Sabbatical 2012
Introduction
My passion for teaching, specifically new entrant teaching and the acquisition of literacy in English, has been a career journey. During my sabbatical I have been given the opportunity to focus on how we as teachers can motivate, inspire, model and “teach” children how to be successful writers.
Teaching new entrant students to write is closely linked to reading and oral language. As students learn to recognise words and read simple sentences, many realise that they can also write these simple sentences. The problem however is that these chatty little people who arrive at school with five years of experiences to draw on then simplistically write, “I went to the shop.” The teacher and family rightly celebrate this newly acquired skill, and the student then thinks that this is all that is required of them. Prior to starting school the student would more likely have said, “My Nanny took me to the Jumbo Dairy and I got a huge ice cream and it ……” not just, “I went to the shop.”
I believe there are many things that contribute to rich writing and have focused my study on these. I want to tap into the rich unique potential of each student.
I decided to look closely at shared writing, oral language and poetic writing and how to get rich language from students while participating in these learning experiences. Often the poems used with new entrant students rely heavily on rhythm and are often nonsensical poems with limited meaning. I decided to build an anthology of simple poems with rich meaning and language believing that young students need to hear quality poetry that they can relate to, in order to express their ideas poetically. They need to be inspired by writers of poetry.
The Teacher Scribing Student’s Ideas
Recently I reflected on my role of scribing for students during a seminar on writing delivered by Barbara Watson. Barbara suggested that not only do we need to record the student’s ideas during shared whole class writing sessions but teachers also needed to at times record individual student’s ideas into their writing as they talked with the teacher, even up until ten years of age. Writing is not just about learning the skills of writing but more importantly it is the individual expression of student’s ideas. When student’s ideas are only gathered during shared writing time often the students think these are the best ideas and when writing they believe that is what they should be recording. I began to look more closely at ways to get individual ideas from the students at writing time. I began to explore how to capture each student’s individual and unique language. I started recording ideas not only for the students who are at the pre writing stage but also recording extra ideas for students capable of writing by themselves. This can only be done for a few students each day as it is labour intensive and the teacher’s role at this time is to teach students “how to write.” The language I recorded was not instead of the student’s writing, it was adding to the ideas in their writing. When doing this we can often help students move from simply writing about something that has happened to actually revealing something of themselves and expressing what it means for them. Two useful questions at this stage are, “What were you feeling?” and “What were you thinking?”
This co-construction between teacher and students has the potential to bring the student’s oral language into their writing and personalise the writing. By celebrating the uniqueness of their individual ideas students will not be drawn into recording the ideas shared in the group situation, believing these to be the best.
Recently our class made rice bubble slice with gooey marshmallows in it. As the children ate the slice we talked and enjoyed the experience. I took photos and had these ready for the children to look at the next day as we recorded interesting words about the experience. We really focused in on the marshmallow and what happened to it as they ate the slice. Children said things such as…..“It was like a spider’s web and it was stretchy like chewing gum.” The children and I made their ideas into a delightful poem and then the next day the children wrote about the experience individually.
Rice Bubble Slice
crunch crunch crunch
rice bubbles stuck on
looking like clouds
sticky and gooey
like a marshmallow spider web
warm and buttery
stretching like chewing gum
munch munch munch
I like it
by Room 11
One child during the writing time had written “I made rice bubble slice, I liked it.” She said to me, “The rice bubble slice looked like a broken bridge in my hands.” She usually records 1-2 simple sentences a day at writing time so was not capable of writing this complex sentence. I recorded it for her and then her writing said….
“I made rice bubble slice. It looked like a broken bridge in my hands. I liked it.” We were then able to celebrate her own unique idea that she had ownership of.
When I return to the classroom I intend to further pursue scribing students oral language.
Celebrating Interesting Words
Each day my aim is to read 4-5 picture books to my class. As I read I unpack the meaning of words to enhance the student’s understanding of the story. At the end we often discuss words we’ve enjoyed and on many days we will add an interesting word to our Interesting Words Chart. At this time the other words already on the chart will be briefly discussed and meanings explained again. Over time these words then slowly become a part of the student’s vocabulary. On one Interesting Word Chart we had recorded fled, fierce, beady and elusive along with other words. There had been some thought put into the selection of these words as later that term we made a study of the seagulls outside our classroom and many of these words were used by the students as they talked about what the seagulls were doing. By focusing on interesting words the student’s imagery and vocabulary can be extended.
As an extension to this I am now interested in not only recording interesting words but interesting phrases and descriptions from books and poems read to the students in the belief that by drawing the student’s attention to the author’s excellent sentence structures and descriptions this will over time improve the student’s writing eg A window open like a mouth….His arms as long as rakes….The leaves sat poised to fall…..
Professional Reading
I am always keen to read any available material about students learning to write, and in particular young students learning to write, but I especially wanted to read on this topic as part of my professional development during my sabbatical. I was delighted when my sister, who is also a teacher recommended “I’ve got something to say” by Gail Loane with Sally Muir, Aries Publishing 2010. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. It is exciting to read a book and really feel connected to what the author has to say and find yourself saying, “Yes.” I would thoroughly recommend this book. It talks about the teaching progressions when teaching writing and also gives examples of student’s writing at various stages.
After I had read the book and re read it again I came across a review of it by Kelvin Smythe in, “Developmental Publications Ltd” -neworkonnet.co .nz. Kelvin also highly recommends this book and I certainly agree with him.
The last section of my writing has ideas that I have gathered during my sabbatical and want to use when I return to the classroom. Some of these ideas are from “I’ve got something to say” by Gail Loane.
Shared Writing.
I regularly write with my students. Sometimes my focus is to record their ideas. Sometimes it is to model how to write and at other times it is to teach new learning about their writing. In our daily programme we regularly participate in things that we can write about. I believe that when the students have had the opportunity to participate in an experience and discuss it before they write you will rarely hear the words, “I don’t know what to write.” When students have had the opportunity to find the words to express themselves and have shared these ideas orally before writing it is unusual for them to feel that they don’t know what to write. This can be done quite simply by saying, “Turn to the person beside you and tell each other what you are going to write about.” This will put what is in their heads into words ready to be written. This oral storytelling is their preparation for writing as they are choosing the words they need to tell their story.
This led me to compiling a list of simple easily accessible experiences commonly found around the school and grounds for junior students to participate in. The students then have a common experience from which to draw expressive language.
“I love Poetry” by Wendy Clarke
These books were published in 2009 and our school purchased the four titles. Our junior syndicate enjoyed the ideas in them and we incorporated these into our teaching program. As part of my research into new entrant writing I wanted to meet with Wendy to discuss her ideas and find new directions for my teaching. One weekend in February I made the trek to Arrowtown and had a most enjoyable afternoon discussing the writing of poetry with Wendy. It was exciting to be in the company of someone as passionate about writing with young children as I am. Wendy talked me through many ideas, her beliefs about poetry and ways to support children’s poetry writing. I had taken some poetry and accompanying artwork with me that our new entrant students and year one/ two class had produced. Wendy was very positive about the poetry we were getting from our young students. Lovely as this was, the exciting thing was she was able to give us clear ideas about the next teaching step with each of these poems. I returned to Dunedin excited about my meeting with Wendy and keen to put these ideas into practice. The junior syndicate were very enthusiastic.
Wendy has published two more books titled, “Make Poetry come alive!” Essential Resources Educational Publishers Limited, 2011. Book 1 Ages 5-6 and Book 2 Ages 7-8. I found I connected strongly with Wendy’s message in the introduction to Book 1.
Poetry Anthology for New Entrants
As part of my research I have been a regular visitor to the Dunedin Public Library. Over the last six months I have slowly worked my way through the entire children’s poetry section and selected many poems for young students that were short, but were strong on meaning, imagery and vocabulary. My initial intention was to build just one anthology of short meaningful poems suitable for young students but during my afternoon with Wendy Clarke I began to realise that I also needed to build a collection of slightly longer poems, still strong on imagery and vocabulary, but poems that could be read aloud. I now realise that students need to hear good quality poetry for it to slowly become a part of their language and imagery. I have now built two anthologies, one of poems to read to the students and one of poems suitable for them to have in their individual poetry books. Much of what we learn as writers comes from reading and responding to written texts. When listening to poetry students become aware of how the author has put words together and the significance of carefully selected words. Over time this exposure to rich vocabulary rubs off on them and will influence their writing, and their everyday spoken vocabulary. Children love experimenting with language.
Writing Ideas
I believe when teaching students to write we need to teach them to closely observe their environment and bring their lives into the classroom. Helping them to look and see things that they might not have seen before raises their sensitivity and quality of response. We need to teach students to be careful observers. One technique that supports this is to give students a cardboard photo frame or a hoop. Students can observe more closely through a frame or look at what is inside a hoop. Without the distractions that a larger area provides young students will find it easier to be more observant. If students are encouraged to use their senses at this time they will come up with a greater range of ideas.
“We can’t give children rich lives, but we can give them the lens to appreciate the richness that is already there.” –Lucy Calkins
“Writing is living work rather than desk work.” – Lucy Calkins
I have spent time considering experiences suitable for young writers within the school setting that may stimulate their oral language and elicit rich expressive writing. Some of these could be….
The drinking fountain, seagulls, sunflowers, hedgehogs, apples, puddles, leaves, huts, clouds, traffic, daffodils, machinery, jelly, dressing up, kites, bikes, cars, lunchboxes, chairs and the slide.
Ideas for Poetry Writing
An idea I am keen to try on my return to the classroom from page 135 of “I’ve got something to say” by Gail Loane with Sally Muir (2010) is to suggest that the students notice four things in their immediate environment and jot these down. Next the students are encouraged to extend their ideas relating to each thing listed. The teacher then directs them to record what each thing looked like or was doing.
Below is an example of a poem written in this form.
Pine cones –scattered around
Sand – with wrinkles
Shells – all different colours
Sticks – washed up
Stacey –Year 3
Alliteration
When I met with Wendy Clarke author of the “I love Poetry” books she impressed upon me the importance of young children recognising and knowing what alliteration is, as stated in the introduction of Book 1. I began by drawing the student’s attention to alliteration in picture books and the students would experiment with alliteration. I came across poems in “Young Kiwi Voices” that used repetition and I could see how this idea could be used with alliteration.
Waves
Crashing waves
White crashing waves
Big white crashing waves
Deep big white crashing waves
Ryan Y
Hautapu School
Around this time our classroom caterpillars had turned into beautiful monarch butterflies and we had visited the Otago Museum’s Butterfly house. The children brainstormed all the descriptive words that started with Bbbb. The children then tried combining these into clusters of two and three words eg beautiful blue butterfly, brave battered butterfly.
The children then built an alliteration poem that used repetition.
butterfly
blue butterfly
beautiful blue butterfly
bold beautiful blue butterfly.
by Room 11
In “I love Poetry” Book One, Wendy talks about skinny poems and how to get the students’ to write these. She also suggests having skinny pieces of paper available at the class writing table to encourage independent writing of skinny poems. I want to use this skinny poem idea with alliteration. I think it would be interesting to take the list of Bbbb words that the students compiled and encourage them to produce skinny poems about the butterflies.
Four Main Poetry Features
Wendy suggests that teachers of junior students need to unpack the four main poetry features that she believes are best suited to young students –alliteration, repetition, similes and onomatopoeia. I will now plan to share examples of poetry that use these features and help students notice them in picture books. I intend to build a visual word display of onomatopoeia from story reading that we will continually add to. I will separate these into the four poetry features and specifically teach one at a time so that the students develop a deeper understanding of each and will in turn be able to use them in their own writing.
I am keen to trial another teaching idea that comes from page 146 of “I’ve got something to say.” by Gail Loane.
The students select nouns e.g.
blossom
ducklings
willow
sun
Once the students have selected their nouns they look closely to see what each noun does.
The willow sprouts
The sun warms
The blossom covers
The ducklings waddle
Next the teacher asks questions to activate the noun eg “The willow sprouts what? Where does the duck waddle?”
The willow sprouts a new green leaf
The sun warms the porch, inviting us for lunch
The blossom covers the tree like a new dress
The ducklings waddle across the grass behind their mother
Using the Senses
I have discovered that when you are planning a classroom visit with puppies, hedgehogs or other captivating creatures, it is often best if you can plan for two visits or a longer visit so that the students can make more thorough observations. Initially I find the students needed time to ask questions such as, “Where did you get it?” and “What does it eat?”
When given the extra time the children will slowly settle into really looking and making more accurate observations and using more rich expressive language. Wendy suggested during our meeting that students can be encouraged to use their senses if ever there is a pause in the flow of ideas. This also gives the teacher another means to prompt students with questions that will elicit expressive ideas. The teacher can help young students use their senses to look more closely and share exactly what they see, hear, feel and smell. At this time the teacher really needs to challenge the children to be specific in their observations and eventually over time the students will do this independently. On my return to the classroom I want to help the children in a shared session or individually to group their ideas into those that they saw, heard, smelt and felt to build this awareness of using their senses.
Wendy’s Poetry Suggestions
When Wendy looked at the poems our students had written she encouraged me to challenge the students to be more specific in their ideas to get stronger imagery. In one poem they had said, “Beautiful flowers.” Wendy said that you needed to ask, “What is beautiful?” When you write “beautiful flowers” it doesn’t actually help you imagine anything specific. You need something concrete such as summery flowers to give the reader an image of summery flowers in their head. She gave me a further example. If a student says, “A singing bird” you could challenge the students to be more specific and they might say, “A singing tui.” This helps the reader identify more strongly with the writer’s meaning.
Wendy also encouraged us to think about the layout of our poems. She suggested we look at the layout of poems that we read to children and think about the different ways poems can be presented. I have usually typed and chosen the layout of class poems but I now intend to get the students ideas on the layout.
Wendy also drew my attention to poems that start and finish with the same word and poems that have a strong last line. I will look for poems that show this and share it with my students.
Wendy also talked about when she had a group of students writing about autumn. She challenged them to “show” her it was autumn, not to” tell” her it was autumn. Before getting the students to write about autumn Wendy read autumn poems that didn’t use the word autumn and she asked them, “How did you know it was autumn?”
Recently I found a poem in a Junior Journal about hedgehogs. I didn’t say hedgehog in the poem but my class of 5 year olds knew the poem was about a hedgehog and they could explain how they knew. I plan to source and read more poems to my students that are strong on imagery and don’t name the subject in it.
Conclusion
My sabbatical this term has given me the opportunity to focus on all aspects of new entrant writing, including poetry. The teaching of writing appears to be a complex area but key elements in the writing process will ensure children move from writing simple sentences to being able to express their thoughts, observations and opinions in rich, expressive language. The teachers’ role is to communicate with individuals and the class, to draw out oral language, to read stories, to model the writing process and celebrate successes. I look forward to returning to my class refreshed and keen to implement many new ideas. My Poetry Anthologies will provide quality literature to model features whilst motivating and entertaining the students.
Finally I would like to thank my Principal John McKenzie, the Board of Trustees and colleagues for supporting me during this sabbatical.
References
Clarke, Wendy (2009). We love poetry. Books 1, 2, 3 and 4 Essential Resources Educational Publishers Ltd.
Clarke, Wendy (2011). Make poetry come alive. Books 1 and 2 Essential Resources Educational Publishers Ltd.
Loane, Gail –with Sally Muir (2010). “I’ve got something to say.” Aries Publishing LTD
Book Review –Kelvin Smythe, Developmental Publications Ltd –neworkonnet.co .nz
Dixon, Tracy and Wilson, Nigel (2004) “Young Kiwi Voices –Poems Vol 1: ages 5-11” Tanzy Press
“I am still learning.”
-Michelangelo
Fiona Will
North East Valley Normal School
Dunedin
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