9-27-12 Activities and Reflection Student 2

Field Notes:

Goals: Traffic light paragraphs

            expository vs. narrative

*100 on geography test

*Test in Wordly Wise tomorrow

     *Played iPad game to review

*Talked about types of writing

     *Then writing process, then traffic light

     *Tried to say the final paragraph of his short story did not follow this formula. But that was ok--I explained his story was a different style of writing, so it followed a different formula

*Read example paragraph and color coded--not terribly enthused to color, but was happier when I told him we would be scribbling. Got bored with that eventually, but did do #3 independently--only used vertical lines to mark beginning and end of sentences.

*Worked together to create outline, but final paragraph was a story (narrative). It still works, kind of.

*Began typing paragraph at 5:19, finished 5:25, but accidentally deleted. Had full conclusion written and was very disappointed.

     *I pointed out how much less time typing the paragraph took compared to last session where 2 paragraphs took the full hour.

Reflection:

Hmm...This one might give me (more) gray hairs. This particular student has a hard time focusing anyway, so I'm not terribly surprised he lost interest with dissecting the sample paragraphs. He did do well with them, so I think he understands at least.  We definitely need some more work in the difference between expository and narrative though. As I said in the field notes, he was initially confused because his prior narrative didn't follow the "formula." I had to point out the differences between his fictional narrative and the nonfiction nature of expository writing.  Also, he had difficulty writing his own expository paragraph. Again, his story works...it's just not what I was going for. 

Hopefully he at least saw the value in doing prewriting activities. I made sure to point out to him how little time the outline and drafting took compared to a few weeks ago when he had to write a short story and he struggled and struggled to come up with his few paragraphs. He acknowledged how little time it took. I just hope he internalizes it and follows the process himself. That's my main goal for all of my students, whether they're reading or writing--for them to internalize the process so it becomes automatic, especially since so little for these students is automatic. Many will still struggle to some extent, but at least having a strategy they know works is huge.