Bomer Chapter 11 Reading

     While reading chapter 11, I chose two Bomer types of notebook entries to talk about 1) Reaching into Memory and 2) Thinking About a Person. Reaching into Memory is a writing style where we reach back into our memory and write about the first thing that comes to mind. It doesn't have to be anything glamourous, big, or super important, it could be a small moment that we sit and focus on, and write about it. I chose Reaching into Memory because this can allow students to focus on something small, and not pay too much attention to the writing form. Almost like with the Slice of Life, we focus on something minor and write about it, we reminiscence on it and see where our memory takes us, as opposed to he slice of life we focus on being in the moment. I also feel that this requires writers to focus on this memory, and not combine many memories or get off topic, but talk about this moment and what they remember from it. Introducing this to my students could be hard, because students, even for myself, can tell many stories when trying to tell one, because something in that story reminds us of something else. So this would be a learning curve, and trying to make sure they focused on telling that one moment of the story, but understand if they go off topic it's ok and have them circle back to what they were originally writing about.

    The second type I chose was Thinking About a Person. This writing style involves focusing on a person and their characteristics, essentially what makes them, them to influence our writing. With this type of writing we often relate to characters in stories we read, and relate them to people we may know. This is a way for students to feel like they have something to write about. Often we talk about common things that have happened in our life, or day, but never about people specifically, and I think this could be good for students, even something I would like to try myself. I consider myself a people watcher, I watch their mannerisms, and how they are, just because I'm curious about people, so I think I would be able to give my students a great example of this, and again relate it to what I think their life may be like, or to a character in a book I've read. I could demonstrate this with my students by writing about one of my students and what I see about them and their personalities, and how I thought about them and noticed these things about them and what I was able to write about them, or maybe not use one of my students but write about another teacher, or family member so they can relate when they try their hand at writing.

    Upon further reading of this chapter I looked at the "Intentional Strategies Versus Assignments" section, and felt the author was saying that teachers need to make sure notebooks aren't the place where all the assignments go, and that there is development of their notebook entries. The purpose of the notebook should be student-oriented, and many of the entries led by them. When it becomes the place for all the assignments, student don't have a safe space to write their own thoughts/ideas down, and keep the academic and personal boundaries separate. Notebooks are students workspaces, it allows them to find a topic, or vice versa when they reflect on their journey and what they've written about in the past. 

    The journals have endless possibilities, and every step of our writing process doesn't need to be contained within it, but that edits and drafts can happen outside of it. It can also be a place where students write down helpful notes about language and when to use certain words, little nuggets. When choosing  a topic to write about it can help students to reflect on previous entries, and see if there is a common theme or a topic they typically write about. Once they choose that topic they need to sit and think about it and spend time writing about it. They need to explore this topic they are writing about and explain it fully, and with detail. There needs to be proper development in their writing, and needs to have a relationship to other entries in the notebook. They should also spend a few days writing about this topic from different angles and viewpoints to provide a whole picture of the topic they're writing about.