Now, if you know me at all, you know how I hate to spend my time reading professional texts that have nothing to do with what I'm trying to do. To be honest, this one was probably a giant waste of time for me as a First Grade teacher. (I wish I would have read it six years ago when I was teaching fourth grade!)
But, guys! There is so much great stuff in here! I decided earlier this summer that I am going to have my Firsties keep a writer's notebook. I just wasn't really sure how that would work being that they are so
I love that the chapters are organized in such a way that they correlate to the steps in the writing process. Chapter 2, "Launching the Notebook," is all about teaching students how to gather ideas. Then, Chapter 3 provides more information on gathering ideas through expanding topics and building collections of ideas. Once this is done, students draft. Chapter 4, "When Writers Read," discusses drafting in a way that includes using mentor texts. (Have you heard about The Writing Theif? I read that one earlier this summer. If you haven't, you should check it out, too.) Aimee goes on to describe revising and editing strategies in chapters 5 and 6, respectively. Chapter 7 she dedicates to assessing the notebook.
I want to use a writer's notebook with my Firsties because it will give them a place to keep all of their thinking. Aimee writes, "A writer's notebook creates a place for students (and writers) to save their words - in the form of a memory, a reflection, a list, a rambling of thoughts, a sketch, or even a scrap of print taped to the page" (p. 4). I am not sure exactly how this will look with such young students, but why can't they get started this early? And why can't they carry it on year after year? (I am going to be working with the teachers at my school over the next few years to implement a school-wide writing initiative. I'm not sure what that will look like yet, but I feel like it should include writer's notebooks!)
"The purpose of a notebook is to provide a place for students to practice writing. It's a place to generate texts, find ideas, and practice what they know about spelling and grammar" (p. 5). I'm not sure what form the notebook will take in my classroom given that the students are so young. I don't know if journaling is appropriate, but I don't always want the kids writing to a prompt. That's completely opposite from what a writer's notebook should be! I have some thinking to do about this...
"... [T]he most important aspect of a notebook is that it allows students the practice of simply writing..." (p. 7). And isn't that, after all, what we want our students to be doing? It's what I want my students to do. The only way to get better at something is to practice doing it every day! Without practice, we can't be our best.
How do you feel about using a notebook with your class? Have you read (or heard of) this book?
Aimee Buckner also wrote Notebook Connections: Strategies for the Reader's Notebook, which I also planned to read. However, I'm a little apprehensive because, like I said, I don't like wasting my time on things that aren't useful to me. Especially when there are so few precious days left of summer! Maybe I'll put it off until the end of my reading list. (It's a long one. Haha!)
