Teacher | Author | Advocate
![Notebook work header.png](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/c5814e_cf9c8243528a4e8a95157aae7c939222~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_49,h_32,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,blur_2,enc_auto/c5814e_cf9c8243528a4e8a95157aae7c939222~mv2.png)
![paint brush strokes brown and blue](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/14d616_c419b37ed5894839ab13d27f698695a4~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_265,h_246,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_auto/14d616_c419b37ed5894839ab13d27f698695a4~mv2.png)
Notebook Work
I start the school year with an immersion in notebook writing. I ask students to complete a five-page autobiography in words, pictures, and/or drawings to gather thinking and ideas for possible writing topics.
A central goal in leading writers is to help them understand the power of point of view. In this case I took a photograph similar to one from my 5-page autobiography and changed the point of view to third person. This unleashed a freedom in my writing that I hadn’t found before.
I have included the goals for this work from my white board in my classroom one fall. I learned about the importance of sketching and writing from my friend Linda Rief.
To commemorate this day I gave students three poems to write from. Many glued them into their notebooks as I did.