Monday, March 3, 2008
Being Specific
What is there in our reading of Katie Wood Ray that speaks to you? Look through your current readings and find that one passage that is powerful to you. What do you think about it? Take the time to quote it, with the page number and then write to it. I will be collecting these quotes and posting them on our blog.
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"Through inquiry, my students and I during the past few years have tried to find out how wondrous words happen, how they are chosen and placed together on the page in a way that sounds good."
I don't know that my quote is profound or prolific, but it certainly helps me answer a question that I have wondered about for years. I have always wondered where the amazing writing I read in books came from. I wondered if the author had the story exactly the way they wanted and then one night it came flowing out of them just like it appeared. I wondered if the author knew exactly what they were going to put down on the page all along. Or I wondered if the writer, like me, had an idea that went in a different direction than originaly anticipated. The fact that Katie Wood Ray uses the words chosen and placed on the page makes me think that the autor deliberately put those words there. The words did not come out of forces beyond their control, but their own words. It makes me think that someday I may be able to "place" wonderous words on a page. I may be able to "choose" wonderous words to put on a page.
At the beginning of chapter 11, Katie Wood Ray says, “The beauty of the writing workshop lies in its predictability.” (Page 211)
I feel as though I continue to hear the same chime in my sleep, but still struggle to find predictability in writing the way I do in reading. I have made continued progress over the last few years. I do hold writers workshop daily, but am not consistent in teaching a mini lesson, writing, conferring time and finally group share. I tend to flip flop the order depending on the day, and the need of my students. Some days I may begin with a share or conferring and others the mini-lesson. With my OCD behaviors, this actually surprises me in many ways. One thing I find myself getting into often is writing projects, which tend to change the flow of writing for a period. I have a love hate relationship with structured writing projects as I feel like I often get their best work, but at the same time realize how restricting it may be to some. Are any of you in this same place? Do I actually have more predictability in my writer’s workshop than I realize? Is predictability the same for one teacher as it is another?
I chose to respond to a quote on page 213.
“After spending a year in my writing workshop, how do I hope my students will be as writers?”
Usually I ask - what do I want my students to learn? This leads to a list that I try to sort into monthly categories. Katie’s question focuses on the big picture of what I envision for my students. I too want my students to have a sense of themselves as a writer, so what do I do each day that guides them through this discovery. How do I help each one know what personal processes work best for them? To help accomplish this, I have become a better listener. I can see that many times they know what is working and not working. They just don’t realize that they know. Today one of my students was struggling to find a topic. We started looking through his writing idea book. He talked about a few of his most recent additions. He had sketched a few stars. (A subject he recently read about.) He shared bits of star trivia. I asked if he thought he knew enough about stars to write about them? He stared at his sketches, clearly thinking. His eyes indicated that he was deep in his possibilities. “Wellllll,” he says, “not really. But in my head I see a poem. Each line will go into a star point. I want it to rhyme. It will need to be short.” He had his vision. It was there all along. I want each of my students to have those moments where they can see the possibilities of who they are as a writer.
"Can the way these words are written stand apart from what this book is about? Can I talk about what this writer is doing in this text in a way that makes it available as technique for my students' writing? If the answer to these two questions is 'yes' then you are likely to have a text in your hands that is full of crafted ways with words." p. 198.
After reading chapters 9 and 10, I was overwhelmed by the complexity of selecting texts. Beyond that, I was overwhelmed that I knew so few of the books she was talking about. I was out of my realm of expertise and I didn't think that was so easily accomplished when thinking about 2nd grade books. But this quote...plus her sarcastic comment at the end about not having patience with us efficiency masters....get to the heart of the matter. Its not about what books you use or which I use. In fact the texts are quite varied. One good writing teacher could have a completely different 'short stack' than the great teacher next door. But the real challenge is being knowledgeable enough to spot a good mentor text, to remember why it was important, and to help a child envision their writing through the reflection of that mentor text. It really doesn't matter if I have all the same books as Katie Wood Ray or not. It won't do me a bit of good if I don't know how to use them to help my students be better writers. In fact, its almost relieving. I don't have to spend lots of money to find certain items. It takes reading texts with an open mind....like a writer. Something that in some ways is much harder than just buying a book on a list, yet much more approachable when going to put that text in action.
"Without units of study our focus lessons become a hit-and-miss series of bits of teaching, isolated sound bytes that don't come together into larger more lasting understandings."
I highlighted these words and wrote in the margin that this is exactly how I feel about writing right now. I feel like I jump from one thing to the next and my students aren't able to build from one skill to another. I feel like I don't know what to teach when and what logically flows together. I would love to be able to create units of study for second grade so that way I know what everyone else is doing in their classroom. Right now I feel unsure that what I'm doing/saying is correct or what the kids need to hear most in second grade. Reading was always something that I felt I had more training in and was able to fill in the gaps on my own, but writing is a totally different story. There is so much to cover and I'm just not sure how it all fits together. BJ, I agree with you and the structured writing projects- love/hate. I do feel like they give my kids more structure- they know what they are supposed to do next. I think they give me more structure too. Oh, and that's another thing- I never really figured out how to manage the whole editing publishing thing well when kids are working on any old piece that they want to publish. I guess I'm completely lost! Ugggh!
"As my students learn to write from writers, I am an important writer in that learning."
When I read these words I realized why it is so important for me to look back on the writing I have done in the past and to continue writing. My students need to see that I have actually written pieces that I am asking them to write. I have been getting very excited about using a mentor text and showing the students how to read like writers, but never thought to have them read my writing like a writer. I do not know if this is something I can fully incorporate this year because it being so close to the end of the year, but I can begin. I want to start experimenting with various types of writing in my journal; poetry, friendly letters, newspaper articles, fiction stories, etc. so that when I am asking my students to write certain pieces I can show them not only texts that I know are good examples, but my own writing as well. It is important that my students see that I am continuing to write pieces even if I am not the next Cynthia Rylant.
"Really good learning does that for us-it messes with what we think we know, creating a tension in our lives that can be uncomfortable. When we beging to feel this discomfort our only choice seems to be to quit learning and wait for the 'pain' to go away, or to rethink what we know and muck around a bit in stuff that's really hard for us. I'm partial to mucking around a bit myself, and I have in fact made peace with the idea that there will always be some new hard thing for me to think about in my teaching. There will always be some part of my teaching that, when I think about it, causese me discomfort because I don't feel as sure about it."
This long but important quote came from ch 10 p.208. I love the title of this chapter: "Growing Taller in Our Teaching".
I have always felt that we will never know it all. The phrase "lifelong learners" gets thrown around a lot but it really rings true for this quote. As teachers, we need to continue to learn and grow taller in our teaching in order to inspire and excite learning in our students. Think about it... our students have to learn new and different ways each day and if they can accept it- why shouldn't we? Katie Wood Ray talks about that this can be scary for us to go back to our old comfort zone when we have learned so much more. She goes on to say that new worlds (that have always been there) have opened for us. So how do we teach and include in our lessons all that we have learned? Katie says that it is a life-long quest. I like that. We,as teachers can never allow ourselves to get stale or in a rut and not care or seek all the learning that is out there.
"For my students to understand that craft is not a matter of ownership and not tied to content, they need to see several authors using the same sort of crafting techniques in very different kinds of texts." (p.193)
How true is this! We began our writing this year with poetry and looking at the techniques poets used to breathe life into their pieces. We read poems with repetition, bold print, italics, etc. The children really latched on to these "crafting techniques" and were able to apply them in such great and unexpected ways to their own writing.
At this point in the year it's wonderful to hear them say things like, "This author is using repetition." or "Look at the way the font looks." They are thinking like writers and learning that those text features aren't poetry-specific or Jack-Prelutsky-specific. I think it's then that they feel that freedom to use those strategies in their own work.
It took me examining texts like a writer and applying the crafting techniques to my own work to give me that confidence I needed. I'm also amazed at how I look at everything I read or hear read to me differently. Bedtime stories are gems with possible writer's craft to be unearthed. Songs on the radio are admired for their artful arrangement of ideas. Even commercials...the comedic timing of a well-placed line!
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