Crafting Writers k-6 Ch. 4 and 5

Chapters 4 and 5 of Crafting Writers had great insight about teaching kids how to make their writing more interesting. Elizabeth Hale takes student's writing and helps them look more into it through their "five senses." This part of chapter 4 is really inspiring as a teacher. Hale talks about ways students tend to write, such as them telling, and not showing what experiences they may have been writing about. Looking back into my elementary years, I think I might have done the exact thing. I told stories by explaining simply what I saw, because that was the easiest part to write about. Hale talks about looking into more things such as smell, taste, sound, and touch. These senses can do a lot for a writer and are more interesting to read as a reader. She talks about how in some cases if the writer is writing about a restaurant they went to it's easier to write about what it smelled or tasted like. In this case, the writer should concentrate more on things the reader might not think about such as the way the food looked, the colors in the restaurant, or what the service was like. This can give a better description to the readers that they may not visualize. I think it's important for a student/writer to think about what the reader might not already know in general. It's also important to reach for better descriptive words. Instead of good, use delicious. This does not always work for every method in writing though. Hale mentions that sometimes teachers will tell the students to look up synonyms to a word but explains that this is not a good way of going about things as a writer. A student may look up synonyms for the word good and come up with delicious, tasty, superior, fine, or excellent. All of these words are not going to work for every situation. Explaining that someone did an excellent job and replacing the word with tasty is not going to fit the subject by any means. I completely agree with Hale when she explains all of this.
In chapter 5 Hale talks more about Punctuations in writing. Again, she does an excellent job explaining this. Kids sometimes manage to miss period after period after period. It occurs everyday in the classroom. This is not to say they don't know that a period SHOULD go there, it's because they simply forget. Periods are meant to show that the thought/sentence has ended. Teachers must explain to students that if periods were not in writing the reader would not know when to stop and may get the thought completely mixed up. She talks about italicizing, exclamation points, and commas. She describes commas as something to add in a sentence to make it more descriptive. "When students know more ways to vary sentence structure, there is more of an opportunity for them to create rhythms that are already a natural part of their speech." Hale makes a great point in this statement. If students know more ways to create sentences, they are more likely going write better, descriptive writings.

Wilde Reading

I have always been a very strong speller. This isn't to say that I did well in English by any means in Elementary. I did well in spelling but always had trouble in writing. This article had great pointers on how to teach spelling in a classroom. The very first part of the article talked about Placeholding spelling. This is exactly what I would do in any situation pertaining to directions or simply writing down a name to look up. I also use this when I'm looking things up on the computer because a lot of times it will ask you if you are looking for something else. For instance, if you type in cactis or something and misspelled it, most likely the computer will say, "Did you mean Cactus?" For the most part, students will pick up the real word and click on that one. I think that Placeholding can be a great way of learning and picking up spelling. Like the article said, it should only be used in certain situations. Another point the article made was to always include different resources in the classroom. It's important to not only include the dictionary but also encyclopedias, and other sources. This way the students have a variety of ways to look up words and their meanings. Once the students have the spelling down, it doesn't always mean they understand the meaning of the word. I hope to return to this article when I'm teaching because it gave such a good description of how spelling should be taught. Another great way the author represents spelling is through using partners or simply grouping kids together to revise papers. This way the students who are stronger spellers can help out the ones who are having troubles. The students who are stronger are also raising their intelligence through helping the younger or less stronger spellers. The author also talks about how important spelling is. I know that as an Elementary student, spelling doesn't seem like the most important thing in writing. I do believe that writing has so much to it and also involves being able to organize your thoughts. Once you can organize your thoughts, spelling is very very important. When finishing an application or simply writing a letter to someone who is important, they are always going to look at the spelling in your writing. If the spelling isnt' correct, the paper looks rushed or not professional by any means. This has to be explained to students to understand the importance of spelling.

Coffee House Observation

During my visit at the coffee house I was told to observe people and their activities. Who is in this place? What do they look like and what are they doing?

In the coffee house I noticed all kinds of diversity. I visit this coffee house many times a week and never have I observed what goes on around me. I was pretty amazed at the diversity that was presented. I look straight ahead of me and I see a man, tattooed all over his face and body who is alone working on his computer. He looks as if he may be working on something but I couldn't quite see what. I then look to my left and there are three college aged girls gossiping away about who knows what. Behind me are two older woman, around the age of 35. They look as if they are taking a break from work and eating some lunch casually talking. I see 2 different men who are much older alone reading the paper. I also see men around the age of 40 who might also be taking a lunch break from work. I am amazed that in such a small area at a coffee shop that there are this many different people in here. They are all leading different lives and talking about completely different things, all in a small coffee house.

Online writing, not boring school writing

After reading this article, I felt that I could relate to the students. I think that writing online and talking out loud about what was written helps me see the subject more and not only in my perspective but in others too. I think blogging provides a way to express how one feels or share thoughts about a topic or novel. At the same time, after writing your own blog, you can then look at others and relate to them. This can give other views on topics and in turn makes the student learn more about that certain topic. I can understand the principals concern when the students are posting their addresses online or simply writing about topics that do not concern school. This can destroy the learning atmosphere and not help a student. This may be the only negative part about it though and can be fixed. Blogging has many positive aspects to it more so than negative. This article shows the students who believe that blogging helped them speak their minds.