The City of Ember

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed The City of Ember and I cannot wait to read the sequels. The book really drew me into the lost city and I want to see how the lives of the people from Ember change once they are out of the cave. It is baffling to me to even try to think about how these people lived their lives. Living in a cave for their whole life and then walking out one day into the the really world just seems to overwhelming.
I really enjoyed working with our literature circle. I think it is a great idea to incorporate into the elementary classroom. The idea of each person having a certain job and having shared responsibility is a really great idea. I hope to use this idea in my classroom one day.

Chapter 16-20

 The last five chapters of the book were so intense and interesting! Lina and Doon are racing against the clock to rescue the citizens of Ember! Lina and Doon finally discover the way out of Ember! They can now save the city! If I were Lina or Doon I would be so excited and thrilled that it was little ole me that found the key to saving the city. They start to travel down the river, something they had never done before. The adventure appeals to the reader and keeps them on their toes as Doon and Lina race down the river holding on desperately to the side of the boat and also, to Poppy. I'm sure anyone who reads the last chapters of this book will feel the rush and exhilaration that the main characters feel.

Chapters 11-15

Lina's classmate Lizzie works at the supply depot. One day Lina is talking to her and she drops a few cans of food. Lina picks two up and she has cream corn and peaches! She had not seen this kind of food in years! Lizzie's boyfriend has smuggled the cans out of the supply rooms. This reminds me of our world today, and during other desperate times. Families are struggling to put food on their table, so their are many people out there stealing things simply for survival. Lizzie thinks she is doing no wrong because there is not enough of certain foods for all the citizens to have it, so she thinks  is saving them from fighting over the food. Doon also makes an important discovery- the mayor sitting on a massive supply of supplies that the city can use! The mayor is hoarding the supplies for himself, not putting his citizens first as a decent mayor should. The blackouts are happening daily now, and the citizens are very nervous. I am a person that worries too much, so if I was living in Ember I would be trying my best to find a new way to live. The citizens should be proactive like Doon and Lina and stand up to their mayor and look for a way out or something better. I cannot imagine living in a huge cave and not even realizing how isolated our home was. Doon and Lina finally discover the way out of Ember. It was right there the whole time! They must use boats to go down the river. They are ecstatic with their discovery and cannot wait to  tell the city to The Singing. They are want to be known as the heroes that saved Ember. I can feel the kids anticipation and excitement about this! They are about to be famous!

Chapters 6-10

During this section of the book, the mayor begins acting even more suspicious after lying the citizens of Ember about the blackouts and food rations. I can feel how desperate the citizens are becoming as the food supply dwindles and the blackouts occur more frequently. The town meeting ended in a mob sort fashion, because everyone is becoming antsy and frustrated with the administration.  Lina's grandmother is still looking for "something that was lost long ago", and she finds it in the closet without realizing it. Lina finds Poppy playing with a piece of paper and knows instinctively that it is important, unfortunately Poppy has chewed it up and it is missing crucial pieces of information. Lina becomes excited and just knows it is a very important piece of paper, but the first couple of people she shows do not agree. She finally realizes Doon will know what to do. Once Doon sees the paper, he agrees with Lina- it must be what can save Ember! They think that it could be instructions to more supplies, enough to save the city. The kids soon are doing their best to figure it out.

Lina wakes up in the middle of the night one night, hearing her grandmother call to her. She knows that her grandmother does not have much time left. She sits with her in the total darkness, holding her hand, just wishing they can see each other again. But in Ember, there is no light at night. Lina leaves her grandmother and when she wakes the next morning, her grandmother has passed away.

City of Ember 1-5

The City of Ember is turning into a really great book! The first five chapters describe the setting, characters, and the conflict. Living in this city is the only way of life the citizens know, they do not know what they are missing by living underground. Their days and nights are decided by the lights turning on and off- when they are off the city is in complete darkness, not even able to see in front of their faces. I cannot even imagine living this way. Lina dreams of a very bright city and longs to go there one day. I am hoping that this brave girl gets her wish!  This book is really interesting and I have started reading more than we have assigned ourselves!

The City of Ember

    I chose to read The City of Ember based mainly on the fact that I have read both of the other options before, but also based on the summary read in class. I have read the Hunger Games series, and I also read The Giver while in school. The City of Ember stood out to me as a book that I would be interested in right now. The dystopia trend is on the rise making for more creative versions of our world in the future. I have read a few new books with this theme and I really enjoyed the thought and imagination that went into the creation of the story. The City of Ember, being an underground city, running out of supplies seems like such a great adventure novel. The struggle to survive in this underground city, in a race against time seems like a very engaging and an "on the edge of your seat" read that I will fall in love with. I look forward to finishing this novel.

Chapter 9 and Conclusion

     Chapter 9 discusses revision of writings and strategies to use during the revision process. The revision stage is a great time to focus on craft studies. Craft is how you say what you have to say. The way you describe or tell a certain story can affect the feelings the reader takes away from the story. I think craft studies are really interesting ways to incorporate more detail and variety into the students pieces. I cannot remember doing studies like these during my school years, so I am excited to incorporate it into my classroom. I have always had trouble elaborating and adding detail to my own writing, so I believe I could also benefit from craft studies.

     Lists and leads are both examples of a craft study. Leads in particular can be crucial to a story. If the reader is not interested at the beginning they may not wish to continue reading. I really enjoy a good lead in a story- they make the story stand out to me more. We can also focus on the structure of a mentor text. The "shape" of a story can a big impact on the final result also. The sequencing, genre, and transitions can all add up to a fantastic story structure. Finally, we can focus on voice. The voice of a story is the person within the text. Students must be taught to listen for their own writing voice. 

     The true test of whether Writing Workshop has made a difference is if our students use writing as a tool to respond to the world. Writing can affect our world in a number of ways. We must encourage our students to not be afraid to use writing outside of the classroom. We must teach them that a piece they write may one day change the world. 

Chapter 11 and 13

     Both feature article studies and open-choice investigations are creative ways to incorporate the writing process into writer's workshop. The students are encouraged to expand their imagination and think outside the box. A lot of the writing in writer's workshop can tend to focus more on fiction type writing where the writers are telling a story. With a feature article the focus is primarily on nonfiction, this could be the first time the students study a nonfiction piece, which can be much different than studying fiction pieces. The class can see how something they write about could also help and encourage other people through their article.  The open-choice investigation can be really fun too! The students will love that they chose what exactly to write about. You could turn this into a true investigation assignment with props to get the students even more excited. They can take a piece of their writing that means a lot to them and research it find out more information. I really like the visual of the topic chart. This can show the students how one small idea can be transformed into fantastic pieces of writing.

Chapters 7 and 8

     In Writer's Workshop, teachers have to keep themselves from becoming too focused on gathering so many samples. The purpose of collecting the samples from the students is so that they can become comfortable and great at the ultimate goal of the workshop- publishing. Teachers need to ensure they are frequently having the students go through each step of the writing process. Each time they draft, revise, and edit they get even better at noticing what needs to change to make their writing the best it can be.
     This is where publishing comes in.You must give students a goal to move towards or else they feel the writing process was done for no reason. If they know that other people will be viewing their work they will want to raise the bar for themselves and complete better pieces. To keep the students excited about publishing all through the school year the teacher should give them a variety of publishing opportunities. The students can become bored with it if they are publishing to the same people in the same way over and over. It is up to the teacher to keep the projects creative and interesting! They should always be looking for new ways to inspire their students to lift the quality of their writings.

Chapter 5 & 6

Chapter fives gives really great ideas and strategies for helping our students to become writers through Writing Workshop. The use of “flip pads” was one tool that I thought would be useful. The writer explains that a flip pad is a small notebook that the students carry around with them both during school and at home. Whenever a fresh, new idea for story or writing topic comes to mind, they can immediately jot it down. The students are apt to come up with extra ideas through this method because they will not waste time searching for paper and pencil. They begin to live more like a writer as they pay closer attention to the environment around them. I also feel that the memory banks strategy can be very effective in stimulating writing ideas. By sharing memories with the class, the children will begin to think of their own experiences and, hopefully, pull writing topics from their personal “memory bank”. After practice, it becomes easier for the student to reflect back into their memories and write stories based off what they recall. As teachers we need to motivate our students to know and understand what it means to tell your own personal story, and that everyone’s story is worth telling.

                During the student conferences, it is our job to praise the student and make him feel good about himself, while at the same time, pointing our areas of improvement.  We should always push and motivate the children to achieve higher goals. One of the challenges for many people when first beginning this method, is learning to look at the student work and thinking about not just that one student but all the students. Usually there will be more than one student struggling with the same area of the writing process. You can use one student’s work to help others improve as well. You use your students as a teachable moment. I really appreciated the examples in this chapter. I have never seen a conference wrote out in that way and it really helped to visualize the best approaches to helping the student succeed. Also, at the end of the chapter the troubleshooting techniques were extremely helpful and encouraging.

Picture Book Study

The picture book study is very interesting.You can do many different lessons in a classroom, all based on a picture book. I liked the sheet students filled out after reading a picture book. The "Getting Inspired By A Good Picture Book" page helps the students to keep their ideas that stemmed from  that book in one place. The students begin to understand the qualities of a good picture and then through this process they begin to understand the work that goes into creating a good book. The picture book study chart was something I thought was really interesting. I like that the columns are divided out into sections and that it is class created. This helps the students establish ownership, but it also lets new ideas and creative thinking flow together. One student can bring a detail to the study chart that maybe no one else noticed, this will get the other children to start thinking along those lines also. It also it just a quick reference guide for the kids to glance at when they have a question about a certain book. I loved the images at the end of the chapter that show the exact stages that went into creating the picture book. This is a good visual to show that is does take time, but in the end the reward matches the effort put in.

Writer's Workshop

Before taking this class I had never heard of the Writer's Workshop that is now being utilized in classrooms. Reading this book has made me excited about the possibility teaching this method in my own classroom. The teachers that came up with this method were very methodical and thought about each step in the the writing process with great care. By spending a small amount of time each week in the Writer's Workshop students will greatly improve on their writing, reading, and comprehension skills. Also, this type of setting helps the student to build confidence in themselves and their writing as they learn to take more risks. Our country wants every child that goes through our school system to be literate with our language. To truly do that though, the child should have a strong grasp on the language, and all that goes into producing a solid writing work. In my opinion, this Writer's Workshop seems to be well on the way to achieving that goal. 

I really enjoyed how Shelley Harwayne describes the notebook to the children. She says, "Imagine doing the kind of writing that you will want to save for a lifetime. When you are twenty, fifty, or eighty you will still keep these beautiful bound books in a special place because you will always want to recall what kind of kid you were, what you paid attention to, and what you thought about when you were young." When showed how important this writing could be to them later in life, the child takes more pride and ownership in their work and wants to achieve high goals. This gets them excited about writing! I thought it was very thorough that the writers included exact lists of the tools you as the teacher and your students will need to accomplish the workshop. I especially loved the quote, "this means allowing teachable moments to take over and slowing down when our students are not ready to move on." The writers on this book, fellow teachers, truly put their students above all else and genuinely WANT every one of them to succeed.

I loved these first four chapters of the No-Nonsense Guide to Teaching Writing. I think they lay out the Writer's Workshop in such a way that is interesting and (hopefully) gets the readers excited about implementing this workshop in their own class. I will be honest, I highlighted and underlined so many thoughts and ideas in these chapters that there is no way for me to comment on everything I loved!