I typed the pages tonight and we will put the book together tomorrow.  It will be a grand celebration when we add it to one of the baskets in our classroom library.

The rest of the week is going to be spent focusing on where authors get ideas.  I’m looking forward to see where they take their ideas!

Sara, the ELL K-1 teacher, and I were at Cover to Cover last week searching for new nonfiction titles for our classroom libraries.  Both of our classrooms will be the focus of a research study on nonfiction writing in the primary grades during the upcoming school year.  Apparently, there’s limited research out there on young writers doing research and writing nonfiction.

I met Melissa (our researcher friend and doctoral student at OSU) when I was a fellow at the Columbus Area Writing Project.  She spent quite a bit of time in my room last year doing informal observations and getting to know the kids as readers and writers.  They always looked forward to her visits.  The more we talked, the more we knew we wanted to delve into learning more about the kind of thinking and talking kids do when they are reading and writing nonfiction. Melissa wrote and received a grant to buy nonfiction books for our classroom libraries.  The three of us are going to create a study group to analyze the work being done in Sara’s room as well as mine.

On Thursday, we met for lunch to talk about the kinds of books we wanted to buy.  Barb Kiefer from OSU, also came to lunch  to talk about nonfiction books.  Boy, do we have a lot to learn!  She explained that what I had been calling literary nonfiction is actually called “hybrid” nonfiction in the book world.  Hybrid nonfiction is a type of writing that uses literary techniques usually found in poetry or fiction.  We had a lot of conversations about each of the books we chose and what type of nonfiction each book was.

One of the books we chose is a brand new one by Molly Bang, Living Sunlight:  How Plants Bring the Earth to Life. This poetic book, beautifully illustrated by Penny Chisholm, is written from the point of view of the sun.  It explains the process of photosynthesis and how important the sun is in sustaining life in our world.  She takes a very complicated idea and makes it understandable for the young reader.  The vibrant illustrations pop out on each page.  For the more sophisticated reader, there are end notes with more scientific details about photosynthesis and other organisms that are the foundations of life on earth (i.e. phytoplankton).  I can’t wait to share this book with the kids.

Sara and I left with a bag of expository nonfiction and hybrid nonfiction books that we can use at the beginning of the year as mentor texts.  As the year goes on and we get to know our classes, we’ll go back to purchase more books.  We want  to find a variety of books about a variety of topics.  We want our students to understand that nonfiction is about more than animals.    I’ll be talking about some of the books we choose in this blog as well as the different things we learn in the research project.  I am looking forward to working side by side with these 2 wonderful teachers and making new discoveries about our young readers and writers.