Class will be for 6 weeks beginning June 21st through July 31st.
First two weeks on book 2: June 21- July 5, Read Book 2, Respond to Blog and write one mentor text
Second two weeks on book: July 5- July 19, Read Book 3, Respond to Blog and write one mentor text
Third two weeks on book 4: July 19-July 3, Read Book 4, Respond to Blog and write one mentor text
Instructional Coach will offer follow-up support
Fall Observations and Co-teaching using the teacher written mentor texts
Friday, July 31, 2009
Fourth Book Response
Please just respond to the reading in anyway that you would like to...
I really enjoyed book 4, and almost wish I’d read it last year. I liked what Calkins had to say about character development and the strategies and ideas for teaching kids about developing characters were great. Specifically, I will definitely use the t-chart idea with columns for the character from the inside and from the outside.
The developing of story ideas was quite familiar but with some new twists, I thought the story mountains were great. I did, however, take exception to the idea that kids needed to strive to have deeply meaningful and personal topics about which to write. Really, I don’t think we’re teaching every single child to be an accomplished professional author. I think for the kids who are really into writing this is great. But for some, just to write across the genres and to be able to do it well is fine. When I think of the novels I read, plenty of them probably aren’t deeply personal and/or meaningful, except the really great ones.
I will also use the strategy of developing a character as a whole group, the way Calkins write about Colleen doing early on in the book. It’s a good opportunity for guided practice before they work on character development independently.
In general, I felt like this was a meatier book than some of the others and I’ll be rereading parts of it when we are teaching fiction writing this year.
I really enjoyed book 4, and almost wish I’d read it last year. I liked what Calkins had to say about character development and the strategies and ideas for teaching kids about developing characters were great. Specifically, I will definitely use the t-chart idea with columns for the character from the inside and from the outside.
ReplyDeleteThe developing of story ideas was quite familiar but with some new twists, I thought the story mountains were great. I did, however, take exception to the idea that kids needed to strive to have deeply meaningful and personal topics about which to write. Really, I don’t think we’re teaching every single child to be an accomplished professional author. I think for the kids who are really into writing this is great. But for some, just to write across the genres and to be able to do it well is fine. When I think of the novels I read, plenty of them probably aren’t deeply personal and/or meaningful, except the really great ones.
I will also use the strategy of developing a character as a whole group, the way Calkins write about Colleen doing early on in the book. It’s a good opportunity for guided practice before they work on character development independently.
In general, I felt like this was a meatier book than some of the others and I’ll be rereading parts of it when we are teaching fiction writing this year.