RE-5130: Professional Readings and Brown Girl Dreaming

This past week, as I read Brown Girl Dreaming and the professional articles, I once again began to make connections to my current class of first-grade students. First grade is such an important year for writing and reading. I am using certain strategies to encourage my young writers to jot down ideas. I think one of the most important ways young children can learn to write is by making connections to what they write. Kids love to talk about themselves. And I know this is because the person they each know the most about is himself/herself. So I think that is important.

I loved reading Brown Girl Dreaming and how Jacqueline Woodson depicted such a textually visual representation of her life through poetry. She tells the beginning story of her life in a way that is powerful, impactful, and poetically written. I think this would be a great strategy to teach young writers.

I also loved the article "Walk Like a Writer." I would love to do this with my students (when time permits, of course). I have always found my greatest writing inspirations from nature. I used to walk a LOT. I would take my dogs for a walk through the woods every single day (this was before college and life and adulthood and all those other things that make us lazy). I always felt so inspired by walking outside. It gets me thinking. I think a walk outside is just what first-graders need to get their brains in gear.

One of my favorite writing strategies I learned about this week is Heart Maps. I LOVED creating my own heart map. I think it is such a unique way of writing. Kids are passionate about what they love, and a heart map is such a great way to get them writing about those passions (and they might not even realize it's writing since it is in the shape of a heart!). Sneaky. Even better.

What I learned in Chapter 2 of Mentor Texts goes right along with my desire to implement personal connections to text and literature in my classroom. I loved the idea of "Filling Our Treasure Chests." This also connects to the writer's notebook. I think it's important for any writer to "fill" their "treasure chest" with ideas and personal experiences. I think all kinds of literature can be created through ideas collected in a writer's notebook. And the most authentic type of writing a child can do is about something they have experienced and know the most about.