Candy Houses Volume 1
Our first publication is due for release on Monday Nov. 1st.
Here is a letter that went home to parents as they signed kids out at the end of class:
Coming Up:
We will begin projects for Candy Houses Volume 2 starting next week. On Monday I sent home a short family letter to begin our family memoir project- conveniently beginning on "National Family Literacy Day."
I've been really serious with the kids about finishing their submissions for our first publication. The kids have been so incredibly motivated- (all of them!) to produce something for publication. Some of the kids didn't have anything on Monday of this week, so I said they could draw a picture or write a brief How-To... if they wanted to get something in our first book. But they all ended up giving me at least one written piece by the end of the hour. I've been giving them the option to either submit a hand-written piece or a typed piece. Most have chosen to type. I offered to help those students type while they transcribe since our time is so limited, (and their typing is painfully slow). The time I've spent with their hand-written pieces has given me an opportunity to really look deeply at their writing and even notice some nuances that I might not notice otherwise.
For example---->
Writer 'M':
At the top of her story she wrote in big letters: "After School"
It's interesting to me to see what looks like a compartmentalization of work between a for-school project and an after-school project.
I also noticed that in her writing, she was talking about a big Red car. She wrote about this big Red car repeatedly. Each time, I noticed she capitalized the R in Red. I checked to see that she did in fact use lower case R's several other places in her writing, so her consistency with the specific capitalization made it seem intentional. I'm curious to know about her thinking behind this. I'm also thinking that some of her intentionality might be lost if the piece gets typed- which is something that's been on my mind for other writers' work as well.
Questions for Research:
I'd like to somehow incorporate these types of observations into my research/ interview questions, so they feel more personalized and less pre-generated.
Should I try to choose a few students to focus my interviews on so that I can get more personal and in-depth with them, or should I stay broad with my questions and focus on the "membership" in the group and how that experience is for them in general?
Here is a letter that went home to parents as they signed kids out at the end of class:
Dear Parents,
You are receiving this note because your child is a member of our after school writing workshop at Howell Mountain Elementary School. November 1st is National Family Literacy Day. To honor our families, we are going to be doing a family memoir project on Monday, November 1st, 2010. I would like your child to bring a family photo, or a photo that represents a memorable day spent with family.
Also, our first publication of Candy Houses, our student titled reader, is due for release next week, so be prepared to be impressed by our collection of stories and illustrations!
Sincerely,
Tegan Zimmerman-Henry
Coming Up:
We will begin projects for Candy Houses Volume 2 starting next week. On Monday I sent home a short family letter to begin our family memoir project- conveniently beginning on "National Family Literacy Day."
I've been really serious with the kids about finishing their submissions for our first publication. The kids have been so incredibly motivated- (all of them!) to produce something for publication. Some of the kids didn't have anything on Monday of this week, so I said they could draw a picture or write a brief How-To... if they wanted to get something in our first book. But they all ended up giving me at least one written piece by the end of the hour. I've been giving them the option to either submit a hand-written piece or a typed piece. Most have chosen to type. I offered to help those students type while they transcribe since our time is so limited, (and their typing is painfully slow). The time I've spent with their hand-written pieces has given me an opportunity to really look deeply at their writing and even notice some nuances that I might not notice otherwise.
For example---->
Writer 'M':
At the top of her story she wrote in big letters: "After School"
It's interesting to me to see what looks like a compartmentalization of work between a for-school project and an after-school project.
I also noticed that in her writing, she was talking about a big Red car. She wrote about this big Red car repeatedly. Each time, I noticed she capitalized the R in Red. I checked to see that she did in fact use lower case R's several other places in her writing, so her consistency with the specific capitalization made it seem intentional. I'm curious to know about her thinking behind this. I'm also thinking that some of her intentionality might be lost if the piece gets typed- which is something that's been on my mind for other writers' work as well.
Questions for Research:
I'd like to somehow incorporate these types of observations into my research/ interview questions, so they feel more personalized and less pre-generated.
Should I try to choose a few students to focus my interviews on so that I can get more personal and in-depth with them, or should I stay broad with my questions and focus on the "membership" in the group and how that experience is for them in general?
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