As a student throughout elementary, middle, and high-school, I feared writing. I developed an anxiety towards writing in journals, diaries, or anything similar. I believe that this anxiety developed as a result of the pressure that was put on students to have perfect grammar and spelling. Throughout writing instruction, I was always presented with the typical "writing prompt" that provided little to no inspiration to my personal writing experience. As an educator, I hope to provide my students with the opposite writing experience that I received throughout school. Perhaps one of the most apparent avenues to be successful in this journey, is to launch the writer's notebook in my classroom.
"The writer's notebook nudges students to become more active learners. It gives them a place to react to their world, to make that all-important personal connection."
According to Ralph Fletcher, launching the writer's notebook in your classroom will allow students to grow into strong writer's as they begin to notice, listen, collect, wonder, play with language, and react to the world around them. In his article, The Writer's Notebook, Fletcher discusses the endless opportunities for extra-ordinary writing that become present when we launch the writer's notebook. While many students are unmotivated and apathetic towards writing, the writer's notebook allows students to become inspired and engaged. Students will "grow by fooling around with ideas, words, images, and phrases" (Fletcher, 2001). Through allowing students to choose what they write about, young writers will develop the passion we so long for in writing instruction.
Mentor Texts
When providing quality writing instruction and launching the writer's notebook, we must incorporate mentor texts. As stated in Mentor Texts: Teaching Writing Through Children's Literature, K-6, a mentor text is a book that offers myriad possibilities for our students and for ourselves as writers. While we so often need mentors in several aspects of our lives, we also need mentor texts as we become successful writers. As educators, we can bring literature into our classroom that can serve as mentors to our students as they learn to examine several aspects of writing. Mentor texts can help students "examine an unusual sentence structure, find the poetry in prose, connect with their own memories, or find the places where an author shows instead of tells (Dorfman & Cappelli, 2017)." As students engage in various modes of text, they will become inspired by the authors to write a unique piece of writing on their own.
"Mentor texts help students find ideas and breathe courage into their writing by helping them take risks and think outside their writing box".
Textbook Amy Krouse Rosenthal
As I began to launch my own writer's notebook, I quickly realized that the author of Textbook Amy Krouse Rosenthal, is my new best friend (and mentor). Amy Krouse Rosenthal has created a piece that is so captivating and humorous, I could hardly put it down. AKR has inspired me to think about my memories, emotions, and experiences to make connections as I write. Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of the textbook so far, is AKR's description of serendipity. When I first read the word, I immediately thought of the restaurant, Serendipity, in NYC that serves the most scrumptious frozen hot chocolate. However, I now understand that serendipity is the occurrence of events by chance in a happy way. As I engaged in AKR's captivating stories of serendipity, I felt so inspired to think about the moments of serendipity in my own life.
Serendipity
Amy Krouse Rosenthal discusses several examples of serendipity in her life. Much like AKR, I have always been fascinated by coincidences. Rather these acts of chance are small or substantial, I am quick to become mesmerized. Moving forward, I plan to record every coincidence that I encounter. I am considerably regretful that I have not been keeping track in the past, but thanks to AKR, I have learned my lesson. Although I may not have recorded every feeling of serendipity in my past, there are a few that were so remarkable, I will never be able to forget.
While we may not be together anymore, the most notable moments of coincidence in my life occurred in a previous romantic relationship. While this may be a little too personal, these moments are what stuck out to me when I read AKR's description of serendipity. So I am inclined to share:
May 14th is no longer just my birthday, it is also coincidentally his.
Perhaps the most tremendous act of coincidence is the fact that his grandmother has a painting of my grandmother in her house. While this may sound creepy, when we discovered this fact, it was quite a serendipitous moment. Evidently, when he was seven years old, he decided to buy a painting for his grandmother. His mother informed me that he insisted on buying the painting because it was a painting of a gospel choir by the river. He just knew that his grandmother would love it. It just so happens that 18 years later, he meets one of the ladies in the gospel choir that is featured in the painting. This kind lady happens to be my grandmother.
While these moments were tremendously serendipitous at the time, they do make my heart ache now. However, I believe that these moments prove that every person and every serendipitous moment that we encounter are placed into our lives for a reason. I am looking forward to keeping track of every new moment of serendipity in my life.
Share your moments of serendipity here!
"There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle." -Einstein
Citations
Dorfman, L. R., Cappelli, R., & Hoyt, L. (2017). Mentor texts: teaching writing through childrens literature, K-6 (2nd ed.). Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers.
Rosenthal, A. K. (2016). Textbook Amy Krouse Rosenthal. Penguin Group USA.