Blog 9: Non-fiction in the classroom

An example of a non-fiction graphic organizer

I never realized what went into teaching how to read and write in the informational genre. After doing a lot of research for my genre expert project, I realized that there is a lot that teachers have to do in order to make sure that their students are able to read and understand all the information that is being presented in non-fiction books. I know for me, when I first started thinking about the genre, I thought it was about being able to pull facts out about the topic. In fact, in elementary school we used to read non-fiction books and then fill out a graphic organizer with all the facts that we learned while reading. We were taught to read the book like it was like every other genre we have been reading.

One activity that I do remember is an activity that Tompkins (2019) mentions within the informational chapter of her book. This activity has the students comparing how nonfiction books are similar/ different than fiction books.  We would use this activity as an intro into the unit since it helped us to understand that fiction was a story and nonfiction was facts. I now know that is not true! Non-fiction books can still have a setting, characters and tell a story while still giving you facts about a topic.  

(Tompkins, 2019, p. 235)

I feel like teachers don’t spend enough time teaching students how text features help them read and understand the text. Tompkins says that non-fiction books tend to have unique text features in them such as table of contents, headings, subheadings, margin notes, photos, and charts.  She says that “their purpose is to make the text easier to read and understand” (Tompkins, 2019, p. 223). I will be the first to admit that when I was reading a non-fiction book, I would skim over the page and not read half the text that was there. I never learned how important it was to look at all the features as you are reading.  I didn’t take the time to read the heading, sub headings and margin noted to know what the page was going to be about instead I just read the text that was on the page.

There can be a lot of information within these books that it is hard to know where to start. While researching the non-fiction genre, I found an article that gives teachers strategies on how they can teach their students to read this genre.  Courtney Shimek (2019) gives us 5 different strategies to help teach students to read and understand non-fiction picture books. They are; “ 

• Strategy 1:Read the Pictures
• Strategy 2: Track the Words
• Strategy 3: Focus on the Medium
• Strategy 4: Analyze the Back Matter and Peritextual features
•  Strategy 5: Highlight the Text in Visual Elements                                          “(Shimek, 2019, p. 520-521).

By reading the same book 5 different times, you are paying attention to a different detail each time. This helps for the students to see why it is so important for them to stop and read the headings and subheadings before they read the actual text on the page.  Depending on the age of the students in the class, you might want to split the strategies up so that you are modeling a different one each day.

In elementary school and even now days, I will choose to read a fiction book before choosing a nonfiction book. I feel like there is a stigma around non-fiction books that keeps students from not wanting to read them. Students tend to think that they are only supposed to read non-fiction when they are in the classroom and when they are doing research. They feel like they should be taking notes on every page rather than just enjoying just reading the book. When I look in a classroom library, I tend to see more fiction books on display for the students to see while the small selection of non-fiction books are tucked in a basket in the back. It is time that we change how we teach and use non-fiction books. Students need to see that they can read a non-fiction book whenever they want to and that there is no assignment that goes along with it. When I have my classroom, I’m going to make sure that I am displaying and reading both fiction and non-fiction books. I want to see students being excited to read non-fiction stories.

Shimek, C. (2019).  Sites of synergy: Strategies for readers navigating nonfiction picture books. The Reading Teacher, 72(4), 519-522.

Tompkins, G. E.  (2019). Teaching writing:  Balancing process and product (7^th ed.).  Upper Saddle River, NJ:  Merrill.

Blog 8: "To Bless, To Address, To Press"

One of my favorite parts in writing is when it can be shared.  I think that it is important that we as teachers give our students time that they are able to share the work that they are doing. Tompkins states that sharing is an important part of writer’s workshop. She adds “After the reading, classmates clap and offer compliments. They may also make other comments and suggestions, but the focus is on celebrating completed work writing projects…” (Tompkins, 2019, p.27).   In fact, Hicks encourages peers to respond to each other by saying “To bless is to simply offer praise.   To address means to ask specific questions about the ideas.  To press is to ask critical questions in order to help the writer move toward a stronger version or the writing or a clearer explanation of his/her opinion. (Hicks, 2009, p. 83).

There is a classroom that I will spend a lot of time in so to help out and I’m always so impressed by the amount of people that want to share their writing. They have ELA centers every day and one of the centers is usually a free write where they can choose what they want to write about. There’s always usually two or three people that want to share their writing at the end of the day because they are so proud of the work that they did. Not only am I taken back by the students wanting to share but also the way that the rest of the class reacts. At first they will all clap and say something that they really liked (To bless), then they ask specific questions about what they wrote (to address) and then they will add some suggestions of small things that they could change (to press).  I love seeing how great their classroom community is and that they all support each other along with wanting to help them grow.

As I was reading through all my peers’ blog posts, there was one that really stood out to me. I really Kristina’s blog entry about providing feedback.  She talks about how by proving feedback to the writer, the reader and the writer are communicating. They are talking about the piece by saying what they like and what questions they might have. One thing that she said that stood out to me was “The reader is a fresh pair of eyes for the writer, they are able to provide an unbiased opinion of the writing piece and give critical feedback that will help the writer make improvements to their writing” (Wells, 2019). I couldn’t help but think back to one of my blogs that I have written where I talk about feedback. I love when I get another set of eyes to look over something that I have written and give me feedback on how to make it stronger.

Another idea that I loved as I read the blog post, was the idea of having student- student conferences to talk about their writing. I know that the kids I work with would much rather meet with another student to talk about their writing rather than meet with me.  However, I always run into the issue of making sure that they are staying on task.  I would love to ask Kristina how she would implement these conferences in her classroom. What do you do to model them and how do you make sure the students are focused on what they are supposed to be doing? I definitely want to make sure that my students have the time to share their work with their peers and receive feedback on how they can make their pieces stronger.

Hicks, T. (2013).  Crafting digital writing.  Portsmouth, NH:  Heinemann.

Tompkins, G. E.  (2019). Teaching writing:  Balancing process and product (7^th ed.).  Upper Saddle River, NJ:  Merrill.

Wells, K. (2019, February 22). Entry 5 [blog post]. Retrieved from https://kristinawells-lted618-spring2019.blogspot.com/2019/02/entry-5.html

Blog 7: Similarities between writing genres

I wasn’t a huge fan or writing in elementary school. Along with not being a great speller, I had a hard time with organizing my ideas and choosing the right words to express those ideas. I saw writing as a fun thing to do or something to look forward to. Throughout elementary school, all of the writing pieces that we would do, would fall under the same genre.  They would all fall into the narrative genre. I felt like I was doing the same writing assignment over and over again. We would talk about the other genres very briefly but would never have any time to practice writing in them.

While reading for this week’s class and for my genre project, I couldn’t help but notice that there are some similarities throughout all of the genres when you look at the text features within the text. I first started by reading Tompkins’s chapter on poetry (chapter 7).  Tompkins (2019) lists 6 different poetic devices that can be added to poems (alliteration, comparison, onomatopoeia, personification, repetition and rhyme. Tompkins says “They create strong images when they repeat sounds within a line or stanza, imitating sounds, use the unexpected comparison, repeat words and phrases, and choose rhyming words” (Tompkins, 2019, pg. 159).  I remember spending a lot of time learning about rhyming. I learned that poetry is when the lines are short and that all the ending words in the lines rhyme. Even though rhyming does help to create an image in your head, some of the most beautiful poems I have read have a lot of personification in it.  Personification not only helps to create an image but I also get a sense of the feeling that the poet is putting into their poem

I then went on to read Tompkins’s chapter on narrative writing (chapter 8). As I was reading the narrative devices explained in the chapter I couldn’t help but think how they relate to the poetic devices I just read. The 6 narrative devices that Tompkins (2019) list are; comparison, hyperbole, imagery, personification, symbolism, and tone.  She adds “authors use narrative devices to make their writing more vivid and memorable; without these devices, writing can be lifeless and dull” (Tompkins, 2019, pg. 179). Right off the bat, I noticed that comparison and personification were repeated, they both are listed as poetic and narrative devices. I thought that it was cool how the two devices are used the same way when writing in different genres. Comparison is by comparing two things to create an image while personification is used to give human characteristics to an animal as a way to connect the reader to the text.  

All of the devices that Tompkins mentions in the poetry chapter and narrative chapter, are devices that help to give energy and excitement to the reader. Both writing genres play around with the way that words are written to help create an image for the reader as they ae reading the text. I think that the two writing genres are very similar because they are both focused on engaging the reader with the story that is being told. After seeing how similar the genres are and how they share some features, I wish that my teachers took the time to let us write in the poetry genre. I truly think that the best way to learn about each genre, is to write in each genre. That way, you can truly see how similar the different genres are. When I have my own classroom, I plan on having my student write a little in each genre so that they can personally see all the ways they are similar and different.

Tompkins, G. E.  (2019). Teaching writing:  Balancing process and product (7^th ed.).  Upper Saddle River, NJ:  Merrill.

Blog 6: Dear Dr. Jones

Dear Dr. Jones,

I can’t believe that we are already half way through the semester. It feels like the weeks are flying by. I’m even surprised at how fast the actual class goes by each week.

I was a little nervous for this class at the beginning of the semester. I’ve never been really good at writing and always get nervous when I see that a class has a bunch of writing assignments. Having writers workshop incorporated in class each week has helped me to be less nervous. It gives me time to work on all the different writing assignments and to think about all the ideas that we discussed in class. I expected that the class would be about writing in the different genres but I didn’t think that I would be writing little pieces in each of those genres. I love the fact that I am able to learn how to write in all these different genres because I never really knew how.  I tend to write the same way for every piece of writing. I now know that you need to shift how you are writing based on what the purpose of your writing is and who the given audience is.

In elementary school, I was taught that writing was always just responding to a given prompt. My teachers always told me that writing had to be written in a formal manner. While reading The Framework for success, I was able to see that there are multiple habits of mind that affect the way students approach. The article identifies eight features “Curiosity, Openness, Engagement, Creativity, Persistence, Responsibility, Flexibility, Metacognition” (Council of Writing Program Administrators, National Council of  Teachers of English, & National Writing Project, 2011, p. 1). By writing theses blog entries every week, I have had to work on my openness and engagement mindset. Writing a blog entry is different than writing a formal paper because you are writing to a different audience in a different style. With writing theses entries, I have to make sure that I’m writing my ideas in a way that is engaging for the readers and open enough for the readers to see what my thoughts are.  I have developed a stronger rhetorical knowledge and now understand that who you are writing to and why you are writing, should drive determine how you write.

One thing that I absolutely love, is the idea of journaling and free writing. While reading Tompkins, I was able to see that there are so many benefits to having students write in journals. Journals can be used as a way for students to record their thinking as they are learning a new subject or they can be used as a safe space for students to write what they are feeling. I definitely want to make sure that I give my students the chance to journal and free write during the day so they can write creatively.  I can definitely see how my writing is benefitting from having writers workshop as the second half of class every week so I plan on using writing workshop within my own classroom.  One instructional strategy that I would want to use is having a chart of the all the writing stages with clips that the students can move to show what strategy they are on. I think it is important to give the students the time that they need for each stage but also remind them that they go through each one as well. Another activity that I think is very beneficial is giving the students the time to share their writing with their peers. Tomkins says “After the reading, classmates clap and offer compliments. They may also make other comments and suggestions, but the focus is on celebrating completed writing projects, not on revising the compositions to make them better” (Tompkins, 2019, p. 27). It’s important to give the students a space where they can celebrate all the hard work that they put into their writing.

Ways to be motivated to write

One struggle that I am having with our genre writing project, is thinking of what I want to write. I’m struggling to determine who I want the audiences to be for my three pieces and what genre I want to them write in. When it comes to writing, I struggle with finding the motivation to write. Ever since I was younger, I never liked writing and I struggle with figuring out the perfect word order. I need to keep reminding myself that it is okay if my writing is not perfect in the prewriting stage, since that is the stage I’m just starting to get my ideas down

 

Council of Writing Program Administrators, National Council of  Teachers of English, & National Writing Project. (2011).  Framework for success in postsecondary writing.  Retrieved from http://wpacouncil.org/framework/

Hompkins, G. (2017). Journal writing every day: Teacher says it really works! [Web page]. https://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/curr144.shtml

Sun, T. (2017). 30 little ways to motivate yourself to write, right now. The writing cooperative [blog page] https://writingcooperative.com/30-little-ways-to-motivate-yourself-to-write-right-now-9982e80c408d

Tompkins, G. E.  (2019). Teaching writing:  Balancing process and product (7^th ed.).  Upper Saddle River, NJ:  Merrill.

Blog 5: Feedback

When I look at all of the stages of writer’s workshop Tompkins tell us, I would have to say that one of my favorites in the publishing stage. I love being able to take pride in the work that I created and share it with others. I love the idea of taking my writing piece and publishing it either online as a blog or bind it into a small book. One of my favorite activities in elementary school is when we made a class book out of all the pieces that we wrote throughout the year.

Even though I love sharing my published pieces, I get really nervous about publishing them. I struggle with choosing that right word to express my idea or making the sentence flow smooth enough. I will always give my papers to at least one person to read before I submit it. I love getting feedback from my friends or family on how I can make my writing stronger. By having another set of eyes reading the piece, they can see things that I might have missed. 

I used to be scared to read the feedback that I would get on paper. I would look at what I got for a grade and ignore any other writing. I always thought that the more writing you had on your paper as feedback, the more you did wrong. Over the years, I have learned that the amount of feedback you receive does not determine your grade. I have learned that not all the feedback teachers write on papers is bad or about things that you need to change, some of the feedback might be about things that they liked. While student teaching, my fourth graders wrote poems about themselves using similes and metaphors. Along with giving them grades, I was able to give the students positive feedback on what ideas I liked. By giving each on a small personal note about their work, the students could tell that I took the time to read and think about their poems.

Along with implementing writer’s workshop into my classroom, I am going to implement time where students can exchange writing pieces and get feedback from their peers. Getting feedback from their peers will allow the students to be able to edit their writing before they hand it in. Philippakos says ”There are number of positive outcomes from the application of this approach, but perhaps the most important one is that the reciprocal aspect of peer review can potentially affect students awareness of the readers needs as the writer can anticipate the audience’s reaction” (Philippakos, 2017, p.14).  When I give my paper to a friend to peer review, I look at their face as they read to see if they would react the same way while reading certain sections.

Peer review is a great tool and strategy to use in the classroom but it has to be taught the right way so that the students value the time. Students need to be explicitly taught what they should be doing when they peer review a piece. Philippakos adds “Often, students do not value their partner’s comments as much as they would value their teacher’s comments, and students are not always able to identify problems in their peers’ papers” (Philippakos, 2017, p. 14). It is common for students to get in their group and read over their pieces but not know how to respond. Once they are done reading, they will get sidetracked and start having a conversation that is not related to anybody’s writing. In fact, I can admit that I have been guilty of this as well. By having a rubric or checklist that gives the students some suggestions to look for and talk about in the papers, they will stay focused.

In order for the students to know what they need to be doing and to make sure they have everything that you are looking for, they need a rubric to look at. Having rubric will let them know how you are going to grade their work so they can make sure they have included everything. I use to hate creating rubrics for my students because I struggled with deciding how to set it up. When I was younger I would only look at what the criteria was to get a perfect score and not read the rest of the rubric. I knew that I wanted to get a good score so I focused on what I had to do to get that.  

Feedback: The first secret john hattie reveled. The Australian society for evidence based teaching turning research into practical advice. [web page] http://www.evidencebasedteaching.org.au/crash-course-evidence-based-teaching/how-to-give-effective-feedback-to-your-students/

Tompkins, G. E.  (2019). Teaching writing:  Balancing process and product (7^th ed.).  Upper Saddle River, NJ:  Merrill.

Pilippakos, Z.A. (2017).  Giving feedback:  Preparing students for peer review and self-evaluation.  The Reading Teacher, 71(1), 13-22.  DOI: 10.1102/trtr.1568

Blog 4: "Writing is after all, a medium for learning to think"

I always thought that writing only had one purpose; to express your ideas. I now know that there are multiple purposes for writing in the classroom and how it can affect your learning. Donald Graves (2004) states "Writing is after all, a medium for learning to think"(p. 90). By writing things down, we are able to process all the new information that we are learning. When I take notes, even if I receive a handout with the information, I re-write all the information in my notebook because it helps me to learn the information we are talking about.

Writers should use their writing to ask questions, to imagine, to clarify, to refine and to synthesize what they are learning. They should be taking the time to think when they are reading and writing so that they understand the information. I feel like when I am reading and learning, I use writing a lot to summarize, ask questions and make connections. I struggle to use it to help me clarify and refine what I am thinking about.

While I read, I will either have a highlighter or I will have a pad of post it notes. I start by reading through the page quickly so I can get a general understanding of what they are talking about. I then will go back and read it again while I take noted. I will use the highlighter to highlight key words that stand out to me. If it is an article, I will write all the questions I have about that first page directly on the page, however if it is a book, I will write them on a post-it note that will be stuck to that page. Along with writing the questions, I will take the ting to write the key ideas of the page on another post-it. This allows me to really understand what the key information on the page was. After I am done reading the whole chapter/article, I can look back at all the post-its I wrote to see if I have any questions left. 

I would say that another way I strive to use writing is by making a connection with what I am reading about. I am more intrigued with what I am reading if I can connect with it and understand what they are saying. I will jot down those little connections as they happen. The majority of the connections I make are text to self, but I try to make text to text or text to world connections as well. Tompkins (2019) talks about how students should apply what they are learning to their writing and that teachers should strive to give the opportunity to create projects that they are connected to.

I would say that I engage in this thinking of asking questions, summarizing and making questions because I want to understand what I am reading. However I don’t take the time to clarify or refine what I originally thought. I like to read quickly and struggle with remembering to stop and think about how my ideas have changed while I read. I am learning now that I can use my writing to help with my reading. I need to take my time with reading just like I take my time with writing.  Kucer and Rhodes say ”students are able to use what has been learned in a writing lesson to fine tune their reading and what has been learned in a reading lesson to fine tune their writing” (Kucer &Rhodes, 1986, p. 193).

I’ve never written a blog before so I was a little nervous when I first started writing theses entries. The way that I write these entries are different than the way I would write a regular paper for school. There were a few “habits of mind” (Council of Writing Program Administrators, National Council of Teachers of English &National Writing Project, 2011, p. 4-5) that I had to change to be able to write in this style. I have to be more open and creative with my writing. I’ve learned that I have to write my ideas in a way that the audience is engaged with this blog. I had to learn how to write in a way that makes the audience feel like they are having a conversation with me. It took me awhile to get used to it but now I like writing this way.

Council of Writing Program Administrators, National Council of  Teachers of English, & National Writing Project. (2011).  Framework for success in postsecondary writing.  Retrieved from http://wpacouncil.org/framework/

Kucer, S. B. & Rhodes, L. K. (1986).  Counterpart strategies:  Fine tuning language with language.  The Reading Teacher, 40(2), 186-193.

Silver, J. 9 incredible ways writing by hand benefits our bodies and brains. Little things [blog post]. https://www.littlethings.com/benefits-of-writing-by-hand

Tompkins, G. E.  (2019). Teaching writing:  Balancing process and product (7^th ed.).  Upper Saddle River, NJ:  Merrill.

Blog 3: Journal Writing

I can still remember the first journal I had when I was little. It was pink with a cut out heart on the front cover and a small key lock to keep it closed. Even the pages on the inside were tinted pink and had small hearts on the boarder. Even though I did not write a lot, it was a space that I could doodle or make my to-do lists. I loved having a space that I could jot down anything that was in my mind. I feel like every child should have a place that they could write down their thoughts or feelings.

A journal can be used in multiple ways both in and out of the classroom. Tompkins (2008) talks about what are some of the purposes of journal writing within the classroom. She says “Children use journals to record personal experiences, explore reactions and interpretations to books they read and videos they view, and record and analyze information about literature, writing, and social studies and science topics” (Tompkins, 2008, p. 98). She goes on to add that there are multiple different forms: personal journal, dialogue journals, reading journals, learning journals, double entry journals, and simulated journals.

I always loved the idea of having learning journals or creating double entry journals while you are learning. It’s nice for students to have one place where they can jot down what they are learning and what questions they might still have. During my undergrad, I had to do double entry journals with readings that we would do for a class. On one side of the journal we wrote down quotes from the reading that stood out to us as we read and on the other side we would write down why we picked it or what questions we had about it. I loved doing them because it was a fun way for me to interact with the text that I was reading.  

One idea that Tompkins gave that I really like, is the idea of having a different space for each type of journal in the classroom. A personal journal is a space where students might write personal things that they don’t want the rest of the class to know about so those should be placed in a spot where no one can get to and is tempted to read anybody else’s journals. Learning journals are where students are recording what they are learning so those should be stored in a place where it is easy for students to get to. You want to make it so that the students can grab them when they have free time and jot down what they are learning. By having each journal type be a different type of journal or a different color it is easy to know what type of writing the students are doing and where the journal should be placed afterwards.

While I was student teaching, I had a student in my class that would use a dialogue journal to share information with his family about his day. We (all of his teachers) would write little notes about what he learning and how he did during the day in the journal. He would then take it home to his family so that they could read it and respond with any questions or concerns they might have. It was a great way to have an ongoing conversation between his family and school. Tompkins (2008) says that a teacher could easily do that with a student as well. Teachers can write comments in student’s journals while they are reading them to help guide their writing. Students then can write back to their teacher about what they had originally wrote.

When I have my own classroom, I will definitely make sure that my students have sometime each week to have some writing that they can do. Each student will have a journal that they will use when we do free writing. I think that it is important that when I give my students free writing time in their journal, that I am also free writing in my journal. I will then give students time to share out loud anything that they wrote about. I think that it is important to have a have a safe classroom where students will feel comfortable to share what they have been writing about. I will help create this by sharing some ideas that I wrote about.

Example of double-entry journals from level 40. [image] http://homepage.usask.ca/~dul381/common/dejlevel40.html

Gonzalez, J. (2016). How dialogue journals build teacher-student relationships. Cult of pedagogy [blog post] https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/dialogue-journals/

Hompkins, G. (2017). Journal writing every day: Teacher says it really works! [Web page]. https://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/curr144.shtml

Tompkins, G. E.  (2008).  Teaching writing:  Balancing process and product (5^th ed.).  Upper Saddle River, NJ:  Merrill.