I poem experience and such

So, as I was writing my I poem, I found that it worked much better for me to make mine rhyme!! This really surprised me because I usually don't like for my things to rhyme. I am more of a free verse type of girl. But, I did mine on bats and I tried to make it interesting for my children. I have really started putting myself in their shoes with my writing. Even as I have begun the multigenre exploration. I read that a lot of multigenre projects are on topics of research but I started thinking about how I could make a model for my children that would have some research aspects in it but would be funny, kind of like the Mr. Jolly book and I came up with the idea of a child arguing with his parents and adults about what he likes to eat and how he hates vegetables!!! I know this is silly, and it may completely be off key, but this is the way I'm thinking now, for my students!!

I Poems and their use in class

I liked the article about the use of I poems to help children further experience novels. By having students pick various descriptions or characters in a novel and have them research them, both through the novel and through independent research, allows them to better connect to the text. To me, this is a perfect outlet for creativity. Also, being able to describe some aspect of a text through poetry shows a greater mastery of the material than a test. It shows the deep thought process that a child went through to take on their subject and write about it as if they were the actual thing. I think Kucan realizes this fact and in turn, nurtures it by utilizing the I poems.
This would work wonderfully for second grade up. I think it could really show comprehension, build research skills, as well as creative thinking. For kindergarten and first grade, this task could prove difficult. A good way to approach the I poems, a way that I would use, would be to take an everyday common object that each child has experienced and create a class I poem based on its characteristics. I would do this a couple of times and then proceed to try it with a simple text that has a strong character or setting. Perhaps, maybe a Halloween story. Children are easily able to describe scary settings and would probably do well at this task.
I, personally, would have loved an assignment like this. I love poetry and have written some I poems on my own, but to have had an assignment like this in school would have really enthused me about many novels.

Chapter 6-Best Practices

Does anyone else remember the day when you hated to do any kind of prewriting or planning??? I DO!!!! I never got into planning in school. I didn't see the point, we were never really taught how to do it, it seemed like a waste of time, and we rarely used our prewriting and rough drafts to compose any finalized work. So, when I saw that we had to read a whole chapter on planning out writing in the classroom, I was less than thrilled and enticed. However, as I read the chapter, I began to understand why I had so many issues with planning and why I never liked it.
In the chapter, I was one of the "Many developing writers that minimize the role of planning in their writing." I would sit at a table, start writing, and go from thre, something known as "knowledge telling". Thus, my papers at times were jumbled up, jumpy, and constructed with poor grammar. I had never learned the importance of planning and thus, it did not reflect in my work.
Chapter 10 gives some really nice methods for teaching the process, role, and importance of planning so that students understand it's value. It lists three interventions of prewriting, or generating ideas around a topic; inquiry, or the use of questioning, observation, etc. the generate knowledge about a topic and strategy instruction, or explicit teaching of the process of planning, and revision.
Prewriting and inquiry are more student led and in a way allows students to hopefully come to their own understandings about the writing process. When observed in a classroom, both practices showed a positive effect of .32.
Strategy instruction is teacher driven and shows students the important parts of planning and revising. It is used to ensure mastery of the skills learned in the process and is modeled many times by a teacher. This direct instruction based approach showed a positive effect of 1.03. So, one would discern that a combination of both types would work well for students.
The last thing I would like to comment on is the fact that these authors picked up on why students did not like planning. The topics were meaningless, so students put no effort forth, prewriting wasn't praised or considered a major part of a writing piece, and children saw few results, especially if their work went unpublished. The teacher didn't really seem to value planning, so why would the students? Especially if there really wasn't any reason. The book suggests praising the prewriting and revision process and encouraging students to take different points of view. That way, they can see how planning can better help them get their point acoss.

Chapter 10 of Best Practices and Graves' Article

These two articles were very interesting. I especially liked Graves' approach to writing something that is meaningful. I think of so many of my own writings that actually were well constructed, interesting, and thought provoking and meaningful, and these were all the ones I ever really cared about writing. Essays and other papers that were on topics that had no value to me or did not interest me were always lesser in quality. Same goes for poetry. Poetry that was forced upon me never turned out right and Graves really picks up on that fact in his article. He thinks writing should be an expression of whatever is going on or important in your life and I agree.
Chapter 10 of Best Practices in Writing goes along with some aspects of Graves. The authors of chapter 10 say that in order to motivate writers, writing assignments should be purposeful and interesting or "authentic". The authors also believe that choices should always be given. I again think this is an interesting idea. If choices are provided, it gives the student the chance to find a topic that connects with them, thus increasing the motivation and likleyhood of success.