The reason that I bought this book was my son. He is a basketball player in a hockey community. So I am continually on the lookout for inspiring basketball stories.I'm also obsessed with him becoming a reader (it will happen).
This one is interesting because it is a story about a young kid who gets the opportunity to play street ball with the older kids. He is given a chance to prove himself. The setting is urban and the artwork is wonderfully realistic.
I go back to writing however! This is an excellent example of describing in great detail a single moment.
Get your students to highlight a moment in their life - real or imaginary. How does it feel, sound, smell, taste? What dialogue accompanies this moment? What a great opportunity to write your feelings!
Showing posts with label Writer's Workshop. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Writer's Workshop. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 5, 2016
Monday, July 4, 2016
An A From Miss Keller - Patricia Polacco
Someone reading these blog posts might think I'm a wee bit obsessed with the writing process. I'm not! Perhaps it is the authors we should be looking at for answers. Perhaps so inspired, authors feel they need to inspire a new generation of writers?
Patricia Polacco - I've heard her speak and it was memorable, as are her stories. She writes what she knows and what she has experienced. This is the golden rule of writers! Don't try to fake it, your readers will see right through you.
This is a newer book of Polacco's. From my research it seems it is biographical. I think every writer has inspiration and someone who held the bar high. This teacher in this book seems to be quite hard on our heroine, but we know that she is going to be worth the effort in the end.
What I'd like to concentrate on with this post is how I would use this book as a language lesson. The teacher in the book gives the same writing assignments as I would give although I would not give them entirely for homework. I think a great first assignment is for students to write about their family and home life. Not only is this in keeping with the rule, 'write what you know', but it's also great for you to learn something about your students early in the year that will help your instruction later.
I love this teacher's use of the thesaurus for her students! I think teachers sometimes forget about these tools because of the influence of the internet, but there are online thesaurus's. It is important for writers to research and use a variety of rich words. I also love the assignments where the students have to use their senses in their writing. They listen to sounds of nature and they listen to conversations. One workshop I went to suggested that you take readers on 'field trips' to watch cars to by the school and to listen to students talk without them knowing. The teacher's use of the senses reminded me of this workshop! Great ideas!
The story goes on as well as the assignments. More writing tasks are given, such as describing objects and their uses other than their intended purpose. This reminded me of a conversation I had with another teacher who loved writer's workshop. She would get students with writer's block to list all the things in their fridge from memory. Writers can always write SOMETHING.
Finally, I loved the assignment where they had to interview someone and an object that meant something to them. This is when the story gets sentimental as Polacco is famous for her touching stories. Keeping on with the writing theme though, I love this assignment too. What a great opportunity for a community connection for your students. You could assign them to an elderly person from the community and they could learn about a generation that they may not have otherwise had access to. It could also be a family member which would be a rich assignment as well.
If all this writing process stuff has you bored, rest assured! This is a fantastic story, a great read aloud for all ages AND a lovely example of the impact that one person can have on someone else.
Patricia Polacco - I've heard her speak and it was memorable, as are her stories. She writes what she knows and what she has experienced. This is the golden rule of writers! Don't try to fake it, your readers will see right through you.
This is a newer book of Polacco's. From my research it seems it is biographical. I think every writer has inspiration and someone who held the bar high. This teacher in this book seems to be quite hard on our heroine, but we know that she is going to be worth the effort in the end.
What I'd like to concentrate on with this post is how I would use this book as a language lesson. The teacher in the book gives the same writing assignments as I would give although I would not give them entirely for homework. I think a great first assignment is for students to write about their family and home life. Not only is this in keeping with the rule, 'write what you know', but it's also great for you to learn something about your students early in the year that will help your instruction later.
I love this teacher's use of the thesaurus for her students! I think teachers sometimes forget about these tools because of the influence of the internet, but there are online thesaurus's. It is important for writers to research and use a variety of rich words. I also love the assignments where the students have to use their senses in their writing. They listen to sounds of nature and they listen to conversations. One workshop I went to suggested that you take readers on 'field trips' to watch cars to by the school and to listen to students talk without them knowing. The teacher's use of the senses reminded me of this workshop! Great ideas!
The story goes on as well as the assignments. More writing tasks are given, such as describing objects and their uses other than their intended purpose. This reminded me of a conversation I had with another teacher who loved writer's workshop. She would get students with writer's block to list all the things in their fridge from memory. Writers can always write SOMETHING.
Finally, I loved the assignment where they had to interview someone and an object that meant something to them. This is when the story gets sentimental as Polacco is famous for her touching stories. Keeping on with the writing theme though, I love this assignment too. What a great opportunity for a community connection for your students. You could assign them to an elderly person from the community and they could learn about a generation that they may not have otherwise had access to. It could also be a family member which would be a rich assignment as well.
If all this writing process stuff has you bored, rest assured! This is a fantastic story, a great read aloud for all ages AND a lovely example of the impact that one person can have on someone else.
Saturday, May 28, 2016
Lost for Words - Natalie Russell
Here I am writing about the writing process, again. I really hope all this effort inspires teachers to embrace Writer's Workshop. I seem to tell any teacher who will listen that, by doing Writer's Workshop religiously, you WILL develop writers who are inspired. I truly believe this! If I'm ever back in the classroom, I look forward to this part of teaching once again. It can be truly magical.
This is an adorable story that will show kids that lots of people feel like they have nothing to write about. One of the beliefs of Writer's Workshop is that, most times, students will write whatever they want, about whatever they want. This means that like the story, some students may choose to write poetry, songs, narratives, procedures - whatever. A kid who loves narrative may detest poetry and never choose to write that genre. Totally ok. When you get the chance to write, you write whatever inspires you. It is an opportunity, a chance, a treat, something great, never a drudgery. Ultimately in this book, the main character decides that he is an illustrator. I think students should be allowed to tell stories through pictures as well. It is another form of instruction.
There is a time when you have to learn all the different forms of writing. I tell students that even I have to do writing that I wouldn't normally choose to do. That's life. Everyone has to learn about poetry even if they dislike it. You have to learn how to do a procedure. But when you get your chance to write whatever you want, then you get to choose. In Writer's Workshop you teach all the forms of writing and students are required to produce at least one of each form that is taught, but free choice is free choice, no questions asked.
Please look up my entry on The Best Story by Spinelli where I started this conversation about Writer's Workshop. I'm sure you'll find a similar theme...
The big life lesson for kids after reading this book: Do what you are good at and feel comfortable with, don't worry about everyone else. Be YOU!
This is an adorable story that will show kids that lots of people feel like they have nothing to write about. One of the beliefs of Writer's Workshop is that, most times, students will write whatever they want, about whatever they want. This means that like the story, some students may choose to write poetry, songs, narratives, procedures - whatever. A kid who loves narrative may detest poetry and never choose to write that genre. Totally ok. When you get the chance to write, you write whatever inspires you. It is an opportunity, a chance, a treat, something great, never a drudgery. Ultimately in this book, the main character decides that he is an illustrator. I think students should be allowed to tell stories through pictures as well. It is another form of instruction.
There is a time when you have to learn all the different forms of writing. I tell students that even I have to do writing that I wouldn't normally choose to do. That's life. Everyone has to learn about poetry even if they dislike it. You have to learn how to do a procedure. But when you get your chance to write whatever you want, then you get to choose. In Writer's Workshop you teach all the forms of writing and students are required to produce at least one of each form that is taught, but free choice is free choice, no questions asked.
Please look up my entry on The Best Story by Spinelli where I started this conversation about Writer's Workshop. I'm sure you'll find a similar theme...
The big life lesson for kids after reading this book: Do what you are good at and feel comfortable with, don't worry about everyone else. Be YOU!
Thursday, August 27, 2015
The Best Story - Eileen Spinelli & Anne Wilsdorf
This book follows a little girl who wants to win a writing contest so she can go on a roller coaster with her favourite author. The problem is, she doesn't have a great idea for a winning story. Welcome to the issue for many authors, young and old!
When you announce to students that they are going to write a story, half of them are filled with dread while a small percentage is ecstatic. This is for the dreadful authors.
I am in the camp of educators that think students need to read and write on their own everyday. Kids who write will become better writers. I can't tell you what smart educator told me that or what research journal it comes from, that's just what I believe. However a very smart friend once told me that Ernest Hemingway would sit for days and not write a thing. He kept it up (good for him!) and came up with some pretty amazing works of literature. What if your sporadic 'creative writing time' falls on a day when a student has writers block?? Just let them write everyday. Trust me. You can figure out how to fit in report writing sometime in the year - easy peasy.
If students are writing something of their own everyday, do we let the Hemingways sit and wallow in their writers block? No! They have to always be writing something. The same smart friend would model writers workshop for me and insist that writing had to be happening. For example, kids would be told to visualize their fridges at home and had to make a list of all the food in the fridge. Perhaps an idea would come from that list. Or maybe not. Next day they would be told to write all the names of the people they knew. Maybe a student would decide to write a story about one of these people. These ideas are for the kids with writer's block. You will always have kids who are feverishly writing the entire time. You are not concerned those students. Leave them alone.
Having students write something everyday on their own is so much better than just throwing a creative writing piece at them a couple times a year. The ability to write is a muscle and it needs to be exercised. Of course you need to explicitly teach the writing traits that are grade appropriate, but that can be done in conjunction with these open writing periods.
That was a wild tangent, but The Best Story can be read for kids to determine the main idea. I use the main idea to support my open writing periods as well! The main idea is that kids have to write about what they know. Wasn't this Gilbert's plea to Anne Shirley when she was trying to write a deeply romantic novel? ~desperate plug for Anne of Green Gables~ You can't write a funny story if you're just not funny. You can't write a love story if you've never been in love. You could write a story about how much you love your family. Or maybe how your parents met or when you met your baby brother.
If you write about what you know, your audience is more likely to be engaged.
The Best Story - A good book for teaching writing.Make Allow your students to write everyday. Please.
When you announce to students that they are going to write a story, half of them are filled with dread while a small percentage is ecstatic. This is for the dreadful authors.
I am in the camp of educators that think students need to read and write on their own everyday. Kids who write will become better writers. I can't tell you what smart educator told me that or what research journal it comes from, that's just what I believe. However a very smart friend once told me that Ernest Hemingway would sit for days and not write a thing. He kept it up (good for him!) and came up with some pretty amazing works of literature. What if your sporadic 'creative writing time' falls on a day when a student has writers block?? Just let them write everyday. Trust me. You can figure out how to fit in report writing sometime in the year - easy peasy.
If students are writing something of their own everyday, do we let the Hemingways sit and wallow in their writers block? No! They have to always be writing something. The same smart friend would model writers workshop for me and insist that writing had to be happening. For example, kids would be told to visualize their fridges at home and had to make a list of all the food in the fridge. Perhaps an idea would come from that list. Or maybe not. Next day they would be told to write all the names of the people they knew. Maybe a student would decide to write a story about one of these people. These ideas are for the kids with writer's block. You will always have kids who are feverishly writing the entire time. You are not concerned those students. Leave them alone.
Having students write something everyday on their own is so much better than just throwing a creative writing piece at them a couple times a year. The ability to write is a muscle and it needs to be exercised. Of course you need to explicitly teach the writing traits that are grade appropriate, but that can be done in conjunction with these open writing periods.
That was a wild tangent, but The Best Story can be read for kids to determine the main idea. I use the main idea to support my open writing periods as well! The main idea is that kids have to write about what they know. Wasn't this Gilbert's plea to Anne Shirley when she was trying to write a deeply romantic novel? ~desperate plug for Anne of Green Gables~ You can't write a funny story if you're just not funny. You can't write a love story if you've never been in love. You could write a story about how much you love your family. Or maybe how your parents met or when you met your baby brother.
If you write about what you know, your audience is more likely to be engaged.
The Best Story - A good book for teaching writing.
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