Nonfiction Notebooks: Strategies for Informational Writing

by Aimee Buckner

In my classroom, I have found that through the support of notebook work, students can grow their writing and strengthen their ideas. With strong ideas, they can write better first drafts. The work we do in notebooks before rushing into a draft gives us time to envision our work, to find mentor texts we love, and to study those texts. In doing so, we actually are doing a lot of the revision- on our vision- before we write the draft. -; Nonfiction Notebooks Aimee Buckner has introduced writer's notebooks to hundreds of classrooms through her popular book Notebook Know-How , thereby helping students everywhere learn to improve their overallwriting by focusing on essential prewriting strategies. Now, using the same format, Aimee explains how writer's notebooks can help students improve their nonfiction writing-;reports, articles, memoirs, essays, and so forth-;which has taken on even greater importance because of the emphasis the Common Core State Standards place on informative/explanatory writing. As Aimee explains, the prewriting work a student does is particularly important when writing informational pieces. Writer's notebooks help students capture their thoughts, develop ideas, explore mentor texts, refine a research strategy, and play with multiple outcomes-;all of which lead to stronger concepts and better first drafts. Greater emphasis on the front end of the writing process also saves time and energy at the revision and editing stages. From exploring topics to gathering information to assessment, Nonfiction Notebooks takes teachers step-by-step through the process of how best to use notebooks for informational writing. Helpful reproducible forms are included both in the book and as downloads online.

Genres: Writing, Education, Professional Development, Nonfiction

136 pages, Paperback

First published August 28, 2013

Reviews

[Kris Patrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wish Stenhouse would have designed differently. Seems like a lot her excellent content gets lost in the formatting.

[Debbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although the author primarily works with writing workshop in the elementary classroom, I could see how her methods for moving students through informational writing, like an All About Book, could work in the high school classroom. I appreciate the way her writing methods and mini lessons encourage risk taking in writing, and how she discusses grading writing notebooks from several different angles that honors that teacher's difficult position.

This is an excellent companion to her other books relating how to use reading and writing notebooks with students.

[Jacob · Rating 3 out of 5]

Strategies may require some tweaking and adaptation but the foundation is solid enough.

[The Reading Countess · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent resource from notebook expert Buckner on how yo incorporate NF into notebooks and making room apart from personal narratives.
Not to forget--
Museum touring
Heart mapping
Info. that makes you marvel vs. tied to your research
Sticky noting and going back and paraphrasing
Things I know already and what I want to explore
Boxes and bullets (main idea/detail)
Domain specific words (akin to million dollar words)
Stick it or flick it
Topic change up: great for figuring out how to format research
-a day in the life
-step by step
-question/answer or true-false
-problem-solution
-advice column
-pic book narrative
-pic book informational
-mag article
-advice column
One word coming to mind
Sticky noting moveable outline
Visualizing: with mentor text
-comparisons to everyday objects, catchy phrases with alliteration, colors if impt, small details not to miss
Six word summary
Leads
Word choice to convey feeling
Slow mo writing

Read digitally through Stenhouse
http://www.stenhouse.com/emags/0952/i...

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nonfiction Notebooks was easy-to-read and easy-to-apply to my classroom nonfiction units. I read it fast because I found her ideas really useful and easy to apply to different nonfiction units. Moreover, her mini-lessons are truly "mini" in the amount of time they take to teach the point, demonstrate and actively engage students to try it out. I really enjoyed the catchy names she gave for her different nonfiction reading strategies. I can't wait to incorporate the lessons next year into my nonfiction reading units, as well as in their writing notebooks.

[Susan Kennedy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read the online preview of this book to be published in September. I heard Aimee Buckner last summer at Choice Literacy. it was nice to see how she incorporated her thinking into this new book. Seeing teachers struggle to use notebooks with informational writing, I think this professional resources will be a "go-to" for intermediate writing teachers.

[Amy Brown (amylikestoreadalot) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this had great information! I can't wait to use her ideas to start informational writing. This is only about the prewriting and starting to draft pieces. She states that pretty quickly, but I would have loved to see finished examples. I though the book was over too quickly. But maybe that's me-I would love to observe this teacher in the classroom.

[Kevin English · Rating 5 out of 5]

What I like most about Buckner's book is her emphasis on the notebook as a place to practice writing. I know I'm guilty of assigning writing rather than teaching it, and this serves as a good reminder to slow down and write better drafts by way of planning and practicing writing.

While the examples provided are elementary, I can definitely make this book work in my HS setting!

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really wonderful resource for grades 3 and up. I love her idea of using a notebook to practice strategies and do lots of prewriting so a stronger first draft can be written, reducing the amount of revision later.

[Maria Caplin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved how practical her ideas are to transfer to class. Excited to try several practices in January.

[Susan McGilvray · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wish I'd had this years ago, would have saved me a lot of time!

[Sally]

available in uw system

[Mleander23 · Rating 5 out of 5]

As good as Notebook Connections!

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I appreciate the many strategies Buckner provides, but found the chapter dealing with grading was the most helpful to me as I consider my own classroom for the forthcoming year.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good read, well-written and entertaining, but not as applicable to what I am currently doing as I thought it might be. I will probably still cherry pick some ideas to integrate...(-:

[Bernadette Fox · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were some useful and helpful ideas in this book, but I preferred Aimee's other "Notebooks" books over this one. I thought the other two had more useful ideas.