Refresh my memory please. How do I get the students to use the notebook as a writer's notebook and NOT a journal? We are talking third graders and they have spent a few years writing in journals so this lesson was a success. Now it is time to learn an new concept and leave the old. There are a few that lapse back to the idea of a journal. "Today I..."
I would just flat out TELL them and show them the difference. Ask them if they have ever read a BOOK or a magazine article that goes like that Today I _________. Focus on writing things like we read! Telling stories rather than sentences. Be sure you are modeling and telling/showing specifically what to do or not to do. Is that clear as mud? Focus and model the kids who ARE diong it- focus attention on that.. the others will come around...
ReplyDeleteGood. That is exactly what I have been doing and I think we are getting better. They are eager to write every day and want to share their writing with everyone. That encourages me. I have one that has trouble getting his thoughts on paper. Today he wanted to tell his story so bad. I let him use "other" time to add to his paper what he wanted to share and he did! I told him tomorrow he would could use writing time to write. Just needed a boost. This is so much fun and rewarding.
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