Reading for April 6th

ROAD LESS TRAVELED

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth
Then took the other as just as fair
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear

Though as for that, the passing there
Had worn them really about the same
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black

Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet, knowing how way leads onto way
I doubted if I should ever come back
I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence
Two roads diverged in a wood
And I took the one less traveled by
And that has made all the difference

ROBERT FROST


So I had a wonderful 3 paragraph reflection done right here a couple of hours ago, then the power went out at my house...which means my internet doesn't work...which means Blogger wasn't able to save what I had written...and now the space button on this keyboard at school is sticking...so I had to move to a different computer...so here I go again...

I was most inspired by the example of Ms. Guadarrama's third-grade class creating photo-illustrated essays (in P&B pg 357). The steps outlined were: 1. students bring in a set of personal photographs 2. the students organize the photos in the order they want to tell their story 3. the teacher would then go around and listen to the students' stories and help them rearrange the photos if necessary 4. the students would then glue down the photos 5. then they share the story orally with the whole class 6. next the students would write the story they had shared with the teacher and the class in essay form 7. the pictures and essays would then be posted on the wall.

The reason this lesson struck me is because I would typically have students write the story before sharing it. I thought about the benefits of sharing it orally first, and I think I am convinced Ms. Guadarrama's on to something. Be sharing the story orally, it give students time to organize and remember details from the photos. It also helps them overcome the pressure of sitting down in front of a blank sheet of paper (or screen, as the case may be), and having to think of something to write about--students will sit down, knowing what to write because they've already told the story twice. Genius (or is it horribly obvious to everyone but me). The argument for writing first is it gives those with stagefright something to fall back on, something to read if their minds go blank.

The section in MCM that was particularl useful for me was the section on Oral Teacher Feedback. I agree that this is the ideal method. I prefer discussing students' writing with them face-to-face, allowing for clarification as necessary. I would be intimidated to record my feedback. I dislike leaving written feedback because I know a lot of my comments are probibly confusing.