Chapter+24


 * Chapter 24**

**#1 Lookout spot for THIS text**

//Those of us who teach the 3rd – 5th grade Units of Study for Writing may or may not have taught the literary essay unit. Whether we are familiar with that writing unit or not, literary essays are thoroughly outlined in this chapter.//

//What was new to your thinking about this kind of writing? What pieces, if any, are you motivated to have a go at with your readers this year? What stood out to you as ways for our students to write and read to “be opened by a good book”?//

//I have asked my 3rd graders to respond to text only after they learn to observe the text in a way that they become part of the printed word. This is a later in the year activity. To get to this point in their writing experience they need to read many books, think abot the word and discuss the books. I may use a read aloud as a way of creating a Talking and Thinking about reading. Giving children a copy of a piece of text from the story to think and talk about. While I confer with a student or groups of students I can refer back to the strategy of Reading and Talking about a piece of text they are reading perhaps based on their post-it. "The literate life is more than reading and writing it is about living more." I want my children to parallel. Reading and writing go hand in hand. That's why my writing program will be incorporated into my reading workshop.//

//Margaret Fox﻿//

Even when I was the Title I teacher, I did not have much experience with this literacy writing. But p 496 has another handy chart. This chart shows the small difference between writing and writing about reading. Then on pa 498-499 it going so to compare writing about reading & reading and talking.

The summary is so lovely on p502. She asks students to make connect to there own life but to go back to there writer’s notebook and any posted notes. What a way to teach students that all comments come from a place in their own life experiences. KDN Chapter 24 from Bobbi Friend #1 – I have used writer’s workshop in my classroom for a few years. Reading this chapter reminded me about the unit on essay writing that I have used a few times in my classroom. It will be easy for me to transition from just writing this unit to writing about reading as long as my students have been working in writer’s workshop when this unit is introduced. The main difference when writing this type of essay using reading as a basis is that students who are doing writing workshop only determine their essay topic based on the details of their lives, while students who are using reader’s workshop determine their essay topic based on the details of their responses to their writing about what they have read, including post-its and journal responses. In both types of writing, students reread what they have written and then develop their seed idea. When working to elaborate on the seed ideas, students who are writing only need to ask themselves how this fits in the rest of their writing, while students who are writing about read need to ask themselves how this fits with the rest of the text they are reading. Another difference between the two types of writing is the way the teacher will support the literary essay by bringing in other published literary essays, and then students will need to ask themselves have a made a statement about the text that is significant and accountable to the text, while writing a memoir does not require the connection to literature. The most important difference and the point that is most meaningful to me is that writing about literature seems to me that it will be much easier for students than writing an essay about themselves. Literary essays have so much more depth because they are based in the text where students can find additional sources of information. I like the idea of having students do this type of writing much more than the other essay unit from writer’s workshop.

**#2 Weaving writing and reading**

//This chapter unraveled for us the beautiful tapestry that can be created by weaving our reading and writing lives together. What were some points of significance for you? What were some eye-opening moments as the connections between our reading and writing instructional choices were laid before us?//

//My eye opener is the connection. I have had author studies and then wanted my children to write like the author. I didn't take the time to have book talk. There was never time provided for my children to savor the words. Taking time to talk, and write their thoughts as a beginning to a piece of writing. The idea of going back again and again before writing. I want my students to feel that writing about reading is real as they weave their ideas and interests into their masterpiece. They will need a plan, part of a minilesson. Again this is a later in the year work. It is never to early to plant the seed.//

//Margaret Fox ﻿//

Again I liked the personal life connection. It seems to make writing more important more valuable. Like Marg said the permission to treat writing like reading is a key in a student’s growth. It is helpful to let students know the things we figured out in HS, college or maybe not until graduate school—think how much farther they would be. KDN

I am struck by the quote from Katherine Paterson (page 494) when she explains that in reading, as writing, “somehow all of my life gets wrapped around that grain,” that grain that rubs against us as we read and eventually has a coating around it from all our love, laughter, tears, and fears that are expressed in the process. It’s like in the writing workshop when we ask kids to write about a seed, or in this case a single grain, idea. It’s like when Calkins asked Nicholas, “Of all the ideas you want to explore…, what is the one thing you want to pursue?” (page 495). It’s our responsibility to help students “learn that the details of their thoughts and experiences are important” (page 495) and their responses to those thoughts and experiences contribute to the significance of them (page 494). Sara Sabourin

Chapter 24 from Bobbi Friend #2 – I think that I covered this question in my last answer. The thing that I feel is so significant, my eye opener, is using what they are reading as their seed idea, rather than coming up with a seed idea from something based solely in their own lives. Students seem to struggle to find something of value to write about, and I have often needed to develop some sort of assignment for the essay unit, such as writing about some sort of a nonfiction topic rather than just something from their writer’s notebook. Another eye opener was on page 498 where Lucy says, “If we teach students in the reading workshop what they need to know as readers, and meanwhile help students in the writing workshop learn what they need to know as writers, within a matter of months they will probably be in a position to put the two together. In the end students find it relatively easy to write essays about their reading.” I agree wholeheartedly with this statement, and I plan to use the reading and writing workshop this way.

I agree with Bobbi. I loved the eye opener she restates from page 498 and it will be my goal this year to use the reading and writing workshop this way also. It has MEAP written all over it...LOL! Preparing our children to write in a way that they can contrive meaning from what they read as well as convey the meaning to others through writing is very powerful. It is the writing we are expected to do in HS and College and we will be teaching it (at least at a basic level) at such an early age. Setting our students up for success instead of failure. I feel that so many times the opposite is true. We set up our students for failure by teaching a writing curriculum that is separate from the reading curriculum and then testing them in another way altogether. This Reading-Writing Workshop connection can bring about change and growth in the areas of reading and writing for our students. I'm so excited to see what we can accomplish this year. Keri Cooper

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Loved the quote ﻿ on p. 494 "If the book you are reading doesn't seem significant enough, it's probably not the book you are reading but your response to that book that is not significant enough." I am going to try to teach students in the "reading workshop what they need to know as readers, and meanwhile help students in the writing workshop learn what they need to know as writers, within a matter of months they will probably be in a position to put the two together." I agree with Bobbi that it is going to be a great idea to write about what we are reading, their seed idea. Our first grade writings tied into their reading will be a big challenge to some but for most I think it will be a valuable way to extend their writing skills. Ronda ======

Like Ronda, I also love the quote on page 494 as well as these two that popped off the page at me **"Literacy allows us to find the life of the intellect within the details of ordinary** **life." "As readers and writers both, we take the details"** of the stories we read and **"imbue them with significance."** I think these words taken from pages 493-494 explain the connection between our reading and writing. M.J.

Like Ronda and M.J., I also liked the quote on p. 494 about "the book". Another one that really struck me was also on p. 494, "If your life doesn't seem significant enough, it's not your life that isn't significant enough, but your response to your life". Wow!! So deep! We need to help our students make the connection between reading and writing and learn to express themselves that way, too. Kari Bonnema

**#3 How will you start it?**

//So, if in reading this chapter you are encouraged to create more intentionality with your students' writing about reading this year... what are you planning to do, specifically? If you'd like, use this response to set out a plan for yourself right now. Maybe you'll name how you will teach your students to start in the beginning of the year and what kinds of things you'll encourage them to jot about. Perhaps you'll go further, if you have an plan for how you will push them to grow their options, what routines you might set in place, and your end goals for your readers.//

While I won’t be having my first grade students writing literary essays that may be ten pages long around a seed idea (page 502), I will continue to teach and model how authors and students use a seed idea to retell “moments in a way that help readers really feel your big idea” (page 505). I hope to lay the foundation for my students so in third grade and on they will be able to do this.

I see using a gradual release of responsibility when I teach writing about reading to my young students. I plan to use the stop-and-talk strategy much more in first grade. Eventually, I see it evolving into a stop-and-sketch and then a stop-and-jot method later in the year during read-alouds and independent and partner reading. I like the idea of having them take a sticky note about an important idea or wondering from their text and develop it further with a partner and eventually in writing. One particular lesson I will use more with my students is one my colleague created and I adopted last year. The students listened to a fairy tale and then wrote their response to the ending, defending why they agree or disagree with what the character did. I did this with my students orally at first. They’d use the line-up cooperative group structure, where students who agreed with the character stood on one side of the line and those who disagreed stood on the other end. They then found a partner from the opposite end, if possible, to explain their position. I feel this is an appropriate example of leading kids into writing about their reading. Sara Sabourin

The implementation of this part of the book will be a slow, gradual process. Basically, the Reading and Writing Workshops build up to this over the course of the year. I am on Chapter 24 out of 26 Chapters and I'm beginning to feel a bit overwhelmed. I'm wanting to go back to chapter 1 and start over and to be honest, that's probably what I'll do as I begin this year with my students. My head is spinning with all sorts of ideas. It's time for me to start slowing down and start back at the beginning. As the year progresses, I should have more clarity over how this will look in my classroom, but for now, I can't even think about this. Is anyone else feeling like their brain is mush? I have loved this entire book and I still have a couple chapters to go. I will use this book and refer to it often and I'm excited that I will be taking the Reading Workshop Seminars for K-2nd grades this year. It will help keep me on track. Keri Cooper

With my first grade students, we will be doing some of the same processes but not to the extent that they go to in this chapter. I think the use of the maps is a great way to prepare them for their writing. I also am going to try to incorporate the use of post-it notes to mark what they feel is important or what supports our mini lesson points. I am really excited about them trying to write about what is read by them or to them. I think this might help those students that struggle with coming up with ideas to write about. Ronda

YES, Keri!! I could "cut and paste" your entire paragraph into mine (except the part about taking the K-2 seminars.. I'm not signed up for those!). I have learned SO much over the course of this summer and reading this book. However, I feel that I do need to go back and re-read and think more about how I will actually do this in a Kindergarten classroom. I would LOVE to come and observe a Kindergarten classroom that already does Reading Workshop, too. Are there any schools in particular that have it going in Kindergarten already? I learn best by "seeing it" in action. As to what I will do for sure? Well, the post-it notes, like Ronda, as well as having students talk with partners about their reading. Kari Bonnema


 * //Here is a place to post other ideas and burning questions from chapter twenty four if any. (Remember, a high-quality comment in this bottom section does still count toward your total comments. So anytime the posts for a certain chapter don't speak to you and your thinking, feel free to share your own ideas from the text here...)//**

I can easily envision my students recording thoughts on sticky notes and writing a paragraph expounding on a sticky note later in the year, after several mini-lessons and much modeling has occurred. Much of the work described in this chapter, however, seemed beyond the reach of lower elementary students. What can I expect from my first grade students in regards to writing about their reading? I would appreciate any input so I can place my expectations at a reasonable level. Stephanie Cooper Stephanie, I felt the same way being a first grade teacher! I posted some ideas above. I hope they help. Sara Sabourin After reading this chapter I had the same exact feeling as Stephanie. I really wonder if my first graders can attain this goal. I love to challenge my students and hold high expectations but I think this would be a real stretch. I think I would be better off doing a lot of modeling and possibly doing this as a whole group activity. Maybe at the end of the year I will set the class loose on such a lesson and be pleasantly surprised at the great results I get! I thought Sara's idea from #3 above was a great one and I will give it a try. Every year I feel I get better at teaching wrtiting using writer's workshop mini-lessons so may be that with a combination of reader's workshop will be just what we need! --Jodee Tuttle

I also agree with Stephanie and Jodee. This teaching reading is very new to me and will be quite the hurdle for my cognitively impaired 18-26 year-old students.First, I will help my students find a 'just right' book, conduct Running Records assessments, and start a reading workshop complete with sticky notes and partner talks. I am excited, but also know this will have to start with lots of modeling and role-play. M.J>