Building a Writing Life

One of the goals of the summer institute it build your own capacities as a writer so you will then be a greater resource for your students and their writing. I couldn't agree with that idea more, but that doesn't mean it's easy. I love writing, but it's difficult to make myself write in my notebook everyday.

The Heart of Texas Writing Project-Day 1

Today was my first day in the summer institute. It exceeded my expectations. We wrote, read and talked - it was great!

Tomorrow we're supposed to bring a special object...as usual I don't know what to bring. It's so hard to choose just one thing. Clint said I should bring some knitting needles; I guess I should - it is my latest obsession.

Random Notes from Random Post-it Notes

TAG Multi-Genre Research

The following were notes I took while I read and assessed the students note cards. This was after the initial research phase but before they began writing their papers.

• Research is looking decent, but sometimes it is too basic to support a strong thesis.
• Next time, I should require the citation on the source cards, most kids did it without being directed to.
• Next time I would like to switch to a PP note method (Chris K.) but how to prevent copying/pasting/plagairism?!?!?
• It would have been helpful while reading note cards to have their proposal (duh).
• Should we have written the thesis statement before the research (hindsight = yes = duh!).

Reading Logs: where do I stand this year?

Since I started teaching seven years ago, I have gone back and forth on my opinion of reading logs. In the past, I have created logs and then set page amounts and due dates. I have also tried setting tiered goals and having kids choose the level they want to try to attain. Some years, I haven't done reading logs at all. Most recently we have let the kids choose their own goals (we set a minimum each six weeks). I would say of all of the ways I have tried, I'm pleased with this way, but I'm still not satisfied.

When we first introduced the log this year and the idea of selecting goals, we discussed different types of goals that were available, including (but not limited to): page numbers, minutes, award-winners, genres, author studies, etc. I had one girl who was a stand out at picking interesting, original goals. Some of her goals were:

• books with one-word titles
• books with food on the cover
• books with covers that seemed mysterious and to not fit the book before reading
• books she bought at the book fair
• Lone Star Award winners

There was one other girl who surprised me by choosing: books where characters have lost a home and then found one in the end. I don't know if she picked this goal initially or if she went back at the end and noticed the commonality and felt obligated to write it, but either way - I don't think it matters. I'm proud of her for noticing that.

But sadly, no one else came close to her at choosing original goals. Is it a developmental thing? Do they just not have ideas for "original" goals? I found when we introduce the minimum expectations each six weeks, the majority of students pick that, which I guess should be a lesson in setting expectations.

Interestingly, for this last six weeks, I did not set a minimum and I was fascinated to see the high goals the kids continued with, despite the lack of expectation. Lots of them had joked that they would write a goal of one chapter or two pages (haha), but nobody actually did.

Random Thoughts from a Random Memo Pad

I suffer from Too-many-notebooks Syndrome. I have a house notebook (all my dreams of remodeling / decorating for our house), a Lost notebook (all of my theories and questions about one of the greatest TV shows ever), a Writer's Notebook (duh), a Staff Development notebook (duh), and countless other little note pads where I jot things down.

Here are some ramblings I found and wanted to record before I lost them:

Teaching with The Outsiders

• If we're going to call the unit, Friend, Foe, or Frenemy, then we need to focus on friendship and bullying. Maybe we can (1)start with a survey about bullying {we already kind of do = our anticipation guide} (2)share the bullying matrix and identify examples in the book as well as in our own lives and (3) incorporate a PSA about bullying
• Maybe throughout the reading, we can have warm ups with sentences from the book and others that have similar themes, like (1) The Revealers (2) Romeo & Juliet (3) The Chocolate War (4) Scorpions (5) Schooled (6) Star Girl.
• I'm not satisfied with how we do vocab with The Outsiders. I would like to try an ongoing word wall that kids add to throughout. I think the words become more meaningful when the kids select them. And I don't want to assess the vocab like we have in the past.
• How much can we really continue to read in class? I think of all the activities we could be doing in class, but we're always reading. We also need to talk to 6th and 8th grade and see how we're handling this topic at each level. I would like to attempt a read in and out of class model, more like Reading Workshop.
• Let's let the kids count The Outsiders on their Reading Log.
• And like we've said for years, we need some non-fiction articles on bullying.
  

Reflections: TAG & Multi-Genre Research

My TAG students have completed a 5 week Multi-Genre Research project. I'm really proud of them; I feel like some of the expectations I set for them are comparable to work I did in high school.

The idea to complete a multi-genre research project came from our neighboring school. They complete one every year with their TAG kids with much success and lots of accolades. I will definitely do this again next year with minor adjustments.

From reviewing their final products these are areas of weakness I noticed:

• Some kids continue to struggle connecting their thesis to the rest of their paper. More often than not, they had an awesome thesis, but then the paper was just a list of information about the topic. I think this had to do with the order I taught the process. I should have had them write their thesis statements way earlier.
• Alphabetizing Works Cited (small but important)
• Internal documentation. This is no surprise to me; I didn't teach it, I "covered it".
• Fuzzy graphics. I need to teach the kids how to preserve the quality of a graphic when they copy it. Also need to reinforce citing sources for pictures as well as text.

I was thinking maybe next year of having the TAG class complete a multi-genre project at the beginning of the year as an introductory activity. They could choose any interest they have and research it. IDK, I'll think about it again in the fall.

Possible Workshop Idea: Life Graphs

When I saw that one of the expectations for Summer Job-Alike was "hands-on", it changed what I was thinking of sharing. One of the most hands-on activities we do all year is our Life Graphs. I've also brought it to protocols and received "warm" comments on it from other teachers.

So if I present this, here are my ideas so far:

• Title - Life Graphs: Life is Lived in Moments (thank you Clark for that title)
• Run through the lesson (in an abbreviated fashion) just like I would in my classroom
• Pick 10 good things and 7 bad things. Solicit ideas for other types of graphs besides line (together we can only make this lesson better). Graph, add pictures, write about two events, share.
• Have a PP with pics of the kids' work
• List TEKS involved, Multiple Intelligences
• Why should you teach this
• Mention vertical articulation - each LA grade has a similar beginning of the year activity: 6th=Where Do I Fit In, 8th=Mandala