Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Writer's Workshop- Personal Narrative
In October we are teaching personal narratives for Writer's Workshop. I will be the first to admit that writing is not one of my strong points (it is actually another goal of mine this year--become a better writing teacher). Do any of you have any great ideas on how to teach personal narrative to First graders who are just learning how to construct a sentence much less write me a personal narrative? What has worked for you? How do you start? What books have you used? I feel like my lessons are lacking and I am looking for some fresh ideas!! THANK YOU!!! :)
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Do you have access to any of the Lucy Calkins materials? What I have loved about teaching her lessons is that she really helps the students to focus in on the craft of writing rather than only looking at their grammar. For a lot of kids at that age, writing is really hard because there are so many things to focus on--spelling, punctuation, making sentences make sense, and writing a good story. None of it is automatic yet. She addresses the issue of sentences and punctuation, but it's really not the thing she harps on in her narratives book. She wants them to understand how to write a good story.
ReplyDeleteSome of her minilessons also include mentor text recommendations, though a lot of them are based on teacher modeling instead. I know I've used A Chair for My Mother with her curriculum, but I don't recall the others at this point.
I agree, Heather. Teaching students how to writie a personal narrative it tricky. I started by doing the Launching Writing lessons that we recieved at teacher workshops. I found that they moved too fast though. We took three steps back and just practiced oral story telling. We incorporated the writing process into that. I am like you though, in that my students are struggling with capital letters and punctuation. I think those basics are more important than jumping into a personal narrative. Those simple skills are the foundation for all of their writing to come.
ReplyDeleteI have done so much modeling, but taking it slow is the way to go. I agree with Erin as well. Lucy Caulkins is a great resource for teaching personal narratives. I have the books if you would like to borrow them. :)
I have used both of the resources you girls are talking about! Thanks for all the advice. I think my next step will be to observe another teacher during his/her writing time! I am such a visual learner!
ReplyDeleteI am a very visual learner as well. I think it would be helpful to observe a master teacher instruct writing.
ReplyDeleteI am also going to have my principal observe me in writing in hopes that I will get good feedback and helpful hints on how to improve my writing instruction!