Challenging students to push past their safe zones of writing has been a challenge all year. We all reaped some great rewards as the year came to a close.
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Blog: TWO WRITING TEACHERS (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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Beginning to think about Exploratory Notebooks and easing into a research writing unit.
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JacketFlap tags: ralph fletcher, writing workshop, nonfiction writing, notebooks, Add a tag
Beginning to think about Exploratory Notebooks and easing into a research writing unit.
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JacketFlap tags: reading, nonfiction writing, reading-writing connections, informational writing, Jennifer Serravallo, Add a tag
When I tested Jennifer Serravallo’s Independent Reading Assessment (Scholastic), I was an immediate believer. Finally, here is a reading assessment that gives rich, clear information about upper grade readers, using an authentic reading… Continue reading
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JacketFlap tags: biography, nonfiction, mentor texts, non-narrative writing, nonfiction writing, informational writing, picture book, Add a tag
The books featured in this post, all of which were published in 2015, represent a variety of information writing. All of these are texts that can pull double- and even triple-duty in your classroom, thereby allowing you to use a text during read-aloud time so you can revisit it during a writing workshop minlesson and/or in a content area.
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JacketFlap tags: Diving into Information Writing Blog Series, poetry, nonfiction, writing workshop, nonfiction writing, Add a tag
When I was a kid, our town library had a whole special room filled with children’s books. It was one of my favorite places in the world. That was where I fell in love with Corduroy,… Continue reading
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JacketFlap tags: nonfiction writing, notebooks, Add a tag
With some set-up, modeling, and direction instruction, your students can go from okay to great note-takers.
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JacketFlap tags: nonfiction, Ralph Fletcher, nonfiction writing, Add a tag
The Monday morning after Ralph Fletcher’s presentation on Authentic Information Writing at Vassar College, I gathered my sixth graders at our reading area and shared what I had heard and learned....
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JacketFlap tags: ralph fletcher, nonfiction writing, Add a tag
Two weekends ago, thanks to Bonnie Kaplan and the Hudson Valley Writing Project, I had the great pleasure of attending Ralph Fletcher’s presentation: “Making Nonfiction from Scratch: How Can We Give Students the Time, the Tools, and the Vision They Need in Order to Create Authentic Information Writing?” I knew it would be a great morning of learning ...
Add a CommentBlog: I.N.K.: Interesting Non fiction for Kids (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: history, nonfiction writing, Rosalyn Schanzer, Add a tag
“The water is becoming bad. I don’t mind it much. I have a way of killing the bugs before drinking them.” Anonymous
“Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God!—I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!”
Whereupon Samuel Johnson, the greatest English writer of his day, made this response:How is it that we hear the loudest yelps for liberty from the drivers of Negroes?”
Blog: I.N.K.: Interesting Non fiction for Kids (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: creativity, nonfiction writing, Ann Bausum, Add a tag
I still puzzle: here's my 2012 holiday diversion. |
The Big Sort--organizing note cards before writing. |
My office--the epicenter of puzzling and writing. |
Blog: I.N.K.: Interesting Non fiction for Kids (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: awards, nonfiction writing, Dorothy Hinshaw Patent, Add a tag
Blog: TWO WRITING TEACHERS (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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We are moving from our researching phase into our first draft phase in writing workshop – and my sixth graders are beginning to experience the inevitable struggle of transforming their notes into interesting,… Read More
Add a CommentBlog: I.N.K.: Interesting Non fiction for Kids (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: picture books, teaching, art, research, nonfiction writing, Rosalyn Schanzer, Common Core State Standards, Add a tag
FAMOUS LAST WORDS:
YIKES! Art is in danger of disappearing from our schools, and that would be a DISASTER. Help bring it back by adding artwork to your written work in school.
Paint pictures on wood!
Rough canvas!
Pebble board!
Write words on all kinds of unusual paper.
Try playing around with paint, scraps of cloth, cut paper, or scratch board, and then add them to your written work.
Experiment with your photographs.
Make collages using buttons, flowers, seeds, or leaves picked up off the ground....if your essay or journal is lumpy, so what? Your writing will end up being a keeper, and you will learn to think, be creative, do research, and remember what you wrote about for a very long time.
Blog: I.N.K.: Interesting Non fiction for Kids (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: nonfiction writing, Karen Blumenthal, research, Add a tag
“Here’s how you must do source notes,” I remember one of them saying. “You list the beginning of every quote and then the source where it came from.”
Blog: WOW! Women on Writing Blog (The Muffin) (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: writing nonfiction, nonfiction writing, LuAnn Schindler, nonfiction techniques, Add a tag
I write nonfiction nearly every day. I'm a journalism teacher, after all, and I freelance for regional publications. When I grab a book, I usually read fiction because, well, I am not exactly sure why. Maybe I want a break from reality. Maybe I want to sink my teeth into a juicy mystery. Maybe I need a break from what I write.
But lately, I catch myself reading more and more nonfiction, studying stories and what does or does not make each article click.
My research (scientific it isn't) finds that the best nonfiction storytelling (no, that is not an oxymoron) weaves traditional storytelling devices with facts and figures, evidence and experts. It takes readers on a journey. It breaks boundaries.
It leaves readers thirsting for more.
I'm also partial to multiple pieces on this list featured on Byliner. It features rich examples of what's hot in nonfiction writing craft. I've been known to read one of these gems for pleasure and then reread it, dissect it, and find adaptable qualities to bring to my writing repertoire.
What elements of nonfiction capture your attention?
by LuAnn Schindler. Read more of her work at her website.
Blog: I.N.K.: Interesting Non fiction for Kids (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Rosalyn Schanzer, history, picture books, nonfiction writing, Add a tag
I write a lot of books about history because history’s cup runneth over with the best stories of all time. So with an ocean of great tales to choose from, picking something fabulous and delicious and unusual should be as easy as pie, right? Well, guess what. It ain’t. Why not? Some Restrictions Apply.
Restriction # 1:
Restriction # 2:
Blog: I.N.K.: Interesting Non fiction for Kids (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Jim Murphy, nonfiction writing, Add a tag
1: If you are fortunate enough to get a book published it will be reviewed.
2: It might be reviewed by a 'major' reviewer (you know, the folks who sprinkle stars around), or by a national, regional, or local newspaper or magazine, by bloggers, or by family and friends around the kitchen table.
3: Sooner or later, someone will say something about your book that doesn't sit well with you.
Number 3 happened to me a few weeks ago.
I was feeling a little anxious and aimless, so I decided to visit children's literature blogland. I generally do this by visiting Betsy Bird's Fuse #8 blog at the SLJ site. She has a list of favorite bloggers (including our own INK) and I roam around to see what people are chatting about. So there I was visiting and reading this blog and that blog and another, when...pow...there was a blogger reviewing my newest baby THE GIANT and How He Humbugged America, which is about the 1869 Cardiff Giant hoax.
Now if I remember correctly the blogger had very nice things to say about the book (I would provide a link but I can't recall who the blogger was, a situation I blame on the very wonderful pain killers I was taking at the time). But toward the end of her thoughtful review she hesitated a beat and said that she couldn't see any young reader caring about the book's subject.
What! I kind of sputtered. But, but, but...why wouldn't kids be interested?!? There was more, but you get the idea. I take reviews personally. But why wouldn't I? I take the research and writing very personally. It always takes a few minutes for me to calm down, but eventually I do. Which is when I begin to blame myself for whatever a reviewer has criticized and I think back on the decisions I made about the book in question. I this case, I began thinking about why I decided to do THE GIANT in the first place.
Way back a few years ago, I began wondering if it would be possible to do something for young readers about Bernie Madoff and his fifty billion dollar ponzi scheme. I quickly rejected the idea, mainly because all of the details of his fraud weren't in (and still aren't). I'm leery of "ripped from the headlines" ideas. Yes, they have an instant recognition factor, but usually only part of the story has been unearthed, so the result wouldn't be a truly satisfying or complete book. It would be more of a glorified magazine article (and probably not worth the price of a book). I then thought about doing something on Charles Pozi himself, but realized that neither he nor Madoff were very interesting guys and their schemes involved a lot of paper shuffling and ledger entries and not much that was either active or visual. Then I remembered the Cardiff Giant.
Here was a story filled with unusual, colorful characters. George Hull, who conceived the idea of carving a giant, lifelike human, was a serial fraudster (he not only came up with a second 'discovered' ancient human years after the Cardiff Giant, but he hired a man to write his biography, took that text and gave it to another person to clean up, and took that version and gave it to a third person, never bothering to pay anyone for their work). P.T. Barnum tries to buy the Giant, fails in his bid, then has his own immitation Giant made and exhibited (and actually outdrew the original CD in NYC); Barnum was sued by the original CG owners, but the case was heard by a drunken judge who refused to rule against Barnum's Giant unless the original appeared in court to testify. It don't get much better than that.
There's also action (making the giant, transporting him secretly from Chicago to NY State, burying and digging him up, exhibiting him and moving him around in his retirement years until he winds up in a leaky shed), and some decent visuals as well, both photos and drawings.
And themes and story lines. Why the Giant captured so many people's imaginations that it literally knocked the upcoming 1869 November elections from the front pages of the newspapers, how people clamored to buy shares in the giant, how shareholders continued to insist the Giant was real even after they knew it was a fake, how educated individuals and scientists were fooled into believing the Giant was authentic, to name just a few. Oh, yes, and how men put a 'fig' leaf over the Giant's private parts to shield women from naughty thoughts and how women were the one's to insist that was nonsence and insisted it be removed. A lot is going on in this relatively short-lived piece of US history, some of it downright silly and some very serious.
Still, I had to admit that the blog-reviewer had a point. THE GIANT probably doesn't have instant and obvious curb appeal. It will need strong reviews (and, happily, has gotten a number already) and skillful selling by teachers and librarians. When I finally sat back and thought about it, I came to the conclusion that I wanted to do the Cardiff Giant's story (and in fact wrote it without a contract or publisher lined-up) because it grabbed my attention, made me chuckle as well as think, and seemed like a complex story that kids could understand and follow and get involved in. I guess in the end it was personal.
Blog: I.N.K.: Interesting Non fiction for Kids (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: publishing, Vicki Cobb, nonfiction writing, Add a tag
- · Author and editor work on manuscript [Who knows how many readings that involves!]
- · MS is copyedited and if a work of nonfiction, all the facts are checked against trusted sources. Any information that can’t be confirmed independently of the author will need to be sourced by the author. [copy editors read a manuscript several times]
- · Copy edited manuscript is sent to author for corrections. Then returned and checked [a couple of more readings]
- · Artwork is also turned in and checked for errors, inconsistencies and any other problems. Once the art is corrected, it is sent to a printer in Far East to make hi-resolution scans for the book design.
- · MS is sent, along with cover copy and any additional information to the designer. [Designer reads ms.]
- · Designer creates design samples to share with editor to preview font choices, and general design elements.
- · Editor shares design samples with the author.
- · Once design samples are approved, designer sets entire book from start to finish using hi-res scans from printer.
- · A first pass set of mechanicals (initial layouts) is then routed in-house where editor, production editor, publisher, school and library marketing director, and art director all review. [Five more readings!]
- · Sets of mechs are simultaneously sent to author and illustrator to review for errors or any issues with layout. [2 more readings.]
- · All queries and comments are resolved, and mechs are sent back to designer to input all changes and make any design adjustments. The designer then routes the second pass mechs to route in house again, this time only to the editor, productions editor and managing editor. Any major changes may be shown to the author/illustrator once more. [another five readings]
- · Book closes for proofing and is sent to printers in Far East.
- · F&Gs (folded and gathered sheets) are pulled from the proofing stage.
- · Proofs are sent to New York office to be reviewed in house for any errors. Sets of proofs are sent to author and illustrator for one last review. At this point any changes cost money at the printer, so should be reserved for major changes/errors.
- · Art director and designer check proofs against original art to make sure the color is as it should be.
- · Proofs are returned to printer for final printing.
- · Printer sends one last set of plotters to check for any last errors.
- · Plotters are approved and books are printed.
Blog: I.N.K.: Interesting Non fiction for Kids (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Tanya Lee Stone, nonfiction writing, Add a tag
I teach, therefore, I question. Introduction to Writing Creative Nonfiction. Tuesdays and Fridays from 11:00-12:15. I teach, therefore, I question.
I question, and encourage my students to question—everything about the process of writing. Why we do it, how we do it, what it is we do when we do it.
We are making a list, as they learn, of what creative nonfiction actually means. It is simpler to make a list of what it is not.
It is creative writing in which nothing is made up.
It is creative writing in which NOTHING is made up.
It is creative writing in which NOTHING is MADE UP.
Can there be dialogue? Yes—but only if it is not made up.
Can there be metaphor? Simile? Yes, and yes.
Can we employ fiction techniques. Yes. Please.
Just don’t make stuff up. If there is something in quotation marks, know where it came from. Don’t put words in anyone’s mouth. If you did that to me, I would be ticked off. Wouldn’t you?
Do you disagree with any of this? PLEASE: discuss.
Blog: I.N.K.: Interesting Non fiction for Kids (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: writing, Anna M. Lewis, nonfiction writing, Add a tag
Today while writing my current book, I'm reminded of my History of Design professor, Pat Allred --- who made design history come alive. And, in doing so, gave me a life long love of design history.
So, here's a reposting of my piece from February of this year titled Making Nonfiction Interesting for Kids.
★。/|\。★
*OK, maybe my 50th tag... about my 47th post. But, I worked so hard on that graphic that I had to leave it.
Recently, I’ve been thinking way back to my senior year in college. That year, while fulfilling the last electives to graduate, I took the most interesting classes of my college experience – History of Design, Art and Environment and History of the Home. I just unearthed my class notebooks and those were the actual titles. Until now, I haven’t had to use what I learned in those classes, except for help in Jeopardy or Trivial Pursuit*, of course.
As I think back, Pat Allred, my professor for History of Design, did a fabulous job making the information interesting and relatable. With each design time period –Victorian, Bauhaus, Moderne, etc, she first explained the historical facts of the time. Then, she went through each design discipline and related it to the time period and the other areas – Graphic, Furniture, Architecture, etc. I totally got it.
Then, as I was writing my senior paper on Doll Design, I was able to use what I learned from Professor Allred and mix the evolution of dolls within a historical timeline combining how children were perceived through the years, manufacturing processes, social and fashion trends. For the entire three hours of class time, she had slides to illustrate what she was teaching. As I said above, I found my notebook complete with extensive outline, notes, bibliography and copies of every slide – an absolute goldmine.
As I begin the research and writing on my new book, I’m aiming to make the information interesting and relatable. All that architecture and design history fodder is finally going to be of use as I research and write biographies for 22 women architects, landscape architects and engineers. I’m so inspired and passionate about these women, but how can I make the information interesting and engaging for kids? With any luck, I can incorporate what I learned in Professor Allred’s classes as I write and inspire future architects and engineers. Anyone else have a similar experience with clearing off the cobwebs and making use of material stored way back in the back of your brain?
*Once
Blog: I.N.K.: Interesting Non fiction for Kids (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: research, Gretchen Woelfle, nonfiction writing, 2012 titles, Add a tag
Blog: I.N.K.: Interesting Non fiction for Kids (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: book recommendations, Tanya Lee Stone, nonfiction writing, Add a tag
As teacher friends ask for suggestions to add to their reading lists, this seems like a good time to re-post this past favorite:
In a recent thought-provoking Washington Post article, journalist and author Joy Hakim wrote the following: “As they [education historians] document the tale, it was decades ago that we gave up teaching history as an idea-centered discipline played out by a succession of characters—heroes and villains—whose actions led to results that can be analyzed. That kind of story-based history is engaging. We replaced it with litanies of facts.”
She was talking about the state of textbooks, as well as the lack of integration of standard curriculum with the stories of science and social studies that, without, leave gaping holes in education. That’s where we nonfiction writers today come in.
As depressing and infuriating as much of Hakim’s article was to me, I also felt myself saying “but we do that—those stories are being written!” And so, with the intention of offering a tiny bit of assistance to all those who teach and/or otherwise influence the education of young minds, I decided to begin compiling a recommended reading list of stories for older readers—true stories; i.e., nonfiction (or veritas, truthiness or True Dat!)—that will surely supplement and complement and enhance the experience of anyone taking social studies and science classes using textbooks.
Please—I mean this—please, add to this beginning of a list. Let’s make it grow. I will incorporate your comments and update the list accordingly. Next time, I’ll make a picture book list!
History and Science Through Story:
Armstrong, Jennifer. The American Story: 100 True Tales from American History
Aronson, Marc and Budhos, Marina. Sugar Changed the World: A Story of Magic, Spice, Slavery, Freedom, and Science
Aronson, Marc. Witch-Hunt: Mysteries of the Salem Witch Trials
Bartoletti, Susan Campbell. Hitler Youth: Growing up in Hitler’s Shadow
Burns, Loree Griffin. Tracking Trash: Flotsam, Jetsam, and the Science of Ocean Motion
Cobb, Vicki. What's the Big Idea?: Amazing Science Questions for the Curious Kid.
Colman, Penny. Where the Action Was: Women War Correspondents in World War II
Deem, James. Bodies from the Ice: Melting Glaciers and Rediscovery of the Past
Delano, Marfe Ferguson. Earth in the Hot Seat: Bulletins from a Warming World
Freedman, Russell. Who Was First?: Discovering the Americas
Giblin, James Cross. The Many Rides of Paul Revere
Hakim, Joy. The Story of Science: Aristotle Leads the Way
Harness, Cheryl. The Ground-Breaking, Chance-Taking Life of George Washington Carver and Science and Invention in America
Heiligman, Deborah. Charles & Emma: The Darwins’ Leap of Faith
Hoose, Phillip. Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice
Jackson, Ellen and Bishop Nic. Mysterious Universe: Supernovae, Dark Energy and Black Holes
Jackson, Donna M. The Wildlife Detectives: How Forensic Scientists Fight Crimes Against Nature
Murphy, Jim. An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793
Nelson, Kadir. We are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball
Partridge, Elizabeth. Marching for Freedom: Walk Together Children and Don’t You Grow Weary
Sis, Peter. The Wall: Growing up Behind the Iron Curtain
Stone, Tanya Lee. Almost Astronauts: Thirteen Women Who Dared to Dream
Thimmesh, Catherine. Team Moon: How 400,000 People Landed Apollo 11 On the Moon
Walker, Sally. Written In Bone: Buried Lives of Jamestown and Colonial Maryland
Weatherford, Carole Boston. Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her
Blog: I.N.K.: Interesting Non fiction for Kids (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: nonfiction writing, Process, research, Anna M. Lewis, Add a tag
This month, after spending these last few months combing through research, I felt like I needed a little break. Needed a little fresh air. Needed to stretch my legs. I needed, as Julia Cameron calls, an “Artist Date”.
In my current book, one of my “ladies” is Marion Mahony, Frank Lloyd Wright’s first employee. In fact, Marion was the second woman to graduate from MIT with an architectural degree and the first licensed woman architect in Illinois. An original member of the Prairie School, she was the primary designer at Frank Lloyd Wright’s office for over 14 years. (There is no documentation that Mr. Wright even graduated from high school. Whoops, got off topic there for a second.)
Even though I’ve lived in Chicago for over 13 years, I'd never been to Oak Park, the location of Frank Lloyd Wright’s home and studio. I decided that it was about time to check it out. And, who better to go with than my trusty partner in crime, Sarah, who just happened to live in Oak Park for many years until she moved way out in the suburbs with me.
In previous posts here, I’ve raved about Professor Rebecca Alms, my fabulous Design History teacher at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. While writing this post, I dug out my very old notebook from that class and found five pages of Frank Lloyd Wright notes and copies of slides. But for me, the style never really sunk in. I needed to see the actual houses to really get a feel for the design style. And, that experience hit me like a ton of bricks, especially juxtaposed next to what was the design style that was the norm at the time. I was on a design high.
In preparation for our field trip, I watched the two-disc special edition DVD Frank Lloyd Wright’s Home and Studio. So, I thought I knew everything I needed to know about the home and studio. But Sarah talked me into taking the tour with her, even though she’d been through it before, and I was so glad she did.
Looking at a Mahony drawing |
Sarah and I |
My epiphanies were:
- I finally got the Frank Lloyd Wright design concept. Watching a video or looking at pictures does not put you there.
- In my head, I now have a true image of what makes a Frank Lloyd Wright house.
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What a great post - should be read by every teacher and student - and author - in the whole wide world!
A fabulous post, you really captured the best of our lives. Thanks.
Great post, Roz. I've shared it with the students I'm working with.
Naturally I loved your comments everyone.....thanks! And Vicki, it's great that you showed the kids this post. Very curious to hear if anything comes out of it.