Poetry in the library?

As a marketing professional, I don’t often have the opportunity to work on creative writing. The copy I write is sales-focused (although I try to create engaging descriptions!). I am enjoying learning about different genres and writing drafts for my genre pieces project. Through all of this, I am trying to think about different ways that I could apply learning about the genres into the school library. I wrote about some ideas for journal writing in the library in a previous entry here, but now I’d like to focus on my new understanding of poetry and how to teach it in the library.

Tompkins’ chapter 7 talks about writing poetry, and my classmate Catherine did a wonderful presentation on writing color poems to accompany our reading. I haven’t studied poetry in years, and I really enjoyed this chapter and reading mentor texts. I decided to write an acrostic poem for my genre pieces project inspired by Schnur’s Summer:An alphabet acrostic (2011). Like Schnur’s poems, I tried to incorporate some

An excerpt from Schnur's
Summer: An alphabet acrostic.
Image sourced here

lines that would read together as one sentence instead of every line standing on its own. My poem is written for my son and contains several vertical words that will read together as one phrase. Here is an excerpt of my acrostic poem using the words “my son.”

My son, my heart, my Dylan

You have changed me in so many ways

Someday you will leave my arms

Out in the world to build your own dreams

New experiences await you

While I love writing and would love to teach writing, I was concerned that my passion wasn’t part of what librarians do. Earlier this week, I visited Brookview Elementary School in the West Irondequoit School District to observe librarian Julianne Westrich. As luck would have it, Juli was teaching a unit on language that day!

In the third grade class I observed, Juli taught them how to write a book spine poem, a poem using only book titles. She began with a minilesson, modeled a few examples she had written, and then had the students write their own poem using piles of pre-selected books. She reminded them that the poems needed to contain the exact language found on the book spines with no added words, and that the poems probably wouldn’t rhyme. In chapter 7, Tompkins says that “although rhyme is considered an essential poetic device, it shouldn’t dominate students’ poems" (p. 161). I think this was a good activity to not only teach them how to write a poem, but also to show them that poetry doesn’t need to rhyme. I wish that Juli had asked the students to share some of their poems, but unfortunately the class had to stop their activity so that they still had time for book checkout. If I taught this lesson, I would want to include a poetry café element so that students had the opportunity to share their work and receive positive feedback from their peers, perhaps in the next class if time prevented us.

In the first grade class I observed, Juli was talking about personification. She did three read-alouds including the fiction book Narwhal: Unicorn of the Sea by Ben Clanton (2016), and parts of two non-fiction books about narwhals and jellyfish. Tompkins talks about personification as a poetic device in chapter 7. After explaining the concept to students (and learning that narwhals are real creatures!) the students worked together with Juli to personify an animal together. I loved this activity and think that it was developmentally appropriate for the students (Juli told me she plans her lessons based on Common Core standards; the Writing Strand is standard 10). It was interesting to see how she also incorporated a minilessson on fiction/nonfiction texts through her read-alouds. I would love to teach a similar lesson if I were working in an elementary library.

Narwhal: Unicorn of the Sea 
by Ben Clanton. Image sourced here

I am excited to see that librarians like Juli are finding ways to teach poetry/poetic devices in the library that address State Standards. I look forward to learning more about the genres and making connections to the work of a modern library media specialist! 

Sources

Clanton, B. (2016). Narwhal: Unicorn of the sea. New York: Tundra Books.

National Governors Association Center for Best Practices, Council of Chief State School Officers. Common Core State Standards. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices, Council of Chief State School Officers, Washington D.C. 2010

Schnur, S. (2001). Summer: An alphabet acrostic. New York: Clarion Books.

Feedback and New Learning from Hicks' Chapter 3: Composing Web Texts

I really enjoyed last week’s readings from Hicks, and I believe that there are many applicable lessons for the school library. For my blog this week, I want to talk more about what I learned from chapter three of Hicks and how I may apply those lessons in my future career.

In chapter three, Hicks talks about criteria for identifying credible web texts. As a future librarian, I know I will have students who turn to the first site they see on Google and believe it’s a credible source. Hicks talks about “filter bubbles” (p. 33) that Google uses to serve us information based on our previous search history. Although I recognize that ads I see on social media are related to my Google searches, I never realized that my searches themselves carried a bias.

I think it’s important to make sure my future students understand how filter bubbles work, and I will teach them to verify information with other sources. Hicks cites Rheingold’s research that recommends questionable information be backed up by at least three separate sources (p. 33). I will teach my students to “think like journalists,” and always check their facts! Since Google filter bubbles function based on the user’s search history, I would ask my students to log-out from any open accounts (Google, social media etc.) when doing their research so that they are not finding filtered information. This would be more important to do at home as schools may block these sites anyway but students are more likely to be “signed-in” at home.

In this same chapter, Hicks gave valuable advice for responsible posting on social media (33). Hicks always encourages students to think like digital writers, considering their audience and purpose whenever writing posts, comments, or sharing other content. Doing so will avoid mindless posting that serves no purpose. While using social media smartly would be a great general lesson for a group, I know that students often create social accounts for their clubs (example: yearbook committee, student government etc.). I would love to invite clubs that have social media posting responsibilities

into my library to give them a lesson on crafting quality content that is purposeful for the intended audience! This same lesson could apply to teachers that want to start using social media as an extension of their classroom community, but aren’t sure how to craft copy. An elementary teacher using Instagram or Facebook is probably sharing photos for parents to see what they are doing, while a middle/high school teacher using Instagram or Snapchat may be writing content that’s intended for the students to see and interact with. I’m looking forward to reading chapter 7 of Hicks which talks more about crafting social media copy and thinking about how I could apply the lessons in my library.

Today’s classrooms require more and more students to compose web texts. However, students may fall into a trap where they are only composing what Hicks calls “digitally convenient” texts (p. 34). While these texts are published online, they lack links, photos, videos, and other multimedia elements that would enhance the piece. Looking at my blogs this semester, I am going to make more of an effort to create digitally enhanced texts that serve my purpose and audience. In the future, I would welcome the opportunity to teach students how to transform their digitally convenient texts into digitally enhanced texts that serve the audience and the purpose for the writing. Or, I could offer this lesson to teachers so that they can apply it back in their own classrooms. Through conversations with other library media specialists and teachers, I’m learning that teachers often shy away from technology they don’t understand, while students are eager to use it but may be using it improperly. I look forward to being the kind of librarian that both teachers and students trust for reliable information as they develop as digital writers and keen researchers!

Sources outside class texts
Rheingold, H. 2012. Net Smart: How to Thrive Online. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

Note: Images in this blog were gathered from Google and licensed for reuse.

Writing as a medium to think

"Writing is, after all, a medium for learning to think." - Donald Graves

Through the writing of this blog, I am making connections to our class readings and my own life experiences as a student. My writing will serve as a repository of information that I can refer to in my future endeavors (when teaching students about the journal genre for example), and my writing has allowed me to think critically about our class readings.

This week, we were asked to read Framework for Success in Postsecondary Writing by the Council of Writing Program Administrators, and Counterpart strategies: Fine tuning language with language by Stephen B. Kucer and Lynn K. Rhodes. Both emphasized that students need to learn how to write well for success in college and beyond, and that reading and writing are interconnected processes. 

In the first article, the authors emphasize that teachers need to develop rhetorical knowledge in their students, "the ability to analyze and act on understandings of audiences, purposes, and contexts in creating and comprehending texts" (p. 6). I feel that my teachers often taught context (for example, understanding the time and place for a historical fiction work), and also taught purpose, but we did not focus on audience. The books we read in school were part of the curriculum, so beyond thinking they were geared towards our reading level, I didn't take much consideration for the audience of the works. 

Today, I understand the importance of knowing your audience. For example, when I write marketing copy for my job in the Nazareth College Arts Center, I know my audience is likely to be college-educated, arts-minded, and local. It's crucial that I tailor my copy to my intended audience for success. If my audience doesn't enjoy/relate/understand my copy, then they won't be motivated to act and buy tickets to see a show. I completely agree that students need to understand the important of audience when reading/writing, and this is something I would emphasize when discussing books in my future library or when working with students on developing their own compositions.

Since understanding audience, purpose, and context is key to my professional writing, I believe that I do allow myself the time and rhetorical space to think when I write. I believe that I am an exception when it comes to approaching writing, but it's how I make my living and is necessary for success. Most professions require daily writing, even if it's just through the practice of frequent emails. While these individuals are aware of their audience, they may not consider the purpose for their writing, and seldom use writing to re-consider or clarify because we are in a fast-paced world. I think it's important to teach young people the value of taking time with their writing, even if it's just an email, so that they are effectively using the medium to question, clarify, or synthesize thoughts and ideas.

Through the writing of this blog, I am approaching learning with an active stance. In the Framework for Success article, the authors say that active learning occurs when the writer employs "habits of mind," which are ways of approaching learning that are both intellectual and practical (p.4). In order to fully engage with this assignment throughout the semester, I need to continually engage certain habits of mind.

Unlike my classmates, I am taking this course independent of a graduate program. Content can be challenging when I don't have current classroom experience that I can draw from and make connections to and from. I need to rely on the role of metacognition in my writing, which the authors of the Framework article describe as "the ability to reflect on one's own thinking as well as on the individual and cultural processes and systems used to structure knowledge" (p.5). I need to work harder to make connections to the weekly readings and class discussions, drawing on information from my own life experiences. I also need to remain persistent (another habit of mind) in my goal to succeed in this assignment. Luckily, my natural curiosity and interest in creative projects (two more habits of mind!) will help guide me along my path.

References
Council of Writing Program Administrators, National Council of Teachers of English, & National Writing Project. (2011). Framework for success in postsecondary writing. Retrieved from  http://wpacouncil.org/framework/

Kucer, S. B. & Rhodes, L. K. (1986). Counterpart strategies: Fine tuning language with language. The Reading Teacher, 40(2), 186-193.