A writer's notebook is an important tool in a classroom and our daily lives! it serves as an outlet for saying what we want to, getting things on paper and being creative. It also helps us as learners become more comfortable in writing things down and getting in the habit of using a journal.
In Mentor Texts, by Lynne R. Dorfman and Rose Cappelli there are SO many ways I am learning to use a mentor text. My favorite thing so far was on page 12 in chapter one. The authors are talking about how important "teachers as writers" are in supporting students.
Mentor Texts book that I mentioned:
This is the journal that I chose for myself. I am a creative person normally and I work well with the grid format, it helps keep me organized and creative! The gird lines everything up and help my OCD flourish! :) I chose leather because it honestly just looks and feels good to me. I also loved the idea of a band over it because I tend to glue things in most of the time or tape things that are a part of the story.
This is the first entry I made in my writers notebook! It was the most fun class in a while so I thought it deserved its own cute title!! Another thing reading the texts that were assigned this week was the importance of being transparent and real with our students.
“It’s tough for kids to get started on journal keeping, so I suggest they bring back little things they pick up along the way— folders from a muse- um visit, a leaf, a dandelion—and paste them into a notebook. Then they can write their thoughts about them, what they saw and what they felt." (Fletcher 2001)
This article went on to give SO many ways to use and incorporate journaling in the classroom. Some of my favorite ways, and that I am looking forward to using in my future classroom and plans are describing what is important, write to a specific audience, and including sketches and drawings. This is important to me because of the creative side of my life and for students that may need that outlet. I also liked this because the students that don't feel as confident as writers, have a way to share their stories as well!
This book, OH MY GOODNESS!! I am not one to over read when a text is assigned to keep on track with everything in a class. However, this book has exceeded all expectations that I could have had for a class text this semester. This book is FUN to read, which I haven't gotten to experience in a class in a long time.
According to the most trustworthy site on the internet, Wikipedia (kidding), Serendipity is defined as "the occurrence of an unplanned fortunate discovery. Serendipity is a common occurrence throughout the history of product invention and scientific discovery. Serendipity is also seen as a potential design principle for online activities that would present a wide array of information and viewpoints, rather than just re-enforcing a user's opinion."
One of the journal entries that I did in my writer's notebook was about this idea of serendipity in my life. I was paying closer attention after doing these readings and reading AKR's book. It was my boyfriend's birthday (the day of our class meeting actually but we celebrated early) and I had forgotten about the birthday card I had bought in advance. It said "happy birthday to the only person I would want I dog with" joking, I bought this months ago because we had been walking the thin line of getting a puppy - all hypothetical. Turns out, the day before his birthday we made a deposit on a puppy that we would get to take home on February 4th! It was such a happy coincidence that I had forgotten about until I went to write in it a couple days before his birthday. I told him about this situation and how similar this was to page 43 of AKR's book!!