Raising Readers and Writers

Today, I shared Chain Poems with my after school writing club.  Its format is one that encourages the writer to think outside the box and be as creative as possible.  It is an exercise in free association where one idea flows into the next idea, creating a poem that spirals into something the author may not even expect.  It goes like this:  I wrote a word in the middle of a chart and asked the kids to shout out words that came to mind.  I wrote those words directly under the first word and underlined each one.  You end up with a column of 6 to 8 words.  Then comes the fun part…making sentences with the words in the order they were written.  You can change the tense of a verb, make a noun plural, etc.  We did one together using the word, clock, and then I let the kids loose to write their own poems.  Here are a few that the kids wrote today.

The window shows me the outside world

But the blinds block my view.

The frame freezes the beautiful

picture, the splashes

of color and different

shapes.  My

imagination travels past the window

to the rest of the world.       Sarita, 5th grade student

From Alex, who thought his poem was “horrible…”

When I look out the window, I think

of seeing the world. I would start out

in Ohio, seeing my house.  Then get on a

boat to

Paris, France and

Venice. I would learn so much, maybe

some French.  I would take an airplane

to Africa. I would meet the mountain gorillas,

learn some Swahili too.  Soon I’d be tired of land

and sea, and I’d take a spaceship to the moon.

But for now, I am stuck at home.
Finally, Zarah, a 4th grader wrote:

I am by the window

And I see the sun.

It blinds my eyes.

The moon is gray as always.

Birds make a nest and

Rain falls from the sky.

Trees sway in the wind.

Each of these poems began with the word window.  You can see that each of the students went in their own direction, which is what we want our writers to do.  The kids were amazed as they listened to each other.  I think that’s one of the reasons I like this format.  It gives writers the opportunity to be creative and there is no right or wrong answer.

You can see a more thorough description of the Chain Poem here at NWP’s site.  I’d love to hear from others who try this type of poem in their classrooms.  I’m even going to try it with my first graders.

I’ve had an interesting spring break.  My husband and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary and I wonder where time has gone.  We no longer lug diaper bags when we travel and at this point, we even travel by ourselves while our kids are very self-sufficient at home.  I miss those days of reading the same book over and over and sweet Johnson Baby Powder hugs, but these days bring new adventures and time to look back and reflect.

My husband and I took a trip to Savannah, Georgia.  Three hours from home, our car broke down.  We had just crossed the Ohio River when the clanking started.  A quick call to AAA and we had 2 hours to wait at the West Virginia Visitor Center for a tow truck.  We weren’t quite sure what we were going to do, when Donna, one of the women at the welcome center, told us where we should stay in Marietta and gave us the lay of the land.  After the tow truck arrived, she drove us (complete strangers) to the Ford dealership and then on to the Holiday Inn.  She left us with her home phone number in case we needed anything.  How refreshing is that?

The next day, we rented a car and we were on our way.  We had 3 days to slow down and relax, read some good books (9 hours in the car has its advantages), laugh with each other, and eat ALOT of good southern food!  Now that we are back home, reality sets back in.  I still need to go in to school and write lesson plans for next week, and we need to get a new car.  But, even with all the stress of our car and my lack of being ready for school, I am going back to school with renewed energy.  I was reminded again of what is important in life and it’s not the things we have.  I know, too, that these are the lessons that are important to teach my young learners.  Yes, they need to know those things required by our state standards, but they also need to remember these very important lessons:

It’s important to be kind to others.  You never know when you are going to be the one who is need of kindness.

Spend time with the people you love.

Laughing is good for you.  (Check out this video from Simple Truths:  http://www.simpletruths.tv/store/videos/LVACvideo.html )  It makes life easier.

Enjoy yourself and do the things you love to do.  (I finally took a baking class right before I left for Savannah!)

Funny, as I typed up this list, I realized that my first graders already know these things.  Somewhere between toothless grins and hurrying into adulthood, we lose sight of what really matters.  That’s why taking time out from our hectic schedules is so important.

So, it’s back to school with renewed excitement.  I am ready to start our literary nonfiction unit and Melissa and I are going to do a new project  about oral histories.  My after school writers are going to be trying a new poetry prompt on Monday and our teacher group is beginning to plan for an end of the year celebration that combines art, music and writing.  A small group of us from several different schools is also going to be starting a new book study group as we read The Digital Writing Workshop together and explore some new possibilities.  It’s all very exciting…I’m just not sure yet as to how I am going to get to school on Monday morning, as my car is the one sitting at a Ford dealership in Marietta, Ohio!

As I write this, Jim Brickman is playing in the background and 15 4th and 5th graders are lying around my classroom writing in their writer’s notebooks.  Mondays after school are one of my favorite times of the week.  Today I was reminded of the importance of talk among writers.  It doesn’t matter how old they are.  Writers need time to talk about their ideas, their writing, and their wonderings.

We are working on memoir writing.  I read Patricia MacLachlan’s All the Places to Love and asked the kids to jot down their own special places that came to mind as I read the book.  I reminded them that something in the book might spark a memory of a special place or special person that has nothing to do with the book.  That’s OK!  After I finished reading, some of the kids had lots of things written down and some had only a few things.  I could feel the tension from some of them when they thought that they might not have enough to write about today.

I immediately turned to one of the basic tenets of writing workshop…time to talk.  I asked the kids to share some of the places they wrote down and the stories that went with them.  We heard stories of swing sets turned  giant ships that sailed the ocean which brought to mind the swing set that became a fighter plane in the backyard.  Someone then shared the first time he got to shoot a bow and arrow at his mom’s friend’s house.  The mood in the room visibly relaxed as the ideas started flowing.

So, for now, the room is humming with the busyness of writers putting their words on paper.  This is good!

I just know that our technology teacher loves to get an email from me in her inbox! It usually goes like this…It’s late at night, I’m reading a book or looking at a website and I get an idea that uses technology, but I don’t know how to do it. So, I shoot an email to Kathy and say, “This is what I want to do. When can we meet so that we can plan it out?” She is always more than accommodating. Our latest project is creating an iMovie with my first graders using their personal narratives. I told them that they were the youngest class to create their own iMovies at our school, so they think they are pretty special (which they are!). (Thanks to Troy Hicks and The Digital Writing Workshop for the idea).

Kathy and I met this week to discuss the possibilities for my after school writing group of 4th and 5th graders. It always helps me to talk with Kathy to clarify my thinking. She takes my muddled ideas and shows me how we can make it work. She suggested that we use Glogster as the vehicle for the kids’ project. That way we can embed iMovie, a slide show, Wordle, etc. right into their digital scrapbook. She introduced me to a new site called Classtools.net that has several Web 2.0 applications that we can put into the glog. The animated book looks interesting to me. She also suggested Voki, which allows the user to create a speaking avatar that can also be used in the glog.  The kids won’t do all of these things, but they will be able to look at the different options and decide which ones best meet their purposes.

What I do know is that I want the kids to have choice in their projects. I want them to explore some different genres as well as make choices about the visual and audio components of their piece. So, my homework is to explore these sites and solidify my plans for the final project. I’m not quite sure yet where it will take us, but it’s sure to be exciting!