1 using the writer’s notebook with secondary students

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Using the

Writer’s Notebook

with

Secondary Students

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A notebook can be boring, routine, non-personal—something students “trash” at the end of the year.

Or

A notebook can be the clearing in a forest of your life, a place where you can be alone and content as you play with outrage and wonder, details and gossip, language and dreams, plots and subplots, perceptions and small epiphanies.

Ralph Fletcher

What the notebook becomes is up to you, the teacher. Oh the power you hold in your hands—the power to change lives.

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• a nonthreatening place to write• a place to record memories• a place to savor life• a place to explore the world and feelings• a place to record observations• a place to wonder, question, challenge• a place to organize, analyze• a place to collect ideas for writing• a place to plan for writing• a place to live like a writer• a tool to improve writing fluency• a tool to use across the curriculum

A Writer’s Notebook is . . .

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Slowly, as I continued to write in my notebook, I began to view myself as a writer. I had thoughts, feelings, opinions, reactions, and memories to record. I became more observant of people and of my surroundings, and I began to feel the urge to write down things that previously would have seemed insignificant. I squeezed a lot of artifacts between the pages of my notebooks and wrote about the experiences that were tied to them. But, more important, I found that I did some of my best thinking when I wrote. When I had opinions, thoughts, or reactions to express, I grabbed my notebook so

that I could disentangle them on paper. Some of these entries have led to letters, poems,tributes, op-eds, and other forms of published writing.

A writer’s notebook can be seductive in a good sort of way. It tugs at your elbow, enticingyou to write just a little about this or that—until you realize that you are living a writerly life!

-- Ralph Fletcher

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• SELECTING A NOTEBOOK-- inviting-- sturdy-- convenient to carry-- affordable-- you can have all students get the same notebook (composition notebooks are sturdy and affordable), or-- you can have students select their own notebook-- make sure you get a notebook, too!

GETTING STARTED

Getting a journal is like buying shoes. You have to find one that fits. -- Jean Little

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• write name/school on inside cover in case it gets lost

• keep notebook close at hand and in a safe place (may want to keep in class and only let students take them home if they beg!)

• date and number all entries• leave 1-2 spaces between each entry• cross out; don’t erase/tear out/throw away• mistakes are OK; conventions not the focus• write often• add special mementos, artifacts• be respectful of your writing and the writing of

others• create an “Ideas” page at the very back (opt.)

GUIDELINES

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• Within every person is a drama, a tragedy, and a comedy. -- Mark Twain

• Most of the basic material a writer works with is acquired before the age of 15.

-- Willa Cather• We cannot give students rich lives, but we can give them the lens to appreciate the richness that is already there.

-- Lucy Calkins• As teachers, it is our job to validate the lives

of our students by honoring their thoughts, feelings, and daily experiences.

-- Janet Elliott

IDEAS

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• With students create a web for “fear” or any other emotion/topic. On the spokes, list things people fear as students contribute.

• Ask students to make their own “fear” webs in their notebooks.

• Have students circle one that they want to write about.

• Have students do a quick write (3-5 minutes) on the “fear” they selected.

• Allow students to share what they wrote.• Ask students to record any additional ideas

from the share session on their “Ideas” page.

IDEAS: Process

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Have students “process ideas” from the previous slide using the following:

IDEAS: More Webs

• memories of food• surprises• pets• friends• school• family• heroes• hobbies

• weather• music• nature• celebrations• sports• clothes• birthdays/holidays• dreams

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Continue having students “process ideas” from slide 9:

IDEAS: Lists

• ways I like to relax

• things that are difficult

• things I love

• things that annoy me

• things that frighten me

• things that are gross

• things I want to do/try

• things I want to forget

• things parents say

• things that are peaceful

• things I question

• keepsakes

• happy moments

• funny moments

• embarrassing moments

• irritating sounds

• mistakes I’ve made

• favorite places

• favorite movies/tv shows

• favorite books

• favorite school memories

• people I admire

• places I want to visit

• concerns

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1. Give each student a laminated “topic card.”

2. Students write about what’s on the card for 2-3

minutes.

3. Students pass their card to the next person, and repeat step 2.

4. Repeat steps 2-3 four or five times.

5. Then have students select their favorite quick write and finish writing it.

6. Allow students time to share before and after step 5.

IDEAS: Topic Cards

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Have students trace around their hand

and

write five things (one on each finger) they they want others to know about them

or

five things that don’t think others know about them.

IDEAS: Give me “5”

GREAT BEGINNING OF THE YEAR ACTIVITY:

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• As students enter the room, hand each of them an unusual photo cut from magazine ads.• After studying the photos, students begin writing stories about them.• After three minutes, students pass their photo and partial draft to the person on their left.• Each student studies the new photo, reads what has already been written, and continues writing the story. • This process continues for about five rounds. • Papers are returned to the original author. • Students get in groups and read their stories. • Each group votes on the best story and reads it to the class.• For homework, students can finish or revise their draft.

IDEAS: Pass the Photo

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• favorite place maps

• job maps

• life maps

IDEAS: Maps

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My journal is the heart of my writing. There I record dreams, memories, funny happenings and wild ideas. Free to play, I write in different directions and colors; I draw, I tape in leaves, notes, boarding passes. From such compost, poems, stories, and even novels grow.

--George Ella Lyon

IDEAS: Mementos/Artifacts

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Mementos serve as a catalyst for our memories. -- Janet Elliot

Collect mementos and record the memories.


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“PHOTOGRAPHS are fragile paper timeships dusted with information.” –Photographer Joel Meyerowitz


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SKETCHES are quick and simple. When writers sketch or draw, they think more deeply about that person or object.

Sketch a neighbor, friend, teacher, family member, favorite places, or objects.

IDEAS: Sketches

MENTOR TEXT:

Max’s Logbook, by Marissa Moss

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WHAT DO YOU WONDER ABOUT?

Why are bubbles round?

How did the zebra get its stripes?

What is a black hole?

What is the Bermuda Triangle?

IDEAS: Wonderings

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Have students write down three things they wonder about. Have them do this daily for several days to get in the mind-set of wondering.

You can use one of the many question-and-answer books like How Come? by Kahty Wollard (1993) that shows how questions can lead to writing and even research.

IDEAS: Wonderings

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• Clip individual words, phrases, headings, cartoons, quotes, pictures, or articles that interest/irritate you and glue/tape it into your notebook.

• Write a personal response related to your clipping.

IDEAS: Newspapers and Magazines

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• View various paintings, sculptures, etc. Then record thoughts, feelings, interpretations.

• Give students clay or play dough to mold their own art (make a paper collage, do ink blots, or any other art activity). Then have them write about their creations.

IDEAS: Art

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Have students write/sketch what they are thinking as they listen to various types of music.

-- What does the song/music remind you of?-- How does it make you feel?-- How do the lyrics impact you? What is the message?-- When sketching to music, what does it cause you to draw: wavy lines, circles, jagged lines?

IDEAS: Music

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Get in the habit of quietly observing and experiencing the world around you. Trust your five senses to lead you to ideas, which are everywhere, just waiting for you to connect with them—and make them your own.

OBSERVATIONS

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As we develop a greater awareness of our surroundings and record the details, we gather great material to use in future writing.

OBSERVATIONS

SPRINGBOARD:

Seinlanguage by Jerry Seinfeld

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1.Have students divide a piece of paper into fourths and to categorize their observations into sight, touch, smell, and sound.

2.Take students outside to record their observations (no talking) or make this a homework assignment.

OBSERVATIONS: Nature

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1.Crawdad Creek (Sanders, 2002)2.Snowflake Bentley (Martin (1998)3.Snowflakes in Photographs

(Bentley, 2000)4.Sketching Outdoors in Winter

(Arnosky, 1988)5.Nature All Year Long (Leslie, 2002)

OBSERVATIONS: Nature

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Nothing Ever Happens on 90th Street (Schotter, 1997)

Have students take “people notes” when they go to the mall, movie theater, grocery store, hair salon, etc.

Scribbled notes written about a seatmate on an airplane: BIG hockey fan—unbridled enthusiasm for EVERYTHING. Very, very fun guy. Dirty fingernails.

OBSERVATIONS: People

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WHAT DO YOU HEAR?

Listen in on snippets of conversation (with discretion, of course).

Sit in a public place (restaurant, mall, library, locker, cafeteria line, football bleachers, etc.) and listen to “snatches of talk” the “cadences of ordinary talk.” -- Ralph Fletcher

OBSERVATIONS: Listening

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Janet Elliot wrote the following two-voice poem after hearing an argument among employees in a fast-food restaurant.


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WORDS, WORDS, WORDSagreement

ARGUMENTcompliment

CRITICISMsoothing

IRRITATINGhumorous

ANGRYeloquent

CRUDEhelpful

HURTINGA gift or OR

A CURSE

words, WORDS,words, WORDS,words, WORDS!


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Literature has an impact on readers in different ways. It connects us to past experiences,stirs our emotions, andcauses us to react, wonder, or chuckle. -- Janet Elliott

LITERATURE SPRINGBOARDS

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You Have to Write (Wong, 2002) Helps writers realize that their daily lives are full of rich writing material.

Excerpt: No one else can say what you have seen, and heard, and felt today . . . . Write about fights. Write about holes in your socks, your grandmother cracking her knuckles, your father snoring all night long.”


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Share powerful examples of memoir with your students and discuss the differences between memory (recalls what happened) and amemoir (includes the reactions, thoughts, and emotions that accompanied that memory).

Writing a Life: Teaching Memoir to Sharpen Insight, Shape Meaning—and Triumph over Tests (Bomer, 2005)


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MENTOR/ANCHOR TEXTS—use your favorite exemplary texts to teach students about various types of writing and refer to these texts throughout the year.


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CHAPTER BOOKS: Marshfield Dreams: When I Was a Kid by Ralph Fletcher Looking Back: A book of Memories by Lois Lowry A Girl from Yamhill by Beverly Cleary Small Steps: The Year I Got Polio by Peg Kehret When I Was Your Age: Original Stories about Growing Up (Vol. 2) edited by Amy Ehrlich Boy: Tales of Childhood by Roald Dahl But I’ll be Back Again by Cynthia Rylant Knots in my Yo-Yo String, by Jerry Spinelli

Many of these you can just use one or two chapters.


MENTOR TEXTS for Teaching Memoir

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PICTURE BOOKS: When I Was Young In the Mountains by Cynthia Rylant

White Water by Jonathan and Aaron London

Fireflies by Julie Brinckloe

The Summer My Father Was Ten by Pat Brisson

The Keeping Quilt, by Patricia Polacco



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PICTURE BOOKS (Sensory Connections):

“The Long Closet,” by Jane Yolen (from When I Was Your Age)

The Hickory Chair, by Lisa Rowe Fraustino

Ma Dear’s Aprons, by Patricia McKissack



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HOLIDAY MEMORIES/TRADITIONS:

The Christmas House, by Ann Turner

One Candle, by Eve Bunting

Chase’s Calendar of Events:

http://mhprofessional.com/category/?cat=3






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“My Name,” from The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros

My Name is Maria, by Alma Flor Ada

My Name is Yoon, by Helen Recorvits

The Name Jar, by Yangsook Choi

Gooney Bird Green, by Lois Lowry (Chapter 2)

Angel Child, Dragon Child, by Michele Maria Surat


WRITING ABOUT NAMES:

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All the Places to Love, by Patricia MacLachlan

Quiet Place, by Douglas Wood

The Secret Place, by Eve Bunting Hey, Al, by Author Yorinks


WRITING ABOUT SPECIAL PLACES:

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Thank You, Mr. Falker, by Patricia Polacco

Sister Anne’s Hands, by Marybeth Lorbiecki

It Happens to Everyone, by Bernice Myers


WRITING ABOUT SCHOOL:

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My Cats Nick and Nora, by Isabelle Harper

Nibbles and Me, by Elizabeth Taylor

The Tenth Good Thing About Barney, by Judith Viorst


WRITING ABOUT PETS:

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The Pain and the Great One, by Judy Blume

I Remember Papa, by Helen Ketteman and Greg Shed

The Relatives Came by Cynthia Rylant

The Memory String, by Eve Bunting

Sunshine Home, by Eve Bunting


WRITING ABOUT FAMILY:

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My Rotten, Redheaded Older Brother, by P. Polacco

Miss Rumphius, by Barbara Cooney

My Great Aunt Arizona, by Gloria Houston

“Always Wear Clean Underwear!” and Other Ways Parents Say “I Love You,” by Marc Gellman


WRITING ABOUT FAMILY:

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Rosie and Michael, by Judith Viorst

Enemy Pie, by Derek Munson

Freedom Summer by Deborah Wiles

The Other Side, by Woodson and Lewis

Mrs. Katz and Tush, by Patricia Polacco

Roxaboxen, by Barbara Cooney


WRITING ABOUT FRIENDS:

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The Way I Feel Sometimes, by Beatrice Schenk de Regniers

What Are You So Grumpy About? by Tom Lichtenheld

Once When I Was Scared by Helena Clare Pittman

Courage, by Bernard Waber

Today was a Terrible Day, by Patricia Reilly Giff

Ira Sleeps Over, by Bernard Waber


WRITING ABOUT FEELINGS & MOODS:

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Fighting Words, by David Small

Max’s Words, by Kate Banks

The Boy Who Loved Words, by Roni Schotter


PLAYING WITH WORDS:

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Fortunately, by Remy Charlip

The Important Book, by Margaret Wise Brown

Things that are Most in the World, by Judi Barrett

Texas Night Before Christmas, James Rice

Sylvester and the Magic Pebble (circular story—any story by the author), by William Steig


PLAYING WITH PATTERNS:

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Poems by Adolescents and Adults: A Thematic Collection for Middle School and High School

Any of the “Teen Ink” Series

Any poetry by Mattie Stepanek

Paint Me Like I Am, teen poems from Writerscorps

The D- Poems of Jeremy Bloom, by Gordon Korman

Almost Forever (novel in verse)


IMITATING POETRY:

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I write poetry for the same reason I read it: the sound of words, their taste on my tongue, is irresistible. Words are the apple pie in my pantry that draws me out of my warm bed and sends me shuffling down the dark hall in the middle of the night.

-- Bobbi Katz

A PLACE FOR POETRY

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• Read Poetry• Collect Poems• Notice Poetic Elements• Imitate Poetry• Write Non-Rhyming Poetry• Collect Info. About Poets• Make Individual/Class Poetry Books or Individual Digital Poetry Portfolios

A PLACE FOR POETRY

http://blevinsclass.com/eTchrPoetry.html

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Have students read “I Remember” by Edward Montez a few times.

Then have them use it to create their own “I Remember” poem.

Each stanza becomes a potential writing topic to explore on future writing days.

A PLACE FOR POETRY

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Once we start noticing things, it is difficult not to notice them again.

-- Peter Johnston

How do we get students to notice language in what they hear and read? It comes by immersing them in language—giving them lots of opportunities to read words, write words, talk about words, and most important, enjoy words.

WORD PLAY

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Even in my forties I have benefited as a writer directly from hearing writing read aloud. The music, the word choice, the feelings, the flow of structure, the new ideas, the fresh thoughts—all these and more are banked into my writing checking account whenever I am fortunate enough to be read to.

-- Mem Fox

WORD PLAY

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Read aloud beautiful language everyday to your students and share why you selected it. Look for language that is stunning, rereadable, readaloudable (Katie Wood Ray), and memorable (Janet Elliott).

The writer’s notebook is the perfect place to collect language, but it requires nudging, reminding, and lots of sharing to get young writers in the habit of using their notebooks to record intriguing language. Sticky notes can be used to jot down words that students encounter during reading to transfer to their notebook later on.

-- Janet Elliott

WORD PLAY

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Like fabric, words have texture:

SMOOTH-Sounding Words: swim, love

BUMPY-Sounding Words: radical, persnickety

HARD-Sounding Words: stop, crack

WORD PLAY

THE FABRIC OF WORDS

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“I use my journal for self-talk, a way to gain perspective when I’m frustrated. Writing it down helps me sort things out. It helps me keep my feet on the ground and my head going in the right way. It’s also a place I go to dump toxic waste, which is why it would be so unfair for somebody to come along and read it . . . The frustrations and anger I don’t want to drag out in public I leave in my journal.

-- Sarah Holbrook

ASSESSMENT

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• Keep it simple• Keep it useful for students • Keep it useful for teacher• Use rubrics, checklists, and self-assessments

ASSESSMENT

1 using the writer’s notebook with secondary students

Documents

writers notebook

notebook close

safe place

nonthreatening place

notebook composition

secondary students

students rich lives

ralph fletcher slide