Journal Writing

When I was a student I can remeber doing writing assignment in a blue book that was provided to us. One of my favorite journal writing experiences was a journal that we had to write in as if we were on the Oregon trail. Once or twice a week we would use the journal as if it were a diary. We were to write what we thought might have happened to us on that day. I though this experience was particularly helpful becuase it really allowed us to try to imagine what life was like back then. There were also many other writing prompts that we used in school. In my Tuesday experience classroom the students just completed a writing propt by using thier senses. The student were asked to use their senses to describe their favorite place and then to write a paragraph about it.

There are seven types of journals that Tompkins has described that can be used for different ideas expressed through language arts.The first is personal journals. This is ussually the first type of journal writing that students are exposed to. The second type of journal writing is dialogue journals. These journals are interactive and allow students to recieve feedback about their writing similar to what we are doing with the blogs. The third type is reading logs. Students use these to to write about stories or other books that they have been reading. The fourth is double entry journals. Students will use this to write quotes from the story in the left column and in the write column make text to world connections. The next type is language arts notebooks. Students are able to record a variety of language arts information about language arts topics. The last two types of journal writing are learning logs and simmulated journals. For learning logs students record about what they are learning in other content areas. While using simulated journals studtns assume the role of the character and write from their perspective.

Teachers can evaluate journals by giving students one point for every entry made. Teachers want to remember that someof students writing may be personal and can be indicated by students writing read me at the top of an entry or by writing private.

The types of letters that students write are friendly letters, business letters, and simulated letters. Friendly letters are used to help students learn to write letters. When they have decided to write a friendly letter they need someone to write to. It can be to a pen pal and author or other. Business letters arr used to help students to seek information. Simulated letters are used to help students assume the identity of historical figure and then to write a letter that would have been written by that person.

Teachers can incoperate this into their instructional programs by allowing students to write to an author that they have read about or to allow students to write business letters to ask questions to further their understanding.

I believe that Reeny would love personal writing. It would allow her to write about what she wants to write about. It would be a way for her to talk about herself and talk about Lionni. I believe she would be excited and enjoy this time spent.

Paley would want use to remember that it is personal. It is a way to get to know the students and be able to discover their interests. Once a teacher has discovered a common theme she will be able to encorperate that into the classroom. Students will learn best when they are exploring something about what they are interested in.

Writing Assessments

The main point that I have learned by assessing student's writing is to not judge a book by its cover. When looking at the three samples I immediately thought that Chelsea's was the best. When taking a closer I began to realize that hers looked the best because she was not taking any risks. While looking at the other two samples there was more sentence varitety and these two students were using some multi syllable words. I believe that this was important for me to learn because I would have spent time analyzing the hand writting and not the content of the writing. Know that I am aware that neatness is not all that goes into writing I will be able to adequetly assess student's work. It was also helpful to have a better understanding of the stages indiciating what type of spelling mistake it was. This brings me back to last semester and the running records. Going through this whole process will definatley help me with any future writing assessments that I will have to complete.

I found the handout that about the different types of sentences to be extremely helpful. By looking at this sheet I was able to realize that Chelsea had no change in her sentences. The other two students were able to vary their sentences by not only using simple sentences but also useing compound sentences. Scott was also able to use one complex sentence. With all of this information I will be able to better judge my student's writing.

Coming to an End

At the end of this book I came to the realization that all good things must come to an end. Each year as teachers we will all be faced with the fact that we have to say to goodbye. In the end as a future teacher I hope that I will be able to know that I have prepared my students for the next year that they will encounter. I also came to realize that some years may have harder goodbyes then others. It seemed that this could have been Paley's hardest year to say goodbye. Through out this hole story there have been many stories that I have learned from. Sometimes it is children who are able to look at a problem in the correct light and are able to solve. Sometimes I feel that adults minds are not as open and sometimes are not able to find the answer that is right in front of them. While reading the Leo Liononi stories in class last time I would never have read as much into them as these children have. Sometimes in a classroom you have to take what the children are interested in and find ways to incorperate all the other lessons into that one topic. I hope that I will be as big of a part in my student's lives as Paley was with her students.

Something about the author

While reading the next several chapters in this book I enjoyed the chapter inch by inch. I felt that the students were able to continue their connection to Lio Lionni through learning more about him and what his life stood for. The students were also able to make text to text connections by reading about the author and then connecting his life story to what he was trying to portray through his stories. While reading the chapter entitled another layer I was able to make text to text connections myself through other reading I have done. While reading about Reeny's father and the incidence with the women in the office and the copy machine I made the connection that racism still exists. People still feel that African Americans play a certain role in this society and they are not able to amount to anything more. I have felt that racism still exists for a while but through this and through other readings it is apparent how prevelant this issue still is today.