Check out the writing project that Kate Messner spoke about in our workshop called, Teachers Write. Here is a link to the blog. If you want to scroll through, there are tons of ideas for you to use or share with your students. TeachersWrite
I really enjoyed reading this book. Kate’s writing style is easy to follow, and she has great ideas. I love how she used the author profiles to suggest a multitude of ideas from various sources and talked about how each author has a different way of writing (and there isn’t necessarily a “right” or “wrong” way to do it). I loved her pre-writing strategies, as well, and think they could be beneficial for some of the little kids. Many of her revision strategies, however, were much more targeted for older students. It would be interesting to hear feedback about how to modify some of these revision strategies for primary students.
Chapter 5 gave some great ideas for planning and preparation. Again, many of the strategies seemed to be more fitting for older students, however there were a handful of good ideas for primary students, as well. I loved the idea of using a timeline (p. 58) to plan a story. So often, we have students use their fingers to tell a story, but it’s not particularly organized. Using a timeline would help to put the ideas in a visual order that would help students to keep track. I’d like to have my students try using receipt paper to create a plan, then cut out their pictures and tape them into their stories. This would make the prewriting and planning stages fun for the kids, and would help to keep their ideas organized. Kate used a lot of color-coding methods to organize her information, as well. She suggested using colored index cards (p.62) to sort topics and see which areas have a lot of information, and which ones need more. I’ve used a similar technique when planning nonfiction stories with my kids. They wrote down all of the facts they knew about their topics, then sorted them into colored-groups, and wrote each section/heading on the appropriate color. Similar to her suggestion, students were able to see which sections needed more information, and which ones had plenty (or could even be split up into two smaller sections, instead). In chapter 8, Kate suggested using colors to mark sensory details in a story (p. 93). If students have a lot of one color, but not enough of another, they may use it as an opportunity to revise their details using different senses to describe a situation. She also talked about taking field trips to different places to experience the senses. If a story takes place outside, take a walk outside to observe the sounds and smells. If a character is holding an apple, pick one up and notice what it feels like. Students could complete an observation sheet (similar to Loree Griffin Burns on p. 105) to record their observations. I also loved her idea about making a map of the setting (p. 101). So often, our kids struggle to describe their settings, or leave out important details. Drawing a map may help them to pay attention to important details that need to be in their stories. In chapter 11, Kate discusses “the words we choose” and how they can make a difference. Page 151 gives a great list of tips for ways to change the words in a story to make them more effective. These techniques are definitely things that could be used with my primary students. Something as simple as changing a noun to a proper noun, or making it more specific can make a big difference in the message. For example, ask your students to picture a dog in their heads. Then read this sentence: “The dog jumped into my lap.” Just think of the different reactions you could get based on the dog they were picturing in their heads! Using this example, the students will definitely understand the impact of using specific language. I look forward to trying out some of these strategies in my own classroom!
I really enjoyed reading this book. Kate’s writing style is easy to follow, and she has great ideas. I love how she used the author profiles to suggest a multitude of ideas from various sources and talked about how each author has a different way of writing (and there isn’t necessarily a “right” or “wrong” way to do it). I loved her pre-writing strategies, as well, and think they could be beneficial for some of the little kids. Many of her revision strategies, however, were much more targeted for older students. It would be interesting to hear feedback about how to modify some of these revision strategies for primary students.
ReplyDeleteChapter 5 gave some great ideas for planning and preparation. Again, many of the strategies seemed to be more fitting for older students, however there were a handful of good ideas for primary students, as well. I loved the idea of using a timeline (p. 58) to plan a story. So often, we have students use their fingers to tell a story, but it’s not particularly organized. Using a timeline would help to put the ideas in a visual order that would help students to keep track. I’d like to have my students try using receipt paper to create a plan, then cut out their pictures and tape them into their stories. This would make the prewriting and planning stages fun for the kids, and would help to keep their ideas organized.
ReplyDeleteKate used a lot of color-coding methods to organize her information, as well. She suggested using colored index cards (p.62) to sort topics and see which areas have a lot of information, and which ones need more. I’ve used a similar technique when planning nonfiction stories with my kids. They wrote down all of the facts they knew about their topics, then sorted them into colored-groups, and wrote each section/heading on the appropriate color. Similar to her suggestion, students were able to see which sections needed more information, and which ones had plenty (or could even be split up into two smaller sections, instead).
In chapter 8, Kate suggested using colors to mark sensory details in a story (p. 93). If students have a lot of one color, but not enough of another, they may use it as an opportunity to revise their details using different senses to describe a situation. She also talked about taking field trips to different places to experience the senses. If a story takes place outside, take a walk outside to observe the sounds and smells. If a character is holding an apple, pick one up and notice what it feels like. Students could complete an observation sheet (similar to Loree Griffin Burns on p. 105) to record their observations. I also loved her idea about making a map of the setting (p. 101). So often, our kids struggle to describe their settings, or leave out important details. Drawing a map may help them to pay attention to important details that need to be in their stories.
In chapter 11, Kate discusses “the words we choose” and how they can make a difference. Page 151 gives a great list of tips for ways to change the words in a story to make them more effective. These techniques are definitely things that could be used with my primary students. Something as simple as changing a noun to a proper noun, or making it more specific can make a big difference in the message. For example, ask your students to picture a dog in their heads. Then read this sentence: “The dog jumped into my lap.” Just think of the different reactions you could get based on the dog they were picturing in their heads! Using this example, the students will definitely understand the impact of using specific language. I look forward to trying out some of these strategies in my own classroom!