Embedded Files
Why Keep a Notebook?
Why Keep a Notebook?
“Keeping a notebook is the single best way I know to survive as a writer. It encourages you to pay attention to your world, inside and out. It serves as a container to keep together all the seeds you gather until you’re ready to plant them. It gives you a quiet place to catch your breath and begin to write.”
“Keeping a notebook is the single best way I know to survive as a writer. It encourages you to pay attention to your world, inside and out. It serves as a container to keep together all the seeds you gather until you’re ready to plant them. It gives you a quiet place to catch your breath and begin to write.”
—Ralph Fletcher,Breathing In, Breathing Out: Keeping a Writer’s Notebook (1996, 1)
—Ralph Fletcher,Breathing In, Breathing Out: Keeping a Writer’s Notebook (1996, 1)
“Your notebook is a room of your own. It provides a safe place for you to ask:
“Your notebook is a room of your own. It provides a safe place for you to ask:
What do I notice? What do I care about? What really matters? What moves the deepest part of me? What haunts me? What do I want to remember—in my life, in this world—for the rest of my life? What do I want to write about? How might I begin?”
What do I notice? What do I care about? What really matters? What moves the deepest part of me? What haunts me? What do I want to remember—in my life, in this world—for the rest of my life? What do I want to write about? How might I begin?”
—Ralph Fletcher, Breathing In, Breathing Out: Keeping a Writer’s Notebook (1996, 3)
—Ralph Fletcher, Breathing In, Breathing Out: Keeping a Writer’s Notebook (1996, 3)
What to put in it.
What to put in it.
“To write or draw everything you think or feel or believe, because your thinking matters." - Linda Rief
“To write or draw everything you think or feel or believe, because your thinking matters." - Linda Rief
"Store your ideas in your WRN. It's a place that you come back to again and again to find ideas to write about. It's a place where you can doodle, sketch, list, rant, play with words, cross things out and just write. Writing notebooks are reassuring because it is easier to start from something rather than nothing. In notebooks, you should feel free to be awkward, unpolished and unsure. Cross things out. Scribble. Draw arrows to other thoughts. Try opinions without commitment — without anyone watching. Notebooks are dedicated to perpetual messiness, and that’s their charm.
"Store your ideas in your WRN. It's a place that you come back to again and again to find ideas to write about. It's a place where you can doodle, sketch, list, rant, play with words, cross things out and just write. Writing notebooks are reassuring because it is easier to start from something rather than nothing. In notebooks, you should feel free to be awkward, unpolished and unsure. Cross things out. Scribble. Draw arrows to other thoughts. Try opinions without commitment — without anyone watching. Notebooks are dedicated to perpetual messiness, and that’s their charm.
Sometimes you will be given prompts to write about, but sometimes you will have some freedom to explore. Not all of the prompts may be useful to you. Try out everything we do and don’t worry if some of the prompts seem like dead ends.
Sometimes you will be given prompts to write about, but sometimes you will have some freedom to explore. Not all of the prompts may be useful to you. Try out everything we do and don’t worry if some of the prompts seem like dead ends.
When you have time, feel free to personalize your WRN. It's yours to personalize!"
When you have time, feel free to personalize your WRN. It's yours to personalize!"
**Adapted from Ms. Craig's website
Other possibilities for your RWN:
Other possibilities for your RWN:
- Maintain your Reading List
- Response Section
-Connections to other texts
-Connections to other texts
-Collect ideas for your Read Aloud/Reading Ladder/Reflections/etc.
-Collect ideas for your Read Aloud/Reading Ladder/Reflections/etc.
-Quick Writes - more on that soon...
-Quick Writes - more on that soon...
-Writing, observations, and discoveries about yourself, others, and the world with pages of writing, collected pictures, charts, cartoons, lists, drawings, etc.
-Writing, observations, and discoveries about yourself, others, and the world with pages of writing, collected pictures, charts, cartoons, lists, drawings, etc.
- what you are noticing/learning about writing from the writers you read
- what you are noticing/learning about writing from the writers you read
- Vocabulary Section/Beautiful words
- Notes from class, if that works for you
Notebook Time
Notebook Time
When we do "Notebook Time" we use a variety of mentor texts to inspire our thinking and writing — images, illustrations, charts, maps, statistics, poems, sentences, passages from books, etc. The purpose of each one is to help us find new ideas and try new things in our writing.
When we do "Notebook Time" we use a variety of mentor texts to inspire our thinking and writing — images, illustrations, charts, maps, statistics, poems, sentences, passages from books, etc. The purpose of each one is to help us find new ideas and try new things in our writing.
Notebook Assessment
Notebook Assessment
Once or twice each quadmester, you will submit your notebook for assessment. For this assessment, you will complete all prompts and also select one entry that you would like me to read more carefully.
Once or twice each quadmester, you will submit your notebook for assessment. For this assessment, you will complete all prompts and also select one entry that you would like me to read more carefully.
Flag (highlight?) this entry with a note that explains why you are proud of it. You might be proud of the entry because you took an unusual or creative approach, you made significant revisions that enhanced the piece, or you tried out a skill or technique that we learned in class.
Flag (highlight?) this entry with a note that explains why you are proud of it. You might be proud of the entry because you took an unusual or creative approach, you made significant revisions that enhanced the piece, or you tried out a skill or technique that we learned in class.
To come up with a notebook grade, I will be looking for evidence of rereading and revising. I will match points with how many entries show this practice. For instance, if you’ve completed every assignment and shown revisions for each one in a different colour, you’ll receive full marks. I will also look for evidence that you fully committed to each entry, that you pushed yourself to find a way into the topic, or that you employed an “I-don’t-know-what-to-write” strategy to help you to develop an idea.
To come up with a notebook grade, I will be looking for evidence of rereading and revising. I will match points with how many entries show this practice. For instance, if you’ve completed every assignment and shown revisions for each one in a different colour, you’ll receive full marks. I will also look for evidence that you fully committed to each entry, that you pushed yourself to find a way into the topic, or that you employed an “I-don’t-know-what-to-write” strategy to help you to develop an idea.
If you are absent, you’re encouraged to write in your notebooks to achieve full credit.
If you are absent, you’re encouraged to write in your notebooks to achieve full credit.
Ensure that all entries are neatly titled and dated, so I know which entry is which.
Ensure that all entries are neatly titled and dated, so I know which entry is which.
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