Wondrous Words Journal Entries

Wondrous Words Journal Entries / Chelsea Matousek’s Response
Chapter 1: “This is who I am, this is what I wish for, and this is what I care about…” (7).
Chapter 1 Summary
Reading Like Writers / Allowing students to add a new focus to their writing allows them to enjoy writing about what they want to write about. They will have more to say if they are allowed to write about what is important to them. It is important for students to write about what is important to them.
So many times, students think they need something great to write about. The ideas must be exciting in order to have a good piece of writing. Wood Ray discusses how to learn how to write from writers. She talks about the difference between writing as unique and writing as individual. She describes the importance in reading like a writer. Don’t just read to read, but read to learn about how what you are reading is written. Writers learn from what has been written before them.
Chapter 2: “…she will follow strangers an extra block or two down the street to finish eavesdropping on an interesting conversation they’re having…” (27).
Chapter 2 Summary
The Craft of Writing / This is awesome. You never know when you will need a random experience for your writing. Patricia MacLachlan’s office just became a sidewalk.
Chapter 2 is about finding different places to write—office work, and techniques and strategies to use in writing. These techniques help form the writer’s craft. One technique I like is commenting on the text. You hear the author’s thoughts while you’re reading. This craft does not have to follow rules; it makes sense if it is intentional and if it helps make the writing better. The writing craft is the art of writing.
Chapter 3: “…I had learned that writers can write about very ordinary things in their lives, small things that they treasure like mothers and morning glories and moon pies” (48).
Chapter 3 Summary
Envisioning Text Possibilities / If you are a good writer, you can make anything into good writing. When it comes to writing, it’s not about how great the idea is, it’s about how great the writing is.
Envisioning must be included in the writing process. If envisioning is not part of the writing process, then the writing will go nowhere. Envisioning is the ability to imagine a piece of writing before it is started. This helps people write well. Intentional decisions can be made about writing when a vision is in mind. One student had an idea to make a connection between the fact that he had four friends and there are four seasons. Envisioning keeps children motivated while writing.
Chapter 4: “…I still begin by reading aloud because I believe it is the single most important classroom structure there is, and so I demonstrate it wherever I go” (65).
Chapter 4 Summary
Reading Aloud: Filling the Room with the Sound of Wondrous Words / Modeling is very important. I found that when I took reading seriously in my class during MIT, my students did as well. Days when I did not read—my students didn’t stay focused as much. I would love to do read alouds in my classroom. I think it will help focus my students.
There are several different ways to explore reading. Listening is a way to learn how to read. There are shared reading activities, but there are also read alouds for writers. Writers need to listen to read alouds like writers
Chapter 5: “So choosing to begin a writing project and knowing how to work on developing that project are far from side issues in a writing workshop…” (91).
Chapter 5 Summary
Studying Writers’ Office Work: Powerful Writing Begins Long Before the Draft / Selection and development involves a lot of effort from a writer. How do students learn how to select and develop a topic to write about? A lot of work must be done before ever creating a draft. How early do we start teaching our students selection and development? How early should we start teaching this?
Selecting a topic to write about: inexperienced writers will typically choose an event that has happened; an event that has a beginning, middle, and end. Inexperienced writers also believe that their topic must be exciting. They think a good idea makes for good writing. Experienced writers, however, know that any topic, great or small, does not make the writing. After choosing a topic…a lot of research may be required. In order to make good writing, you may need to act as if you are the subject you are writing about.
Chapter 6: “If students are new to the idea of reading as writers, they will need some explanation of the concept” (117).
Chapter 6 Summary
Organized Inquiry: Teaching Students to Read Like Writers / What does it mean to read like a writer? It means that instead of reading for entertainment, while reading, look the writer’s craft. Make predictions about why you think the writer chose to write with that craft. Read as if you are trying to understand what the writer was thinking while he/she wrote the project.
To get my students started with the concept of reading as a writer, I would first have to give them questions to ask themselves while they read. They could first read like a reader and then go back with questions to ask about the craft. Look at the structure, ways with words, and other “noticings.”
Chapter 7: “They offer possibilities for ways to structure texts, and they offer possibilities for ways with words” (140).
Chapter 7 Summary
An Invitation to My Library: The Craft of Text Structure / Wood Ray tells us to look at other book structures to see how they are structured. This chapter is a great resource.
Wood Ray structures her personal library by how each book is structured. Books with similar structures will be grouped together. She gives a great list of books and what type of structure they fall in. She divides these with circular texts, texts with thread-backs, seesaw texts, framing-question texts, conversation texts, texts embedded with quotations or song lyrics, text embedded with response, time flies texts, texts where time is constant and setting changes, narrative poem texts, thematic poem texts, lyrical fact texts, alphabet texts, vignette texts with repeating lines or phrases, etc.
Chapter 8: “This time, however, I am going to take you on a different kind of tour” (161).
Chapter 8 Summary
Another Invitation to My Library: Ways with Words / Wood Ray shows us her library of books that are grouped together based on its craft of ways with words.
Some of the ways with words groups she has for her library include: repetition—close-echo effect, repeating details, repeating sentence structures, re-say—word choices—striking adjectives, out-of-place adjectives, striking verbs, striking adverbs, intentional vagueness, proper nouns—sentence structure—artful use of “and,” runaway sentences—marks of punctuation—commentary dashes, items in a series.
Chapter 9: “I want students to envision where writers get their ideas, how writers often research before they write, and how writers go about taking an idea to publication” (189).
Chapter 9 Summary
Selecting Books for Craft Study / It is important for students to learn how to read as writers. We need to give them a purpose for reading and guide them with questions about a certain piece of writing. When they are aware of what to ask, they will start recognizing reasons a writer did what they did.
We need to choose specific texts for students to study that will guide them through different writing craft. These could be text in which the concept of the writing is interesting, texts that remind them of other texts, texts crafted with interesting structures, texts with crafted ways with words, texts with language that is not conventional. This brings me to ask…do we want to teach our students unconventional writing craft?
Chapter 10: “Sometimes, maybe we can learn too much too fast” (207).
Chapter 10 Summary
Growing Taller in Our Teaching / This is somewhat how I am feeling right now. After this intense writing class, I have learned SOOOO much! There are tons of ideas floating around in my head. I need to slow down and focus!
This chapter is about applying what you have learned and being confident in teaching writing in a new way. We need to get our students as excited about writing as we are. Once again, the envisioning step is very important here.
Chapter 11: “The beauty of the writing workshop lies in its predictability” (211).
Chapter 11 Summary
Planning for the Workshop / Writing workshops will work best in the classroom if the expectations are clear to the students. The predictability of these workshops is very important. When the students are familiar with the structure, they will feel comfortable and understand what they must do.
The writing workshop must have an objective. How do you want your students to be as writers? This question must be answered in order to set up the structure. These workshops provide opportunities for students to see themselves as writers, identify with a community of writers, develop a sense of craft, etc. A long-term structure should be developed with workshops taking place every day.
Chapter 12: “Instead, crafting possibilities will become a part of the curriculum offered through focus lessons in different units of study and in individual conference” (231).
Chapter 12 Summary
Focus Lessons: Filling the Writing Workshop with Craft Possibilities / Focus lessons and mini lessons should be provided when it is needed by the students. I connected this statement to something my math professor told me. He explained that he taught math based on one project and as the kids needed to learn a new aspect of their activity, they would ask him to teach them. This is a focus lesson.
This chapter is about focus lessons. These need to be set up with a predictable structure so students know what to do. Focus lessons must cover the entire line of thinking. Focus lessons can specify different text structures and ways with words. Also, there is an emphasis on the importance of envisioning. You need to envision the final product and accomplish the final product.
Chapter 13: “Remember that Vygotsky went on to say that what is in a child’s zone of proximal development today will become something the child can do independently tomorrow” (253).
Chapter 13 Summary
Brave, Bold Teaching: The Power of Suggestive Writing Conferences / We need to keep children learning. We need to keep guiding students to the next success. Students should continue to be challenged. They need to build on what they already know. They must activate their schema in order to learn the next concept.
Chapter 13 discusses how important conferencing is with students. At every step of the writing process, the teacher should conference with the student—prewriting, drafting, final. Students need specific guidance during conferences. Suggestions that are made to the student by the teacher will stick with them and become a natural part of their writing. Teachers need to use conferences as opportunities to help the children write better. Conferencing is the backbone of the writing workshop.
Chapter 14: “In the check-sheet, traditional kind of assessment, we check to be sure students know certain things rather than seeing what students know” (275).
Chapter 14 Summary
Assessment That Focuses Our Eyes on Craft / I am guilty of this. We do the same thing in math classes. We mark students wrong if they make a mistake. I know writing is a different from math, but it can still be related. We should praise our students for what they do know and guide them to further successes.
This chapter is about assessing students. How should we assess our students as writers? There is large focus on grammar, spelling, and correct uses of the rules in writing. We should be focusing on the craft our students use in their writing. We can do this by asking: Is this intentional craft? Is this done deliberately or on purpose? How are my students crafting their writing? These assessments need to match our values of writing as writers. We also have to respond appropriately to our students’ writing to model how they should respond to each other.
Chapter 15: “This poem in no way represents anything I would ever really want to say about dolphins” (303).
Chapter 15 Summary
Never to Teach Alone Again / I like how Wood Ray explains what she thinks the girl meant when she explained that her poem didn’t make sense. The girl just meant that it wasn’t what she wanted to say about dolphins.
Wood Ray guides this girl to write an awesome poem about dolphins (which she loves). Then Jolene ends up writing an awesome poem about saving the planet.