Entry #10

For this weeks blog entry I chose to reflect on Jennifer's blog. Entry #9 stood out to me in many ways. Jennie reflects on how she was taught in school, and if she was explicitly taught each genre. I can relate to this topic because just like Jennie, I don't recall ever being explicitly taught each genre one by one, or piece by piece. Even currently working in a classroom,I don't see each genre being explicitly taught and explained to the extent that we have understood the genres. However, I have seen activities related to the descriptive writing genre, poetry genre, persuasive genre, and journal writing genre. I think for many teachers, it is important to explicitly teach each genre, but inter-relate them. Jennie mentions she has observed fiction and non-fiction writing through the poetry genre. I have also seen this in the 1st grade classroom I'm currently with. Students were introduced to a non-fiction book about bats, and were given a structured format to complete a poem. I like that Jennie mentioned, "Many students see poetry to take a very structured form, which is not the case with the genre as a whole. There is room for creativity within poetry as well as any genre". Even though students in my 1st grade class used a structured format, they were able to be creative with their word choice, and draw pictures related to their poems. Poems are very flexible, just as Jennie states, and they can be taught multiple ways.

After presenting on the poetry genre, as well as learning more about other genres, I can see how each one can work together, and relate to one another. I liked that Jennie discusses how each one can mold together, and can be taught as one. I enjoyed learning more about her groups presentation on the Narrative and Biography genres. I never thought of teaching those genres together, nor do I really remember being explicitly taught them. However, both work very well together and can also work well with the other genres. I liked that through the biography genre, we created a poem about someone in history. I had President Obama, and it was interesting to see what our group came up with. We were able to convey and describe who he was and is, in the form of a poem. I will definitely use this technique of cross-genre lessons. I think that if each genre is explicitly taught, it can be brief, but to the point for students to understand. By incorporating more than one genre into a lesson, it can show students how diverse each genre is. 

Jennie mentions that she learned a great deal about her genre presentation project, and liked that they were able to connect the narrative genre to the biography genre. Through finding an initial theme, they were able to develop and underlying focus of their lesson. By finding a common theme, they were able to relate the Narrative genre to the Biography genre. Jennie states, "I want my students to see these overlaps within the genres and not to see them as completely separate. I feel that this will help them to become stronger writers". I couldn't agree more with Jennie. I think that if students are being exposed to not just one genre, but several and at the same time, they will become more aware of using these genres throughout their writing. I have become more aware as a teacher of how to use each genre accordingly, and how to relate each to one another. I learned a great deal about each genre, how they can be used throughout literacy, throughout grade level, and throughout content areas. If students are able to understand how different yet similar genres can be, then there can be many possibilities to writing.