Boy Writers

Another summer read for me has been Boy Writers: Reclaiming Their Voices by Ralph Fletcher. This book explores some of the particular challenges that many boys bring to writing workshop, challenges such as their love of including violence in their work and their earthy humor. He is clear to recognize that every boy writer, indeed every writer, is unique. Yet he points out that these qualities are often found in the writings of boys as a group.

This spoke to me because I have often struggled to find the balance between letting students find their voices in their own stories, driven by their own topics and interests, and wanting them to also be aware of the impact of their choices, particularly when they are incorporating violence or what might be seen as inappropriate humor into their works. I also want them to branch out beyond the popular culture infused topics (super heroes, Star Wars, video games) that they often embrace.

This book has no easy answers, but it does show how simply disallowing these types of writing can lead to some students disengaging from writing workshop. I remember when our school participated in a simulcast with children's author, Mo Willems. He referred to how he "shamelessly" copied Charles Schultz's Peanuts in his early writings as a child, and how much he learned in the process. While I want them to grow into developing their own characters, my students' use of super heroes can help them develop stories that they relate to and that gives them incentive to work on their writing skills.

And the humor, ah yes. At the end of last school year my students went through all their writings from the year. Not even I had read every piece of writing in their folders. They passed back to me any pieces that they did not want to take home with them. As I looked through them I found one poem about farts that one of my boys had written. I had to admit it was hilarious. He had used language effectively to create a humorous poem. I'm not sure what my reaction would have been if he had read it to me when he wrote it. This book helps me prepare for such times.

Catching Up

It's been a while since I've blogged here, so I wanted to go over recent Units of Study that we have done. In November we looked at the questions of how authors and illustrators use pictures to support and enhance their texts. This study was inspired by Katie Wood Ray’s  book, In Pictures and In Words: Teaching the Qualities of Good Writing Through Illustration Study. The students were great "noticers" as we studied books. Then they worked to include some of the techniques we explored in their own books.

In December we studied  “Small Moments."  We looked at how authors zoomed in on particular moments in time. Then students choose their moments to zoom in on and worked to remember details to include in their books. Students wrote about moments such as losing a tooth, scary happenings on Halloween, touching a python, and a Thanksgiving party.

Teach the Writer part 2

I recently posted on my thoughts on the idea of "Teach the writer not the writing." Recently as I was catching up on some of the blogs that I follow, I found a wonderful post at Two Writing Teachers by Ruth Ayers on this very topic. It expresses the idea so well. Here is a link to it.

Teach the Writer

"Teach the writer, not the writing." This is a phrase that I have heard from leaders of Writing Workshop, including Lucy Calkins and Katie Wood Ray. It is a point that Katie made in her workshop with us in August. I knew what she was talking about. I could picture myself last year conferencing with one of my six year old students. She had a nearly completed book that I felt had serious problems. Yet she was so proud of it. As I looked at her beaming over her book, I looked at it again. I focused first on what she was doing well. She was telling a story that she was excited about. Her book consistently focused on that story, and she had an interesting structure with a repeated pattern that added to her story. My concern was that she had rushed through her pages and had left out a number of words. She also had not put spaces between her words. Her spelling was semi-phonetic, so the leaving out of words and lack of spacing added to the difficulty of reading her piece, even for her. Yet what a lot of work it would take for her to go back and fix this piece of writing. I needed to focus on what she needed as a writer rather than what this particular piece needed.

I took a breath and considered my next words carefully. Then I pointed out the things she was doing well in her book. As the conference wound up, I told her that I admired her skill as story teller. But I added a request. I said, “I love your stories, and I can tell you’re excited about them. I think because you are excited you rush, and then you leave words out. That makes it harder for me to read your wonderful stories. The next time you start a book, I want you to stop after each page and read it over carefully. Be sure all the words of your story are there.” I made a note in my record book to check in with her early in her next book project to remind her of this. I also made a note to include her in a group with others who would benefit from a mini-lesson on spacing words later. Her development as a writer and her developing confidence as a writer were far more important than how that particular piece turned out.

Beginning Writing Workshop

On the second full day of school we began Writing Workshop. We have not yet assigned students to the language groups in which they will continue their writing work throughout the year. Thus we began as a whole class. For the first day I led a mini-lesson focused on the kinds of books students might want to make. I shared some favorite books from our classroom collection of children’s literature. I also shared some books that students have made in previous years, using them to illustrate a wide range of topics, as well as to help new students see what their books might look like. Then I sent a few at a time to choose a blank booklet (some with lines, some without) with which to begin.

As all three of the Sky teachers were there, we were able to assist students who needed help. New students also learned that their classmates could be good helpers. By the end of this first workshop time everyone had settled on an idea for a book and had at least written a title or begun by making illustrations. A number of students were several pages into writing and illustrating. The first thing we heard from one student as she entered the classroom the next day was, “Can I work on my book today?”

A Day with Katie Wood Ray

On August 11, 2011, Katie Wood Ray came to our school and spent the day working with a group of teachers from Early School, Lower School, and Middle School on writing workshop. The morning focused on preschool through lower elementary and the afternoon on upper elementary/early middle school. Many of us stayed for the whole day, as the presentations and discussions were relevant to the work all of us do with our students.

Those who have read my blog before know that I regularly draw ideas and inspiration from the work of Katie Wood Ray. The past two summers I have attended two-day institutes sponsored by Heinemann featuring Katie and Lisa B. Cleaveland, with whom she wrote my favorite writing workshop book, About the Authors: Writing Workshop with our Youngest Writers.

Highlights on the 11th included exploring ideas and routines for Units of Study, working on strategies to use when conferencing with students, and expanding our understanding of the idea of approximation, which helps us have appropriate expectations for our students. We loved seeing video of conferences, especially seeing Katie tackle a particularly difficult one with a reluctant writer. All of us have been challenged by this kind of student and admired the patience, care, and tenacity that Katie brought to this conference.

The day did not disappoint. It was a perfect way to feed my excitement about the coming school year. Oh the many possibilities that await my students and me in Writing Workshop!

A Busy Group of Writers!

We are beginning our fourth week of school. I have enjoyed getting to know my Language Group and to begin our work together. I have discovered that they are a busy group of writers. All of them have been intently working on filling booklets with their stories and pictures. Some are adding details to a book that they began the week before last. Others have moved on to new boosk. Topics include trips to the beach, monsters, an art museum, and a car crash. Some of our mini-lessons have focused on the procedures of writing workshop, such as getting our writer's tools and what to do when we finish a piece. We have worked on stretching out words and writing down the sounds we hear in them, when we don't know the spelling. And we have shared some of what we have been writing with each other. Some have been comfortable sharing with the whole language group, while others have chosen to share just with one partner so far.

Writing Realistic Fiction

My students are all busy writing their own realistic fiction stories. Students have thought up a basic story focused on a problem that is realistic. They have stretched out the problems to add more details.Then they began their stories with a focus on what makes a good beginning. That got us looking again at some of the realistic books we have read and analyzing how they began the stories. We then had a mini-lesson on making a "bridge" from the start of your story to your problem, how to develop the problem rather than just jumping right into it.

When I conferenced with students yesterday, I noticed that several had done a good job of stretching their problems out, but then went on to solve the problem in one or two sentences. They were not putting the same care into developing their solutions as they had in the problems. So today's mini-lesson focused on how we can stretch out our solutions. Students then worked on their solutions in their stories, conferring with their writing partners and conferencing with me, where needed. The stories are really starting to come together!

Poetry!

We have been working on writing poetry for a little over a week. Of course we have been reading poetry all year, but now the focus is on writing poems. For the past eight years I have been drawing a lot on Regie Routman's book, Kids' Poems: Teaching First Graders to Love Writing Poetry. I love her emphasis on reading and talking about poetry by children. Other children become the mentors for my group. About half the space in this book is taken up with poetry by first graders. She includes the original drafts which include invented spelling and any reworking the author did on paper. She also has the final typed-up and illustrated version.

Since I began using this book, I have collected poetry from my own students to use with my groups. I also have the anthologies that each year's group puts together. For the anthology each student can choose one poem she/he has written and I get to choose one. Some of the students that I taught last year have discovered the anthologies I have put out and are enjoying finding their poems from last year. Students also get excited when they find a poem that an older sibling wrote in past years.