Cathy Guild - Teaching Word Choice and Voice Through Poetry

[Catherine Guild]

Finally! Now that my room is packed, students are gone (along with their report cards) I'm ready to think about something else - and this is my something else that'a been that nagging little voice in the back of my head for days. I am a third grade teacher at Virginia Palmer and am very proud of my students. I am so proud of my students and our classroom climate. They looked out for and were willing to help and share with each other. Many are reluctant writers because they just don't know the "right" words to use to express their thinking, so I've tried to give them a lot of support in writing this year. We did the Ralph Fletcher Writing Workshop lessons, which they enjoyed because it gave them more freedom to write about things that interested them.

I chose to do my project on word choice (and voice) because most of the students I teach lack vocabulary skills and this reflects in their writing. They overuse words that don't express their ideas in interesting and engaging ways for the reader. So, it was very easy to get them thinking about how to use different, more interesting (we used the word "poetic" from Ralph Fletcher) words in poetry to not only teach a variety of vocabulary but also teach grammar. And, if the students use a variety of strong, precise and interesting words, the by-product can be great voice. I have read many papers with great conventions that were just boring. But it was much easier to overlook the errors in conventions when I read a paper that included words that grabbed my attention and strong voice.

[Stacey Saulsgiver]

I agree I would much rather read a paper of interest with pizazz than a stifled paper that is grammatically correct. Looking forward to your presentation. It is so true we need to beef up word choice/vocab for our ELLs. Anymore nowadays I am noticing this statement to be true not only for ELLs but for our low language English speaking students also. Does anybody converse anymore?

[Temoca Dixon]

I always love finding new words or our vocabulary words used correctly in my students' writing. I agree. The students stick with the one word they know and never think to look for synonyms. In Isabell Beck's book, Bringing Words to Life, she talks about finding tier two words to replace tier one words, so instead of your 3rd graders using happy they can use bliss. I think collecting words that just sound jazzy helps students enjoy words. They can sollect words from their reading to use in their writing.

I look forward to your presentation and the new ideas you'll share.

Temoca

[Marcell Boyer]

I am looking forward to your presentation. I agree! I'd much rather read a paper with strong voice and poor conventions than the other way around. I find Ralph Fletcher to to be a great inspiration for my students also. His use of a single descriptive word or short phrase to describe a technique has been invaluable. I love being able to tell my students, "crack it open" and having them instantly understand.

[Lisa Larson]

Cathy,

I like that you made the connection between vocabulary and poetry. I agree that poetry is an excellent venue for teaching better words to students. In my own classroom, I've seen students experiment with new words and then months later, I see them still using those words, so I know what I taught them "stuck." In addition, better word choice does lead to better voice and poetry is perfect for teaching that in my opinion!

You mentioned a "Ralph Fletcher Writing Workshop." Is this something that you've gleaned from his books and incorporated into your classroom and teaching style or is it a prescribed program that he created? If it's prescribed, where did you get the information? I would love to know!

Thanks for sharing and I'm looking forward to seeing your great ideas!

Lisa

[Patty Foncault]

You might also be interested in Katie Wood Ray's book Wondrous Words. She talks about using butcher paper to create word walls of words the students especially like. They can be words they've heard or that they come across in their reading. You could have a wall for the different parts of speech. When I've done activities like this in my classroom I've found the students become truly engaged and enjoy "word searches" in books and magazines.