Well, I am not sure if anyone feels a lot of pressure in writing a perfectly crafted blog now that we have completed the crafting writer’s book, but I sure do. Actually after sitting down and practicing using several of the craft lessons outlined in these books I’ve decided that I need to continue doing a lot of independent work with my writing. I believe I previously mentioned my admiration for the supplemental text “the Elements of Style” by Strunk and White; well, I had to run out and buy another copy this week because my previous edition has gone missing.
Our cohort has finally made it inside of our elementary classrooms, yay! I am very excited at the prospect of presenting a craft writing lesson in a real world environment, and I feel that the teacher I have been placed with, Miss Ingram, will allow me to do so. While the idea of presenting a writing assignment to a group of barely literate first graders would have intimidated me before having taken this course, I now feel up to the task. After all, they are not illiterate, I am sure that every child in this classroom can at least scribble something down which we can build upon.
I’ve taken the book the “the Elements of Style” and began to search through it for an appropriate lesson topic and there was absolutely nothing that I could directly translate into a lesson suitable for a first grade classroom. However, with the help of the book, and to illustrate what I have gained by having read this book, I believe I can use a lesson explicitly taken from the text and as I grow as a teacher and writer build my own lessons. The idea of having a student draw a picture and then write about what they drew was our first reading topic. This would work exceptionally well in a low level classroom like the one I am currently in.
Our first science lesson is going to be on the topic of melting and freezing, so I was hoping to incorporate the use of adjectives to a writing assignment. To draw a picture of their favorite season and describe what they like about it using climate related words. “I love winter because of the cold snow and hot drinks.” Or, something along those lines at the very least. I am inspired by the passages in chapter ten of this week’s reading which told of a student reliving her feelings when she wrote about a plane trip. This is exactly what we want from our students when they tell a story. We want them to feel what they write so that they are able to in turn own the lesson.
The assessment section of the book will in turn become an invaluable resource once I get to work in a real world setting. While, a lot of the concepts seemed a bit abstract at the moment, because I have not yet personally held a conference with a student in regards to their writing, I am hoping to “own” these lessons once I put them into practice.
I liked the idea of first encouraging the student by telling them what they have done write, while I sometimes find faults in Hale's examples as she translates them to her own life, the fundamental idea remains well rooted. I have this fear that the students will hear the encouraging words assume they have done well enough and become complacent. I know that when I put my first student through conference I will have to stick to the script so to speak. It is just so easy for me to tell kids that they are doing great, keep up the good work and oh by the way would you like to work on such in such for next time. The conferences given in this book often used the method of making the student tell the teacher what they have learned. This seems like such a great method! Now, the students have discovered what they want to improve upon and they are able to own the lesson. I can't wait to try this out and I hope that we are able to present at least a couple craft lessons over the semester.
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