"Can We Talk?" Teaching Dialogue

Personal narrative and fictional narrative is part of intermediate level writing, and along with this is the challenge of teaching dialogue. "Say what?" 

Over the years, I have read student stories written with multiple sets of quotation marks one set following the next on the same line and right into the next. Never mind there were several speakers somewhere in the mix (I think). By the end of the page I had long lost track of who said what and needed to grab some ibuprofen for my emerging headache!

"Let's go ride a bike" said Joe. "Okay" "where should we go" "Hey I want to go too" "Okay." "Let's all go." "I want to be in the lead." "no I do." "No. You can't." "Let's just all lead." "Okay."

Look familiar?

While I know there are tons of fabulous books that demonstrate dialogue, one of my favorite picture books to teach dialogue is My Rotten Redheaded Older Brother by Patricia Polacco. 

This is one of my favorite mentor texts for teaching dialogue.

As I read the story to the class, I point out how each time a speaker changes, there is a new indented line. We discuss how it's okay to leave white space if there is a new speaker. We talk about how sometimes there is an assigned speaker, but sometimes the reader is expected to follow the sequence for a short time to know who is speaking. I show examples of assigned dialogue, unassigned dialogue, and split dialogue. We also take note of all the words that can be used instead of "said".

Types of dialogue

Then comes time to do a bit of semi-independent practice. For this task I allow students to find their own partner and sit on the floor back to back. They each have a lap sized white board to write against, a pencil, one lined loose leaf sheet of paper to share between them, and they each have a copy of "100 Other Ways to Say Said" as a resource guide. One partner starts off the conversation using dialogue just as though they were speaking to one another. I tell them to start by writing about their weekend. I've never had any group struggle with what to write back and forth. I also tell them to feel free to help their partner by reminding them (via their written dialogue) to indent or use quotation marks, for example, if they notice they are missing.

Meanwhile I am walking around the room spot-checking to be sure each group is correctly indenting each time the paper is passed back and forth, the quotations are in the correct place, and a "said" word is used followed by their name. For this exercise, they must use assigned dialogue with their name each time they write so when I look over the paper later I can see who still needs help.

Let me tell you, for the duration of this practice there is silence. #YouCanHearAPinDrop. They could do this for a lengthy amount of time and still-silence! I am not kidding. Students LOVE this activity and beg to do it again. Depending on the outcome of their papers, which I use as a quick assessment, we may need to do some dialogue reteaching and/or do another round of practice before we jump into a narrative.

If you try this, let us know how it goes and feel free to share in the comments any strategies you have found to be helpful in teaching dialogue.

Word Goals-Thinking About Our Actions

Welcome Back Everyone!
Hopefully you have had a restful and relaxing summer and maybe even a new experience or five! 

Little Miss is all set to join my class, but we'll give her a few years until she hits 4th grade! 

For those of you new to the intermediate grades this school year, this blog was created as a collaborative tool for tier 4 in the Wausau School District. I am excited to once again share ideas, projects, and resources as the school year progresses. Please add your ideas, thoughts, projects, and pieces you have found helpful in context with featured topics in the comments below!

Summer Experience...

If you were to choose one word to focus on being "more of and better at" this school year, what would it be? Perseverance? Flexibility? Generosity? Whenever I have traveled abroad, I realize how much I take for granted and after my summer travel experience my focus words this year will be thankful/grateful. In this post I am sharing an idea I read/tried last year and  how I will start this September by having students choose a word to focus on throughout the year.  

My hubby and I decided to do a very different vacation tour for our 35th anniversary in July- we went to the equator in the country of Ecuador. This was a small tour group led by a friend of ours who has spent a lot of time there and gives these tours each summer. Ecuador is a very poor country but the scenery is gorgeous, the indigenous people were fun to interact with, and the food was delicious! They are in the same time zone as we are and their currency is the American dollar. And no, it wasn't hot because we were in high altitudes of 9,300 ft in the Andes Mountains. Here are just a few highlights...

Ecuadorian Dancers perform in the old town 
part of the capital city of Quito.

Incredible selection of all kinds
of fruits, some of which I've never seen before.

On the Equator...north and south hemispheres.

Looking into a volcanic crater near the
capital city of Quito, Ecuador.

Banos, Ecuador is known for its thermal baths with natural hot springs that are full of minerals and are said to have healing properties. There are four pools ranging from cold to super hot.

Otavala, Ecuador holds a large Marketplace each Saturday. Lots of wonderful spicy smells at this table! The Marketplace sells alpaca wool jackets, scarves, and blankets, panama hats, and many other hand crafted items. I came back with lots of fun pieces!

This "busy" pole was a common site;
many others were far busier!

An alpaca and its owner.

We toured this two year old's family rose farm.
Bouquets can be purchased in Ecuador for a few dollars.

We found the native Ecuadorians to be very friendly.

The "Notre Dame" of South America in Quito. We had to climb some steep ladders to get up to this point in one of the towers.

Pailon Del Diablo. 

This was the most incredible water fall I have ever seen! So much of staying "safe" from drop-offs without rails along with other safety issues are left up to the common sense of people. However, I never saw any car seats during the trip and many children as well as adults could freely ride in the backs of pick-up trucks (like some of us did as kids back in the '70's), larger trucks, or in their vehicles while they are being towed. I realized quickly there are so many other aspects of our daily lives in the U.S. that I am thankful for as well! And I am excited and thankful to share these cultural experiences with students as the school year begins!

Here is the Word Goal idea to get your school year off to a great start!

Happy New Year in September...

Every school year as soon as we come back from Winter Break, I usually have students think about what type of New Year's resolutions they would like to make. It's a great writing activity because students have to think of the details of how they are going to accomplish the goal and why they want to work on it. After we finish this task it ends up in their writing folder to be pulled out again during parent conferences. Most parents comment on how the goals of keeping a room clean or getting along better with a sibling certainly weren't happening any more (if they ever were).

Keeping the New (School) Year Resolution fresh all year....

It always bothered me that like so many adults, student resolutions are quickly set aside and the "same old" becomes easy to fall back into. So last January when I came across the idea of making a word goal, I decided to test it out. Each student chose a word from a list or thought of one of their own...such as thoughtful, helpful, appreciative, tenacious, considerate, flexible, etc. There were also some "do's and don'ts" to think about when choosing the word. They were asked to pick a word that they were not already awesome at doing and not to base their word on what others were doing.

Word Goal: Flexibility

Word Goal: Clean

Word Goal: Confidence

Next, they wrote why they chose the word along with three action steps to get them started on their word goal journey. On the back side they created a poster of the word. In order to keep this word in the forefront of their minds, once a week during one of our class meetings, each student revisited the word by re-sharing it along with some action they had done during the past week to move their goal forward.

It was pretty amazing in that students had to be thoughtful in thinking about the word goal for the rest of the week and throughout the remaining part of the year. Their shared action each week was mindful. The hope is that students develop their trait enough over the course of the year to continue them automatically. I also hope that by hearing each others goals each week similar actions were inspired.

Students worked on their word goals all year.

As I start this new school year, I am going to move the January resolutions to September and begin the year with our word goals. I intend to have students keep working on these goals the entire year. Happy New (School) Year...What is your word?

Here is the link to the original word goal idea:
Word Goal

Assessment Reflection Poem

Another year of state testing is in the books! Big sigh of relief from both students and staff. When the last of the exam sessions were over, I gave students the opportunity to reflect as well as have some moments to relax, create, and de-stress. Connecting to poetry month, students made an acrostic poem in their poetry books using the word "Assessment" written vertically down the lefthand side of the page. 

Students wrote test-related words, phases, or sentences starting with each letter of "assessment". 

Through the creation of their piece of poetry, lots of thoughts, feelings, and reflections were shared by students. 

Some true feelings coming out here!

Students found this simple task of creating an acrostic piece to be a positive way to end testing and enjoy poetry at the same time. 

There were a lot of happy smiles when they were done!

Immigration Journey...a letter in history

There were many summer trips when my parents would pack up the family station wagon (it eventually got the nickname "Blue Moose") and head to central Indiana to visit my grandparents. It was an eight hour drive usually getting us there well after dark and while the rest of the family was zonked, I kept my dad company (and awake) as he drove. I asked him all kinds of questions of when he was a kid and he always told such great detailed stories to help me visualize.

The old 1972 Oldsmobile Blue Moose, decked out here for my high school graduation parade.

A fun connection to the past is to find out more about where you've been. After studying and building background knowledge in a social studies unit, I have students combine their new learning with writing to create a customized "Historical Fictional Narrative" Immigration Letter.

To begin...

Students begin by conducting a family interview of parents, grandparents, or any other relative that might know about where ancestors originated from. The interview includes questions such as, what country did your family come from and when, where did your family first settle after coming to the U.S., how many generations ago did they arrive, why did they leave their former country, and any names of those family immigrants. While families may not be able to answer some of the questions, it is a way to get family members involved in discovering more about their past as well as passing on this historical genealogy to the next generation.

A couple great resources I read to the class before starting the writing are, An Ellis Island Christmas by Maxinne Rhea Leighton, and When Jessie Came Across the Sea by Amy Hest. Another resource is a video clip on Youtube narrated by immigrants of their experiences called, "Island of Hope Island of Tears" by PublicResoureOrg (28 minutes). Here is the link:

Island of Hope-Island of Tears

These books are perfect for building background
and giving students writing ideas.

The Letter...

The student pretends they are an immigrant who has left their country and is now beginning life in the United States. The letter is written to some of their "family" left behind in the old country and tells of their experience on the ship and Ellis Island. This letter not only serves as a writing assessment but also an assessment of an understanding of the immigration unit. Embedded in the letter, students use any pieces of their own family history they discovered through their family interview as a basis for the letter.

Students came back from their interviews excited by their family history they learned about. Parents were excited at the opportunity to having a willing listener. One student brought in a detailed document of various family members from several generations back. Another student brought in a binder filled with family trees and stories that had been originally written down by other generations.

Students gathered interesting family history.

Two examples of students' written work of
Fictional Narrative Immigration Letter.

As for my own family history, I am thankful for all the stories my dad told, and that my sister is the family historian and has taken the interest to research and share with me!

An Engaging Way to Teach Grammar

Why teach grammar? Grammar is taught to improve writing. And grammar activities that get students writing sentences that focus on various components of grammar are best.

I once had a foreign language teacher that demonstrated German prepositions as she acted them out around a desk. So to this day I think of them in relation to a table or desk or something that one can go under, above, beside, across from, or around. I never forgot what prepositions were and that easily translated into remembering the English version as well. I knew my students would have fun with a version of this activity and I am hopeful they will forever remember what prepositions are in order to create better pieces of writing.

I began by showing students a lot of sentences with prepositions. I explained that prepositions are words that tell how, when, what, how much, which one, why, or where about something in a sentence.  Armed with a list of common prepositions, students' task was to create a basic story line with a partner using as many of the prepositions as possible.

Among the plants, sits a preposition story, with lots of 

prepositional phrases inspired by a geranium. 

During winter. In Wisconsin.

Next, they took this a step further to illustrate their story line. They were soon staging various stuffed animals and other objects around the classroom in order to create a visual for their sentences. 

"What should the zebra do? Beneath, above, beside??"

"The green monkey is going under the cart."

They collaged the pictures in Book Creator and captioned each picture with their corresponding sentences. 

In the future I would definitely ask  

students to highlight the prepositions!

Finally they uploaded their pages into SeeSaw to share them with the class. Whenever students are given the opportunity to read each other's work online it not only helps them grow as learners, but is also one of the most engaging activities ever! 

This lesson was done in a one hour block. Given more time, these pieces could have been much more extensive, but either way I'm thinking students will likely always remember what a preposition is. 

So, in spite of all the fun during this prepositional learning segment, it is time to wish you a day that is above, beyond, and outside of your wildest dreams!

A special thank you to my high-school and college German teachers who helped me not only to remember prepositions, and improve my writing, but to inspire my own students decades later.

CCSS:
L.4.1 (e) Form and use prepositional phrases.
L.5.1 (a) Explain function of prepositions and their function in particular sentences.

Only in Wisconsin...Online Resource

Last June I came across an article and I was reminded of the many wonderful summer weeks I spent as a kid on my grandparent's farm in central Indiana. Lazy, hot, humid days filled with playing with cousins in the barn loft and quiet summer evenings listening to stories my grandparents told while watching the farm fields light up with thousands of dancing fireflies. Fun were the days of seeing how many fireflies I could collect in a jar (don't worry, I always let them go). 

Growing up along the lakeshore of Wisconsin in Manitowoc, I never saw fireflies. Maybe it was too cold by Lake Michigan. I always wondered about it. The following "Only in Wisconsin" site had a recent article that notes fireflies like warm, wet conditions and that last year was one of the best years ever in Wisconsin to view them. I thought about how fascinating this article information was and how students would love to learn about this as well.

This Firefly Phenomenon In Wisconsin Will Enchant You In the Best Way Possible

Flickr/JessicaLucia

I found the Only in Wisconsin site last year and wanted to share it as a great resource when teaching about our state. While not a site specifically for educators, I have found many cool things that fit with what we're learning and that kids find pretty amazing. This site works best as a point of interest to get kids engaged when teaching about specifics in our state. With lots and lots of pictures and a quick paragraph or two, it's easy to get students excited. It has everything from little known state parks to aspects of state history, geographical features, and lots of interesting state trivia, to name a few. 

I found the easiest way to use this site was to subscribe to it and then mark relevant pictures and/or pieces to share with students when they fit in. At times, I just focus on a single picture or two instead of the entire article. The site provides fascinating facts, trivia, and pictures to get students (and you!) interested in Wisconsin. In addition, it has many articles that you may personally enjoy  on topics such as great restaurants, fun recreational spots to visit, must-see scenic areas, and even some creepy haunted houses. One thing for sure is that you will learn a few things you didn't know! 

The other cool thing about this site is that other states can be accessed as well. So if you are teaching other regions of the United States and want to find some interesting things about another state or even if you are planning your next vacation, check it out...

Only In Your State

Last spring I referenced this article as a resource to use when teaching latitude and longitude. The site is just west of Wausau. At 45 North parallel and 90 West meridian, it's pretty interesting to think that this is one of four such "Center of the World" locations on Earth. Two are located in oceans and the other is in a hard to get to mountainous region of China.

Back in June, I made my way out to 45 North and 90 West. It was a fun quick little adventure. It's located near Poniatowski on Meridian Road. The "Center of the World" is kind of in the middle of nowhere but is easily accessible if you are up to walking about a quarter mile on a well maintained gravel trail along the edge of a farmer's field. There is also a parking lot available...in the middle of nowhere.

 Few People Know The Center Of The World Is Actually Hiding In This Tiny Wisconsin Town

Way off in the distance where you can barely see something white sticking up is where 45 North and 90 West intersect.

Pretty wild flower scenery along the walk.

Signage at 45 North and 90 West.

I made my way to the "Center of the World"!

Here are a few more examples of Only in Your State articles. Each has a quick few paragraphs and pictures to connect students with some feature of Wisconsin.  

This first example takes us to the southwest part of the state to give us some mining history. The location of this one is in Platteville which sits in the Upper Mississippi Lead-Zinc District. The article explains how in 1845, a vein was discovered 50 feet underground and produced 2 million pounds of lead ore in its first year. Read more about it here:

Travel Back in Time With This Amazing Wisconsin Mine Tour

Here is a link to 9 historic sites around the state. There is a picture and caption for each of the 9 different locations. This is a picture of Mineral Point where the town proudly boasts "Where Wisconsin Began" back in 1827. Pictures and information such as this can be shared with students as a spring board to create excitement about teaching geography and history of Wisconsin.

These 9 Historic Villages In Wisconsin Will Transport You Into A Different Time

Jeremy Atherton/Flickr     Mineral Point

Did you know there are prehistoric reefs located in Wisconsin? If you have ever been to a Brewers game at Miller Park, you have been very near these reefs. This article explains that during the Silurian Period, 400 million years ago, there was a shallow tropical sea with lots of marine life and fossils that can now be seen in museums around Wisconsin. Check out this link to see more pictures. This is an interesting way to plug into the geological history of our state with students and see what is on and near these reefs today.

Few People Know These Prehistoric Reefs In Wisconsin Are Hundreds Of Millions Of Years Old

Flickr/Teemu008   This is a picture of an ancient tree covered reef.

There are a number of waterfalls in the state and this next article highlights Big Manitou Falls. Discovered by Native Americans who thought they were hearing the voice of the Great Spirit, the article goes on to say that the brown tint to the water is from all the minerals in the area.

Everyone In Wisconsin Must Visit This Epic Waterfall As Soon As Possible

Doug Kerr/Flickr     Big Manitou Falls

One more thing to note...

Be sure to look at the bottom of each Only in Wisconsin post to find a special feature. Wisconsin Image of the Day always displays a gorgeous photo of somewhere around the state. Kids could have fun writing captions for these or using their oracy skills in discussions.

And those fireflies? They have inspired me to check out Only in Indiana, my birthplace and where I spent my first two years of college...and of course I'm sure to feel as if I'm "Back Home Again In Indiana".

Please share if you have been on this site before and any specifics you come across that we can all use!