Posts filed under 'Writing'
If it’s Tuesday, it must be Quick Tip Tuesday on the Stenhouse Blog, right? But this Tuesday is a bit different, because instead of sharing a Quick Tip from a Stenhouse book, we bring you a Quick Tip Original from Mark Overmeyer, author of What Student Writing Teaches Us and When Writing Workshop Isn’t Working. What does it mean that it’s an original Quick Tip? It means that it’s never been published anywhere, and that it comes straight to you from a master teacher of writing. Enjoy and share!
Writing Tips from Mark Overmeyer
Have fun when you teach writing. Be joyful.
Whether you have just started back to school or you are weeks into your writing workshop, I cannot stress enough the importance of joy. I am lucky enough to visit many classrooms in schools across the Denver metro area, and the ones that function best seem to include one key element: joy. Here are some tips for creating more joy in your workshop:
Encourage the use of humor. Consider using humorous mentor texts with your students. Mo Willems has become a standard feature of most primary classrooms I enter these days, and I have yet to meet a student who wouldn’t jump at the chance to write a new Pigeon book (along the lines of Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! or a book similar to Knufflebunny: A Cautionary Tale. Also for primary students, consider Melinda Long’s books How I Became a Pirate and Pirates Don’t Change Diapers if you sense kids might like to write a pirate story. For intermediate grades, the books I continue to see in so many backpacks and on so many desks have a wimpy kid on the cover – Jeff Kinney has done us a huge favor as we try to convince students that they do have moments in their lives that are worth writing about. Kinney’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid books are full of short anecdotes in the form of diary entries that have helped many of my students in the past few years generate ideas and develop enthusiasm for writing personal narratives. And the film can be used in excerpted form to help students understand the concept of writing a scene, or a short part of a day, rather than the entire day.
Have fun while you read their writing. I work in a district just like many of yours: teachers have a lot of testing to do in the beginning of the year. Even if this testing includes some kind of required writing sample, raise the energy in your room by talking about how happy it made you to read their writing. Don’t read writing just to come up with a rubric score – have fun while reading it. Go in each day and talk about how much you are learning about your students as people because of their writing. One of the most resistant writers I have encountered in awhile is a third grader who managed to write a few words about fishing the first day of school. I use him as a model every day when I work in his classroom now. I say things like: “Writers, you are doing the work all writers do when they first come up with ideas – you are writing what you know. And Tyler knows about fishing. He knows about carp fishing on a lake, and he knows about fly-fishing in a river. I can’t wait to see what he comes up with today!” Though I cannot tell you that Tyler has produced pages of text, he does not produce at least half a page, and a picture, every day. And most importantly, he does not groan when it is time to write like he did the first day I met him.
Allow plenty of time to share. Don’t save sharing time for just the end of the workshop. Expect students to share ideas before they write, interrupt the workshop briefly to celebrate a student’s writing during writing time, and make sure to include as many students as possible at the end of the workshop sharing time. If your students are writing longer pieces, you can edit this process by asking them to share a favorite part of their story, or you can ask them to orally tell part of the story and just read their most recent page. If you have some shy students who do not like to share, ask for permission early in the school year to share their work with the class. All students, hopefully, will become confident enough to share their writing frequently as the year progresses.
Be positive about your own writing experiences. Be honest about your own struggles as a writer, but share your joy as well. Talk about how rewarding it is to create your own pieces and to share these pieces with the class. Let them into the world of your own writing process by sharing some real world examples of how writing made a positive impact on your life. You can think of cards you have sent, poems you have written for special occasions, or opportunities you have had because you worked hard on your writing. Help students to see that writing is alive and well in the “real” world: writing matters. Writing makes a difference.
September 7th, 2010
Lisa Miller’s new book, Make Me a Story: Teaching Writing Through Digital Storytelling, shows teachers how to integrate technology into their writing instruction. In this podcast Lisa talks about how easy and simple it is for teachers to create a digital story with their students.
September 1st, 2010
Wondering what your students should do with their best writing? Jennifer Jacobson, author of No More “I’m Done!” has a couple of great ideas for classroom publishing that don’t take up a lot of time, but make students proud and motivated to write!
Believe it or not, there was a time when primary schools established central “publishing houses.” Students who had done an exceptionally fine job on a piece would be greeted by parent volunteers who typed up the stories and then carefully bound them into books. The books often had sturdy cardboard covers decorated with wallpaper samples, and pages carefully sewn with durable dental floss. The proud students would return to the classroom where they illustrated their books, which were later celebrated. Many books would find their way into the school library for the remainder of the year.
Very few schools still offer this model of publishing. Somewhere along the line, “publishing” came to mean “copying over your work without any mistakes.” All students publish at the same time, removing the motivation to publish one’s finest writing. Instead, students publish nearly identical teacher-directed products.
Here, I am going to suggest a publishing program that falls somewhere in the middle of these two models. Consider setting up an area in your room where you (or better yet, a parent or high school volunteer) can work with individual students. The volunteer sits at the computer, and the child sits next to the volunteer and reads his or her work. Volunteers (who you have trained) type the work using all of the proper conventions: punctuation, spelling, capitalization, proper grammar—keeping the child’s original language whenever possible. If while reading, the student says, “Oh, I should have said . . .” The volunteer types what the child wished he or she had written, thus reinforcing revision right up to the end.
What do you do with the typed work? Here is a list of ideas:
1. Place in a class anthology (The “Big Book”; see page 23)
2. Mount on a bulletin board
3. Read over the intercom
4. Include in school or class newsletters
5. Post on a Web site
6. Have child read in a podcast
7. Record (audio or video) a class radio show
8. Perform as a skit
9. Read at an authors’ tea
10. Compile a class book around a single theme (poems, funny
stories, holiday stories, etc.)
11. Include in a class yearbook
12. Include in the school literary magazine
13. Submit to a student market or contest
14. Give as a gift
I do not recommend that primary students copy over their work. If we regularly ask student to rewrite, we are teaching them two things: write short and don’t take risks. We also take away one of our best motivating tools. Being able to say something reinforcing such as, “Kara! You added so many quality details to this writing. Would you like to publish it?” goes a long way in motivating our students to be thoughtful, independent writers.
August 10th, 2010
Ralph and a spectacular hanging basket of Petunias outside the Tasty Thai restaurant in Kittery, where he and his editor, Philippa Stratton, met for lunch Friday to celebrate the completion of a very successful Ning discussion
We just wrapped up four weeks of lively discussion of Ralph Fletcher’s latest book, Pyrotechnics on the Page: Playful Craft That Sparks Writing.
Moderated by middle-school language arts teacher Amanda Villagomez, the discussion touched on using observation to benefit writing; noticing word play in oral language; mentor texts for word play; and creating classrooms where word play can flourish.
Teachers shared many ways they encourage their students to play with words as well as how they collect interesting pieces of conversation for use in their classrooms. “I love to people watch-whether it’s at the bookstore, mall, or watching people walking in town. While people watching or actually, eavesdropping on their conversations, I get a chance to jot down bits and pieces of their conversations,” wrote Linda Bondi. “Listening to language is as important to a writer as seeing is to an artist,” said Margaret Simon, who added that she takes her writing camp students on a “writing marathon” where they get to listen and observe the conversations around them.
Others noted that they collected great sentences and word combinations from their favorite books, including Tammy Miles, who started such a “craft collection” with her students. “Often times, we’d add to the collection during writer’s workshop. I encouraged the students to mimic other authors and try something new in their writing,” Tammy shared.
Freida Hammett observed that playing with oral language is a bit different than playing with written language. ”For young children and for reluctant writers, I would think oral lanaguage play would be the first, and very important, step. Oral language sends a message, too, that you like to have fun,” Freida said.
During the discussion thread about playful classrooms, Jean Marki noted that Ralph’s book was an eye-opener to her about the way she introduces word play to her students. “Yes, I was introducing word play…but as a task not play. I never gave the kids time to play — to try out the word play on their terms.”
Later, the discussion turned to how to deal with students who are excited about a new skill and so they “crowd” their writing with that particular craft. “ I guess I believe that realistically kids WILL overdo whatever craft element we teach,” responded Ralph. “That’s the nature of learning anything new. Given time the strategy will no longer “stick out” or be over-used but will become integrated into the student’s repertoire of writing strategies. It might be wise to use one mini-lesson to introduce a kind of wordplay. Then, after the kids have tried it out, do another mini-lesson showing an example of a writer who really over-does it. The kids will be able to see it, I bet.”
To revisit the entire discussion and read all of Ralph’s responses, you can still visit our Ning page for the archived version. You can also read an excellent interview with Ralph on A Year of Reading blog.
August 9th, 2010
Our tip on this Quick Tip Tuesday is pretty simple: head over to our Ning group and join an already lively discussion of Ralph Fletcher’s new book, Pyrotechnics on the Page.
The discussion started yesterday with this question from moderator Amanda Villagomez: “What are ways that you write with your ear or consciously use observations to benefit your writing? How do you encourage students to do so?”
Ralph already stopped by the discussion group to read and respond to comments. Several teachers have written about how they use their writer’s notebooks to record the fun, playful things they hear every day in their classrooms or at home.
Tell us about your writer’s notebook – what do you record and then share with your students? Leave your comments on the Ning group!
July 13th, 2010
If you haven’t had a chance to read Ralph Fletcher’s new book, Pyrotechnics on the Page, this upcoming long holiday weekend is the perfect time to do it! Then sign up to join our Ning group where a discussion of Pyrotechnics will begin Monday, July 12. The moderator of the discussion, Amanda Villagomez, already posted the discussion schedule. So join in with your ideas and make this the best professional development event of your summer!
June 30th, 2010
In her new book Make Me a Story: Teaching Writing Through Digital Storytelling, Lisa Miller shows that digital stories are not just about the bells and whistles of technology. Lisa uses digital stories to move students through the writing process from planning, to revising, to editing. In this week’s Quick Tip, Lisa gives seven compelling reasons to teach digital storytelling in elementary school. Lisa’s book is now available for browsing online and will start shipping in mid-July.
Some of the students I’ve worked with had never created digital stories before I showed up at their schools. We went through parts of the process together. Through their personal narratives I learned about a hamster named Lucy who is an intrepid explorer, a dog named Moxie who catches frogs by a pond, and a bearded dragon named Leo. I learned how it feels to wear a first baseman’s glove, what it’s like to be coached by your dad in hockey, and what you see when you walk by a spooky deserted house. These student writers demonstrated why elementary schoolteachers should teach digital storytelling.
1.
Digital storytelling engages and empowers reluctant readers and writers and different types of learners. It makes everyone want to write. Most students, if not all, were seriously invested in the writing of these stories. Students who ordinarily didn’t put a lot of effort into their work did so. They wrote and wrote and wrote. Students who were already strong writers got a chance to try new skills and stretch themselves, since they had to match their words with illustrations and music and write scripts meant to be read aloud. Visual learners had illustrations to help them in building their stories. Some students revised all the way through the process to when we were recording their narration. “I don’t like the way that sounds,” one would say, rewriting a line and then rerecording. Students wanted to be sure to get these stories right, and not necessarily in the way I thought of as right, with the audio recorded without any mistakes or “uhs.” They wanted their stories to sound like them, sometimes “uhs” and all, and to unfold the way they had envisioned. They were in charge of these stories.
2.
Digital storytelling projects can change how students see themselves and their classmates and can build community in the classroom. Students who are not strong writers but are adept at working with computers gain confidence from this part of the process. Struggling readers find these stories manageable because the scripts are short, ranging from a couple of paragraphs or a few lines of a poem to a page and a half of prose. Working on these projects, some students see themselves as writers for the first time. Students become experts on the subjects of their stories and have the chance to read their own words in their own voices—a very powerful experience.
3.
Thinking about audience is an important part of the process. Students I’ve worked with had a strong sense of audience right from the start of their digital storytelling projects and wanted to be sure the stories would be viewed once they were completed. “Can I get a CD of this so my mom can see it?” “Can I show it to my teacher?” After I finished recording the voice-over for one third grader’s story and we watched the completed story all the way through, he immediately jumped from his seat and asked if his story would be on YouTube. I explained that it wouldn’t but that we were going to make sure he had a copy on CD to show his family. Students don’t always have that sense of audience with a piece of writing, nor do students often excitedly cluster around one child’s desk to read his or her latest essay. But from the start these digital stories were put together to be seen by others. The authors loved watching their stories with a live and appreciative audience (appreciative in part because the audience members had also done the project and knew what it took). Personal narratives were particularly heartfelt; students were very brave in telling those stories.
4.
Digital storytelling projects do not have to be complicated to be effective. Many students’ stories were three minutes long or shorter, including only four or five pieces of art. Nonetheless, students got a great deal out of creating the stories. As Ellie Papazoglou said of her group of third graders, “To me it seemed that this assignment opened so many doors to them for creating and composing a story. They could be creative; they told their own story; they had visuals to scaffold the development of their story. It was more than just writing, revising, and editing. This was a tool that provided some good support for composing a story, yet at the same time allowed for innovation and creativity” (2009).
5.
Stories can be done across the curriculum. Many students write about personal experiences, but digital stories can be told about many subjects. (See Resource Box: Across the Curriculum for a Web site that offers ideas about possible digital storytelling subjects.) For example, elementary school students I’ve worked with or whose stories I’ve found on the Web have tackled subjects such as patriotism in the aftermath of September 11; heroes; three little fish outwitting a shark (a fairy tale); why students should have the opportunity to take art classes; onomatopoeia; biomes; and famous people in New Hampshire history.
6.
The process is the point; digital storytelling projects teach writing and technology skills. Throughout the projects, students practice all sorts of important skills: using appropriate and interesting vocabulary; gathering and organizing information; showing and telling; analyzing the information (textual and visual) they’re working with; explaining their stories for an audience; creating and presenting something original; and applying what they know about computers, technology, and storytelling to a new project. They learn about and try out the writing process, getting especially involved in revising, something students don’t always want to do. They experiment with different storytelling structures. While working on digital stories, they think through how best to tell and show the stories, how the visuals work with the written text.
7.
The process draws on what students already know about storytelling—and moviemaking. Students I worked with knew a lot about the conventions of telling a story both from books they’d encountered and from movies and TV. They had a sophisticated knowledge about visual elements that can make a story effective. They couldn’t necessarily explain to me that they were panning across a picture or slowing the pace of a part of the story with slow music. But they knew that’s what they were doing and why. These students didn’t choose words or pictures or music or effects randomly; they did them with intention. Almost every student wanted to tell me about some element of his or her story that had been carefully thought out. One youngster spent a long time deciding what anecdotes to share about the horses she cared for and how to match music to the horses’ personalities—one shy, one a show-off. Another student, writing about his baseball team, thought hard about the photographs he had to work with and whether to put himself or his best friend first in the story (he went with his best friend). Some students used foreshadowing and carefully chosen transitions in their narrations. They wrote beginnings meant to grab viewers’ attention and endings meant to satisfy viewers. They tried out different points of view and so were reminded that not everyone sees everything in the same way.
June 29th, 2010
The writing process and digital storytelling go together naturally. Just as writing can be a process of discovery, so can digital storytelling, where images, words, and music all work together to create meaning.
In her new book, Make Me a Story, Lisa Miller describes the power of digital storytelling as a tool for teaching writing and engaging elementary students. She walks teachers step-by-step through the elements of a digital story project, from prewriting and research through putting the story together in the computer using photos, drawings, paintings, video, narration, and music. Readers will also find answers to nuts-and-bolts questions such as how much computer work students should do and how to record voice-overs.
The accompanying CD offers over two dozen examples of student stories discussed in the book. Concise and accessible, Make Me a Story emphasizes that the writing process should not get lost in the bells and whistles of technology. If writers of digital stories don’t take the time to draft and revise their scripts, they won’t get to the deep thinking that’s essential to telling the best stories. Make Me a Story will start shipping in late July. We’ve just posted the entire text and two of the student samples from the CD for you to preview online.
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June 21st, 2010
This week’s Quick Tip comes from Ralph Fletcher’s latest book, Pyrotechnics on the Page: Playful Craft That Sparks Writing. At the end of the his book, Ralph answers some questions about pyrotechnics, the fine balance between exploration, breaking the the rules of writing and teaching conventions, and the realities of teaching playful writing and the demands of tests.
Read the entire chapter here and then head on over to our Ning group where a discussion of Ralph’s book will begin July 12. Order your copy of the book now and receive free shipping when you use the code SPARK on the Stenhouse website.
June 1st, 2010
Join our book study group on the Stenhouse Ning Network to share your thoughts about Ralph Fletcher’s latest book, Pyrotechnics on the Page: Playful Craft That Sparks Writing.
The discussion will begin July 12 and will be moderated by Amanda Villagomez, a middle-school language arts teacher. Amanda already posted a schedule for the discussion on the Ning page. Ralph will check in every week to comment on the discussion and answer questions.
To join Ning:
1) Go to the Stenhouse Publishers network on Ning
2) Click Sign Up at the top of the page (or Sign In if you have already joined one of our Ning groups in the past)
3) Once you’ve signed up, click the Pyrotechnics on the Page Group and then click to Join the Group in the top right corner
Order your copy of Pyrotechnics on the Page by June 15 and get free shipping with the code SPARK.
May 26th, 2010
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