Now That We Have Finished the Book . . .

I think yesterday was one of our most enjoyable book discussion days. As the only elementary teachers in the institute this summer, it was fun for Julie and I to talk specifically about how we would use the lessons in the book with our own students and with the books we already have available in our classroom libraries. In preparation for sharing our learning with other institute members, we decided to use the idea from Chapter 6 on page 172 for creating survival guides. Even though we didn't have the books mentioned in the text, Julie had other books that we felt accomplished the same instructional goals. We liked Scaredy Squirrel by Melanie Watt, Crinkleroot's Guide to Walking in Wild Places by Jim Arnosky, and  Crinkleroot's Guide to Knowing the Trees, also by Jim Arnosky. We decided to use the mentor texts below to create our own survival guide or survival zine for future EMWP fellows.

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A Need to Add Details

So many times I've heard teachers tell kids that they needed to add details to their writing. I've also noticed that "telling" kids to add details didn't have a significant impact on the quality of student writing. In Chapter 3: Building Content, the authors clearly described what it means to add details and explained ways to do it. A common issue I've had with students is what Dorfman and Cappelli referred to as "list writing." On page 44-46, the authors provided several lesson ideas and mentor texts to use to show kids a better alternative to "list writing." My favorite quote about nonfiction writing was from Jane Kirkland on page 58: "A good storyteller doesn't have to be a good writer, but a good writer must be a good storyteller." What stuck with you about the chapter?

Buckets of Ideas

While it was raining buckets and blowing like crazy last night, I finished reading Chapter 2: Establishing the Topic and Point. This chapter was jammed packed with great ideas, not just for teaching kids about composing nonfiction pieces but also for teacher-writers working at their own craft. I liked the way the authors explained how making a point in nonfiction writing has to be stronger than in narrative. They stated on page 23, "Children need to know that all good writing centers around a controlling point or a so what? that makes content meaningful, powerful, and memorable." I suppose I knew that, but I don't think I've been explicit with students about how narrative and nonfiction compare and contrast with each other. I think this will be critical knowledge for students as they manage Smarter Balanced Assessments.

Going Back to the Beginning

I feel like Chapter 1, The Value of Nonfiction: Imagining the Possibilities is a light and easy read. I appreciate that Dorfman and Cappelli repeatedly make the point that teachers who teach writers need to write themselves. I believe that this is true. I think it influences a teacher's comfort for picking mentor texts and using them in multiple ways. I also like how the authors weave tight connections between fiction and nonfiction reading and writing.  On page 4, the authors state, "We have found that fiction books can serve as mentors when writing informational and persuasive texts." This makes a lot of sense to me. They go on further to say, "Sometimes we need a fiction book to serve as a catalyst to write about a topic or to imitate the form, voice, or syntax of an author." Writing, whether fiction or nonfiction, is about audience, purpose, and form.

Late to the Party

So I waded through my spam folder and finally found the invitation to join our shared blog about Nonfiction Mentor Texts by Dorfman and Cappelli. I will admit that I haven't read as much as I had planned. In fact, I haven't touched the book in a few weeks. I initially spent some time perusing the table of contents wondering why I hadn't reached for this book sooner. Toward the end of the school year, I did some crisis reading from Chapter 6: Nonfiction Writing in the Real World. The section on Using Interviews to Create Family Histories caught my eye. One of the snippets included in the book was from a 2nd grader named Matthew. He wrote about how he thought his fingers were the best part of himself. I loved this snippet because it matched my thinking about my model lesson on having kids write about their hands.

The best part of me is my fingers. They are made of German skin. My fingers have a little hair on them. They get lots of cuts. My fingers love to hold my pencil and write all day. They love writing the answers to math questions with my pencil. My fingers remember gripping the ball I threw for the first time. After that I felt so good. My fingers wish to be playing Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite in front of a huge audience. When I was done they would clap so loud it would hurt my ears. The best part of me is my fingers.  Matthew, Grade 2  (p. 150 from Nonfiction Mentor Texts by Dorfman and Cappelli.)