Monday, January 21, 2008
What do YOU think?
Good Morning Bloggers! I would like to thank those of you who remembered to post your final letters and reflections and to nudge those of you who have not! Also please notice I am posting the special section for observations.This week I would really like you to think about the work of Katie Wood Ray and write a personal response to something in the text that has "spoken" to you. Perhaps you might take a quote right from the text and write to that. What did you mark in the text? What makes the most sense to you? What does not make sense? What do you like? Dislike? The point here is not to write a summary, remembering we have all read it! The point is to write YOUR personal reactions so that we can all read and share the different ideas we have read about thus far. Here is a sample reaction from me!I really like the list that Katie keeps about the process of writers that begins on page 103 and continues onto 104. She writes "When our students envision writers at work, then need to be able to see them doing lots more than just sitting at desks. Active development possibilities like those in the lists above need to be a big part of what our students can envision themselves doing as writers." I wish that someone had pointed that out to me years ago! If you look at my background and my history it is somewhat overwhelming. Coming from a family of self-proclaimed writers, ( my grandfather wrote his town's history and multiple plays for the local players, My Dad, has owned and created newspapers and magazines throughout his life, my sister, worked for my Dad and started writing stories for the family when she was 10!) I was unwilling and unable to see myself as a writer!! In fact, I found the idea completely intimidating and made it my goal to be anything BUT a writer! I mean really, who could compete in world such as this? And yet, over time I found myself more and more drawn to the written word. I slowly became an avid reader and revelled in how different authors used words to convey their thoughts. And so I started thinking about how I would say different things. I began to "play" with words in my head...having no idea that I was heading down the exact path that I was eager to avoid!! Still, the image of a writer was one who was perched over their typewriters for hours and I knew that I would never have the patience for something like that. I needed to move and to play outside and to experience all that I could everywhere I went. And again, I was doing things that "writers do!" I just never knew it. It was not until very recently that I actually was able to start calling myself a writer. It seemed simple enough as I started working on some writing that writers write. I was writing and so I tentatively called myself a writer. I do not do this still, though, in the company of my family and I think they are always surprised to hear that I am a teacher of writing. It is as though they forget and are startled back into reality every time I mention that I teach writing. I can teach writing because I write and because I write I am therefore a writer! Katie's list only confirms all of my active processes that involve so much more that actually sitting down at the keyboard. In fact, by the time I actually sit down I can write with a general flow because I have done so much thinking about it before I find myself banging out everything that I have spent so much time thinking about!
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11 comments:
I was flipping through chapter 5 on Studying Writer's Office Work. I could "write-off" on so many of the topics here: the (un-)importance of topic, the necessary prewriting, the purpose to drafting, etc. But I really liked the quote about the way we read texts:
"When we bring (these) resources into our writing workshops, it is essential that we teach young writers how to read them like writers. READERS are interested in knowing Cynthia Rylant once had a dog very much like Mudge, the dog in her Henry and Mudge series. But WRITERS are more interested in knowing how she incorporates tiny snippets of things she remembers from her own life as details in her works of fiction. 'I might try that,' a writer thinks."
I confess that I hadn't really read books from the writer's perspective, partly because I see myself as an excellent reader and not an excellent writer. You hear all the research on having these ongoing writers notebooks with snippets of ideas tucked away for another day. But in reality, I read a story and enjoy the "readability" and often don't notice what the author did to make it so. There's this ellusive cloud of glory around authors. I never think, "Hey, I could do that." Now using more mentor texts in teaching, I've tried out some craft ideas with success. But there's this whole revamping of how you think about things to notice the world through a writer's lens.
I wonder if its too late....do adults usually attempt this or is it innate to good writers early on? Do kids as great writers do this or do you have to train your brain at any age?
I am sure of one thing, if I did notice craft more often, I'd be a better writer as I attempted it in my own work.
Jenn..I love this line you wrote, "There's this ellusive cloud of glory around authors." That is such a truthful and powerful statement! What is it about ourselves that we automatically think we couldn't do that? Are we taught that along the way? Are we given the message that great writer's such as Hemmingway or Frost had gifts that nobody else had or has?
I think it is the creative side of writing that makes us think this way. Because there is creativity involved, we cannot begin to compare. It is like the "elusive glory" that I saw around my grandfather, father and sister. But the truth is that we all have a well of creativity if we just allow ourselves to tap into it! Think of yourself, out there running. Your creative senses have been made more aware of what is happening around you. That is just the beginning of the tapping in! How exciting!
As for the craft. I think it is never too late. Would it have been better to have been taught to "notice" when we were younger? Yes. Think about all of the craft our students will have to choose from!
You ask such good questions and you do have a great sense of the written word because you are an avid reader! keep thinking!
Well there a two parts that continue to ring in my head every time I sit down to read further in Wondrous Words. The first is the thought of envisioning and how envisioning as a writer gives purpose and energy and the second is listening like a writer. I have come to understand that I need to become superwoman with a cape that interconnects all that I teach. I know there is a clear connection of reading and writing in literacy, but I continue to struggle with naturally making it all work. Naturally is the key word. Then I realize that nothing is completely natural without practice. You see I always do this as I write…I begin to make myself understand and my mind ends up going seven different directions…kind of like the feeling of naturally connecting my reading and writing lessons. I have Naturally found myself at the end of a lesson with a whole group read aloud asking students if they would like to take the text as a mentor in their writing that afternoon. Students do a great job using the authors craft and personalizing the story to become their own. Is it enough? Is it a baby step? What lies ahead? The mentor text has given a student that sits day in and day out not knowing what to write about the POWER to move forward and understand that the author of the book is a writer as they are.
As a learner myself, I have started to think more as a writer when I read and hear things read. Unfortunately, Thinking is where it seems to end for me. I was so excited to complete my final piece of writing at the end of the last course, but haven’t written for pleasure sense. Do I lack vision? Is it fear of my words just not coming out right? If this is how I think still as an adult, do my students have the same questions and fears?
BJ, I do believe completely that everything we teach in connnected! And although those connections might not ALL come naturally, over time they do seem to be more and more obvious...thus making them feel more natural. I am often amazed that the longer I do this work, the more interconnectivity I find. It is almost striking. It is almost impossible to talk about writing without mentioning reading. Be patient with yourself. Your willingness to sit and reflect and sort through your thoughts and ideas will, as you said, help you to make sense of them. We will be looking at that as we go through the semester. Dig out your old writer's notebook and dust it off because together we are going to make that journey...but this time a bit differently.
As for the fear, I would say that your intuition will guide you on that. Some kids might feel fear, but my guess is that once that classroom community is established the fear becomes less and less. They are much more brave that we are in many ways...because of lack of experience perhaps? Either way, your questions are all good ones and I hope you will keep them in mind while you are writing and working with your students both!
test
“The definition of a poet is someone who notices and is enormously taken by things
other people walk by,” by James Dickey.
This quote from chapter 5 has been swirling around in my brain for weeks. Do I notice? Do I have the potential or can I be trained to notice? I feel like that "old dog", hopeful that I can be trained to become enormously taken with things others walk by. I agree, Tomasen, that it's the thought of comparing my creativity to the great writers that prevents me from really feeling like a writer myself. I have to pull back and remember that the process of writing , the craft, is not hidden in an "ellusive cloud". It is in exposing the office work and the process all writers go through and then applying that knowledge that I begin to feel like a writer. I've started taking one writing block each week and saying to the kids, "Today while you write, I'm going to write. I have an idea that I just have to work on." They are learning more about the office work writers go through when they see me dive in, become frustrated, rework ideas, and get excited to share. Thinking about the "behind the scenes" work has actually made me more passionate about the topics I choose or the ways I develop them. I do still struggle to see the ordinary as something extraordinary. I think the life's breakneck pace needs to slow before that piece can develop. Summer...time to sit and listen to cicadas, watch waves, become enormously taken by things. Sounds good!
Tomasen,
Thank you for your words of wisdom. I do know it will all become more natural and I have seen such a great deal of progress in my student writing this year. I do believe it is in part due to my comfort and ability to begin to interconnect reading and writing a bit more naturally. I am looking forward to this semester and more personal growth in writing. My old principal who is my mentor in writing has her first published book of poems being released. check out this link: http://www.publishamerica.com/shopping/index.htm and search for the book Purple Frogs and Pumpkin Seeds.
Ok, I guess it's my turn. For me, with teaching writing, I guess I just don't know where to start. It feels like there are so many little pieces that go into teaching writing and I'm not sure which ones to teach first and sometimes, how. I went ahead and read chapter 6, no not because I'm trying to brown nose, but because I thought we needed to have it read by our first class. Anyway, she started talking about "organized inquiry" which I thought sounded pretty neat- a good way to "organize" what to teach to students. But will I notice what I'm supposed to notice so that I can help the kids notice what good writer's do??? That I'm not too sure of. I guess it's like BJ said- nothing will come naturally without practice first. I struggle though with feeling like I was never taught how to teach writing and because my comfort level with teaching it changes as much as the weather in New England does, I feel like avoiding sometimes. I, too, don't consider myself a writer - much for the same reason that you all mentioned- the writer's glory - so I don't have my own instincts and skills to help me here either. I've been trying some of the same things that BJ mentioned- just throwing out the idea that the kids could use this text as a mentor for their writing- but I want to do more. I want to feel like I have helped them notice more, so they can take that with them when they leave in June. I have this poster in my classroom, I may have mentioned before but now I can't get it out of my mind, that says: "The expert in anything was once a beginner". Ronnie introduced me to another great saying that I have introduced to my kids- "Just because it's hard doesn't mean you can't do it". Maybe I need the pep talk- maybe I need to keep these things in mind when trying to teach my kids how to be better writers.
I have been thinking about what in the text spoke to me and I keep coming back to the beginning of the book. The very first chapter where Katie says that “writing is individual - it is not unique”. I was one of those people that believed with certainty that writing was a skill so special that it belonged to only a few gifted people. As she is explaining what she means, I found myself reading and rereading. I found this thought to be somewhat freeing. Not unique, it says to me, that it is possible to think of myself as a writer. I CAN learn more about the craft. I CAN experiment with language.
I have recently tried to become more conscious of the way a writer uses words. I am often surprised that many times, what I like is the simplicity of the words chosen. I believe that if I come to terms with idea of myself as a writer, I will be better able to teach my students. It leads me to question, what do I need to do to take the leap, from thinking that I can be a writer to saying that I am a writer. What next?
I have to wrangle with the obstacles. As Jenn said, you need to notice the world. Is that reconditioning, slowing down, or making it a priority? My life must have moments to write about, but I can’t see them yet. I need to look for the small moments and not the large events. That small task appears to overwhelm me. Fear is a hindrance for me as well, B.J. It is very difficult to let go of the mental messages I have been giving myself for so long. Even when Gina says, “Ronnie, I don’t know why you can see yourself as a writer.” I feel momentarily flattered. Then all the self-doubts quickly fill in. Time! That’s a writing hurdle. Finding the time, making the time, giving what time I have to this task. Changing one's self-perception is hard work!
I am actually writing the outline for chapter six for our book group and so I focused and took notes as I read through the chapter. In doing so I felt like I actually had a grasp on what I need to start doing before I can feel 100% comfortable teaching writing. This chapter got me thinking of the endless possibilities of writing and I began to wish that I had been taught how to read like a writer in second grade! Up until taking this course I do not think I have ever used the technique of another author to help me write my own piece. I agree with Ronnie when she says that the statement, "writing is individual, not unique" has stuck with her. I too have had that quote running through my head, but it seemed too difficult to tackle before reading chapter six more closely. I just kept thinking of the words "read like a writer" and for some reason they overwhelmed me each time. Now that I have it broken down for me I am excited to pick up a book in the classroom and come up with a theory about a possible writing technique the author may have used. Maybe then I can try it in one of my writing pieces and truly own the technique. Maybe then I will feel confident trying out an organized inquiry with my students! There are endless ways of teaching writing, which is why I have felt so overwhelmed. I now realize that I have to take baby steps so that I do not continue to avoid all of the possibilities.
Hello all. There is a quote that I had hilighted at the befinning of chapter 4. "I still think of the read-aloud as something deliciously edible, only now I see it as a wonderful vegetable-so good for us as a class that we need several helpings of it each day." Wow! I can remember when I was first teaching and Sister Mary would walk by my class when I was reading out loud. I always felt guilty as she watched me and I knew it was important but I knew that I would have had a hard time justifying it to her. I had so much pressure to produce from these precious 31 first graders. We all loved to talk about books and somehow I knew what I was doing was important and not wasted time! The more helpings the better!
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