Reading an article about invitationals did not leave a clear picture in my mind of what they are, or how they work. Rather I got the general impression of group investigations which is an idea I love. Even though I do not feel, after reading the article that I could go into a classroom and set this up, I do feel like I am left with great ideas and inspirations for classroom learning. One part of the article that particularly struck me was, the child who wondered why people who write news, think kids would not be interested. That is a good question. I think that children knowing more about the issues of the world is extremely valuable. I got the idea while reading, for a class news paper "In Our Own Words." Along the lines of an invitational, I would have groups of students pick an issue, and read articles about it, translating them as a group, into language that is easily understood by children. I also do very much like the idea of invitationals, as presented in the article, but need more information before I could do what is being suggested.
Though I do not write poetry, I have done it in the past for classes, and emotional expression. I can understand, to some extent, why people struggle with poetry. I was talking to a friend the other day who is completely opposed to writing poetry herself. People I think feel silly, especially when expressing emotions this way. There is also some confusion about how to do it. For some, the freedom of expression is liberating, while others I think may just feel lost. for this reason I really liked the chapter on poetry. I think that the instructions for writing poems are useful, but even more useful would be repeated practice and experimentation with these poem structures in the classroom. Once students can experiment with different poem techniques and find that they kind of like some of the stuff they produce, the world of poetry will open up a little for them.
I completely agree that the invitations article was lacking some information. I was lost, especially when looking at the sample worksheet and the childrens' writing samples. The newspaper idea you have sounds like a good invitation activity from what I gather from the reading, but like you more info is needed to do a full activity.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad I'm not the only person who struggles with teaching poetry... I'm also calmed down now that I realize I wasn't the only student who didn't quite understand what an invitation is according to Van Sluys.
ReplyDeleteI am glad I read both readings because I affirmed that cross-curriculum instruction is vital and man, I really need to take a higher interest in poetry because I do think it helps some students express their personal ideas or research findings.
I took the invitations article to mean the act of suggestion to take part in an activity. As our placement teachers invite the students each morning to be writers, each afternoon to be mathematicians etc this demonstrates particular invitations. Then following that circle time the student break a part to find their own meanings then come back together to discuss their finding as a group of scientists or writers would discuss an article.
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