Where I'm From: Inviting Students' Lives Into the Classroom

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Where I'm FromInviting Students' Lives Into
the Classroom

• Dr. Rebecca Kaminski
• Director, Upstate Writing Project
• Clemson University

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• Empathy, or social
• imagination, allows students to
• connect to the other with
• whom, on the surface,
• they may appear to have little in
• common. A social imagination
• encourages students to
• construct a more profound we
• than daily life ordinarily permits.
• An Excerpt from Reading, Writing, and Rising Up
  Teaching
• about Social Justice and the Power of the Written
  Word. Linda
• Christensen.

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Literature Model

• All children need literature. Children who are
  authors need it even more. Graves,
  Teachers and Children at Work

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Guided Imagery

• a focusing of consciousness on such
  imagesnot just thinking about events but
  imagining them as if they are taking place in the
  present.
• Daniels, 148

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• Guided writing or scaffolding is even more
  student-centered than shared and interactive
  writing and involves supporting learners as they
  work independently. Scaffolding a task is like
  providing a child with a set of training
  wheels.
• Piazza, Journeys

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• Prompts
• Buddy Share

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• Poetry Examples
• What images describe or refer to sights? Sounds?
  Tastes? Smells? Things you can feel?
• Who are the significant people described in each
  poem?
• How did the author's let you know about their
  ethnic backgrounds? Which phrases especially
  spoke to you.

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Time to Write

• Write a poem that incorporates the images that
  you have collected on your web.
• Can you
• use a repeating line like the example poems did.
  
• I am from ?
• include one or two lines that use the I am
  from and followed by a list, such as I am
  from cough drops, candy canes, and grandmas
  Kleenex. ?
• make your poem sound like home by using the
  language of your home, your family, and your
  neighborhood?

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• From our work with teachers and students, weve
  found guided imagery to be one of the most
  powerful prewriting techniques available. Why?
  Because after using this unique device, people
  often produce writing filled with exquisite
  details, surprising connections, and insights
  that wouldnt be present otherwise.
• Daniels, 149

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Student Samples

• Class Samples
• NWP Rural Voices Radio II
• Out on the Porch Tales
• from a Mississippi Swing
• www.writingproject.org

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References

• Badby, M. (2000). Momma, Where are you from?. NY
  Orchard Books.
• Bigelow, B., Harvey,B., Karp, S. and Larry
  Miller. (2001) Rethinking our classrooms
  Teaching for equity and justice, Volume 2.
  Milwaukee Rethinking Schools. http//www.rethinki
  ngschools.org
• Christensen, L. Reading, writing, and rising Up
  Teaching about social justice and the Power of
  the Written Word. Milwaukee Rethinking Schools.
  http//www.rethinkingschools.org
• Daniels, H. (1988) Community of writers. NH
  Heinemann.
• Graves, D. (1983). Writing Teachers and children
  at work. NH Heinemann.
• Piazza, C. (2003). Journeys. NJ Prentice Hall.
• Tompkins, G. (2000). Teaching writing, Third
  Edition. NJ Prentice Hall.