Finding your students' inspiration to write through interest inventories

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I’ve been wandering around my house for days thinking it should probably be blog time, but as I went into my brain, looking for a good topic, I kept coming up blank.  That’s a bad feeling for a writer.  Summer is tough.  I don’t have teachers around me asking questions or wanting to upgrade their instruction with some more engaging strategies.  It’s all me.  A perfect example of why I could never just blog and why I surround myself with inspiring people. 

Last summer I had colleagues, friends, and family feeding me articles to ponder, and I was taking classes that gave me more reading to process.  I had blog ideas all summer long last year, and they took me right up through Christmas break. This summer my friends have been quiet (I’m not sure this is a good thing), and I’m not taking classes – so I’m back to relying on myself to come up with stuff my readers will appreciate!  As I started thinking about this, though, I realized that one of my favorite places to get blog topics is from learning I do myself - things that hook me and give me inspiration to do what I love to do.

It was then that an idea struck me.  If my favorite writing topics are things that hit me emotionally and inspire me, shouldn't it be the same for our kiddos?  I know what you’re thinking.  “Duh,” right?  Well, it’s kind of willy-nilly to get up in front of thirty eighth graders and say, “Ok, all!  Write about what inspires you.”  Most of them haven’t got a clue what inspires them.  That’s when I started formulating a fantastic idea for getting resistant writers to write!

• Start with interest inventories.  Many of you might use them for reading, but why not use them for writing also?  If you look at an inventory and find that a student loves to watch scary movies, then you have a place to start.  What kind?  Ghost stories?  Slasher movies?  A quiet kid in the back of the room bleeds football, plays for the school team, and spends the entire weekend watching college and NFL games with his uncle.  What can you do with this information?
• Go to Google.  Type in “effects of watching horror films on teenagers” and watch what happens.  Dozens of websites and articles pop up.   Now google “teenager playing football”.  Again, dozens of websites and articles that somehow relate to teenagers playing football – all with different angles.  These websites don’t even have to be “evidence based”.  All we are looking for is something to inspire writing and get our kiddos writing passionately.  This type of activity is a great start to finding a good writing topic.  Grab the laptop cart or go to the lab and have your students do some searches with one goal in mind - to find something that really grabs their attention and sucks them in.  You could even have them work in pairs to help each other come up with good search topics.  And we all know they LOVE using Google.  This, in itself, could be a great collaborative lesson with the school library media specialist!
• Once your students have their articles (hard copies might be a better choice), you can have them read and react.  A mini lesson on close reading or annotating might be good here.  The idea is to get some meat and potatoes from the article and get the kids thinking, feeling, and eventually writing. 
• Free-writing is the next step.  If the topic is truly inspiring, these kiddos will now have lots to say. Give them as long as they need to write about what they read and their reactions.  Model this process.  Start a free-write by talking and writing in front of them.  Then let them go and keep writing in front of them.  The more you write, the more they will write.  I’m a firm believer in creating on the spot so they can see me struggle with it like they might.

From here, it really depends on your goal.  If you want some material for grammar lessons, try using some of Jeff Anderson’s approaches.  They’d fit perfectly here.  If you’re looking to move into a specific type of writing, ask students to go back into their writing and start pulling out information that applies.  In my opinion, once you have the inspiration – the possibilities are endless.  For a kiddo who reads an article on negative effects of horror films on teenagers, he could write a piece that argues the other side or a narrative about a kid who started hurting people after going on a horror film watching spree.  He could compare types of horror films and their effects or do his own study on how middle schoolers view them. He could compare horror books to horror films to see what the differences are in their effects on kids. 

The keys here are to begin with a goal in mind and to get your students writing about relevant topics.  If you know that your idea is to get some good free-writing down for grammar instruction, you may want to give free reign on what they load up from the internet.  If you have a specific writing goal in mind, then when you conference with your students while they’re searching for material, let them start by reading anything from the internet, but you’ll need to teach them how to find credible sources once they’ve picked a topic.  It all depends on where you want to go with the instruction, and don’t forget to tap into your resources yourself.  Use your media specialist to help you out from the get-go!

As I have found over and over and over again, once I find a topic that inspires me, the 833 words I crank out in 30 minutes seems like nothing.  This is what we want for our kiddos.  Writing should not be work.  Revising and editing?  That will and should be work.  But writing itself should flow from their fingertips like words do from their mouths.  If it does, they will create inspired works for you.  Guaranteed.

IRC Conference, March 14-16, 2013, Linda Hoyt & Seymour Simon

Igniting the Power of Craft in Nonfiction Writing
Linda Hoyt & Seymour Simon

Our second day at IRC we attended a lunch session featuring Linda Hoyt and Seymour Simon in a seminar on writing nonfiction.  I found myself looking forward to this session because of my interest in my own writing along with how much I enjoy teaching students how to write (if only I enjoyed grading it as much as I enjoyed teaching it!).  Seymour Simon also holds a special place in my heart because my daughter loves his nonfiction books.

During Hoyt's segment, she spoke on a few things including punctuation to make sentences more exciting, creating a chart of good words to use for writing, and visualizing while writing.  Hoyt's presentation discussed the use of a variety of sentence-types and good description words based upon the visualization process. 

Once Seymour Simon took the podium, I had finished my dessert (which was delicious!) and could take notes more easily.  Listening to Simon speak about writing nonfiction was as exciting as reading his nonfiction!  If you've never picked up a nonfiction book written by him, do it the next time you step into a Barnes and Noble or other book store.  His combination of words and photographs gives the reader excitement about the topic and makes the reader want to read on. 

Interestingly enough, one of Simon's first pieces of advice as a writer of informational text is to write nonfiction like you would write an exciting story.  This is excellent advice, especially for children, because if they get into the habit of writing nonfiction text in a manner that makes the reader want to read on, they will continue writing this way.  I was instantly reminded of Voice in the 6+1 Traits of Writing.  Simon knows his readers are younger readers, and therefore he writes his nonfiction in a manner that makes his young readers excited to read on.  Not only is he sucking them into his writing and encouraging them to read, but he is giving them a fantastic model of writing informational text!  The voice in his writing is strong and evident.

Another aspect of Simon's writing that is unique is the language that he uses.  During his session he explained the importance of the vivid language, action words, and comparisons that his readers would understand.  One example that he gave that afternoon was from his book Whales.  In this book, Simon compares the weight of the tongue of a blue whale to that of an elephant.  The tongue!  Imagine that!  Kids know that elephants are large and heavy.  Some have even seen them at the zoo or on television.  To quote an actual weight in pounds or kilograms would have been pointless to children, but to compare the weight to an elephant, his readers now have a basis from which to consider the enormity of the blue whale.  If the tongue is that big, imagine how big the WHALE is! 

Simon also touches on the idea of using imagery when writing nonfiction.  Appealing to all five senses is a great way to get the reader involved in the text, and Simon tries to give vivid descriptions that do just that.  The photographs chosen to accompany his writing he feels are just as important, as they give the reader a better visual and break up the text for a more motivating read.

Finally, Simon reemphasized the importance of writing using varying sentence structures and asking questions to get the reader more involved in the read.

Although none of what Simon or Hoyt mentioned to the group was an earth-shattering, brand new approach to writing, I found the session to be enlightening.  They were able to give some clear suggestions as to how to help students improve upon their writing (both fiction and nonfiction).  I also thought that the way that Simon spoke about writing nonfiction as an exciting story was important to hear as it impressed upon me the importance of voice in writing.  In my future collaborations, I will keep Hoyt and Simon's session in the back of my mind, as the advice they gave was both useful and practical.

IRC Conference, March 14-16, 2013, Jeff Anderson

Jeff Anderson
Grammar and Conventions: When Reading and Writing Collide

Truly the most dynamic, most entertaining presenter at the IRC Conference, in my opinion, was Jeff Anderson. His wit, use of music, visual presentation, and personal flair made what he had to say to his audience stick as we laughed our way through his ideas for writing instruction.

One of the first points Anderson made in his talk was the idea of breaking the rules - rarely, purposefully, and never. Always write purposefully, he says, and never say never (it was at this point that he played his own sing-along version of the Justin Bieber song). This made me think of a student that I had in my first few years at Herget. As a sixth grader he had already decided that the writing we were teaching was too systematic and didn't allow him the freedom to be creative. He was a smart kid, and I knew that the rules strangled him a little bit, but I wasn't convinced that he had mastered the organization of the writing that we were teaching. My response to him was that if he could show me that he could play by the rules, then he was allowed to break them and be more creative. He wasn't happy with that, but he did it.

Anderson's next segment spoke on the idea of editing. He touched on editing personal writing as well as grammar and punctuation instruction. As a writing teacher, one of the most difficult skills I have encountered is the idea of editing and revision.  My first five years of teaching, grammar instruction seemed easy - either that or I was completely oblivious to the fact that my instruction was not making much difference.  The last ten or so years, however, it seems as if grammar instruction is just not sticking, so I was all ears as Anderson went about his business enlightening me on a completely different approach.

One of his brilliant (and ridiculously easy) ideas is this idea of self editing.  More often than not, kids will come to us with a piece of writing that has a crazy amount of one problem (the use of the word "and", apostrophes in every word that ends with an s, sentences all begin with the same word).  How do we get students to edit their own work and come to their own conclusions?  For students like this one, the answer is so simple that I'm embarassed that I didn't think of it first!  Anderson suggests giving those students individual editing assignments.  For example, "Ok, now I want you to go back and find every time you use the word 'and' and circle it."  The idea is that the student will find them all and realize that he has too many.  Once this is established, Anderson goes on to make this a teachable moment.  Have the student (with your guidance) observe each use of the word and draw some conclusions.  If there are no punctuation marks, and the word "and" just seems to be joining a bunch of independent clauses, then use that moment to explain some ways a student can fix the mistakes.  Maybe even make a small list for him, and then send him off to his desk to make the corrections. 

Besides using editing as a tool for grammar instruction, Anderson addresses DOL (Daily Oral Language), Mug Shots, Daily Edits, etc.  Actually, he burned them.  Twice.  OK, he didn't really burn them, but he made it clear that he disagreed with their use.  For years I have used DOLs on and off as a way to use a fabricated "teachable moment" for a little grammar instruction.  Anderson's beef with this way of teaching is the idea that the first thing a student sees when she walks in the classroom door is a horribly fashioned, completely incorrectly written selection of text.  I never thought of it that way, but the man does have a point. 

Anderson then asked a pointed question:  What do writers do?  They read.  So his suggestion is a three step process that, ironically (or maybe not), seemed to be a common theme in the next few days: observation. 

Step 1: Invitation to Notice (observe)

• Display a quotation from a book, song, poem, or a celebrity quote that exhibits the use of a specific (correctly written - even if you have to correct it before displaying it) grammar component.  ie.  "Lightning flashes may even have been detected on other planets, such as Jupiter and Venus." - Seymour Simon's Lightning. 
• Ask students to notice the quotation and write down things that they notice about it - you'll have to prompt them until they get the hang of it.  Examples might be "capital L at the beginning of the sentence", a comma after the word planets, Jupiter and Venus are capitalized. If you're wanting to draw attention to verbs, point out the use of "may have been".  Whatever your focus is, be sure that they notice it.
• Honor it.  Whatever they notice, honor it.  Even if it is bizarre -- honor that they did, indeed, notice whatever it is. You can even have them share with a partner before they share out to keep it engaging.
• Give it a name. Tell them what it is if they can't tell you.  Ask them what it does when they read it aloud.  Ask them what it does when they read it to themselves.  Are there differences?  If so, what are the differences?
• Extend. Explain it.  Maybe give some other examples of how it can be used.

Step 2: Invitation to Compare/Contrast

• This can be the next day as a follow-up to yesterday.
• Show the students an immitation quotation that is modeled directly from the previous day's quotation along with the quotation from the previous day.  For example - Hot lunches may even have been ingested by students, such as Alex and Omar.  (Sharon Draper said in a later session that using your own students' names boosts motivation to pay attention, and I tend to agree with her.)
• Ask students to write down the similarities between the two sentences and explain them (some kids may use the vocabulary you introduced from the day before, which is the goal).
• Share out.

Step 3: Invitation to Immitate (Isn't our goal to have students USE the grammar correctly?)

• Display the two quotations again and tell the students it is now their turn to use what we have discussed in the last few days to write their own immitations.
• Have them share and evaluate if they've done it correctly. 

Genius.  Truly genius. I actually found myself a little jealous of the fact that somebody else had come up with something this fantastic for something as dull as grammar instruction.  I envisioned my students so much more engaged with this activity than anything I could ever produce!  It also seemed like this approach left room for practical application and a way to show them through modeling, giving it a try, and then independently practicing. 

By this time it was 4 p.m., and I was exhausted.  My brain was full, my legs were achy from sitting all day, and my fingers were itching to blog.  Jeff Anderson was a good choice for a late session because he was entertaining, and his session's topic was so practical.  Going to see him was motivating and invigorating.

IRC Conference, March 14-16, 2013, Janet Allen

Janet Allen
Information Literacy: It's Not just Reading More Nonfiction

Janet Allen is a seriously hilarious woman. The irony of that statement was purposeful, as she is one of the funniest serious educators I've ever met. This was evidenced by the fact that, although she never left her table, every eye was focused on her as she moved so quickly from one topic to the other, bridging the shifts with funny anecdotes and quick-witted humor. Her talk was separated into eight segments, and she was able to cover three in the hour we were together.

Off the bat, Allen stated the urgency for students to be writing . . . A LOT.  She said if you are grading everything that they are writing, they're not writing enough. I found this to be a refreshing statement, as the years I taught 8th grade ELA, I had my students write every day at the beginning of the period. They were given a prompt or a quick mini lesson in one of the 6 traits of writing, and away they went! I always wondered if not grading or reading all of their writing was doing them a disservice, but I felt that if they were to become writers, they needed to write every day. Period. Once every two weeks, they produced one of their daily writing prompts for grading on the skill that we were practicing, and then we moved on to an extension of that skill or a related skill, or a new skill for another two weeks.  It worked for us, and as the year progressed, their stamina for writing increased. 

Getting Students Started

Getting students started on a topic is tough business.  Allen suggests tugging at students' emotions a bit and giving them something to which they might connect or get emotionally engaged.  She produced a chart at the beginning of her talk that allowed students to take three texts (selections) of the same topics and respond to each one before beginning their writing.  The three texts she shared with us were different perspectives on the Alabama Church bombing in 1963.  She read an excerpt from a text book, a poem, and an article detailing the events related to the bombing that day.  For each we had to write the name of the source, write down some facts from the selection, and then react to it. 

The process took about 20-25 minutes, and then we all had an entire sheet filled with facts and ideas for a possible writing activity.

Developing Word Banks
Allen's next topic was the idea of developing word banks.  Presentation after presentation after presentation touched upon the fact that one of the best ways to build the vocabularies of our students is to get them to read.  Read a lot, and read a variety of different text selections.  Reading TO a student has an effect on the words he or she pics up as well, so she suggests read-alouds as well.  I found some of her quick and painless ideas to be no-brainers and "why didn't I ever think of that?" ideas.  One of the best ones was her idea that students should be read to every day  at the beginning of the period - something quick.  Anything.  A poem, an excerpt from a book.  A short article.  But they should hear from a variety every day so that their exposure to unfamiliar words increases, making the liklihood that these unfamiliar words will stay unfamiliar unlikely. 

Students can create portable word walls in their binders or notebooks for each unit so that they can start using new words in their writing.  The word wall looks similar to an ABC Brainstorming sheet used in Project CRISS, and it works in a similar way in that students will organize the words in alphabetic blocks, but the collection of the words happens over a lengthier period of time during word-wall-creation wherease the ABC Brainstorming sheet is just that - a brainstorm, usually happening in a very short amount of time. 

Allen suggests other strategies such as word sorts, and she mentions that context clues are important, but they're not likely to be of large value in anything but science and social studies text books where words are purposely placed into sentences containing definitions or clues from which to identify the meaning of these words. 

Several frightening statistics were thrown at us that morning, including the idea that 3000-5000 new words acquired represents about one reading grade level on standardized testing.  Allen worked for several years writing standardized tests, leading me to believe she might have some authority on this topic.  She also says that if we can get students to read twenty-five minutes a day, they will encounter 20,000 new words every year.  Will they all be learned? No.  But some of them will, and perhaps the 3000-5000 new words will be achieved.  I guess I hope this isn't an under achieving student, because if it is, then the time spent reading would have to increase to go up two levels.  And so on . . .

During our time together, Janet Allen talked about another acronym that she uses to teach students to preview books before reading them.  My mind immediately went to the THIEVES strategy that we used last year because it is very similar.  Allen's is below:

• P - Predict
• R - Review the table of contents
• E - Examine the visuals
• V - Vocabulary.  How hard can it be? (Allen suggests going to the captions of visuals to check out the vocab.
• I - Index.  What can I learn here?  (Her thoughts are that the table of  contents are the main ideas and the index is the supporting details.)
• E - Explain what you know about the book.
• W - What connection can you make? 

I know that a few of my colleagues will be happy to hear that Janet Allen praised the use of academic notebooks, as she thought they were a great tool for organization and learning!  During the short plug for academic notebooks, Allen gave us probably one of the THE MOST helpful tools that I have gotten in the last two days at the convention - it is called the question matrix (left), and it is a genius tool for helping kids learn how to ask questions.  After previewing a selection of text, students can then write their questions in the matrix as the words connect.  The horizontal row is their first word in the question, and the vertical row is the second word in their sentence.  They have to fill in the rest of the question based upon their preview of the selection.

Allen's final strategy is the use of "response frames", known as paragraph frames in my Project CRISS world.  The example here shows how a teacher creates a frame for writers who struggle to get started on their writing.  As the year progresses, the teacher creates these, but the teacher's words get fewer and fewer while the expectation for the student gets larger and larger until the student is writing independently. 

Janet Allen concluded her presentation with a story that had the audience howling by the end, closing a brilliantly constructed and beautifully presented, engaging talk on non-fiction reading and writing.  From her words, I feel like I am able to attack the use of non-fiction more effectively with students - both in reading and writing.