First day with a sub!

Okay, so I have two things on my mind for this post: I called in sick today; therefore, my students are having their first experience with a sub in my class. Also, I wanted to reflect a little bit about the cohesive genre unit I have going on right now.

In regard to the first idea that's on my mind, I was feeling really crappy this morning. I actually fainted in the shower (and managed to give myself a slightly bruised cheek!). After getting out of the shower and drinking some orange juice (I thought maybe it was just that my blood sugar was low), I realized that there was no way I was going to take the risk of going to work and fainting in front of my student (talk about scaring them!). So, I called the sub line and left a message with the secretary at school. I have to admit, I'm feeling rather guilty because I am going to be gone for a total of 6 days (10/21-10/28) for my wedding! So, in my guilt-enduced "frenzy," I sent out an email to all the teachers in my pod asking them to please let me know how my kids were responding to the sub. I received an encouraging email from a co-worker stating that my Block 3 class looked pretty good when she walked through. We'll see if that is an accurate representation of how the sub felt in my classroom.

Next, I want to spend a few minutes reflecting on a genre unit that I sort of "whipped" together on accident. So, since I have been completely overwhelmed with the planning of the wedding, parent-teacher conferences, open-house, observations, and overall lesson planning, I have been finding that a lot of the lessons I bring to school are not filling the entire block. So, in addition to feeling inadequate in regard to time management, I have begun to develop a keen sense of improvising. (See how I found the positive side of this blunder?) In one of my hurried attempts to fill up a chunk of the block (usually around 10-20 minutes!), I found myself having my students do a free write. Well, as they silently wrote for the remainder of the class, I frantically searched through my brain for an explanation or rationale for making them do this. What rationale did I come to? Well, I brought in a poem that I had written about a year and a half ago. I also brought in write-ups that I had done about dreams that my parents had had for me while I was growing up, a hard decision I had made in my life, an anecdote about a Polka dancing contest I had won, and symbols that represent who I am. This follow-up lesson plan introduced my students to some new vocabulary (symbol and anecdote), and it allowed for me to make a connection between free-writing, creativity, and poetry. Also, the write-ups about dreams, anecdotes, decisions, and symbols allowed me to have a discussion with my students about the role that personal experience plays in expressive writing (such as poetry and free-writing). So, after that lesson, I decided that it would be a perfect opportunity to introduce my students to the idea of genre, and how writing genres can really become intertwined and cohesive if we think about them in a sort of cause and effect way. In addition to exposing them to a new vocabulary words with this idea (genre, description, narrative, creative, technical, persuasive, and expository), we had a valuable discussion about categories, and how categorizing information allows for us to more easily process information (example: author purpose and audience). Shortly after this discussion about genre, we "connected the dots" for the previous lessons we had had during group work. I had them fill in a cause/effect organizer with their thoughts about how all of our discussions and activities over the past few days were related. The results were incredibly encouraging!! A few examples:

"The free-write showed us how to let loose with our writing--->After we let loose, we looked at examples of writers who had let loose with poetry (Kanye West and Ms.K)--->Then, we looked at different ways to be expressive with our writing by looking at symbols, dreams, and quick stories about personal things--->Then we learned about how free-writing can lead to creative writing which is a genre of literature.--->Now we think Ms. K is going to have us use our free-write to write in a new genre of writing, like maybe descriptive or something."

"When we was free-writing, we didn't know why we was doing that--->Then, when we looked at "Jesus Walks" (by Kanye West), we thought that maybe we did it because we are going to write a poem--->Then, Ms. K brought in some stuff she had wrote about herself, and how she became who she is today--->After that, we thought that we would probably be writing another free-write about the personal side of who we are--->Then we learned about different writing genres, and we sort of thought about the fact that all of the stuff we are reading and talking about is really creative writing, or kind of like a narrative--->So now we think we is going to write a personal narrative, but it can be creative too because creative writing and narrative writing can be a lot alike if you think about it."

Well, after we had sharing time with these cause/effect handouts, I lead them into a discussion about how creative writing and narrative writing can be related. We also talked about one type of narrative writing: personal narrative. We are currently working on "Life Maps." Each student has had their picture taken (courtesy of my digital camera). These are not just your typical "mug" shots, I encouraged each student to think of a pose, facial expression, or any other aesthetic that would accurately represent WHO they are. So, I have a lot of silly faces, interesting angles (one boy wanted me to stand on a table and look down at him so he could look up... he wanted to show that he feels like he has so much potential!). In addition to the self-portrait, they are creating actual timelines of their lives. These timelines will be fully illustrated (perfect for open-house), and will include little write-ups about at least 6 substantial events in their lives. So, what's coming next in this cohesive genre unit?

A descriptive peice about one event on their life maps (which will be an excellent time for me to do grammar in context about colorful adjectives, descriptive verb usage (example: Lisa DRIBBLED water down her shirt. Instead of Lisa got water on her shirt), and using a variety of sentence lengths in writing). And then?

A research inquiry about memory and why certain memories stand out more than others. And then?

An expository paper about the processes of researching and inquiry. Then?

A persuasive paper about the "best" genre of writing they have worked with thus far. Then?

A technical (business letter) piece written to a literary journal explaining why a (self-selected) piece of their writing should be published in that journal. And finally?

A creative piece (poem or short story) that incorporates their experiences with this genre unit.

Of course there are things that need to be ironed out, and of course some of the connections seem a little stretched, but I feel like I could have benefited from a cohesive genre unit like this when I was in high school. I think it's so important for these kids to understand that there are distinctions between all the different genres, but good writers should also be able to find a strong voice and let that voice be heard in all the genres. What better way to see that than to stick with a common thread and travel through all 6 genres?