Mary Quattlebaum's Blog, page 35
January 16, 2012
Personification: Making a Poem Breathe
by Laura Krauss Melmed
A few months ago, I had the good fortune to attend an amazing production of the play, Warhorse, on Broadway. The horses, main characters in the story, were portrayed by life-size puppets, each made of a wire armature with three people, clearly visible, operating it. The way the puppeteers moved the horses, including making them breathe, brought them absolutely, convincingly to life. In poetry, the device of personification performs a similar function by breathing life into inanimate objects or forces of nature through the use of words, usually including evocative verbs.
A lesson on personification should begin with reading some poems that utilize this device. In the following poem excerpts, three poets have used personification to describe "night," each in a fresh, original way.
from Taking Turns by Norma Farber
When sun goes home Behind the treesand locks her shutters tight –
Read the lines and ask the students questions such as the following: What occurrence is Norma Farber writing about? What images did her words created in the mind's eye? How does she manage to describe something that happens every day all over the world in such a unique and vivid way? Which specific words or phrases give the excerpt its strong imagery? The poem is called "Taking Turns" because once the sun has gone home, other things begin to show up in the sky. Can you guess what they are? What do you think Norma Farber has to say about them
The next two poem excerpts can be similarly read and discussed, and all three compared:
from Night Creature by Lillian Moore
I like the quiet breathing of the night,
The tree talkthe wind-swishthe star light.
from The Night by Myra Cohen Livingston
The nightcreeps inaround my headand snuggles downupon the bed . . .
Once the students have caught on to the concept, let them have a try at writing their own poems utilizing personification. First write three headings on the board or on three pieces of chart paper: Action Words, Places and Nouns. For Action Words prompt the students to come up with a large variety of verbs by asking them what actions different parts of the body can do, what actions various animals might perform, what sounds different animals make, etc.) For Places, have students throw out a bunch of settings, such as city, forest, beach, meadow, swamp, mountain. For Nouns, elicit various inanimate objects and phenomena that might be found in those places. Now have the students chose a season and a place for the title of their poem. They can then choose from the nouns and verbs to write a four line poem, as in the following example (although in the quoted examples the poets used rhyme, you should not require this of your students). Here is an example I wrote:
Summer in the CityThe sun glares angrilyAt the sweating sidewalks,As they lie there dreamingOf a day at the beach.
Your students will have fun making their poems breathe!
P.S. You can find the poems from which these excerpts were taken in Talking Like the Rain, A First Book of Poems, selected by X.J. Kennedy and Dorothy M. Kennedy, Little, Brown, 1992 ("Taking Turns" and "The Night"), and Sing a Song of Popcorn, Every Child's Book of Poems, selected by Beatrice Schenk de Regniers, Eva Moore, Mary Michaels White, and Jan Carr, Scholastic, 1988 ("Night Creature").
http://www.laurakraussmelmed.com/
A few months ago, I had the good fortune to attend an amazing production of the play, Warhorse, on Broadway. The horses, main characters in the story, were portrayed by life-size puppets, each made of a wire armature with three people, clearly visible, operating it. The way the puppeteers moved the horses, including making them breathe, brought them absolutely, convincingly to life. In poetry, the device of personification performs a similar function by breathing life into inanimate objects or forces of nature through the use of words, usually including evocative verbs.
A lesson on personification should begin with reading some poems that utilize this device. In the following poem excerpts, three poets have used personification to describe "night," each in a fresh, original way.
from Taking Turns by Norma Farber
When sun goes home Behind the treesand locks her shutters tight –
Read the lines and ask the students questions such as the following: What occurrence is Norma Farber writing about? What images did her words created in the mind's eye? How does she manage to describe something that happens every day all over the world in such a unique and vivid way? Which specific words or phrases give the excerpt its strong imagery? The poem is called "Taking Turns" because once the sun has gone home, other things begin to show up in the sky. Can you guess what they are? What do you think Norma Farber has to say about them
The next two poem excerpts can be similarly read and discussed, and all three compared:
from Night Creature by Lillian Moore
I like the quiet breathing of the night,
The tree talkthe wind-swishthe star light.
from The Night by Myra Cohen Livingston
The nightcreeps inaround my headand snuggles downupon the bed . . .
Once the students have caught on to the concept, let them have a try at writing their own poems utilizing personification. First write three headings on the board or on three pieces of chart paper: Action Words, Places and Nouns. For Action Words prompt the students to come up with a large variety of verbs by asking them what actions different parts of the body can do, what actions various animals might perform, what sounds different animals make, etc.) For Places, have students throw out a bunch of settings, such as city, forest, beach, meadow, swamp, mountain. For Nouns, elicit various inanimate objects and phenomena that might be found in those places. Now have the students chose a season and a place for the title of their poem. They can then choose from the nouns and verbs to write a four line poem, as in the following example (although in the quoted examples the poets used rhyme, you should not require this of your students). Here is an example I wrote:
Summer in the CityThe sun glares angrilyAt the sweating sidewalks,As they lie there dreamingOf a day at the beach.
Your students will have fun making their poems breathe!
P.S. You can find the poems from which these excerpts were taken in Talking Like the Rain, A First Book of Poems, selected by X.J. Kennedy and Dorothy M. Kennedy, Little, Brown, 1992 ("Taking Turns" and "The Night"), and Sing a Song of Popcorn, Every Child's Book of Poems, selected by Beatrice Schenk de Regniers, Eva Moore, Mary Michaels White, and Jan Carr, Scholastic, 1988 ("Night Creature").
http://www.laurakraussmelmed.com/
January 9, 2012
RESOLVE TO WRITE
by Pam Smallcomb
It's a brand new year, and like many of you, I am taking stock of myself and my writing habits. One bad habit I have seems to stand out (I am speaking of creative habits, since all my bad habits would take up far too much time to discuss), and I am betting at least some of you share this with me: I have trouble plowing through to the end of the first draft.
I'm gangbusters on the beginnings, and then somewhere mid-story, I stall. I stare at the ceiling. I think about my story. I ponder my characters. I wonder if they are believable. I outline my story (again). I stare at the ceiling. You get the picture. I've been reading about this problem, and talking to other writers, and I thought I would pass on some things that might help. I know I need all the help I can get.
1. Set a daily word count.I've read that Stephen King recommends writing a minimum of 1000 words a day, six days a week. Ernest Hemingway supposedly kept to a strict schedule of 500-1000 words a day. Hemingway also said he liked to end the day while he was on a writing streak, so it would be easy to pick up the story again the next day.
Bottom line: set a word count goal (I'm going with 1000), and stop while your story is still fresh. Face it, if you write 1000 words a day you will eventually get to the end of your story. At the very least, you will feel like a writer, because you are writing!
2. Don't go back to the beginning each time you sit down to write.Here is one of my biggest problems: every time I sit down to write, I start by reading the story over again. I fiddle with the wording. I delete sentences, and then add them back in. By the time I get to the new part of the story I should be writing, I've lost steam. Frankly, I'm a little sick of the story. It's not fresh when you have read the beginning a thousand times. I've discovered I'm not alone in this. A few writers have mentioned that they only let themselves read the last chapter (or even the last paragraph) they completed before beginning to write new pages.
3. Try not to think your story to death.I am the first to admit that I love the comfort and direction that comes with an outline. But just as re-reading your pages begins to numb your enthusiasm toward your story, plotting a story too carefully can, well, make it boring to write. If you know exactly what is going to happen on every page, where's the fun? Sid Fleischman, who won the Newbery for his novel, The Whipping Boy, said in an interview with Reading Rockets:
"I don't plan my novels in advance. I've tried that, I find that I can't do that very well and that my best procedure is just to get a beginning with a few characters that give me some hope of conflict or story, just start and then improvise, as we improvise our daily lives. And I improvise the story day-by-day, never knowing the ending."Moral? Well, maybe that if you think too much you will end up 'reasoning' your story to death. I think there is something to be said for giving in to the story. Let your characters drive the bus and see what happens. Don't reread your entire book every time you sit down to write. Just finish your word count, and go have a cup of tea. You've done your job for the day. You've written. Even better, you've edged that much closer to the end, and won't that feel good when you've reached it? Yes, yes it will.http://www.pamsmallcomb.com/
It's a brand new year, and like many of you, I am taking stock of myself and my writing habits. One bad habit I have seems to stand out (I am speaking of creative habits, since all my bad habits would take up far too much time to discuss), and I am betting at least some of you share this with me: I have trouble plowing through to the end of the first draft.
I'm gangbusters on the beginnings, and then somewhere mid-story, I stall. I stare at the ceiling. I think about my story. I ponder my characters. I wonder if they are believable. I outline my story (again). I stare at the ceiling. You get the picture. I've been reading about this problem, and talking to other writers, and I thought I would pass on some things that might help. I know I need all the help I can get.
1. Set a daily word count.I've read that Stephen King recommends writing a minimum of 1000 words a day, six days a week. Ernest Hemingway supposedly kept to a strict schedule of 500-1000 words a day. Hemingway also said he liked to end the day while he was on a writing streak, so it would be easy to pick up the story again the next day.
Bottom line: set a word count goal (I'm going with 1000), and stop while your story is still fresh. Face it, if you write 1000 words a day you will eventually get to the end of your story. At the very least, you will feel like a writer, because you are writing!
2. Don't go back to the beginning each time you sit down to write.Here is one of my biggest problems: every time I sit down to write, I start by reading the story over again. I fiddle with the wording. I delete sentences, and then add them back in. By the time I get to the new part of the story I should be writing, I've lost steam. Frankly, I'm a little sick of the story. It's not fresh when you have read the beginning a thousand times. I've discovered I'm not alone in this. A few writers have mentioned that they only let themselves read the last chapter (or even the last paragraph) they completed before beginning to write new pages.
3. Try not to think your story to death.I am the first to admit that I love the comfort and direction that comes with an outline. But just as re-reading your pages begins to numb your enthusiasm toward your story, plotting a story too carefully can, well, make it boring to write. If you know exactly what is going to happen on every page, where's the fun? Sid Fleischman, who won the Newbery for his novel, The Whipping Boy, said in an interview with Reading Rockets:
"I don't plan my novels in advance. I've tried that, I find that I can't do that very well and that my best procedure is just to get a beginning with a few characters that give me some hope of conflict or story, just start and then improvise, as we improvise our daily lives. And I improvise the story day-by-day, never knowing the ending."Moral? Well, maybe that if you think too much you will end up 'reasoning' your story to death. I think there is something to be said for giving in to the story. Let your characters drive the bus and see what happens. Don't reread your entire book every time you sit down to write. Just finish your word count, and go have a cup of tea. You've done your job for the day. You've written. Even better, you've edged that much closer to the end, and won't that feel good when you've reached it? Yes, yes it will.http://www.pamsmallcomb.com/
January 2, 2012
AUTHOR AND ILLUSTRATOR FOR THE DAY
by Joan Waites
One of the most frequent questions I am asked as an illustrator of children's books is "how does an author get you to illustrate their book?" Most are very surprised to learn that for the majority of picture book projects, (but not all), the author and illustrator do not communicate and collaborate on how the illustrations should look. The publisher contracts a manuscript from an author and then chooses an illustrator they feel would best suit the story. There are several reasons for this, but mostly because a picture book works best when each creative half is left alone to bring their own vision to the story without restrictions. As I have mentioned in a previous blog post, the illustrator's job is to add something more to the story that is not just a reflection of the written word.
I was recently explaining this relationship between author and illustrator to a school representative who has arranged for me to participate in an artist-in-residence program in the coming year. While we were brainstorming activities for the children to participate in while I am there, I suggested using the exercise from my Pencil Tips blog post More Story Starters. Using that idea, we came up with a plan to break the children into smaller groups, one half to be designated authors, the other half illustrators. Authors will be given the task of creating a short manuscript using the story starter prompt cards. Each designated illustrator will then have time to create the illustrations for the manuscript they have been assigned. Then the group will switch roles so each child gets a turn to be an author or illustrator for the day.
When complete, students will share their books with the group. Some sample questions to ask are:
Are the illustrations successful for this manuscript?
Do they add something new and exciting to the story?
Do the characters come to life in the illustrations?
Do we get a better sense of place and time when looking at the illustrations?
Is the author happy with the way their story has been illustrated?
Is there a way the story could be edited to allow for more exciting illustration opportunities?
Since I'm trying this exercise for this first time, I am excited to see what the students will produce. I'll be sure to report back in a future blog post!
Wishing all our readers a very happy, healthy, and productive New Year!
http://www.joanwaites.com/
One of the most frequent questions I am asked as an illustrator of children's books is "how does an author get you to illustrate their book?" Most are very surprised to learn that for the majority of picture book projects, (but not all), the author and illustrator do not communicate and collaborate on how the illustrations should look. The publisher contracts a manuscript from an author and then chooses an illustrator they feel would best suit the story. There are several reasons for this, but mostly because a picture book works best when each creative half is left alone to bring their own vision to the story without restrictions. As I have mentioned in a previous blog post, the illustrator's job is to add something more to the story that is not just a reflection of the written word.
I was recently explaining this relationship between author and illustrator to a school representative who has arranged for me to participate in an artist-in-residence program in the coming year. While we were brainstorming activities for the children to participate in while I am there, I suggested using the exercise from my Pencil Tips blog post More Story Starters. Using that idea, we came up with a plan to break the children into smaller groups, one half to be designated authors, the other half illustrators. Authors will be given the task of creating a short manuscript using the story starter prompt cards. Each designated illustrator will then have time to create the illustrations for the manuscript they have been assigned. Then the group will switch roles so each child gets a turn to be an author or illustrator for the day.
When complete, students will share their books with the group. Some sample questions to ask are:
Are the illustrations successful for this manuscript?
Do they add something new and exciting to the story?
Do the characters come to life in the illustrations?
Do we get a better sense of place and time when looking at the illustrations?
Is the author happy with the way their story has been illustrated?
Is there a way the story could be edited to allow for more exciting illustration opportunities?
Since I'm trying this exercise for this first time, I am excited to see what the students will produce. I'll be sure to report back in a future blog post!
Wishing all our readers a very happy, healthy, and productive New Year!
http://www.joanwaites.com/
December 19, 2011
Writing is Complicated
by Alison Hart
Since I am new to Pencil Tips, I want to shout out a cheery "hello" and a rousing "thank you" for inviting me to put in my five cents about writing and also to introduce myself. I have been writing and publishing children's books for, ahem, decades and teaching even longer. For twenty years I taught special education classes in Maryland both elementary and high school. Since 1995, I have been teaching pre-college reading and writing classes at Blue Ridge Community College in Virginia. My classes are hugely diverse. I have students from countries all over the world including Iraq, Cuba and Mexico; teens straight from high school; military vets and active duty soldiers; and adults returning to college for retraining and new careers. They all have one thing in common: their reading and writing skills need improvement so they can succeed in a college program. If you do the math, you will see that I have been teaching students who have difficulty with reading and writing for, um—let me get out my finger calculator—thirty-nine years. For all of those thirty-nine years, I have also been searching for new ideas, new methods, and 'ah ha' moments on how to be the best teacher possible. My techniques and materials have changed and evolved, and yet, I still don't have answers. How to successfully teach and motivate all students to be better writers remains a mystery.One revelation I have had is that writing is incredibly complicated. For example, if you task-analyze how to write alliteration, which is only one poetic device, students would need to understand many skills before successfully crafting their own. (See Laura Krauss Melmed's terrific blog on "Amazing Alliteration.") For some students, alliteration will fly naturally from their brains and onto their papers with creative joy. For other students, alliteration will be a "woeful, avoid-worthy, writing wreck." If a fun device, such as alliteration, can be daunting, how can a student ever craft a well-researched, college-level essay with cited sources? The list of needed skills to write is endless. Not only must students have a knowledge of grammar, sentence construction, punctuation and vocabulary, they must understand the nuances of narrative flow, paraphrasing, crafting a thesis statement and topic sentences, point of view, description, supporting details, and the reader as an audience (to name just a few). No wonder the acquisition of writing skills seems mind-boggling to most of my students, who have had limited opportunities in logical thinking much less writing and-even worse--who rarely read. Which leads me to my second revelation: the Pencil Tips blog is MUCH needed because writing is incredibly complicated, but it is also incredibly important. I am excited to join in, be inspired, share ideas, discuss problems, and keep communicating and learning about this important skill.
Thank you! Alisonhttp://www.alisonhartbooks.com/
Since I am new to Pencil Tips, I want to shout out a cheery "hello" and a rousing "thank you" for inviting me to put in my five cents about writing and also to introduce myself. I have been writing and publishing children's books for, ahem, decades and teaching even longer. For twenty years I taught special education classes in Maryland both elementary and high school. Since 1995, I have been teaching pre-college reading and writing classes at Blue Ridge Community College in Virginia. My classes are hugely diverse. I have students from countries all over the world including Iraq, Cuba and Mexico; teens straight from high school; military vets and active duty soldiers; and adults returning to college for retraining and new careers. They all have one thing in common: their reading and writing skills need improvement so they can succeed in a college program. If you do the math, you will see that I have been teaching students who have difficulty with reading and writing for, um—let me get out my finger calculator—thirty-nine years. For all of those thirty-nine years, I have also been searching for new ideas, new methods, and 'ah ha' moments on how to be the best teacher possible. My techniques and materials have changed and evolved, and yet, I still don't have answers. How to successfully teach and motivate all students to be better writers remains a mystery.One revelation I have had is that writing is incredibly complicated. For example, if you task-analyze how to write alliteration, which is only one poetic device, students would need to understand many skills before successfully crafting their own. (See Laura Krauss Melmed's terrific blog on "Amazing Alliteration.") For some students, alliteration will fly naturally from their brains and onto their papers with creative joy. For other students, alliteration will be a "woeful, avoid-worthy, writing wreck." If a fun device, such as alliteration, can be daunting, how can a student ever craft a well-researched, college-level essay with cited sources? The list of needed skills to write is endless. Not only must students have a knowledge of grammar, sentence construction, punctuation and vocabulary, they must understand the nuances of narrative flow, paraphrasing, crafting a thesis statement and topic sentences, point of view, description, supporting details, and the reader as an audience (to name just a few). No wonder the acquisition of writing skills seems mind-boggling to most of my students, who have had limited opportunities in logical thinking much less writing and-even worse--who rarely read. Which leads me to my second revelation: the Pencil Tips blog is MUCH needed because writing is incredibly complicated, but it is also incredibly important. I am excited to join in, be inspired, share ideas, discuss problems, and keep communicating and learning about this important skill.
Thank you! Alisonhttp://www.alisonhartbooks.com/
December 12, 2011
WRITING THAT FORGIVES
by Mary Quattlebaum
During this season of peace and good will, I am reminded of the power of words, not just to assert but to connect, not just to hurt but to heal.
Do you ever provide a prompt that evolves into a powerful writing experience for your students—you can tell by that hushed, charged feeling in the room—but for which you never see the pieces? Sometimes the piece that allows students to move to a new level of awareness, risk, and connection with their writing may well be the one that the teacher does not review.
This exercise was inspired by This Is Just to Say: Poems of Apology and Forgiveness by acclaimed poet Joyce Sidman. This is a lovely book to keep in the classroom—or to give as a gift. The book is divided into two parts. In the first section a person apologizes to a specific other for a transgression (breaking a glass keepsake, eating all the brownies, saying something unkind); and in the second section, the person addressed has a chance to respond.
*Talk about some of the poems with students, asking them to mention ways in which others were hurt. Ask them to imagine how the hurt person might react to the poem-apology and then read and discuss the corresponding poem of forgiveness in part two.
*Ask students to close their eyes and think about a time when they hurt someone or something.
*Have them write a letter to the person in which they tell what they did and apologize. First assure students that this piece of writing will not be looked at by you (teacher) or shared with others. They might wish to share it with the person to whom it is addressed—but that is up to them.
*On certain days, allow the page to be a safe place for students to write out their feelings and secrets without worries that this will be reviewed or graded. You might set aside a time, perhaps monthly or biweekly, for such writing explorations.
http://www.maryquattlebaum.com/
P.S. Leave a comment to enter our book giveaway!
PENCIL TIPS GIVEAWAY
Win a signed copy of What's New at the Zoo? by Joan Waites
To enter, leave a comment on a Pencil Tips blog post.
Random winner announced December 15th."This cheerful package of images and information delivers intellectual nourishment in the guise of a tasty treat for the eyes." --School Library Journal 
During this season of peace and good will, I am reminded of the power of words, not just to assert but to connect, not just to hurt but to heal.
Do you ever provide a prompt that evolves into a powerful writing experience for your students—you can tell by that hushed, charged feeling in the room—but for which you never see the pieces? Sometimes the piece that allows students to move to a new level of awareness, risk, and connection with their writing may well be the one that the teacher does not review.
This exercise was inspired by This Is Just to Say: Poems of Apology and Forgiveness by acclaimed poet Joyce Sidman. This is a lovely book to keep in the classroom—or to give as a gift. The book is divided into two parts. In the first section a person apologizes to a specific other for a transgression (breaking a glass keepsake, eating all the brownies, saying something unkind); and in the second section, the person addressed has a chance to respond.
*Talk about some of the poems with students, asking them to mention ways in which others were hurt. Ask them to imagine how the hurt person might react to the poem-apology and then read and discuss the corresponding poem of forgiveness in part two.
*Ask students to close their eyes and think about a time when they hurt someone or something.
*Have them write a letter to the person in which they tell what they did and apologize. First assure students that this piece of writing will not be looked at by you (teacher) or shared with others. They might wish to share it with the person to whom it is addressed—but that is up to them.
*On certain days, allow the page to be a safe place for students to write out their feelings and secrets without worries that this will be reviewed or graded. You might set aside a time, perhaps monthly or biweekly, for such writing explorations.
http://www.maryquattlebaum.com/
P.S. Leave a comment to enter our book giveaway!
PENCIL TIPS GIVEAWAY
Win a signed copy of What's New at the Zoo? by Joan Waites
To enter, leave a comment on a Pencil Tips blog post.
Random winner announced December 15th."This cheerful package of images and information delivers intellectual nourishment in the guise of a tasty treat for the eyes." --School Library Journal
December 5, 2011
WHAT DID YOU LEARN? CREATING THOUGHTFUL NARRATIVES
by Jacqueline Jules
Personal narratives are a big part of any elementary writing curriculum. Primary school students not only enjoy writing about their personal experiences, classmates enjoy reading each other's accounts of birthday parties and play dates, especially when they find themselves mentioned.
However, sometimes accounts of vacation trips and holiday gatherings can read like an uninspired and rambling list. Do we really need to know every item ordered by every family member at a restaurant? And a sequential list of every television show watched in a 24 hour period will definitely put a reader to sleep. How can we encourage students to write personal narratives with memorable details and thoughtful reflections?
Ask students if a vacation gave them an opportunity to learn how to do something new. Was it the first time at the beach or on an airplane? Did something amusing happen? For example, one student's writing discussed a trip to a high rise hotel. After paragraphs of many mundane details about the taxi cab ride, checking in, and unpacking, the student discussed what happened when the family went to explore the hotel. The two children ran ahead of the parents and went up in the hotel elevator alone. Could the story be rewritten to highlight this incident? How did it feel to be in the elevator with your younger brother, going up to the 25th floor? Did you worry your parents while you had a fun adventure? Did you learn anything from the experience? Expanding one event, often buried in a blow-by-blow description of a family vacation, can turn a rambling narrative into an intriguing read. To begin the transition to more focused personal narratives, ask students to identify the most interesting part of their story and then begin a new narrative, describing just that part in more detail. Remind students to include their own feelings, observations, and lessons learned.
After students have identified the most compelling moment in an existing narrative, ask them to concentrate on a single incident for the next story. Do you remember a time in your childhood when you did something your family found amusing or particularly annoying? One of my students remembered a time when he climbed onto a dining table to examine a bowl full of apples. He took one bite out of each apple and put it back in the bowl. A description of his actions and then subsequent surprise at his mother's reaction was great material for an amusing story. Another student decided to write about her mischievous baby brother. Rather than listing one childish misdeed after another in a story that could potentially go on for ten pages, the student decided to zero in on the time her mom left her purse within the baby's reach. The toddler took out Mom's lipstick and smeared his entire body with it. In that story, Mom learned a lesson!
Another strategy is to focus on a problem or obstacle and how it was overcome. Were you afraid to go off the diving board? Did you hate a certain food your family wanted you to try? Did you fight with a sibling and resolve the conflict in a creative way?
Encourage your students to begin their narratives with a clear idea of what they want to convey to the reader. Is this a story about your first experience with something? Is it a story about a lesson learned or problem solved? Is it a funny story? Ask students to identify the emotion they want the reader to feel. Do you want your reader to laugh? Empathize? Or simply nod his head in agreement?
Even the youngest student can be encouraged to add insightful comments to personal narratives. Rather than ending the piece with "then we went home," ask students to tell the reader how they felt about the experience. Would you want to do it again? Did you learn anything? Would you recommend this experience to others?
Personal narratives are a powerful form of writing. Inspire your students to harness that power with personal reflections. It will help them grow as writers and as individuals.
http://www.jacquelinejules.com/
P.S. LEAVE A COMMENT AND ENTER OUR GIVEAWAY!
PENCIL TIPS GIVEAWAY
Win a signed copy of What's New at the Zoo? by Joan Waites
To enter, leave a comment on a Pencil Tips blog post.
Random winner announced December 15th."This cheerful package of images and information delivers intellectual nourishment in the guise of a tasty treat for the eyes." --School Library Journal
Personal narratives are a big part of any elementary writing curriculum. Primary school students not only enjoy writing about their personal experiences, classmates enjoy reading each other's accounts of birthday parties and play dates, especially when they find themselves mentioned.
However, sometimes accounts of vacation trips and holiday gatherings can read like an uninspired and rambling list. Do we really need to know every item ordered by every family member at a restaurant? And a sequential list of every television show watched in a 24 hour period will definitely put a reader to sleep. How can we encourage students to write personal narratives with memorable details and thoughtful reflections?
Ask students if a vacation gave them an opportunity to learn how to do something new. Was it the first time at the beach or on an airplane? Did something amusing happen? For example, one student's writing discussed a trip to a high rise hotel. After paragraphs of many mundane details about the taxi cab ride, checking in, and unpacking, the student discussed what happened when the family went to explore the hotel. The two children ran ahead of the parents and went up in the hotel elevator alone. Could the story be rewritten to highlight this incident? How did it feel to be in the elevator with your younger brother, going up to the 25th floor? Did you worry your parents while you had a fun adventure? Did you learn anything from the experience? Expanding one event, often buried in a blow-by-blow description of a family vacation, can turn a rambling narrative into an intriguing read. To begin the transition to more focused personal narratives, ask students to identify the most interesting part of their story and then begin a new narrative, describing just that part in more detail. Remind students to include their own feelings, observations, and lessons learned.
After students have identified the most compelling moment in an existing narrative, ask them to concentrate on a single incident for the next story. Do you remember a time in your childhood when you did something your family found amusing or particularly annoying? One of my students remembered a time when he climbed onto a dining table to examine a bowl full of apples. He took one bite out of each apple and put it back in the bowl. A description of his actions and then subsequent surprise at his mother's reaction was great material for an amusing story. Another student decided to write about her mischievous baby brother. Rather than listing one childish misdeed after another in a story that could potentially go on for ten pages, the student decided to zero in on the time her mom left her purse within the baby's reach. The toddler took out Mom's lipstick and smeared his entire body with it. In that story, Mom learned a lesson!
Another strategy is to focus on a problem or obstacle and how it was overcome. Were you afraid to go off the diving board? Did you hate a certain food your family wanted you to try? Did you fight with a sibling and resolve the conflict in a creative way?
Encourage your students to begin their narratives with a clear idea of what they want to convey to the reader. Is this a story about your first experience with something? Is it a story about a lesson learned or problem solved? Is it a funny story? Ask students to identify the emotion they want the reader to feel. Do you want your reader to laugh? Empathize? Or simply nod his head in agreement?
Even the youngest student can be encouraged to add insightful comments to personal narratives. Rather than ending the piece with "then we went home," ask students to tell the reader how they felt about the experience. Would you want to do it again? Did you learn anything? Would you recommend this experience to others?
Personal narratives are a powerful form of writing. Inspire your students to harness that power with personal reflections. It will help them grow as writers and as individuals.
http://www.jacquelinejules.com/
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November 28, 2011
AMAZING ALLITERATION
by Laura Krauss Melmed
This is the first in a series of planned posts on poetic devices. I'll start with alliteration, the repetition of the same sounds or of the same kinds of sounds at the beginning of words or in stressed syllables. Of the various poetic devices, or purposeful ways of using sounds and words, alliteration is probably the easiest and most fun for children to understand and experiment with.
It's easy to find examples of alliteration that kids will relate to. A Wikipedia article on alliteration points out that the names of many book characters are alliterative. In the Harry Potter books, for example, the four wizards that founded Hogwarts were Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Salazar Slytherin. Among the professors are Severus Snape, Minerva McGonnagall, and Filius Flitwick, while the students include Luna Lovegood, Cho Chang and Moaning Myrtle. Other literary examples abound: how about Willy Wonka, Peter Pan, Tweedledee and Tweedledum, and Tiny Tim? Cartoon characters across different studios include Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Donald, Daisy and Daffy Duck, Porky Pig and SpongeBob Squarepants. Sports teams often "sport" alliterative names such as the Buffalo Bills and the Pittsburgh Pirates. And authors sometimes use alliteration for book titles, the way I did in Moishe's Miracle; Hurry! Hurry! Have You Heard? and The Marvelous Market on Mermaid. Start by offering examples such as these to your students and then have them come up with others.
Why is the use of alliteration so common? Alliteration is fun. It trips off the tongue, or sometimes trips it up, as in "Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers." Poets use alliteration to enhance the sound and sense of what they're saying. In the opening lines of my picture book, Jumbo's Lullaby, I used repetitive, soft, "sh" "f" and "l" sounds to express Mama Elephant's tone as she tries to lull her restless baby to sleep:
Susha, susha, Mama's darling,Stars are twinkling up high,flickering like little fishesin the river of the sky.In their midst the moon is floatingGlowing with a gentle light,like a pearly water lilythat has blossomed in the night.Susha, susha, little Jumbo,Mama's love will hold you tight.
In Valerie Worth's poem "Snake" from Animal Poems, the poet summons her subject's sinuous slither with sibilant sounds:
Spilled to A liquidSilt, a Slurry of scales..
while in Monday's Troll, Jack Prelutsky bloviating, bragging blowhard of an ogre describes himself as follows: I'm Bellow the ogre/I bluster and boast…
Prelutsky also uses alliteration to conjure up a week's worth of truculent trolls:
…Friday's troll is great and grimySaturday's is short and slimy—But Sunday's troll is crabby, cross And full of sour applesauce.
Other examples abound for the quoting. After students get the hang of it, ask them to come up with a zany or funny alliterative sentences of their own, the more outrageous the better, which they can then write out and illustrate on large sheets of paper. Astute students are assured of finding this an amusing avenue for activating alliteration!
http://www.laurakraussmelmed.com/
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Win a signed copy of What's New at the Zoo? by Joan Waites
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Random winner announced December 15th."This cheerful package of images and information delivers intellectual nourishment in the guise of a tasty treat for the eyes." --School Library Journal
This is the first in a series of planned posts on poetic devices. I'll start with alliteration, the repetition of the same sounds or of the same kinds of sounds at the beginning of words or in stressed syllables. Of the various poetic devices, or purposeful ways of using sounds and words, alliteration is probably the easiest and most fun for children to understand and experiment with.
It's easy to find examples of alliteration that kids will relate to. A Wikipedia article on alliteration points out that the names of many book characters are alliterative. In the Harry Potter books, for example, the four wizards that founded Hogwarts were Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Salazar Slytherin. Among the professors are Severus Snape, Minerva McGonnagall, and Filius Flitwick, while the students include Luna Lovegood, Cho Chang and Moaning Myrtle. Other literary examples abound: how about Willy Wonka, Peter Pan, Tweedledee and Tweedledum, and Tiny Tim? Cartoon characters across different studios include Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Donald, Daisy and Daffy Duck, Porky Pig and SpongeBob Squarepants. Sports teams often "sport" alliterative names such as the Buffalo Bills and the Pittsburgh Pirates. And authors sometimes use alliteration for book titles, the way I did in Moishe's Miracle; Hurry! Hurry! Have You Heard? and The Marvelous Market on Mermaid. Start by offering examples such as these to your students and then have them come up with others.
Why is the use of alliteration so common? Alliteration is fun. It trips off the tongue, or sometimes trips it up, as in "Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers." Poets use alliteration to enhance the sound and sense of what they're saying. In the opening lines of my picture book, Jumbo's Lullaby, I used repetitive, soft, "sh" "f" and "l" sounds to express Mama Elephant's tone as she tries to lull her restless baby to sleep:
Susha, susha, Mama's darling,Stars are twinkling up high,flickering like little fishesin the river of the sky.In their midst the moon is floatingGlowing with a gentle light,like a pearly water lilythat has blossomed in the night.Susha, susha, little Jumbo,Mama's love will hold you tight.In Valerie Worth's poem "Snake" from Animal Poems, the poet summons her subject's sinuous slither with sibilant sounds:
Spilled to A liquidSilt, a Slurry of scales..
while in Monday's Troll, Jack Prelutsky bloviating, bragging blowhard of an ogre describes himself as follows: I'm Bellow the ogre/I bluster and boast…
Prelutsky also uses alliteration to conjure up a week's worth of truculent trolls:
…Friday's troll is great and grimySaturday's is short and slimy—But Sunday's troll is crabby, cross And full of sour applesauce.
Other examples abound for the quoting. After students get the hang of it, ask them to come up with a zany or funny alliterative sentences of their own, the more outrageous the better, which they can then write out and illustrate on large sheets of paper. Astute students are assured of finding this an amusing avenue for activating alliteration!
http://www.laurakraussmelmed.com/
P.S. Leave a comment and enter our Pencil Tips Giveaway!
PENCIL TIPS GIVEAWAY
Win a signed copy of What's New at the Zoo? by Joan Waites
To enter, leave a comment on a Pencil Tips blog post.
Random winner announced December 15th."This cheerful package of images and information delivers intellectual nourishment in the guise of a tasty treat for the eyes." --School Library Journal
November 14, 2011
ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS
by Pam Smallcomb
I remember when I decided to focus on my writing, and I attended my first SCBWI Writer's Conference. It seemed to me that at each presentation, I was given this advice:
"Show, don't tell."
I looked around at my fellow attendees and saw them nodding sagely. In my head I was thinking, "What in the heck are they talking about?" Since I was obviously the only one who didn't 'get it,' I sat quietly and hoped to break this super-secret code on my own some day.
Eventually, I figured out that what these writers and editors were saying was that the actions of your characters should reveal their character traits and flaws (not to mention the plot itself). But how do you check for 'telling' in your own work? One way is to take a close look at your adverbs and adjectives, and consider each one a candidate for the old axe.
For example, the sentence "She looked at the box carefully." doesn't really tell you how she went about examining the box, nor does it reveal anything about her character, her emotional state, or the plot.
Instead you could write, "Her hands shook as she turned the box over and over in her lap."
This sentence could convey nervousness, or excitement, or even fear (depending on what is in that box!).
Another way to check your own work is to keep an eye out for the verbs 'is' and 'are' (and the past tenses 'was' and 'were').
For example:"David is charming."
How is he charming? Does he remember everyone's birthday? Have a smile that can melt ice cream? Perform magic tricks spontaneously? How does his particular charm manifest itself?
In other words, if I were to watch David in action, what would he do that would cause me to think of him as charming? 'Showing' instead of 'telling' is what draws your reader into your story, and makes them bond to the characters. It allows your reader to become the character. It forces the reader to watch the characters and deduce what their actions mean. It doesn't spell everything out the way 'telling' does. It's a less passive experience all around.
An exercise that students can do to help them see the difference is to first make a list of adverbs and adjectives, then write two sentences: one 'telling' and one 'showing'.
Ex. Loudly:
I watched Rosi clap loudly when Ralph won first prize.When they announced Ralph had won, I glanced at Rosi and covered my ears.
Ex. Grumpy:
Sid was pretty grumpy when I woke him up.Sid slammed me in the side of the head with his pillow when I woke him up.
I recently watched the BBC version of Charles Dickens' Little Dorrit. More importantly, I watched the characters. The actions and mannerisms of each character were unique: from the servant Flintwinch's gruff behavior, to Amy Dorrit's gentle and kind-hearted manner. You knew Amy Dorrit was kind-hearted not because everyone pointed to her and said, "Now there goes a kind-hearted girl!" but because Dickens shows us. He shows Amy saving part of her lunch to take back to her father in debtor's prison. He shows her taking care of people. He doesn't tell us to think of her as kind. We begin to think of her as kind, as we watch her actions.
When trying not to 'tell' your story you can remember the old adage, "Actions speak louder than words."http://www.pamsmallcomb.com/
P.S. Don't forget to leave a comment and enter the Pencil Tips Writing Workshop Book Giveaway!
PENCIL TIPS GIVEAWAY
Win a signed copy of What's New at the Zoo? by Joan Waites
To enter, leave a comment on a Pencil Tips blog post.
Random winner announced December 15th."This cheerful package of images and information delivers intellectual nourishment in the guise of a tasty treat for the eyes." --School Library Journal
I remember when I decided to focus on my writing, and I attended my first SCBWI Writer's Conference. It seemed to me that at each presentation, I was given this advice:
"Show, don't tell."
I looked around at my fellow attendees and saw them nodding sagely. In my head I was thinking, "What in the heck are they talking about?" Since I was obviously the only one who didn't 'get it,' I sat quietly and hoped to break this super-secret code on my own some day.
Eventually, I figured out that what these writers and editors were saying was that the actions of your characters should reveal their character traits and flaws (not to mention the plot itself). But how do you check for 'telling' in your own work? One way is to take a close look at your adverbs and adjectives, and consider each one a candidate for the old axe.
For example, the sentence "She looked at the box carefully." doesn't really tell you how she went about examining the box, nor does it reveal anything about her character, her emotional state, or the plot.
Instead you could write, "Her hands shook as she turned the box over and over in her lap."
This sentence could convey nervousness, or excitement, or even fear (depending on what is in that box!).
Another way to check your own work is to keep an eye out for the verbs 'is' and 'are' (and the past tenses 'was' and 'were').
For example:"David is charming."
How is he charming? Does he remember everyone's birthday? Have a smile that can melt ice cream? Perform magic tricks spontaneously? How does his particular charm manifest itself?
In other words, if I were to watch David in action, what would he do that would cause me to think of him as charming? 'Showing' instead of 'telling' is what draws your reader into your story, and makes them bond to the characters. It allows your reader to become the character. It forces the reader to watch the characters and deduce what their actions mean. It doesn't spell everything out the way 'telling' does. It's a less passive experience all around.
An exercise that students can do to help them see the difference is to first make a list of adverbs and adjectives, then write two sentences: one 'telling' and one 'showing'.
Ex. Loudly:
I watched Rosi clap loudly when Ralph won first prize.When they announced Ralph had won, I glanced at Rosi and covered my ears.
Ex. Grumpy:
Sid was pretty grumpy when I woke him up.Sid slammed me in the side of the head with his pillow when I woke him up.
I recently watched the BBC version of Charles Dickens' Little Dorrit. More importantly, I watched the characters. The actions and mannerisms of each character were unique: from the servant Flintwinch's gruff behavior, to Amy Dorrit's gentle and kind-hearted manner. You knew Amy Dorrit was kind-hearted not because everyone pointed to her and said, "Now there goes a kind-hearted girl!" but because Dickens shows us. He shows Amy saving part of her lunch to take back to her father in debtor's prison. He shows her taking care of people. He doesn't tell us to think of her as kind. We begin to think of her as kind, as we watch her actions.
When trying not to 'tell' your story you can remember the old adage, "Actions speak louder than words."http://www.pamsmallcomb.com/
P.S. Don't forget to leave a comment and enter the Pencil Tips Writing Workshop Book Giveaway!
PENCIL TIPS GIVEAWAY
Win a signed copy of What's New at the Zoo? by Joan Waites
To enter, leave a comment on a Pencil Tips blog post.
Random winner announced December 15th."This cheerful package of images and information delivers intellectual nourishment in the guise of a tasty treat for the eyes." --School Library Journal
November 7, 2011
Why Did Humpty Dumpty Have a Great Fall?
by Joan Waites
While planning out an upcoming class session, I pulled out many of my favorite picture books, fairy Tales and Mother Goose collections for inspiration. The class is titled "Story Art" where students will learn about the art of children's book illustration, and how to illustrate an original story of their own.
The job of an illustrator is to not only depict what is written in the story, but to offer the reader a visual surprise-a twist, a hidden element or another parallel story happening in the illustrations so the child will want to come back to the book over and over again.
Using the above concept, have your students try their hand at illustrating a short Mother Goose rhyme. In most classic Mother Goose books we see an image of Humpty Dumpty sitting perched on a wall, or perhaps broken in pieces after he tumbles down. But how and why did he fall? Was he pushed? Was he dancing a jig on the ledge and slipped? Trying to ice skate? There are limitless possibilities for your students to imagine and have fun drawing.
What about Little Bo-Peep? Where did those sheep go when she was trying to find them? What were they doing? Why did Jack jump over the candlestick? What was he trying to reach on the other side? Are the characters in the rhymes human or animals?
Expanding on this idea even further, have students write an original story to go along with the art they have created for the rhyme. A perfect example of this is the picture book And the Dish Ran Away with the Spoon by Janet Stevens and Susan Stevens Crummel Harcourt Children's Books; 1st edition (May 1, 2001). Each night in the story, the rhyme Hey Diddle Diddle is performed. Dish and Spoon return after they run away, and the characters complete the rhyme in the same way over and over again. But one night, Dish and Spoon run away and don't come back, leading the other characters on a desperate chase to find them. We are lead through this humorous tale of what happened to them and how their friends come to the rescue.
Havehttp://www.joanwaites.com/
ENTER THE PENCIL TIPS GIVEAWAY:
PENCIL TIPS GIVEAWAY
Win a signed copy of What's New at the Zoo? by Joan Waites
To enter, leave a comment on a Pencil Tips blog post.
Random winner announced December 15th."This cheerful package of images and information delivers intellectual nourishment in the guise of a tasty treat for the eyes." --School Library Journal
While planning out an upcoming class session, I pulled out many of my favorite picture books, fairy Tales and Mother Goose collections for inspiration. The class is titled "Story Art" where students will learn about the art of children's book illustration, and how to illustrate an original story of their own.
The job of an illustrator is to not only depict what is written in the story, but to offer the reader a visual surprise-a twist, a hidden element or another parallel story happening in the illustrations so the child will want to come back to the book over and over again.
Using the above concept, have your students try their hand at illustrating a short Mother Goose rhyme. In most classic Mother Goose books we see an image of Humpty Dumpty sitting perched on a wall, or perhaps broken in pieces after he tumbles down. But how and why did he fall? Was he pushed? Was he dancing a jig on the ledge and slipped? Trying to ice skate? There are limitless possibilities for your students to imagine and have fun drawing.
What about Little Bo-Peep? Where did those sheep go when she was trying to find them? What were they doing? Why did Jack jump over the candlestick? What was he trying to reach on the other side? Are the characters in the rhymes human or animals?
Expanding on this idea even further, have students write an original story to go along with the art they have created for the rhyme. A perfect example of this is the picture book And the Dish Ran Away with the Spoon by Janet Stevens and Susan Stevens Crummel Harcourt Children's Books; 1st edition (May 1, 2001). Each night in the story, the rhyme Hey Diddle Diddle is performed. Dish and Spoon return after they run away, and the characters complete the rhyme in the same way over and over again. But one night, Dish and Spoon run away and don't come back, leading the other characters on a desperate chase to find them. We are lead through this humorous tale of what happened to them and how their friends come to the rescue.
Havehttp://www.joanwaites.com/
ENTER THE PENCIL TIPS GIVEAWAY:
PENCIL TIPS GIVEAWAY
Win a signed copy of What's New at the Zoo? by Joan Waites
To enter, leave a comment on a Pencil Tips blog post.
Random winner announced December 15th."This cheerful package of images and information delivers intellectual nourishment in the guise of a tasty treat for the eyes." --School Library Journal
October 31, 2011
Knowing When to Quit & Move On
by Pamela Ehrenberg
There's a character in Camus' novel The Plague who spends several hundred pages writing a novel. He writes the first sentence . . . then writes the first sentence again . . .then writes the first sentence again. Hundreds of pages later, he's still working on the first sentence of his novel.
Contrast this character with Gary Larson and Bill Watterson, who in 1995 each announced that they were retiring their popular comic strips The Far Side and Calvin and Hobbes, respectively, both wanting to go out on top before their life's work became stale and predictable.
How do you know when it's the right time to quit writing something and move onto something new? Here are some things that don't tend to serve as reliable barometers for me:--length of the work--length of time I've spent on it--number of people whose feedback I've incorporated--how hard the writing is, though this comes closer than the others
But if those measures don't work reliably, how do we teach students to listen to their intuition and say "when" on a particular project?
For some students, it's a matter of accepting writing as an imperfect medium: the story on the page might never live up to the story in their head, but it has the immutable advantage that it can now live in others' heads too. The science fiction writer Holly Lisle says (in her One-Pass Manuscript Revision: http://hollylisle.com/one-pass-manusc... "the definition of a writing career is: Write a book. Write another book. Write another book. Nowhere in that description is included: Take one story and make it a monument to every idea you ever had or ever will."
With that in mind, I have two suggestions for how to help students say "when" on a project and move into something else:
1) Celebrating what they've accomplished, to help them say farewell to their former project in style. Food helps--even Goldfish crackers and fancy grape juice can elevate a "sharing our work" session to a real celebration. Published writers have book launch parties for lots of reasons, including selling books of course. But book launch parties also feel something like graduation parties or bar mitzvah celebrations, marking a transition from a "before" to an "after." They're all rites of passage, and food helps to emphasize the "rite."
2) And jumping right into the next project celebrates the "passage." It's a fine line, of course: if students are too excited about whatever's coming next, there might be some who refuse to finish the current project at all--but with no inkling of what's on the horizon, some might be understandably reluctant to leave the comfort zone of their current work-in-progress. Introducing just a hint of the next project around the edges of the current work can help students--and us, as teachers--to know when to say "when." http://www.pamelaehrenberg.com/Site/Home.html
There's a character in Camus' novel The Plague who spends several hundred pages writing a novel. He writes the first sentence . . . then writes the first sentence again . . .then writes the first sentence again. Hundreds of pages later, he's still working on the first sentence of his novel.
Contrast this character with Gary Larson and Bill Watterson, who in 1995 each announced that they were retiring their popular comic strips The Far Side and Calvin and Hobbes, respectively, both wanting to go out on top before their life's work became stale and predictable.
How do you know when it's the right time to quit writing something and move onto something new? Here are some things that don't tend to serve as reliable barometers for me:--length of the work--length of time I've spent on it--number of people whose feedback I've incorporated--how hard the writing is, though this comes closer than the others
But if those measures don't work reliably, how do we teach students to listen to their intuition and say "when" on a particular project?
For some students, it's a matter of accepting writing as an imperfect medium: the story on the page might never live up to the story in their head, but it has the immutable advantage that it can now live in others' heads too. The science fiction writer Holly Lisle says (in her One-Pass Manuscript Revision: http://hollylisle.com/one-pass-manusc... "the definition of a writing career is: Write a book. Write another book. Write another book. Nowhere in that description is included: Take one story and make it a monument to every idea you ever had or ever will."
With that in mind, I have two suggestions for how to help students say "when" on a project and move into something else:
1) Celebrating what they've accomplished, to help them say farewell to their former project in style. Food helps--even Goldfish crackers and fancy grape juice can elevate a "sharing our work" session to a real celebration. Published writers have book launch parties for lots of reasons, including selling books of course. But book launch parties also feel something like graduation parties or bar mitzvah celebrations, marking a transition from a "before" to an "after." They're all rites of passage, and food helps to emphasize the "rite."
2) And jumping right into the next project celebrates the "passage." It's a fine line, of course: if students are too excited about whatever's coming next, there might be some who refuse to finish the current project at all--but with no inkling of what's on the horizon, some might be understandably reluctant to leave the comfort zone of their current work-in-progress. Introducing just a hint of the next project around the edges of the current work can help students--and us, as teachers--to know when to say "when." http://www.pamelaehrenberg.com/Site/Home.html
Mary Quattlebaum's Blog
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