Transcript Reflecting on Personal Narratives

Mary Lou Ohnsman
West Oakview Elementary School – Third Grade Teacher
Northview Public Schools - Grand Rapids Michigan
[email protected]
1
Why do we write…personal narratives?
Why do we write?
 To reflect
 To remember
 To share
 To process
 Frank Kafka, novelist, said “Writing is utter solitude, the descent into the cold abyss of
oneself.”
 Catherine Drinker Bowen, biographer, said “Writing, I think, is not apart from living. Writing
is a kind of double living. The writer experiences everything twice. Once in reality and once
in that mirror which waits always before and behind.”
 Henry Miller, novelist, said “Writing is its own reward.”
 We write in isolation…
writing is an alone job.
2
My question:
What to do
with 50+
journals?
A personal narrative is not a
diary: “Today it is raining.
We have a substitute teacher.
She seems very nice. We are
going to have gym right
before lunch.” It’s not a
reading journal in which your
teacher tells you to
summarize the main idea of a
book, or write a letter to a
character. A writer’s
notebook is different from
any journal you’ve ever kept
before.
~Ralph Fletcher
A Writer’s Notebook
3
What is a Personal Narrative?
 A personal narrative is a story about something that has
happened to YOU. It can't be about someone you know. A
personal narrative has to be at least 5 paragraphs long. It is
usually about something good that has happened to the
person. However, it can be about anything that has
happened to you.
 Personal narratives allow you to share your life with others
and vicariously experience the things that happen around
you. Your job as a writer is to put the reader in the midst of
the action letting him or her live through an experience.
4
What I know by heart
is what matters most.
Katie Wood Ray
Write what’s in your heart,
write the truth.
Georgia Heard
There is another
quality of good
writing that
matters
tremendously:
significance.
Teach students to
write stories that
matter to them.
Lucy Calkins
5
* Grade
Level Content Expectations
*National Core Curriculum
*Northview Curriculum Map for Third Grade
*October MEAP
*District writing prompt
6
National Core Curriculum and
MEAP Narrative Writing Rubric
7
How
does
a
Third
Grader
Write?
CAFÉ – Work on Writing –
Writer’s Workshop 60 minutes
15 minutes
 Daily Writing in Journal
Week 1 & 2 – routine and expectations
Week 3 – Begin focus-lessons:



Six Traits of Writing
Writing Process
Lucy Calkins lesson
“What are you working
on as a writer?”
****************************
DAILY CAFÉ - Work on Writing
Monday - select a story from journal
Tuesday – self-edit and peer-edit
Wednesday – work on final copy
Thursday – title, illustration & turn in
Friday – Writers’ Celebration
8
These will not go away…
Writing Process
Traits of Good Writing
9
Where do ideas come from?
10
Teach a Calkins Strategy
Make a list of
favorite:
People
Places
Things
My List of
Favorite Places:
The Rockford Dam
Lake Michigan
My front porch
My back yard
Bike trail
11
Zoom in…
12
The jar…they want to
know more about the
jar! I hadn’t thought
about the jar of
marbles for quite
some time…
The Jar
…and it made me
realize…
•Pretty marbles
•Near my jars of Lake
Michigan rocks and
polished sea glass
•Smuckers jar brings
back memories
…I am ready to write!
13
The Power of the Interview.
You know what you are
thinking and writing…
but when someone listens to
you, and “interviews” you,
you realize you have many
details to add!
1.
2.
3.
4.
Write a quick write
about one of your
favorite object (from
your list)
Read it out loud to a
neighbor.
Neighbor asks
questions for further
understanding.
Thank your
neighbor then
reverse the above
procedure! 
14
Product or Process…
15
16
17
18
September 2010
A Fall Walk on the
Nature Trail
Growing
Green
Writers…
19
They arrive looking (and writing)
like second graders
20
December 2010 – A
Winter Walk on the
Nature Trail
The earth is
changing and so
are the amazing
group of third
graders at West
Oakview School!
21
Growing Third Graders
22
Length is part of the process
but not the focus…
23
April 2011 – A
Spring Walk to the
Nature Trail
We are heading into the
end of the school year
and some of the
students are starting to
check out especially as
the weather begins to
get nicer. At this point
in the year, there are
several students I am
highly concerned about
and I really push the 1-1
time with them! Most
of the other students
are showing significant
progress in their
independent writing!
24
Fourth grade
student has
blossomed
into a writer…
Teach the process,
add the heart
(or significance)
and
the product will
emerge!
25
June 2011 – One
more walk to the
nature trail –
Yeah! We made it!
Changes on the surface of
the earth and within the
lives of 23 amazing
students. Each student
received a copy of each of
the walks and wrote about
what their memory was.
I tell my students
“Write it down, add
a lot of details;
otherwise,
you will forget!”
26
I write
for inside me is much to say,
too much for me to think alone.
27
Reflection Questions
1. What strategy presented today do you see yourself using
in your classroom? How do you motivate passion for writing in
your students?
2. Is there a writing strategy you currently use that helps your
students create greater details on their own to provide a more
significant personal narrative?
3. Reflect on our chosen t-shirt logo and how you will explain it to
others: Either write something worth reading or do
something worth writing. ~ Ben Franklin
28
Resources
 Boushey, Gail and Moser, Joan The CAFÉ Book Stenhouse




Publishers, 2009
Calkins, Lucy Launching the Writing Workshop .
Heinemann Publishing Co., 2006
Fletcher, Ralph A Writer’s Notebook – Unlocking the
Writer Within You. HarperTrophy Publisher, 1996
Heard, Georgia. Writing Toward Home – Tales and
Lessons to Find Your Way. Heineman Publishing Co., 1995.
Ray, Katie Wood What You Know by Heart – How to
Develop Curriculum for Your Writing Workshop.
Heineman Publishing Co.,2002
29