Jamie’s Weblog

I must say, even though I am not a poet myself, I have really enjoyed the poetry project and completing it with my students.  The process was very slow, but worth the wait.  One interesting fact that I discovered about my class was my lower students were able to write the Haiku poetry easier than my higher students.  I have no idea why!  My conclusion was, my lower kids were used to the the ridged format of what was expected.  My higher kids are often pushed to think out of the box and be as creative as possible.  Trying to bring their minds and thoughts back inside a box was not easy.  However, they did it and they did well at it.

Learning poetry this semester has really opened my mind to discover more ways for my kids to express what they have learned.  My kids are not dreading writing any more.  They are looking forward to it!    I am already looking forward to next year thinking about how I am going to teach poetry to my kids and how I will integrate it.  Thank you Dr. Fyre for an amazing semester and your example of a true master teacher.  Your lessons will be seen in my classes for years to come.

I recently visited Barnes and Nobles and discovered a book written by a twelve year old girl. Her writing is beyond her years and unimaginable. I recommend that you look her up.

Nancy Yi Fan

Interview

Oh my gosh, it is finally over.  The MG Project was at first very over bearing therefore, I put off for awhile. However, once I got started, it seemed to just flow and go.  Then I found myself lost in my topic and trying to find a new stopping point.  Each day I would try to tweak or rewrite and reburn an article trying to make it look just “write.”

I really enjoyed looking at the various genres and how they flowed.  Going into the project I was not very sure about myself and how I would do.  I do not consider myself an author or writer.  Nor am I very creative.  However, after researching and becoming the “expert” on my topic, the information and writing seemed to flow .  Like I said earlier, I almost got lost in what I was doing.  When my project was finished, I found myself almost surprised that this was something that I had done.  Something that I created.  I was proud.  No matter the grade I get, to me it doesn’t matter.  Now I know how my students feel.

Looking at watching other people presenting their topics, it was very apparent they felt as strong about their topics as I did mine.  Each of us had ownership and somehow a personal connection to their project.  No matter if the project was about Walt Disney, Sandra Lee, Paula Dean, Elvis, Butterflies or Mail Order Brides, everyone did their best and it showed.  Several presentations came with tears.  Some came with laughs.  Looking at it now, the MG was very cool.

When I get back to class next week, I am going to try to teach my students how to do their own MG project. I am going to assign groups 2 genres each on a common topic.  I want them to see how the different genres can present the information in so many ways.  It will be a challenge, but I am looking forwards to it.  My other goal this summer and in the next year is to possibly take the information that I have learned and compile it together in a children’s book to possibly go with Sarah Plain and Tall.  A lofty goal inspired by Dr. Frye.  But I really feel like I would like to try it.

I loved everyones project and you all did a great job!

Assessing writing has always been an issue in my mind. Writing is very subjective to the reader and the writer. Even when a rubric is used to “grade” the writing, I feel that it is still subjective. Most of what we write, we write with our emotions. We are able to tell the world about our thoughts and feelings about different topics. However, we can only reflect in our writing how much we have experienced. Whether our experiences are places we have been, things we have seen or books we have read. All of these things have huge effects on our writings, yet we expect all of our students to be able to take a prompt and write about it at the ages of 9 and 10 years old.

Reading what a child has written can tell you much about a child. You can know what they have and have not experienced, their reading skills, prior knowledge and their personalities. Even when students cannot perform on a test, they can sometimes tell you what they know through writing. Students will often times connect their topic to prior knowledge either from books they have read or something they heard in class. However, while you can tell how much a student is connecting text to self or text to text, you can also see when students are not retaining knowledge and are not able to make the connections they should. In this manner, writing is very individualized and informational to me as a teacher.

I have found in my class, I am still trying to use best practices and show my students what the writing process looks like and the steps they should be taking. (planning, review, polish, final) I have found to some, like any other subject, they take off and do well while others are still struggling with the basics. Becoming an independent writer is tough. Teaching someone to become an independent writer is even tougher. I find it even tougher because the schools are pushing the reading and math for testing, not the writing. Writing is often pushed to the back burner. We have really gotten into the writing in my classroom. I will continue to try to implement best practices and reflecting on this topic.

Here is my informational poem about a Mail Order Bride.

I Am Informational

Genres that we have talked about in class are narratives, biographies, poetry, newspaper articles, journals, play, quotes, book cover, posters and advertisements. I would like to encourage my students to try to write and create brochures, trivia facts, want ad, sheet music, invitations and games. I have always heard that you remember more about a subject if you can teach someone about that topic. I want my students to learn and become an expert on their topic. I am apprehensive about this project, but I am also very excited to see my students dive into learning the different genres, how they are used and what we can learn from them.

Multi-Genre Projects are beginning to take the place of research papers. In the past, research papers have been demanded of seniors in high school. Teachers and students alike dread them. However, the MG seems to be the answer for this. This project allows participants to research a topic of their choice and present their information using different genres of writing. In Moultin’s article as well as Writing Without Boundaries, almost a hundred different genres were listed to choose from. Students that are completing a MG project in the past have been asked to keep a learning log or note cards. The difference in these note cards from note cards kept for research projects is, personal feelings and experiences that come to you while doing the project are included.

To create a MG project, you must decide on a topic that you want to learn more about. Many people choose people from history, a time or event in history. For school topics student may choose an author they are studying, a time in history, a character from a book, a book series, a topic from science or social studies, the possibilities are endless. What ever you are interested in, you can do. For a classroom, a thematic study and a writers workshop would aid in the process. Students will work at different paces pending on the depth of their study, learning styles and how fast they work. Students will also be doing different genres of writing to portray what they have learned. In a classroom, I would give ten maybe twenty genres that we have discussed, written or have studied in class. Then, I would have them choose a minimum of three for their project. For my AIG students, I would probably encourage them to try one or two more, or incorporate harder skills they understand and have studied with me independently. Before my students began their study, I would show them at least one example of what I expected as well as the rubric they would be graded on. We would review the writer’s workshop and what I expected each day in class.

For my project, I am unsure what I am going to do at this point. Right now the topics that are on my head are: Bees & Pollination, an Author Study (possibly Spinelli, Naylor, Gutman) or allowing my students to choose an author they enjoy, a famous person from history or current. THERE ARE TOO MANY CHOICES!!! HELP

Our Class Poem

I am Godly and courageous by:student

Here are I Poems written by my class about Wilma Rudolph.

This is from the character’s perspective. Informational entry coming soon.

Draft of I Poem from character point of view

What make a good poem?

Mood, poems strike you differently at different times of your life.
It portrays the author’s feelings and emotions with clarity.
Tone, you can relate to the author’s tone and word choice.
Imagery, you can clearly see the picture the author has painted with words.
Rhythm, how it flows
Theme, if it relays a message or lesson
A good poem is one you can relate to, it “speaks” to you.
Reflection time, after you go back and look at it again, you gain new insight.
Vocabulary, do you have to analyze it to understand it?

Poetry Models:
Models are helpful, but sometimes limit student thinking.
They are helpful for reluctant writers.
They give the impression that there is a “right” and “wrong” way to write a poem.
They can be restrictive.
They are good for scaffolding.