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Proverbs in the ClassroomAuthor(s): Caryl EissingSource: The Reading Teacher, Vol. 43, No. 2, Teachers' Choices Best New Children's Books(Nov., 1989), pp. 188-189Published by: Wiley on behalf of the International Reading AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20200331 .
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when they wrote for themselves, writ
ing was meant to be shared.
Conclusion
Although all of these ideas are ones
that were used with first-grade chil
dren, all could appropriately be used with older children. Students in any
grade could easily do the one-to-one
sharing and then share with a total
group. The total group sharing also could be incorporated into writing in the content areas. Although it was
quite a bit of work for me to put the students' writing on the word proces sor, their pleasure in seeing their work in print made it well worth my effort.
With older children, they could input their stories themselves and thus save the teacher's time.
I think that the most important out come from all of these endeavors is that the children loved to write because
they knew something positive would
happen to their ideas. The sharing gave purpose and direction to what we were doing. They learned about sev
eral very important reasons for writ
ing, and they recognized that they had become competent writers.
Amspaugh, an Associate Professor at the
University of Cincinnati, Ohio, learned about sharing writing while teaching first grade during a years sabbatical leave.
The first draft on tape Janet W. Bloodgood
Many children face a mental block when confronted with the task of put ting their thoughts down on paper. The blank sheet before them is an intimi
dating reality. Some children, particu larly those with poor handwriting or
inadequate spelling, confront a double barrier as they attempt to overcome the mental and mechanical hurdles to writ ten communication. Their thoughts
may be free flowing, but because they are frustrated by spelling and hand
writing, their thoughts are reduced to a
simple, almost telegraphic form. What can be done to assist these children? Can technology be used to help give them confidence and freedom of ex
pression? One solution is a tape dictation pro
gram to allow a child to fully express ideas without initial concern for the
necessary mechanical tasks of spelling and handwriting. After the first gen erative steps of brainstorming and
clustering suggested in the writing process, the child uses the tape re corder to dictate a full passage without the fear of losing ideas while strug gling to form the letters and spell trou blesome words. The result may be a
rich, detailed story or essay that fully expresses the child's intention.
The next step is the child's transcrip tion of the taped article to paper. The child listens to the story completely and jots down notes on any ideas for revision. Then, listening to the tape in a sentence-by-sentence manner, the
child puts the ideas down on paper, in
corporating revisions into the written draft. In this way, the child has a func tional written second draft. The
thought process of writing has been honored without interference from me
chanical elements. At this point, attention can be placed
on the secondary elements of writing attention to syntax and orthography. Since the child is working from an oral
transcription, it is my belief that syn tax will require few changes for most children. Punctuation and paragraph ing may also be eased by the oral record. The child can by alerted to the natural pauses in her or his speech which correspond with these elements of written language.
An excellent opportunity now
presents itself for meaningful word
study. Rather than red marking the pa per and sending the child to check the
proper spelling of the wounded words in the dictionary, error types can be identified. When particular difficulties
have been analyzed, they can then be addressed in minilessons for individ uals or small groups of children.
Use of dictated drafts enables chil dren to feel more at ease with the writ
ing process and helps them gain confidence in their abilities. Children have two drafts of their work, but they
have had to write only one. The origi nal richness of their ideas has been
preserved, and the students can now
more comfortably focus on the me
chanical tasks of making their thoughts visible.
Bloodgood is a graduate student at the
University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA.
Proverbs in the classroom
Caryl Eissing
As a language arts activity, my third
grade students have examined and dis cussed some well-known proverbs (e.g., "A stitch in time saves nine") As
the culminating part of this activity, the children wrote their own proverbs. To
get them started, I provided the begin nings of proverbs we did not discuss in class which they were to finish with their own original endings.
I have found this activity to be very successful in facilitating ?he develop
ment of inferential reading skills. It
helps the children to form analogies between the proverbs and their own ex
periences. It also demonstrates the richness and varieties of regional ex
pressions. Vocabulary usage also may be discussed (e.g., soda and pop), in
creasing the students' awareness of dia lectal differences.
An important step in this activity is the sharing of original proverbs. This
provides the opportunity for students to give their reasoning behind their
proverbs, and it makes for a spirited discussion.
This is a fun and highly motivating activity, adaptable to a wide range of
grade levels. I have sometimes found the students' proverbs to be better than
the originals. Some samples from my class follow:
"People who live in glass houses...have
to change in the basement."
Shari
"If the shoe fits...it's the right size."
Seth
188 The Reading Teacher November 1989
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Practical teaching ideas
"You can lead a horse to water, but.. .you will probably get wet."
James
"Too many cooks.. .make a mess."
Tara
"He who lies down with dogs.. .won't lie
down for long." Pauline
"You can lead a horse to water, but.. .you can't lead water to a horse."
Jacquelyn
"Every cloud has..rain in it."
Nicole
"A rolling stone...is dangerous." Brandon
"It takes two.. .to make a pair." Mark
"Beauty is only...looks." Jon
"Silence is...quiet." Krista
"Good fences make...good gardens." Matthew
Eissing is a teacher and reading coordina
tor at the Allamuchy Township Elementary School, Allamuchy, New Jersey.
Laptop flannel boards Jeanne M. Jacobson
Can the traditional flannel board be come a portable, individual teaching tool? Surely it can! "Laptop" flannel
boards?easily and inexpensively con structed in multiple sets?can provide young children with enjoyable re
peated practice in following oral direc
tions, reading basic number, color, and
shape words, and using basic spatial concepts such as under, over, above,
below, between, as well as in creating their own illustrations for oral or writ ten stories.
The laptop flannel boards are made
by folding a flattened cereal box into a
wedge shape, reinforcing the working surface by taping a heavier cardboard
piece underneath, and covering the now triangular box with flannel cloth,
taping and stapling this to the inner sides of the wedge. A rubber band
slipped around the box before it is fas tened together forms a movable hori zontal line on the working surface, so
that shapes can be placed above and below the line.
To construct the laptops, use a large size cereal box-selecting a popular brand will make it easy to collect a set of boxes that are all the same size.
Carefully open the box down the side where it is glued; trim off the top and bottom pieces to produce a flat piece of cardboard whose folds separate it into four sections: two large rectangles (A and C), and two narrower rectangles (B and D). If you have been very care
ful in opening the side of the box, there will also be a very narrow strip (E) at the edge of A.
As you form the flannel board, keep the printed side of the box inside, so
that the printing will not show through the flannel.
Cut a piece of plain flannel cloth as
long as the box (from A through D) and about 3 inches wider. It should be of a color on which the usual primary colored cutouts will stand out; dark
green or pale blue, for example, are
good colors for a background, while
bright red and yellow are not. From a heavier piece of cardboard,
such as the side of a packing carton, cut a rectangle just slightly smaller than section A. Place it under section
A and tape it in place on the sides,
leaving the end untaped. Slip a large rubber band around sec
tion A. This will become the movable horizontal line for the working sur
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FUMNEL
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IN THE CLASSROOM 189
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