LAUNCHING NOTEBOOKS AND WRITING WORKSHOP

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LAUNCHING NOTEBOOKS AND WRITING WORKSHOP

• Upper Grade Professional Development
• P.S. 171
• Presentation by Stacey Shubitz
• Friday, September 1st, 2006

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Idea Notebooks

• A portable writers notebook is used to record
  wonderings, observations, overheard
  conversations, sketches, etc.
• Students need a pen or pencil to carry along with
  their notebook.
• Author Lester Laminack calls his Idea Notebook a
  Spy Notebook. He never leaves home without his
  secret weapon (pen) and something to write about.
• Cute idea for younger kids might not work in
  5th, 6th and 7th grades.

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We Want Kids To Know Four Major Things About
Collecting Entries In Their Writers Notebooks

• Within the personal narrative unit
• Process
• Qualities of Good Writing
• Volume
• Conventions
• This slide, and the four that follow, are adapted
  from a presentation at T.C. by Grace Chough,
  8/17/06.

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How Writers Fit Notebooks Into The Writing Process
Adapted from the work of Randy Bomer, A Time For
Meaning.
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Process Goals

• How to get started (on an entry)
• What to do when you get stuck.
• How to go from one entry to the next (entry).
• NO CLOSED NOTEBOOKS!

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Qualities of Good Writing Goals

• Focus
• Entries are easy to follow
• Appropriate use of
• Dialogue
• Sensory description
• Knowing the difference between a summary and a
  detailed retelling
• Crafting strong leads and endings
• Development of the internal story
• Show, not tell.
• Stories have a structure (rising action ? climax
  ? resolution)

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Volume Goals

• About 2 entries/day.
• Approximately 12 entries/week.
• If students are publishing 1 ½ pages of writing,
  then you should expect their entries to be about
  1 page long.

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Conventions Goals(within notebook entries)

• Ending Punctuation
• Making appropriate choices about when to use
  periods, exclamation points and question marks.
• Paragraphing
• Whenever theres a new person introduced, a new
  person talking or theres a move to a different
  place.

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We cant ask our students to do what we wont do,
so

• Now its your turn to try it.
• By the end of this session youll have five
  entries in your writers notebook.
• All of these entries are directly related to five
  minilessons you might teach during the first two
  weeks of school.
• Your entries could be used as demonstration texts
  for your students.

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Observation of the Room Strategy

• Read the room right now.
• Write a quick entry about what youre noticing,
  how you feel about being back at school today, an
  overheard conversation or anything else you wish
  to record about whats happening in here this
  morning.
• You will not have to share this entry with
  anyone!
• This is the type of Idea Notebook entry youll
  want your kids to write.

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Meaningful Place Strategy

• Think of a meaningful place.
• It could be anything from the kitchen table in
  the home where you grew up to your favorite beach
  in Florida.
• List small moments related to that place.
• Write about one of those small moments in your
  writers notebook.

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Look at a Photograph Strategy

• Study the photograph.
• Think about
• Who or what is pictured?
• Where was the picture taken?
• When was the picture taken?
• Why did you choose this photo to bring in today?
• Write about the small moment related to the
  photograph.

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Think of a Person Strategy

• Think about a person who is important to you
  (living or deceased).
• List as many small moments as you can about that
  person.
• Write about one of those small moments with
  him/her.

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Look at an Object Strategy

• Examine the object closely.
• When did you get it?
• Where did you buy or acquire it from?
• Who gave it to you?
• Why is it important?
• List everything!
• Write a small moment entry related to this object.

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QA

• Questions
• Comments
• Concerns

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Conferring During September

• The following slides serve as additional support
  for conferences you might hold during the first
  month of school.

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Sample Questions for the Research Stage of your
R-D-T Conference
Chart adapted from Atwell (1987) and Anderson
(2002). Conference questions generated by
Matthews Shubitz (2006).
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A Hierarchy of What Matters Most When Conferring
During This Unit of Study
Adapted from the work of Jen Serravallo (2006).
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Conferring MenuSample Writing Conference
Teaching Points
Teaching points created by Matthews Shubitz
(2006).
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Management Tipsto establish during the first
weeks of school

• Always work towards independence.
• Dont be afraid to use Workshop time to teach
  management.
• What to do when youre done with an entry.
• My job/your job in a conference.
• Make sure youre building stamina.
• Use mid-workshop interruptions to give students a
  break.
• Can be compliments that reflect independence.
• Create word walls and portable spelling lists
  (for WW folders) to help students with their
  spelling.
• Self-Assignment Boxes (see next slide)
• Compliment Conferences
• Quick conferences that consist of 1-2 research
  questions, then give the student a paragraph
  worth of speech as a compliment. Then, move on!
• Teach-Only Conference
• Drop a teaching point to kids as you work the
  room.
• Example Oh, dont forget to do
  _______________.
• Build-in time to move around the room to see
  whats going on in-between conferences.
• Adapted from a presentation at T.C. by Jen
  Serravallo, 8/18/06.

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Self-Assignment Boxes in Writers Notebooks

• EXAMPLE 1
• Pick another entry from my notebook and rewrite
  it in tiny little steps.

• EXAMPLE 2
• Write a scene where I show the internal and
  external story.

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Closing Quotations

• Walk through life like a writer. --Lucy
  Calkins
• Tell the truth about your life and whats really
  going on. --Georgia Heard
• We know the truth of ordinary life events.
  Everything doesnt end with happily ever
  after. --Georgia Heard
• Careful control in craft makes for artful
  writing. --Lester Laminack