Slice of Life: Slow as a Snail

Yesterday in class, I introduced our class twitter account @228bes.  I purposely chose to hold back on our class account this year until the time was right. Last year, we sent a few tweets randomly and I wasn't sure of the purpose.  I knew the purpose, but I didn't feel like I did a good job for defining why we had a class twitter account.  I spent this summer learning and hearing over and over: break down the walls and allow students to expand their audiences.  I know this, but I didn't succeed last year.

This year, I chose to start as slow as a snail with technology.  A shift from the past but one that I wanted to try.  I was surprised as I introduced our twitter account to my class. Only two students knew what twitter was and a handful thought it was all about the #hashtags. Interesting....and we discussed digital literacy and the importance of knowing their tweets are alive and represent our class.  We sent our first tweet @katemessner to share that we started our new read aloud. I "promised" that she would reply to our tweet and luckily for me she did.  We are going to send tweets about our read aloud:  Hide and Seek.  The students are going to compose them, send them and then as a class we will share them.  I started as slow as a snail but this time around the students will have purpose along with ownership.  Already it feels better than last year.  I like slow as a snail.  Thank you to the Slice of Life Community of writers. You can check out other slices here at Slice of Life.

Poetry Friday with some Revision

If I continue to go amazing conferences, someday I will become a poet possibly? My first poem was written with Ralph Fletcher's help at AllWrite.  Kate Messner helped me write my second original poem.  At least, I am working with the BEST teachers in the world. I posted about my reflection time from Kate's session on Real Revision.  Kate is masterful with modeling for us how to use revision. She asked us to go through a 6 step process using Poetry.  

#1 write for 3 min. about a favorite place if you have a picture use it 

Beautiful lake, wooden crooked floored dock, cool water,hot shimmering 
sun,hang out on the dock in the middle of the lake, difficult to reach, 
olden red rowboat, straggling fishing poles, dried bread crumbs from 
the morning fishing. Smell of blueberry pie lofting downward

#2 She modeled a Sometime Poem - here is my attempt.

Sometimes I want to go back to the cabin in the woods

Smelling the pine trees and quietness of the air

Standing on the porch looking out at the lake
Glimmering with the sun sparkling on the water
As I begin my journey down the path,
I leave the smell of a blueberry pie cooking in the oven

Walking slowly down the hill slipping on acorns 
Meandering through the path of wild flowers painted yellow and pink
Noticing the painted sailboats off in the distance

wondering when will I ever be able to sail one by myself? 

Sometimes I want to go back to the cabin in the woods 

#3 Revise with adding one of the 5 senses
#4 Revise with asking what would your poem say to you?
#5 Revise and act out a verb - watch the actions record in writer's notebook
#6 Cut out 20 words of the Sometime Poem

This was a quick easy process that I enjoyed and modeled for my own students.  Several of my students are now using the steps in their own writing. As both Ralph and Kate said, "to be a writer you must write."  Find some time this weekend to enjoy writing.

What Are You Writing These Days?

“So…what are you writing these days?” Kate Messner’s opening slide after she introduced herself.  She paused and asked us to think about this question.  There was a long silence in the audience and her words hung over me like a dark cloud for the rest of her presentation. Not because I am not a writer but do I “find” time to write, or do I “create” time to write?

She shared the importance of writing communities including support on twitter, her summer virtual writing camp called Teachers Write! And how we can support each other through our blogs and leaving comments.  I loved when she said, “Revision should not be a surprise.” Because for so many students when they turn in their final piece of writing that they have worked hard on they think they are done/published.  The idea that revision is not a surprise is something that I need to reinforce throughout the school year within reading, writing, word study, or even math. The message being that as students of writing, we are never done. There are always revisions that can be made to make a piece of writing stronger.

I learned several ideas that I will take back to my classroom. in addition I will process several ideas over the summer. However, the part of her presentation that I will take back to my class quickly will be about how to do mini revision lessons that can make a huge difference.

#1 Write for three minutes describing a place that you love. (if they have a picture that would be great)

#2 She then modeled a Sometimes Poem for us and asked us to take our ideas above and write a Sometime Poem (more on that in Poetry Friday)

#3 Add a sense of SMELL to your poem (this can change to other 5 senses)

#4 If your poem, could talk back to you right now, what would it say?

#5 Role Play! Have a student act out a tired body language like angry and take notes in WNB about what you see add details to your poem

#6 Cut at least 20 words from your poem

Kate asked us to go through this writing process and it was a insightful experience for me because I stumbled at some points and felt success at other writings. I learned the importance of her workshop-and yes, we are all writers.

  

Skyping with Kate Messner

Our class creating the original size of the American Flag.

I remember reading Capture the Flag in July and knowing immediately it would be our first read aloud of the school year.  I told my 5th grade colleagues about the fascinating story, and after I described all the twists and the turns all 3 of them decided to read it also.  In August on twitter, I realized that Kate Messner will skype with classes. and we were totally on board.  She offers a free 15 minutes to any school for a one time skype, but all four teachers decided we would pay for her longer skype visit and again we hit a home run.

The students discussed which of these visuals represented the setting.

When we were finished reading the story, we focused on the setting and character development.  Each student chose their favorite character and scene and developed their own comic strip.  As the students were working on their comic strip, they recorded questions that they had for Kate Messner. It was exciting to see them think as an author and even more exciting to know that they were going to be ask their questions to Kate.

Finally the day arrived and there was a buzz in fifth grade a few days before. You could hear them talking about it at lunch and during their writing time.  It really brought our fifth grade classes together as a community of authors and readers. As you can see below on the left was a slide show that Kate sent to us to support her talk and on the right is Kate talking to our students.

There were so many ideas I LOVED as she talked to the students.  I felt like I was at a workshop for teachers on how to actively engage your students as writers.  Some key focus points included:
*always have a writer's notebook with you because there is a story everywhere
*graphic organizers are a great way to organize your writing
*whenever possible, try to research your writing and take the time to ask questions
*write about what you know
*revision is not about editing (LOVE this message)
*as a writer ask yourself:  What if?
*BE a READER!!

Thank you Kate Messner for a wonderful conversation that encouraged both our students as well as the teachers.  PS.  Our students are sitting on pins and needles waiting for the next book:  Hide and Seek!!!