Response to “Swasbuckling Adventures on the High Seas”

What an amazing manuscript! This was a teachable moment for me to see how a unit works, including the worksheets and examples of the dictionary. This unit flowed really well, and I understood most of it through my first read-through of it, which is kind of unusual for me. I think that this unit can be themed around the idea that “facts from the past come alive as the drama of human experience is revealed.” I can truly see this happening while children work their way through this unit. I am anxious to find out whether the “Pirate Notebooks” are the same as their Writer’s Notebooks, although I have a feeling that they are different. I have questions about the Pirate Notebook: what kind of notebook it is, who provides them, if they are decorated, etc. I think it is neat that the students can use their pirate dictionaries to record words that they find interesting, not just the words that the teacher provides for them. I remember the DED’s from World Lit, and I foresee our class preparing some in the near future… 🙂 I cannot wait to look further into this unit in class.

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Love That Dog

Love That Dog was so much fun to read! It was such a sweet story and it seemed that it related to so much of what we are doing and talking about! Now I know that it is not a coincidence that we are also reading All the Small Poems and Brown Angels. 🙂 In the way that he was writing, it seemed that he was doing so in a writer’s notebook. Again, probably not a coincidence, but it is a very fun connection. It was so sweet to see his progression throughout the story. I felt about as proud as I know he did in the story! I also enjoyed reading about all of the lessons to go along with the novel, that also go along with what Miss Stretchberry was teaching the students as well. I cannot wait to get into class to discuss this story!

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Invitation

INVITATION

If you are a dreamer, come in.
If you are a dreamer, a wisher, a liar,
A hope-er, a pray-er, a magic bean buyer . . .
If you’re a pretender, come sit by my fire,
For we have some flax golden tales to spin.
Come in!
Come in!

Shel Silverstein

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The History of My Name

September 1, 2008

The History of My Name: Writer’s Notebook Entry

Emily Margaret Johnson

After many years, I have come to love and appreciate my name. My mom named me Emily because it was not very common at the time and because she thought it was pretty. Starting in 1987 (the year I was born), and every year after, Emily has been on the top ten most popular girl names. I think this is humorous. I used to hate my first name. I wanted my name to be Kim. I had a camp counselor named Kim who I absolutely adored. Therefore, I wanted my name to be Kim too. I even wrote “Kim” on my dolls and on my papers at school. My 1st grade teacher had to call my mom and have her talk to me about not writing “Kim” on my papers! Ha! Over the years, I have really come to enjoy that my name is Emily. I think it is a pretty name to say and a pretty name to write. Emily.

My middle name is Margaret. I just cannot stand my middle name! There is a reason behind that name, though: it is a family name passed down through five generations. My mom’s name is Jamie Margaret, my Nana’s name is Mary Margaret, and so on. I cannot stand the name, but I would not be able to stand breaking the tradition more. Therefore, my daughter’s middle name will too be Margaret.

My last name is the second most common name in the United States: Johnson. It is beat on the list only by the last name Smith. It is ok, but I look forward to the day when I get married and can change my last name.

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Response to Writer’s Notebook pp. 15-34

August 31, 2008
Response to Writer’s Notebook pp. 15-34

After reading the beginning of the book and after beginning the creation of my own writer’s notebook, I was still a little confused about the manner in which I was supposed to be writing in my notebook. I thought that I was writing so much about myself and in a shallow manner. The entire section of launching strategies was a blessing to me. It really helped me know and understand a little more the purpose of writer’s notebooks and how to work with them. As soon as I was finished reading the entire section, I sat down and wrote about the History of my Name in my writer’s notebook. It was a great entry. I think I am going to post it on my blog shortly.
I also appreciate the fact that the teacher writes along with the children during the Writer’s Workshop. I did not enjoy writing as a student and it was almost in a mocking tone when teachers assigned writings and then sat at their desks and did who-knows-what. I know it will be very tempting to do other work that you need to do while students are doing their writing, but overall I believe it would be a more enriching experience for all if the teacher writes along with the students.
I have decided after reading the “Lists” section to make lists in the back of my Notebook. If I begin my lists in the front of my notebook, I cannot guarantee the space like I can if I write them in the back. In the back of my notebook, my lists can be continual; I can always come back to them later and have the room I need. I think this will be a helpful thing to try out as well so that I can see if this is something I might be interested in doing with my students.
I am a little intimidated by Ms. Buckner’s promise to conduct a mini-lesson with her students everyday on the Writer’s Notebook. The few strategies that she shared with us were so helpful, but how do you come up with 180 of those?! I am excited about learning more strategies throughout this book.

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Writer’s Notebook Thought

August 30, 2008
While I am writing in my Writer’s Notebook, I am curious as to whether or not I need to keep my audience in mind. For instance, I was writing about watching the Appalachian State vs. LSU game at Beef O’Brady’s, and I was not sure whether or not to write about all of the beer that was being served. It was a big part of the experience, but I was not sure if I should talk about that aspect of it in my notebook in case my students were going to be reading it.

Hi Emily,
Well once again, I enjoy reading your posts! I appreciate your honesty and candor as well as your curiosity and enthusiasm. Your notebook is for you! You write whatever your heart desires, really. YOU will choose which entries to share with your students; you can show them certain entries, or if there is an entry you don’t wish for them to see, fold the page over, or paper clip it together, do something…be creative. Also, if you look at the schedule for class 3, you are ahead of the game; you will be posting the history of your name We will discuss mini-lessons a little more in-depth over the next few weeks. Remember, there will be many lessons that you teach, reteach and teach again (descriptive adjectives, vivid verbs, dialogue tags (words besides said), etc. I am glad you feel more comfortable with the notebook. I will bet you will have it filled before the end of the semester.
Dr. Frye

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First Response to Notebook Know-How, pp. 1-15

August 28, 2008
First Response to Notebook Know-How, pp. 1-15
At first, I was a bit apprehensive about this book. I thought it might be just another textbook. I was pleasantly surprised. It was so easy to read that I did not even realize that I had gotten to page 15 where I was supposed to stop. I think Ms. Buckner’s ideas are so very practical and usable in the classroom. I can see myself using her ideas. I liked the way she works her students into the writing process through discussion and stories rather than by giving them paper and pencil and having them go at it. I think that she does a fantastic job of grasping the writer’s attention to make them want to write.

Aimee Buckner states that “a writer’s notebook creates a place for students (and writers) to save their words- in form of a memory, a reflection, a list, a rambling of thoughts, a sketch, or even a scrap of print taped on the page.” I took that the writer’s notebook was for students to write about anything and everything that they want, but it is also used as a teaching tool. I am not sure what types of strategies that are taught with the notebooks yet, but I know that these are coming later in the book. Students make these notebooks their own. They will come to love them and care about the words that they write in these books. It is a much more useful tool when teaching about writing because it is their own. They would not get as much meaning out of the lessons if the work with or revise something that they did not write or care about. There is meaning behind these notebooks that I feel help students find a deeper understanding to their writing lessons.

There are a couple of ideas that I enjoyed when thinking about how I would teach writing. I know that I feel that writing is a daunting task, which I am working with. I want to find a way that will draw my students in to make them want to write. I think that by telling or sharing stories, it will help warm children up for the writing. I think I will mainly use the way Ms. Buckner introduces her notebooks to launch these to my class. I would ask them to bring in a notebook that they absolutely loved. I want this to be their notebook that really appeals to them so that they really feel like they own it and hopefully come to love it. I will not buy their notebooks myself. I want the picking out of the notebook to be an experience of their own.

I think that having a place in the notebook for things like fun words, lists, and sketches are a fun idea. I know that having that would draw me into writing in a notebook. I know that Ms. Buckner said that it’s hard to organize the notebook into sections, but I think I would try to organize it so that there could be some semblance of organization. I am sure that I might throw out that idea after I try it, but I think it would be worth a shot. I think I would divide it into sections for “Free Writing”, or anything they wanted to write or draw in this section. Then I would have one for notes on lessons, and one for things that I ask them to write about. These sections would be labeled with colored tabs with no writing on them. I would ask them to write in their blue tab for notes, for instance, and in the purple tab for free writing. I feel like it would make it easier for me to look through them if it was organized in a way such as this.

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“Duck” by Valerie Worth

When the neat white
Duck walks like a toy
Out of the water
On yellow rubber-skinned feet,

And speaks wet sounds,
Hardly opening
His round-tipped wooden
Yellow-painted beak,

And wags his tail,
Flicking the last
Glass water-drops
From his flat china back,

Then we would like
To pick him up, take
Him home with us, put him
Away, on a shelf, to keep.

This poem has so many different examples of imagery! It made my look at duck in a whole new light! “…Flicking the last/ Glass water-drops /From his flat china back…” is such a vivid description! This is one of my favorite poems from the first section of poems in All the Small Poems and Fourteen More.

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