Here is a little something to think about…
If you were told you could take a trip anywhere, where would you go, what would you do there and what would you bring in your suitcase?
This is what Greddy said…

He also LOVES Harry Potter. He expressed how he would “do anything” to have a copy of Harry Potter. His teacher is making a copy of each chapter, one at a time. When he returns one chapter, he gets the next…we take so much for granted in this country.

Well we are sitting in class and we are all blogging about our Multigenre experience. I can honestly say, this class poured out their hearts and souls tonight. EVERY person in our class prepared a project that was heart-felt and left us curious and longing to know more about the topic presented. I am grateful to each of my students for their work ethic, their intensive research, and the transformation of such fascinating information. In a later post, I will list the projects just so you have an idea of how unbelievable these projects are! Elvis is about to leave the building…

Christy…I hope Elvis returned home safely! What an amazing evening!

• http://www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/authors/wiesner/home.html

• http://www.shauntan.net/

• http://www.andyrunton.com/index.php

• Locate and read several wordless picture books. What do you think? After reading the two articles (Cassidy and Reese) on wordless picture books, Ch. 3 in Best Practices, and the list of wordless picture books, think about how and why you might implement an instructional writing approach using wordless picture books. Do you see how the framework for authoring the text of wordless picture books could be a developmentally appropriate scaffolding technique for students’ story writing? Where might this approach “fit” with McKeough, Palmer, Jarvey, and Bird’s developmental framework for teaching story composition? As you ponder the utility of the wordless picture book approach to story writing, think about possible grouping configurations, the books you may choose, and your goals for this instructional approach:
  Might your goal be:
  • to help students see themselves as readers/writers
  • to develop fluency in reading and writing
  • to assist children in writing complete descriptive sentences
  • to encourage students to develop longer, more creative, and more descriptive stories
  • to carefully examine story elements or characterization
  • to provide a springboard to writing for those students who have “nothing to write about” or for struggling writers
  • to enhance vocabulary
  • to stimulate oral and written communication and social interaction
  • to foster problem-solving skills
  • to promote critical thinking, creativity, etc.

Please check out the children’s literature queen of memoir, Patricia Polacco. I think you will enjoy your visit to her website.

• Writing should be an integral part of instruction because WRITING REVEALS THINKING (p. 267).
• Writing takes time and patience (p. 267).
• Best practices in writing assessment begin with an authentic task, where purpose and audience are clear and meaningful, where support and feedback are readily available, and where the final product has academic value for the student (p.269).
• Student writing provides information about both content and process, about what students have learned and how well they can communicate it (p. 272).
• What a writer needs most is words (p. 279).
• Develop and draft, review and revise, polish and publish (p. 280).
• Students can demonstrate understanding by transforming resources and experience into a genuine composition-the building of something new from a collection of basic elements (p. 283).
• TEACHING STUDENTS TO BECOME INDEPENDENT AND RESPONSIBLE LEARNERS IS DIFFICULT, BUT ADDRESSING THIS CHALLENGE IS CRITICAL FOR REFORM OF SCHOOLING IN OUR COUNTRY (p. 284).

• Do your writing assessments include rubrics that gauge students’ capacities to transform the substance of the topic?
• Do you believe that assessment should be an integral ongoing part of our instruction? Should assessment inform our instruction?

Please review the NCTE and IRA Standards for the English Language Arts

Do you notice any parallels to multigenre writing?

Please feel free to check out Rubistar and Writing Fix. What do you think?

Please click on multigenre-projectnotes3.doc  FOR TODAY’S CLASS. 

As many have said, seeing is believing! In today’s workshop, you will have an opportunity to explore books/ologies published as multigenre works. Working from Youngs’ and Barone’s model, explore and interact with the various books; use your handout Multigenre Projects: Getting Started in the Classroom and your textbook Writing Without Boundaries to guide your inquiry today.

1. As a group, choose one book; jot down your:

•  Impressions
• Connections
• Wonderings (pp. 26-27 textbook)

     2.  Make a list of the plethora of genres represented in your book. Please refer to your handouts (possible genres) and the book for assistance.    3.   Choose a few genres (split this up) and use the genre discussion guide (pp. 55-63) as you explore, in-depth, this genre.    4.   Discuss possible ideas for your individual projects. What questions remain… 

Multigenre Project 1 MG

If this doesn’t work…check our class web site for the PowerPoint. Look under tonight’s class. 

 Please check out http://www.ologyworld.com/

You will be amazed! This is a multigenre publication at its best!

After reading the Moulton article and Chapters 1-5 of Writing Without Boundaries, you should begin formulating ideas and opinions of multigenre writing and projects. On your blogs, respond and think about the following:

What is a multigenre project? What are the ingredients? What is your recipe for HOW you might create a MG project? WHAT TOPICS ARE YOU CONSIDERING FOR YOUR MG PROJECT? How might you begin in your classroom? Here are a few sites you may find helpful for engaging in research with your students as well as your own research:

http://www.ivyjoy.com/rayne/kidssearch.html

(The best link to child-friendly search engines and research information; please check this out! You will be impressed)

http://www.thinkquest.org/library/ (Children create these projects!)

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/index.html (Amazing history connections!)

Review the lists of genres in the Moulton article (p. 531) and Writing Without Boundaries (pp. 4-5) and the links to a list of genres and  possible genres.pdf . What would you add to the list? Which genres have you already taught? Which might you choose to focus on in your classroom? Think about one genre in particular that you may introduce to your students. Can you find examples of the genre to bring in to our next class (brochures, letters, etc.)?

Other sites you may find interesting:

http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=1013

(Zines for Kids)

http://www.readwritethink.org/student_mat/index.asp

(Interactive student materials)

http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=774

(Multigenre Snowflake Bentley)

http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=892

(Grapes of Wrath)

Also, be sure to check out this web site: 

https://www.ala.org/ala/booklinksbucket/authors.htm   

Writing Circle 4

wander through my summer room:

but never enough

Issa 

hibiscus flowers

munched up in the horse’s mouth

eaten one by one

Basso 

Boneless, translucent,

We undulate, undulate,

Gelatinously.

Jack Prelutsky   

What do you notice about Haiku? I notice how the poet expresses his feelings about something in nature; how he creates a visual image from a natural scene, usually through personification; I notice the precision of word choice and the succinct language–the Japanese refer to this as “wa” or harmony; I believe that the Japanese poets of long ago frowned on verbosity or wordiness; I see who or what, I see what they are doing, where it is happening, and how or why it is happening.