The words we choose in writing can create a positive result or a negative result. Most good writers hope to pull the reader in through touching their emotions, which happens through good word choice and good descriptions.
One of my favorite ways to share this is to reread a section of A Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo. (She's such a great author, one I turn to frequently!) There's a particular scene that I love to share with the class, the one where Despereaux realizes that instead of eating the book, he can read it. DiCamillo's word choice and description build a beautiful picture in my head of a tiny mouse standing amazed before a book that suddenly opens a whole new world for him. I can actually see him standing in the book-filled room with dust motes floating on sunbeams and his sister stomping off angrily.
After reading aloud this section to the class, I ask them to sit knee-to-knee and discuss the scene and what made it come alive for them. (I always make sure to read it aloud with great voice and drama to enhance the scene for the students.)
Then I like share some writing samples on the overhead that show poor word choice and ask them to help me improve it with their input. Finally, I give the students their own writing sample for them to edit for better word choice.
It seems like I use a lot of samples for us to correct together, but I think this is a good chance for me to model and then the students to practice the skill in a supported fashion.
Fifth Grade Writing Standard:
12. Add and delete information and details to better elaborate on a stated central idea and to more effectively accomplish purpose.
13. Rearrange words, sentences and paragraphs, and add transitional words and phrases to clarify meaning.
14. Use resources and reference materials (e.g., dictionaries and thesauruses) to select more effective vocabulary
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Writing for purpose in 5th Grade and Using Good Word Choice
I love the poem "Little Abigail and the Beautiful Pony," by Shel Silverstein. It's in his collection of poetry called The Light in the Attic.
In this poem Abigail wants a pony so badly that she tells her parents that she'll just die if they don't buy her one. Poor Abigail dies in the end after being unable to convince her parents to give in to her demands.
After reading the poem aloud, I ask the students to explain why they think Abigail's parents didn't give her a pony. A little discussion later, we usually agree that Abigail didn't ask her parents in the best way. Instead of demanding, maybe she should have asked them and given reasons why giving her a pony was a good idea.
This leads to a discussion of writing with a purpose. In Abigail's case, she really wanted to persuade her parents to do something. The students have already agreed that Abigail could have done better with a different approach, which I explain is really author's purpose.
The students are common with the idea of author's purpose and by now can identify it pretty consistently in other's writing. The idea of actually setting out with a purpose and an audience in mind is harder for them to appy to their own writing, as they always see me, the teacher with the grading pen as the actual audience.
I use this poem as a springboard for small group discussion where the students talk about how they would have approached their own parents. Then I ask them to take the time to pretend they are Abigail and to write a short, persuasive letter to her parents asking for the beautiful pony.
We take turns sharing these letters, enjoying each other's reasons why a pony would be a good thing for Abigail. Then I wrap it up by explaining that in writing the letter to Abigail's parents, they used author's purpose. Plus, they phrased it in the best way possible to convince her parents by using words guaranteed to get a positive reaction. That's using good word choice.
I love this poem and the good results I get from this lesson. A great follow up activity is to get the class to write a persuasive letter asking for a change, such as requiring students to wear uniforms to school or letting school out early on Fridays.
Ohio Fifth Grade Writing Standards:
3. Write letters that state the purpose, make requests or give compliments and use business letter format.
9. Vary language and style as appropriate to audience and purpose.
12. Add and delete information and details to better elaborate on a stated central idea and to more effectively accomplish purpose.
13. Rearrange words, sentences and paragraphs, and add transitional words and phrases to clarify meaning.
In this poem Abigail wants a pony so badly that she tells her parents that she'll just die if they don't buy her one. Poor Abigail dies in the end after being unable to convince her parents to give in to her demands.
After reading the poem aloud, I ask the students to explain why they think Abigail's parents didn't give her a pony. A little discussion later, we usually agree that Abigail didn't ask her parents in the best way. Instead of demanding, maybe she should have asked them and given reasons why giving her a pony was a good idea.
This leads to a discussion of writing with a purpose. In Abigail's case, she really wanted to persuade her parents to do something. The students have already agreed that Abigail could have done better with a different approach, which I explain is really author's purpose.
The students are common with the idea of author's purpose and by now can identify it pretty consistently in other's writing. The idea of actually setting out with a purpose and an audience in mind is harder for them to appy to their own writing, as they always see me, the teacher with the grading pen as the actual audience.
I use this poem as a springboard for small group discussion where the students talk about how they would have approached their own parents. Then I ask them to take the time to pretend they are Abigail and to write a short, persuasive letter to her parents asking for the beautiful pony.
We take turns sharing these letters, enjoying each other's reasons why a pony would be a good thing for Abigail. Then I wrap it up by explaining that in writing the letter to Abigail's parents, they used author's purpose. Plus, they phrased it in the best way possible to convince her parents by using words guaranteed to get a positive reaction. That's using good word choice.
I love this poem and the good results I get from this lesson. A great follow up activity is to get the class to write a persuasive letter asking for a change, such as requiring students to wear uniforms to school or letting school out early on Fridays.
Ohio Fifth Grade Writing Standards:
3. Write letters that state the purpose, make requests or give compliments and use business letter format.
9. Vary language and style as appropriate to audience and purpose.
12. Add and delete information and details to better elaborate on a stated central idea and to more effectively accomplish purpose.
13. Rearrange words, sentences and paragraphs, and add transitional words and phrases to clarify meaning.
Vocabulary and spelling for fifth graders
Have you ever used the wrong word by mistake in speaking or writing? President George Bush was famous for his malapropisms when he would use a similar sounding word to what he intended to use, changing the meaning of his sentences with sometimes humorous results.
Students frequently do that in their writing, especially when they love the sound of a word or want to impress the teacher with their large vocabulary. Part of the problem is that the students haven't learned to write for themselves, instead trying to please the teacher.
Add to the mix that many fifth graders are still struggling to become consistently correct spellers while writing. That's why I love to read to them the book Miss Alaineus: A Vocabulary Disaster by Debra Frasier.
The main character of this story is Sage, who misunderstands one of her teacher's spelling words for the week. The story follows her "freak out" as she explains how one simple misunderstanding of the teacher has left her devastated. It's a funny book with great vocabulary for the students to delve into.
After reading the book and discussing some of the vocabulary with the class, I ask the students to review any new descriptive words they learned from the spelling. We then discuss how vocabulary choice and spelling mistakes can really make a difference.
I then whip out some choice sample writings for the overhead to be edited together for spelling and vocabulary errors. As we do this, I ask the students to think about how these edits make the piece of writing better or more easily understood.
At the end of the lesson I ask the students to complete a Exit Slip explaining what was the important message they learned from the lesson and how they would use it in their own writing. The Exit Slip gives me an idea of what the students really understood from the lesson and then a good starting point for a follow up lesson.
Fifth Grade Writing Standards:
15. Proofread writing, edit to improve conventions (e.g., grammar, spelling, punctuation and capitalization) and identify and correct fragments and run-ons.
Students frequently do that in their writing, especially when they love the sound of a word or want to impress the teacher with their large vocabulary. Part of the problem is that the students haven't learned to write for themselves, instead trying to please the teacher.
Add to the mix that many fifth graders are still struggling to become consistently correct spellers while writing. That's why I love to read to them the book Miss Alaineus: A Vocabulary Disaster by Debra Frasier.
The main character of this story is Sage, who misunderstands one of her teacher's spelling words for the week. The story follows her "freak out" as she explains how one simple misunderstanding of the teacher has left her devastated. It's a funny book with great vocabulary for the students to delve into.
After reading the book and discussing some of the vocabulary with the class, I ask the students to review any new descriptive words they learned from the spelling. We then discuss how vocabulary choice and spelling mistakes can really make a difference.
I then whip out some choice sample writings for the overhead to be edited together for spelling and vocabulary errors. As we do this, I ask the students to think about how these edits make the piece of writing better or more easily understood.
At the end of the lesson I ask the students to complete a Exit Slip explaining what was the important message they learned from the lesson and how they would use it in their own writing. The Exit Slip gives me an idea of what the students really understood from the lesson and then a good starting point for a follow up lesson.
Fifth Grade Writing Standards:
15. Proofread writing, edit to improve conventions (e.g., grammar, spelling, punctuation and capitalization) and identify and correct fragments and run-ons.
How to present the story
Presentation of writing includes a variety of aspects. For example, I might show my students samples of e.e. cummings poetry in which he writes exclusively in lower case letters. I also show them examples of concrete poetry in which the presentation of the poem adds a major level of meaning to the poem. But my favorite example of presentation comes from a beautiful picture book written by Barbara Joose and illustrated with evocative watercolors by Mary Whyte. The book, I Love You the Purplest tells the story of two brothers who throughout an afternoon spent with their Mama constantly compete to be her favorite son. The heart of the story is how Mama tells her two boys that she loves each one exactly for who they are. By the story's end, it becomse apparent that while they are brothers close in age, they are of vastly different temperments. But that's ok, since she loves her fiery "red" son for his outgoing and engaging personality and loves her quieter "blue" son for his deep thinking and reserved personality. Together, red and blue make the color purple, explaining the title.
As I read the story, I frequently refer to the paintings and the colors used in the story. I ask the students about the emotions the illustrations create and how the colors used affect their understanding of the story.
After we finish, the class generally engages is a good discussion about how the story was illustrated and why that made such a difference in their understanding of the story. In other words, the way the story was presented made as much of a difference as the words themselves. Typically I will refer to another book in which the presentation makes such a huge difference, Officer Buckle and Gloria by Peggy Rathmann.
As I read the story, I frequently refer to the paintings and the colors used in the story. I ask the students about the emotions the illustrations create and how the colors used affect their understanding of the story.
After we finish, the class generally engages is a good discussion about how the story was illustrated and why that made such a difference in their understanding of the story. In other words, the way the story was presented made as much of a difference as the words themselves. Typically I will refer to another book in which the presentation makes such a huge difference, Officer Buckle and Gloria by Peggy Rathmann.
Will ideas drop out of the sky? And we don't need no stinking organization either!
One of my favorite writing lessons is about ideas and actually comes from Writing Fix. In this lesson, the picture book Dogzilla by Dav Pikey is used as the mentor text. It's a great book with vivid details in both the story and the pictures; the students love the story and are quickly enraptured. What's cool is that the students have so much fun using this prompt that they don't realize that they're practicing ideas and organization in their writing.
First, I read aloud the story, which tells of a scientific experiment gone awry akin to the creation of other famous monsters in popular horror movies. In this case, Dogzilla is awakened from her slumber by the aroma of a barbeque being held in the town of Mousopolis. Mice residents first run in fear then must come up with a way to get rid of the large, smelly creature that's a combination of a dog and the monster Godzilla. By the story's end, the students are excited about the book and the knowledge that they're going to be writing their own "monster" story.
Writing Fix offers the students an idea generator to find two different creatures to combine for their story. Then an outline is provided for the students to follow so they know the basic plotline with the details added by them.
Once they've begun the story, the students are quickly engaged in writing the story. I think the reason they love this particular writing lesson is because it's so funny, but also because the basic story structure is provided for them. Students enjoy the embellishment of the story but often stumble on putting together a good story structure.
More details about this lesson plan can be found on the Writing Fix website at http://writingfix.com/Picture_Book_Prompts/Dogzilla1.htm
http://writingfix.com/Picture_Book_Prompts/Dogzilla1.htm
First, I read aloud the story, which tells of a scientific experiment gone awry akin to the creation of other famous monsters in popular horror movies. In this case, Dogzilla is awakened from her slumber by the aroma of a barbeque being held in the town of Mousopolis. Mice residents first run in fear then must come up with a way to get rid of the large, smelly creature that's a combination of a dog and the monster Godzilla. By the story's end, the students are excited about the book and the knowledge that they're going to be writing their own "monster" story.
Writing Fix offers the students an idea generator to find two different creatures to combine for their story. Then an outline is provided for the students to follow so they know the basic plotline with the details added by them.
Once they've begun the story, the students are quickly engaged in writing the story. I think the reason they love this particular writing lesson is because it's so funny, but also because the basic story structure is provided for them. Students enjoy the embellishment of the story but often stumble on putting together a good story structure.
More details about this lesson plan can be found on the Writing Fix website at http://writingfix.com/Picture_Book_Prompts/Dogzilla1.htm
http://writingfix.com/Picture_Book_Prompts/Dogzilla1.htm
Voice -- Making Your Writing Yours
Voice is one of those really difficult concepts to teach students. I've always explained that voice is what changes your writing from a story written by a student to a story written by YOU. Voice is the way you have of putting together the words to make it your writing.
Then I share my spaghetti sauce recipe. You see, a friend gave me her recipe years ago and we really like it. But I keep tweaking the recipe, adding a little more garlic, using red wine instead of sugar, cooking my special meatballs in the sauce, and so on. Each time I tweak the recipe, I'm changing the recipe to be more mine. In other words, I'm giving the spaghetti my voice.
I love how the cooking discussion makes sense to my students. They talk about their mom's best recipes and how they've tried cooking and so forth. The discussion becomes a concrete example of voice for them.
Then I like to share some picture books with them that have voice. I might start with Love You Forever by Robert Munsch. While this isn't the best of picture books, it's one that I used to read to my son frequently as a young child. Everytime I read it, I cried in recognition of the power of a mother's love. As I tell them about crying, I explain that that's the second part of voice -- it causes an emotional reaction in the reader. Many students are familiar with the story and understand the emotions that the story engenders.
Finally, I like to bring out the big opportunity to understand voice. I read selections from Because of Winn Dixie by Kate DiCamillo, a popular and well-recognized book. There's no mistaking that the story is being told by one person -- Opal, who saves a dog from certain death after being found in the local Winn Dixie grocery story.
This is where the students really begin to understand the concept of voice.
I like to take some bland writing samples and put on the overhead. I show them ways that it can be changed to reflect voice. Then I put another bland writing sample on the board and have the students make suggestions to give it voice. Finally, I give the students a copy of a third piece of bland writing and ask them to work independently on giving it voice.
(I always tell the students this follows the teaching plan of I do it, We do it, the You do it, which makes sense to them.)
While they will still struggle to incorporate voice in their own writing for quite a while longer, I see this lesson as a good introduction and modeling of voice. With frequent reminders over the school year, students will begin to have their own voice in writing soon.
Then I share my spaghetti sauce recipe. You see, a friend gave me her recipe years ago and we really like it. But I keep tweaking the recipe, adding a little more garlic, using red wine instead of sugar, cooking my special meatballs in the sauce, and so on. Each time I tweak the recipe, I'm changing the recipe to be more mine. In other words, I'm giving the spaghetti my voice.
I love how the cooking discussion makes sense to my students. They talk about their mom's best recipes and how they've tried cooking and so forth. The discussion becomes a concrete example of voice for them.
Then I like to share some picture books with them that have voice. I might start with Love You Forever by Robert Munsch. While this isn't the best of picture books, it's one that I used to read to my son frequently as a young child. Everytime I read it, I cried in recognition of the power of a mother's love. As I tell them about crying, I explain that that's the second part of voice -- it causes an emotional reaction in the reader. Many students are familiar with the story and understand the emotions that the story engenders.
Finally, I like to bring out the big opportunity to understand voice. I read selections from Because of Winn Dixie by Kate DiCamillo, a popular and well-recognized book. There's no mistaking that the story is being told by one person -- Opal, who saves a dog from certain death after being found in the local Winn Dixie grocery story.
This is where the students really begin to understand the concept of voice.
I like to take some bland writing samples and put on the overhead. I show them ways that it can be changed to reflect voice. Then I put another bland writing sample on the board and have the students make suggestions to give it voice. Finally, I give the students a copy of a third piece of bland writing and ask them to work independently on giving it voice.
(I always tell the students this follows the teaching plan of I do it, We do it, the You do it, which makes sense to them.)
While they will still struggle to incorporate voice in their own writing for quite a while longer, I see this lesson as a good introduction and modeling of voice. With frequent reminders over the school year, students will begin to have their own voice in writing soon.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Welcome to my new blog for elementary writing teachers!
Welcome! This is my first blog posting. I've created this blog for my class through Wright State University in Dayton, OH. This blog will be used to discuss books that can be used as "mentor" texts for writing.
Since I am an elementary teacher who has taught both third and fifth grades, I will focus on literature that can be used by third, fourth, and fifth grade teachers. Students learn about writing by reading good writers, then practicing with their own writing. The 6+1 Traits model is especially effective when students use mentor texts.
I will also post links that other teachers can follow for reference materials. There's lots of good information about being better writing teachers on the Internet, as well as published books.
Happy teaching and happy writing to you all!
Since I am an elementary teacher who has taught both third and fifth grades, I will focus on literature that can be used by third, fourth, and fifth grade teachers. Students learn about writing by reading good writers, then practicing with their own writing. The 6+1 Traits model is especially effective when students use mentor texts.
I will also post links that other teachers can follow for reference materials. There's lots of good information about being better writing teachers on the Internet, as well as published books.
Happy teaching and happy writing to you all!
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