Annotated Bibliography

Annotated Bibliography for Research Question: How can using literature in my writing workshop help my 1st grade students’ become better writers?

Cianciolo, P. (1985). Reading, literature, and writing from writer’s perspectives. The English Journal, 74(8), 65-69. Retrieved from http://www.ncte.org/library/NCTEFiles/Resources/
Journals/EJ/1985/0748-dec1985/EJ0748Reading.pdf

Though this article is an older publication, December1985, Patricia Ciaciolo, professor at Michigan State University, writes to address a, then, void in research on how literature impacts writers. Ciaciolo asks herself what qualities literature and “good writers” have in common, and by researching authors of children’s literature and what they have said about the qualities writers have in connection to literature through interviews, essays, and comments, she is able to define six qualities that good writers share. The six qualities that Ciaciolo find common among writers still hold true today: good writers are good readers, they like to “play” with words, they like to asks questions and want to learn more, they observe the world around them, they tell and re-tell stories, and they have a need to write, a motivation beyond just acknowledgement. This article, though somewhat dated, would still help me with my own research as it gives me a place to define in my head what qualities writers need, how that connects to their experiences of literature, and how I can give them the necessary experiences in my classroom to foster good writers and good writing habits.

Fletcher R, & Portalupi J. (2001). Writing workshop: The essential guide. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

In 2001 Ralph Fletcher and JoAnn Portalupi collaborated for a third time on a book to introduce teachers to the writing workshop and the elements that are contained within the workshop. Fletcher and Portalupi have a chapter on Literature in the Writing Workshop. This chapter is the chapter that made me question my own use of literature in my classroom, especially in my writing workshop. This chapter drove my research question. Fletcher and Portalupi assert that there are four important parts of literature in the classroom, especially in relation to writing: read aloud, independent reading, book discussions, and using literature in teacher/student conferences. The writers pull from their experiences of working with teachers and being teachers for over twenty years to create a chapter on the importance of incorporating literature in the writing workshop. They assert that primary students model their own writing after books and story forms they have heard or read, some students come to the classroom with a wide range and background in literature, but some students need more support in accessing literature. By exposing students to a variety of literature when they are read to, when they read independently, when you discuss books as a class, or when working one on one with a student to conference their writing their writing pieces will become more vivid and well rounded. This chapter, actually the whole book, will be really helpful in making my writing workshop run more smoothly while I work on my research question.

Hammerberg, D. D. (2001). Reading and writing “hypertextually”: Children’s literature, technology, and early writing instruction. Language Arts, 8(3), 207-216. Retrieved from http://www.ncte.org/library/NCTEFiles/Resources/Journals/LA/0783-jan01/
LA0783Reading.pdf

In 2001 Assistant Faculty Associate at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in the area of literacy education, Dwanene D. Hammerberg, conducted research on how contemporary children’s literature uses “hypertextual elements” (i.e color, size, font), and other visual cues to impart understanding. This in turn needs to be included in writing instruction as a means for students to expand and explore their own writing. Hammerberg challenges teachers of writing, especially those with primary students, to use texts that have these elements in them as mentor texts for their students writing. Hammerberg ascertains that by allowing students to use these hypertextual elements in their own writing their imagination and their writing will improve. This is article is helpful for my own research as I would not have thought to use hypertextual elements as a springboard for my instruction of writing. In my class students draw their pictures then write the story, this use of hypertextual cues in their drawings will help my students to create more vibrant writings.

Hassett, D. D., & Curwood, J. S. (2009). Theories and practices of multimodal education: The instructional dynamics of picture books and primary classrooms. The Reading Teacher, 63(4), 270–282. Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=014b8f4e-15c0-4af8-a738-731c8f6703f2%40sessionmgr113&vid=5&hid=125

In 2009 Dwnene Hassette, teacher in the department of curriculum and instruction at the university of Wisconsin-Madison, and Jen Scottt Curwood, doctoral candidate there as well, collaborated with 3 kindergarten through 3rd grade teachers with master’s degrees in literacy to create and teach a literature rich curriculum that uses contemporary books that contain hypertextual elements to help students become more interactive with the literature. Hassett and Curwood hope that their research on how these hypertextual elements change reader/writter’s view of literature and literacy will, in turn, challenge teachers to use the contemporary literature to change their instruction of both reading and writing to reflect how hypertextual elements of contemporary literature will effect their students’ writings. This, like Hammerberg’s research, will definitely help my own research on how literature can improve my own students’ writings. Since contemporary children’s literature uses elements of text than just the words, (color, shape, format) to being deeper understanding to the reader, my own students can use these in their writings as well.

Paquette, K. R. (2007). Encouraging primary students’ writing through children’s literature. Early Childhood Education Journal, 35(2), 155-165. Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=7a24f35a-59d3-4
abf-ba2890e78af04805%40sessionmgr114&vid=5&hid=125

In 2007 Kelli Paquette, Professor of Professional Studies in Education at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, researches how picture books provide mentor texts for the 6+1 writing traits of good writers by taking the excitement students have from read aloud stories and transferring it over to writing, a subject often noted by teachers as a challenge. Paquette creates a list of mentor texts for each of the six writing traits and comments on how those texts can influence student writing. This article is very helpful for my research as it gives me a beginning list of books to include in my classroom for my writing block as instructional texts, as well as how these books can be used in a connected activity. This list of books that Paquette has accumulated will be very helpful as a springboard for me to find texts that are mentor texts for more specific lessons in my writing block.


*format would not cross over from Word to blogger.