I use 2 marble books- one is a Writer's Notebook and the other a Lit. Log and both follow the Interactive Notebook model. In the front of the Writer's Notebook are different lists and things to help them come up with their own ideas for writing such as a timeline of their life, a heart map, lists of possible writing topics, an "Itches to Scratch" list, favorite poems, scrumptious word list....The model goes on the left side and their practice/tryout goes on the right. I then have the kids turn their books upside down and backwards and have them free write in the back. Pieces are dated, but may continue on over days. In the Lit. Log, we start with Table of Contents. Again, anything I give them is glued on the left, a practice of whatever it is goes on the right. This way they have a model and their own version of anything we do. This really cuts down on the "I didn't remember what to do" stuff. In the back, upside down and from the back, is homework which is usually literary response to Independent Reading. These two books are our textbooks and have most of their work for the year. I check the Writer's notebooks every 2-3 weeks and do one class per night. I do not read everything, but have them select several, then count up the rest. In the Lit. Log, I check the homework daily for completeness and spotcheck other stuff once or twice a term. We keep both books in a large ziplock bag along with their Independent reading books. The bags go home nightly and are expected in class each day. If either book is lost, it must be replaced immediatly and the student has to stay after school and reglue in all the missing sheets. This is a real pain, but once it gets around the kids how long it takes, I don't seem to have any more problems. I hope this helps! Karen Onyx Carusi Middle School -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [email protected] Sent: Mon, 19 Feb 2007 11:32 AM Subject: [LIT] Management Details
Hi all, I teach seventh grade and have about 120 kids. I also use journals with my kids, something like an interactive notebook. Everything is in one notebook. But I am not so sure I will put everything in one notebook again next year. We use the three subject notebooks with the plastic covers right now. They keep a table of contents and have the pages numbered. I have them tape in handouts and poems. I do most organizers in the notebooks, too. I still find that it is very confusing to them to find things when they need them. I have 49 minutes a day with each of them, so I can only do Writer's Workshop three days a week and Reader's Workshop two days a week, so they have to do their responses at home as well as a lot of their reading. They have to haul the notebooks back and forth. They are also really big for me to haul and grade. I think next year I am going to have them get three or four hardback composition books. One for Reader's Workshop Notes and Responses, Writer's Conventions and Word Work, and Writing Notebook. They can leave them in crates in my room and take home only what they need for that evening. It still sound cumbersome, but I haven't worked out the details yet. How do you organize your kids' work? Do any of you teach in a middle school setting and use workshops to teach? If you, I would like to talk time management with you. I hate the way my weeks are laid out now. I have the week split into three days WW and two days RW. I would like to try something else next year, but unsure what. -- Kimberlee Hannan Department Chair Sequoia Middle School Fresno, CA _______________________________________________ The Literacy Workshop ListServ http://www.literacyworkshop.org To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/lit_literacyworkshop.org. Search the LIT archives at http://snipurl.com/LITArchive ________________________________________________________________________ Check out the new AOL. Most comprehensive set of free safety and security tools, free access to millions of high-quality videos from across the web, free AOL Mail and more. _______________________________________________ The Literacy Workshop ListServ http://www.literacyworkshop.org To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/lit_literacyworkshop.org. Search the LIT archives at http://snipurl.com/LITArchive
