In my last blog, I was at the beginning of writing my narrative piece.
I mentioned I was torn about what specific experience to write about for the memoir genre.
Then I thought.... who says a memoir has to be about one specific experience.
In fact, dictionary.com says a memoir is "an account of one's personal life and experiences"...note experiences, plural.
So came my decision to include both the experiences I was torn to pick from.
Based on this decision, I laid the "framework" or "landscape" for this narrative piece, my memoir.
The other decision I had to make was how I wanted to tell my story, what perspective should I go with (taking into consideration it is a narrative), third person,? What time frame...then or now?
This decision was a little more difficult to come to, so I did what I always do, my writing process...
This begins with me typing out all my thoughts, ideas, and subjects I want to include. I call this "word vomit".
From there, I organize this "word vomit" by grouping the ideas and subjects together, the idea is that these groupings eventually turn into praragraphs.
I use this for the basis of my thesis.
When I got to this point I was able to shape a perspective which I feel tells my memoir best.
I am happy with the way it came out, I feel as though my narrative piece in the memoir genre meets the characteristics of the genre by depicting my memorable experiences, and relates how they influenced me.
Wednesday, November 26, 2014
writing 3- begining narrative
(To begin this blog I would like to mention I hope my readers keep in mind that even though they see the date posted on 11/26 I started this blog as a draft as I began my narrative piece. Given the weather and the day off of classes I am using today as a EDU 307 "catch up day". Also, I hope all my readers enjoy there Thanksgiving break as I am sure it is much needed for all of us.)
As I begin my narrative piece for the menoir genre I am somewhat torn on what to write about, so if any of my readers would like to leave comments and let me know what they would find more interesting please feel free to do so....
My two choices are both experiences that I feel have changed my life, and they both took place around the same point in time, at the beginning of middle school. A rough time developmentally for children as we transition from little kids into preteens. At this time we must keep in mind changes in hormones, expectations, and so on.
First choice: To write a memoir about my experince going through the process of special education, this began when I transferred districts going into fifth grade. This experience includes being identified, evaluated, observed, having an IEP, PPTs, and recieving services in school. I felt this was a unique topic to write a memoir on because I could reflect on how it influences me as a future special education teacher.
Second choice: To write a memoir about my experience being diagnosed with type one diabetes in seventh grade. I thought it'd be an interesting topic to write a memoir on because it is something that drastically changed my life because of the responsibility and everything I had to learn to keep my self healthy.
Any opinions?
As I begin my narrative piece for the menoir genre I am somewhat torn on what to write about, so if any of my readers would like to leave comments and let me know what they would find more interesting please feel free to do so....
My two choices are both experiences that I feel have changed my life, and they both took place around the same point in time, at the beginning of middle school. A rough time developmentally for children as we transition from little kids into preteens. At this time we must keep in mind changes in hormones, expectations, and so on.
First choice: To write a memoir about my experince going through the process of special education, this began when I transferred districts going into fifth grade. This experience includes being identified, evaluated, observed, having an IEP, PPTs, and recieving services in school. I felt this was a unique topic to write a memoir on because I could reflect on how it influences me as a future special education teacher.
Second choice: To write a memoir about my experience being diagnosed with type one diabetes in seventh grade. I thought it'd be an interesting topic to write a memoir on because it is something that drastically changed my life because of the responsibility and everything I had to learn to keep my self healthy.
Any opinions?
Tuesday, November 11, 2014
Does collaborative learning support literacy?
Does collaborative learning support literacy?
A simple answer to that question: yes.
How do I know?
After our experiences in class, working in groups for reading and writing workshops,not only did I get a lot of great input from my peers at a college level, but it brought back a lot of memories from grade school working in small groups with peers in these reading and writing workshops.
Now as an adult and a future teacher I feel stronger about how collaborative learning supports literacy. I was never the best student when I was little so reading and writing workshops were intimidating for me, but now as college senior I can see how I have come a very long way in my education. Learning collaboratively supports literacy learners by allowing students to gain more ideas, hear different perspectives, and receive constructive criticism on their work from their peers.
A big way collaborating helps writers is...if you are in a group you get to hear from your audience....instead of just seeing the piece from your own perspective As a writer you want to captivate your audience and satisfy them with your writing so hearing their feedback can help you do that.
Working collaboratively in reading groups helps to support literacy learning because maybe you are in a reading group with someone who helps you realize you missed a key aspect in the plot. Or maybe you are in a reading group with someone who role play with in order to comprehend the material.
It's like the great saying goes..."Two minds are better than one". Collaborative learning supports literacy.
A simple answer to that question: yes.
How do I know?
After our experiences in class, working in groups for reading and writing workshops,not only did I get a lot of great input from my peers at a college level, but it brought back a lot of memories from grade school working in small groups with peers in these reading and writing workshops.
Now as an adult and a future teacher I feel stronger about how collaborative learning supports literacy. I was never the best student when I was little so reading and writing workshops were intimidating for me, but now as college senior I can see how I have come a very long way in my education. Learning collaboratively supports literacy learners by allowing students to gain more ideas, hear different perspectives, and receive constructive criticism on their work from their peers.
A big way collaborating helps writers is...if you are in a group you get to hear from your audience....instead of just seeing the piece from your own perspective As a writer you want to captivate your audience and satisfy them with your writing so hearing their feedback can help you do that.
Working collaboratively in reading groups helps to support literacy learning because maybe you are in a reading group with someone who helps you realize you missed a key aspect in the plot. Or maybe you are in a reading group with someone who role play with in order to comprehend the material.
It's like the great saying goes..."Two minds are better than one". Collaborative learning supports literacy.
Writing 2- Finalizing Info essay
As we begin a new week, after a very chatoic last week and weekend I am happy to say I am finally getting the opportunity to get back on track for EDU 307. After I got done finalizing my informational essay last week I kinda put a few things aside for this course and am in the procsess of playing catch up as I am sure we all are in one way or another. So with that said I hope everyone is managing ok.
In regards to my informational essay, I am happy with the way it came out. I feel as though I provided adequate information about the genre by defining it, stating why it is important to teach it, classroom activities to teach reading and writing. I meet my two targeted areas for growth, which were reinforcing the importance of the message in a memoir and coming up with meaningful classroom activities to teach.
What I found unique about this assignment was creating two separate documents to show revisions. Usually my "rough drafts" are a bunch of unorganized word vomit that is more in the format of stanzas then paragraphs. As I go through my ideas I group them into an outline and form a solid thesis, then organize my paragraphs according to that.
I think I made a meaningful genre choice, and doing this assignment made me excited to begin writing my own. So stay tuned to see what I will be writing my memoir on for the narrative piece.....
In regards to my informational essay, I am happy with the way it came out. I feel as though I provided adequate information about the genre by defining it, stating why it is important to teach it, classroom activities to teach reading and writing. I meet my two targeted areas for growth, which were reinforcing the importance of the message in a memoir and coming up with meaningful classroom activities to teach.
What I found unique about this assignment was creating two separate documents to show revisions. Usually my "rough drafts" are a bunch of unorganized word vomit that is more in the format of stanzas then paragraphs. As I go through my ideas I group them into an outline and form a solid thesis, then organize my paragraphs according to that.
I think I made a meaningful genre choice, and doing this assignment made me excited to begin writing my own. So stay tuned to see what I will be writing my memoir on for the narrative piece.....
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