Tuesday

​Journal prompt: Backpack Pair and share, nominate or choose yourself to come to the author's chair

"Pulling the Wool Over Your Own Eyes" discussion:

Writing on a computer leads to lost thoughts in drafts For young children spontaneity comes easily, the older students grade by grade lose their spontaneity The "holy trinity" of fiction writing- spontaneity, clarity, simplicity Having stuff on paper feels like part of the process The tactile experience of writing things on paper Are we not writers because we do not have a writing routine- a set of habits that surround our writing? It's the discipline that separates a professional from an amateur writer What do writers of nonfiction need? Do we see writers of nonfiction as writers? What does it mean to be a teacher who is a writer? How do we bridge the chasm between teacher and writer? What is in the canyon- work, families, no energy, no time,angst, lack of confidence Malcolm Gladwell- What it takes to become an expert in your field? If I find myself as a writer, will I then find myself as a teacher of writing? Part of being a good teacher is being an interesting person Finding your writer self Writing about the things that keep us from writing What do we have to write about as teacher/as people? Writers write about what they care about The nature of the group of kids Writing while our students are writing- starting our writing before "journal time" so we have work to do with our students

Is it feasible that we can bridge the gap between being a teacher and being a writer? We make time for what we think is important As a writer I need permission from myself to take time to write

What do your students need as writers?

Students appreciate modeling- either the teacher's or an author's Modeling with collaboration Experiences- their own or through literature To see the value of their own experiences Reading Comfort with taking risks Organizational tools Time- As the teacher I need to steal time for my students to write choice of topic topics they can relate to choice in materials- papers, pens, pencils, markers clear direction a scaffolding piece purpose and audience feedback

How do we bridge the perseverence that students show with their video gaming to perseverence in their writing? "Cheat books" strategies to attack ELA's, writing Is part of the charm of video games the immediate feedback? Creating a community of writers creates an environment where students give each other feedback to keep each one moving ahead and growing as a writer
 * Technology did not make either list*

What was important to Alex as a writer?

A feel for who he was a writer feedback from classmates support prompts confidence awareness of being part of a community of writers

KATELIN- WRITING MOTIVATION AND STAMINA

Motivation gets you going, stamina keeps you going.

Describe a piece of writing from your life that's important to you. What is it about? What was your writing process like? Why was it important to you? Deb-Scrapbook- difficult- procrastinate- better at telling my stories with pictures- telling the story of your family-What will people thing? I want my own stamp on it- telling my story in my own words- legacy Jen M.- poem- unsure of my work- given the gift of audience- gave more confidence- served a purpose- gave closure to a difficult time in her life Katelin- motivation, there would be an end product that she could be excited about- would also serve a purpose in her classroom- legitimized the use of graphic novels- recording family history- Vivien- types of writing by Kathy, Alicia, and Vivien served very different purposes but were all very important for different reasons- Kathy, a biography for a deceased friend- Alicia, a resume- Vivien- capturing moments from their children's lives that they won't remember on their own- all trying to capture something to preserve- using writing in three different ways- COMMUNICATION

Dialectical Notebook-

Kim- Practice that which we'll be required to do in life- experiential learning Paul- What is unreal writing? There is inherently some "meaningless work" involved in education- it may not gain its meaning until later Lynn- How do I shift from what the children must write to what the children need to write? Diane- Why can't NYS realize too that many of our Language Arts activities are burial grounds for writing development? Paul- Maybe the medium wasn't right- maybe the skill (writing a letter to pretend parents of pretend students) needed to be developed but in a different way so that you can achieve purpose Alicia- the weight of the audience that you're writing for gives weight to the importance of the writing Kristen- How about dread as a motivator? Real audiences motivate me to take more care, but it is dread that motivates me to agonize over my writing Do I need to make my students DREAD the audience to give them a stronger sense of purpose? Traci- letter writing- the form was still important, but caring about your readers changes the writing Sara- If I had Matthew again, ten years later, how would I make him ache with caring about his writing? Kim- How do you get your students to ache with caring about their writing? Immediate feedback Jenn E.-How do I motivate the students? Having them help plan/choose/know that there will be an audience beyond themselves Lorraine- Students sometimes need the time to come to a place where they are motivated to write Katelin- my students write to various audiences- still I have difficulty motivating students beyond the grade when it comes to content-based writing Paul- is the motivation sometimes simply the importance of the learning- i.e. having a rich experience with an enduring piece of literature Jenn E.- We need to show students that what they are learning is relevant and important