Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Reaffirming the Writing Workshop for young Adolescents

In this article, Lain taught me that minilessons count. She says,"As soon as studentshave their spirals,i read aloud to them. I might read "My name" by Sandra Cisneros, a vignnette from The House on mango Street (1984) in which the narrator, Esperanza, explains: "In English my name means hope. In Spanish it means too many letters" (pag.10). Then, in their spirals, students write the story of their own names. I will like to apply in my method of teaching. I will start my class by reading an interesting article as Lain did. Morover, I will use the same book in order to motivate my students to explore their own taughts and write it down in a piece of paper. I think this will turn out with questions such us: Why I have the name? Who named me? I think by doing that I can get my students inmerse into our activity of writing.
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3 comments:

  1. UnknownJuly 14, 2009 at 4:29 PM

    Mercedes, I am a big fan of Cisneros too. I think using a small snippet of stron style can be such a hook for getting kids to write. Good luck with your project. :)

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  2. AnonymousJuly 14, 2009 at 7:15 PM

    Mercedes, I was so grateful for this article because it helped define for me what exactly a mini lesson really is. I had heard the term before, but wasn't really sure how to make it different than a normal lesson other than the whole length factor. I am really excited to try these activities in my classroom as well!

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  3. Not Quite a NewbieJuly 16, 2009 at 11:51 AM

    I did this lesson with my fifth grade at the beginning of the year. They loved the voice of this writer. They tried to imitate her style in the telling of their story. Some students didn't know at the time why they had their name. I think next year, I would give the reading and ask the students to go home and talk about it with their family, so that they could come back with more info.

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