Everyday+Editing

**//__Here is the spot that we will use for discussions.__//**

Now we are ready to start discussing. I am putting a couple of questions here to guide our discussion, but please feel free to respond to anything that strikes you as you read. Also, let's read Chapter 3 by December7th. We can blog about it as we read. It is not necessary to complete the whole chapter before adding thoughts or questions on the Wiki. I am hoping that this format turns out to be a great discussion method. Happy Thanksgiving.

Can you agree with the idea that there is greater benefit in inviting students to notice, imitate, and concentrate on what works in a sentence rather than rip one to shreds?

Editing, for Jeff Anderson, is not a separate and discrete activity; he integrates ways of studying and thinking about editing into the classroom conversation every day, all year long. What are the challenges to this? How will this help children become better writers?

Maureen: I think that what everyone has shared so far is great. I am really excited about all of the responses. I think; however, we forgot that we were just going to come to this page and have all the discussions here so that it will be easier to read. Virgin Wiki you are discussing on the home page instead of on the Everyday Editing Discussion page. Hopefully, people will start to post here. I think it is so much easier than opening up the each discussion.

Maureen: I am not sure why Paula's did not show. I am just wondering if the page gets full and we need to start a second page for comments. So I am trying to see if I can fill this page. Here is an idea from his other book: From the sound of many of the comments, I think that you are becoming sentence stalkers. This is another thing that he invites his students to do. When you are teaching an aspect of editing, You take the mentor text (remember this does not have to be long) and ask students to imitate it. Then you have them become sentence stalkers by having them find that same type of construction in their reading. If you have a large poster in your room where you displayed the original sentence, they can put that sentence on the poster. If your students have a writer's notebook, they can put examples on the page dedicated to the rule that you are concentrating on at that time.

Maureen: Well, the longer one appears on this page. I am wondering if you forgot to save, Paula.

Maureen: Check out the ideas page. I used an idea from his other book. This could be pasted on a poster and sentence stalkers could add to it. I used Jan Brett. The only thing is that I had to add the highlighted comma. She never uses a comma before and when it appears in items in a series. Although many people say that it is OK to do that, most true experts believe that the comma should be there. Both of these seem to be accepted today. The important thing is to remain consistent. I don't think it would hurt to tell students that, and tell them that we will always add the comma when we see it. I think (Brad thinks, Lucy thinks) it should be taught using the comma before and.

Beth: Sorry, I haven't added. I couldn't access email over Thanksgiving when I was planning to do this. . . . Hopefully this will work. . . I am intrigued by the idea of looking at what is right about a sentence. Until you are immersed in what is right, how will you know what is wrong, having no idea how to fix it? I am already a SENTENCE STALKER! I think the only way to be truly effective with this strategy is to do it everyday. At first, I think it will take more time (and patience in waiting for kids to notice) to begin with, but as the students start understanding how this works, they will be excited by the challenge and become sentence stalkers themselves. The curriculum piece ties in through the sentences we choose. One challenge is finding time to find the sentences that fit what we want.

Maureen: I agree with Beth. We have long known that literacy development includes an immersion in quality literacy. It only makes sense that the same would apply to writing. I think that it will take time and patience. It is not something that can be done overnight; however, I also think that if we start by just pulling out sentences from the literature we teach, talk about them as often as we can, we will soon create a habit for ourselves. It is a paradigm change, and those always start with Baby Steps.

Jill: Regarding the use of the comma before and when writing items in a series: For what it's worth, the writing insturctors through Edgewood College are **adamant** about using the comma before and.

Maureen:

Focus Question for Chapter Three Invitation, Invitation, Invitation First, this is the last theory chapter. All the rest of the book has examples of lessons. Which invitation seems to attract your attention the most? Which invitation appeals to you the most? Can we do all that inviting in the classroom--TIME?

Kathy: Oh - I finally figured out how to type on this page and not the discussion area. - that took me a while - now I hope I remember how I did it....

Sandy: My previous comments were done on the discussion page, also. Now I will try this page. I think that the "Invitaion" approach to editing is attractive because it invites the writer to maintain more control of their piece. It reinforces the notion that all writing is a creative process, with some guidelines and rules. Our students will want to write when they know someone really wants to read their piece. Sooner or later they discover that people only want to read their work when it flows, is creative, and is appealing to the reader.

Sandy: After plowing through Chapter 3, I want to raise a question. Are some of our students struggling with writing because they are struggling readers? If we are inviting the students to notice, imitate, collect, write, combine, and edit, they have to be thinking. Some of the sutdents have trouble even comprehending the stories they are reading.Maybe I'm just tired, but I believe some of my students need to improve reading comprehension before their writing will improve.

Kathy: This was on the discussion page so I moved it here. I will have to incorporate the question in later, but wanted to get my thoughts moved to this page. I'm really super excited about this book. We have started "editing" in second grade and just a couple of weeks ago I marked up kids' papers and have an editing poster ready to go on the smart board so they would know what my symbols meant. (Did you just hear me slam on my brakes?) This kind of approach makes so much sense and seems to be much more effective! In my master's program we are learning to be "constructivist" teachers. (-teachers that help unveil information instead of jamming it down their throats- Kirking definition) Now that we are starting our Jan Brett unit – this is such a perfect time to invite students to notice, to imitate, to celebrate, to collect, to write and to revise. I know we will be able to find some great sentences in Jan Brett books. One thing that I really “noticed” was that I was paying extra attention to how commas were used in the book and really looking at colons and semi colons and their correct uses. Now I find myself doing it in other books I’m reading. If this strategy is that effective with me, (comma) then it will surely do wonders with our students! LOL!!