Monday, July 21, 2008
Writing Marathon
I enjoyed this whole day. I loved Nick and Melissa's lesson. My kids love the graphic novels, especially Bone. Most of them have a lower reading level but don't want to read a "kid" book. They want to read more of a chapter looking book. So, these books are great because they look like they are for older kids, but they still can actually read the text. As for the writing marathon, I loved having that time to communicate and get to the girls in our group. We haven't talked this whole class very much, so this was a great chance for us to learn about each other with beautiful scenery.
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3 comments:
I really enjoyed the presentations Thursday, too. I'm proud of my graphic art story (thank goodness Nick took us step-by-tiny-step to ease me into it!) and the Faith Ringgold quilt print must have stuck with me deeper than I'd realized, b/c I actually finished a quilt for my grandson from material I'd bought last summer for him! I was truly motivated!
You've got me wondering, who was in your writing marathon group? Were you the group in the winery restaurant?
Tiffani,
So, in the spirit of technology (and my rapidly declining print account), I've taken to Blog-posting instead of letter-writing for Round Table responses.
I really enjoyed your RT today. I love playing with Found Poetry and am stoked that there are great elementary teachers like you and Emily out there who are making it a priority in your classrooms at a time when some are cutting it from their curriculum. I was shocked when I started teaching high school at how many students had never experienced poetry beyond a Shel Silverstein level before, so thankfully your efforts will help the next generation with a head start.
I'm not sure what advice to offer on the research side...it's obvious it's an effective practice, but I agree, I've never read anything on it other than a quick lesson idea in some books. Maybe you could do your own research/case study of Found Poetry's effect (on student writing, poetry appreciation, etc.)in your classroom this year for you Master' degree thesis?? Keep me posted if you do!
Keep up the great work, and thanks for a fun lesson!
Tiffani,
I used you for one of the reading responses, so I thought I'd share what I wrote with you. Remember that conversation we had about "rhyming poetry" and writers wanting to be more like Shel Silverstein or Jack Prelutsky? Anyways, I found an article in Breakthroughs that addressed this, so I wrote you a letter for my response :) Here it is.
Dear Tiffani,
I just finished reading an article from Breakthroughs that reminded me of a conversation we had last week about poetry. You mentioned the fact that often times your students struggled to write free verse poetry that focused more on description than “rhyming” or being silly. In the article Puny Poetry Meets Its Match (256-279) authors Gerri Ruckel and Jim Horrell describe their frustration as many of the students in their classroom wanted to sound like Shel Silverstein and Jack Prelutsky. Many of the early poetry their students wrote included forced rhymes, which as we both know is a common problem, especially in elementary school. The authors worked through the following process to help their beginning poets find their voice.
First, the authors began by immersing their students in poetry that did not rhyme, but focused more on important memories, ideas, or concepts and literary elements like metaphor, personification, and imagery. After the students engaged in multiple immersion activities, they had their students write parallel poetry. In fact, one of the examples they spoke of actually featured William Carlos Williams’ This is Just to Say like Melia used for her prompt. As their students found more thoughtful mentor texts, their students began to focus on the most important features of poetry. As the authors said, “Now the meaning had become the focus of student poetry. Rhyming, for almost all the students, took a backseat…Most of the students abandoned the idea of rhyming altogether at this time” (p. 273).
I think this article may work extremely well when coupled with Georgia Heard’s Awakening the Heart and your wonderful found poetry lesson. I really appreciated the honesty of the authors in sharing their struggles along with their successes. I hope you enjoy the article as well.
Your friend,
Emily
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