Ferguson, Hilary

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Language Arts Journal of MichiganVolume 5Issue 1 Focus: The Teacher-Researcher Article 31-1-1989Simple Listening or Developing Competencies: ATeacher's Look at the "All About" BookHilary FergusonFollow this and additional works at: http://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/lajmThis Article is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@GVSU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Language Arts Journal ofMichigan by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@GVSU. For more information, please contact scholarworks@gvsu.edu.Recommended CitationFerguson, Hilary (1989) "Simple Listening or Developing Competencies: A Teacher's Look at the "All About" Book," Language ArtsJournal of Michigan: Vol. 5: Iss. 1, Article 3.Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.9707/2168-149X.1685LANGUAGE ARTS JOURNAL OF MICHIGAN SIMPLE LISTING OR DEVELOPING COMPETENCIES: A TEACHER'S LOOK AT THE IIALL ABOUT" BOOK Hilary Ferguson Wen I was the Frtnd of the Wekel Sarah My Dad came to read to us My Dad read I Had Trouble in Getting to SolaSaoll I got to Take the atendens Dawn to the oms I Brot Pidshers in and pot them on the Botlatln Bord I cleaned the kose Igottmvud Miss Ferguson made a Book for me When I Was the Friend ofthe Weeki Sarah My dad came to read to us. My dad read I Had Trouble In GettfnQ to Sol1g. Sollew. I got to take the attendance down to the o1ftce. I broughtpictures in andput them on the bulletin board. I cleaned the coats. I got interviewed. Miss Ferguson made a bookfor me. As a primary grade teacher I knewstones like Sarah's Wt!re the result ofhard work and Wt!re written inwhat is often the -genre- ofchoice foryoung writers and popular with the first grade readers in my classroom. Yet I had heard such stories dismissed as -Just those all about books- and treated as a phase children tend to go through before -real writlng'" starts. However, Newkirk suggests that this -generally accepted low estlmate of children's abllitles-is a functlon ofa model ofchUdren'swritlngwhich seesItas-deficient adultwritlng" and challenges us to adopt -anotherangle ofvlslon- so that Wt! may see the -competence ofchlldren- as writers (142). 1bat challenge became the focus of my action research. lnitlally I wanted to find out what kinds of writlng first graders employ when gfvt!n 6 Volume 5, Number 1 regular time to write In a workshop setting. I read and thenclassifiedbygenre each piece ofwriting composed during the first semesterby the twenty first graders with whom I worked last year. During that research and related professional reading this questionwas refined tofocus on the -all about-genre ofyoung writers and haw they can become competent as writers within it. By carefully looking at first graders' stories I saw evidence of their growth as writers. even those who were writing within the "all about- genre. Newkirk might deftne my looking as -an Incremental viewpoint which exam­Ines the approximations children successfully attempt- (142). Approxima­tions in the -all about- genre are leadingyoungwriters toward competence as writers, particularlyofexposition (Sowers 75; Newkirk 142), Just aswe have learned to view children's Invented spelling as approximations toward the conventional spelling, my research conftrms for me that we can Indeed view the "all about- booksyoungchildrenwrite as approximations towardconven­tional expository forms. Moreover, some "all about- stories by ftrst grade writers seem to be approximations toward accomplished writing irrespective ofgenre. Sowerswas the ftrst to IdentifYstories l1keSarah'sas -all about-books: -An 'all about' piece ofwriting often has the phrase 'all about' In the title and consists ofa listl1ke collection offacts, features, and attributes ofits subJect­(73), The story -LovingGoldfish" written in Octoberby one ofmy first graders, Stephanie. is another example of this kind ofwriting: Lovelng Goldfths by Stephanie You hafto fed goldfths You hav to clene goldftshs tanke Goldftshs or orge and wite and some er juste orge ftsh nede sleep to You shod just fede thtm wuse a day but sumetimes you fede this tuas a day You shod cepe the wotre a strint tamprlhsr and htat is all Loving Goldjlsh by Stephanie You have tofeed goldfish. You have to clean goldjlsh's tank. Goldjlsh are orange and white, and some areJust orange. Ftsh need sleep too. You shouldjustfeed them once a day. but sometimes youfeed then twice a day. You should keep the watera certain temperature. And that is an. 7 LANGUAGE ARTS JOURNAL OFMICHIGAN Stephanie's title certainly could have been-All About Loving Goldfish"; in her story she lists the features of that behavior. She has leamed enough about focus and details to be able to write her piece, but all of her focused, detailed statements (except the last one, -And that is all.") could have been listed in any orderwithout changing the meaning of the story. However. the traditional focus on this -randomness of form" of the "all about" book has prevented us from seeing -the student's real achievement" (Newkirk 129), Stephanie's achievement was In herability to select the Information thatwas part ofher story and leave out everything else. Newkirk, ifhe read Stephanie's story. might suggest that despite her arbitrary order Stephanie "does successfully maintain the dlvtslon between information which does relate to the topic and Information which does not" (129). Stephanie Is growing toward competence as a writer. As Annie Dillard points out, "The writer of any work. and particularly any nonfiction work. must decide two crucial points: What to put in and what to leave out" (55). When shewrote -Loving Goldfish" Stephanie. at age siX. experienced making that decision as a writer and succeeded. Other stx-year-oldwriters also experlenced making that wrlter's deci­sion. Of the 578 pieces ofwriting composed by the first graders In my room durlng the first five months ofwritingworkshop. 255 of them fell Into the "all about" book category. While Sowers found manymore -all about" books than narraUves publishedat thebeginningoftheyear (75), I found a balance In the kinds ofbooks selected for publication each month. The only exception was October, when -all about" books on Halloween or holidays were the -hot topics." KINDS OF PUBLISHED BOOKS "All About" Personal Narrative Fiction September 6 10 3 October 12 3 5 November 7 7 7 January 8 8 5 Not only is "all about" a common style ofwritingforyoung children. as thesebeginningreaders explore manyconceptbooks, much ofwhat they read 8 VolumeS, Number 1 iswritteninanMallabout-mode. NewktrkpointsoutthatMthechUdhasaccess to 'demonstrations' ofltstmaktng in concept books- (132). Books like A FYrst Look atDfnosaurs, Sharks, and FfIl It Up/ AU about Service StatIons serve as models of these inventories of information. They become examples of -all about" books that first grade writers read. And young writers not only write about what they read, but imitate it as well. Lindsay, a reader, wrote the following piece: my hans can do thising byLtndsay The had book to Krista The things my hans can do aer moov and hit The things my hans can do aer pat and caree The thing my hans can do aer dro The End My Hands can Do Things byUndsay The Hand Book to Krista The things my hands can do are move and hit. The things my hands can do are pat and carry. The thing my hands can do Is draw. The End. Lindsay's mother told me that this piece was similar to a libnuy book that they had read at home and suggested that Undsay was imitating the book, How can -an about- books written byyoung chUdren be dismissed as a pbue when they are reading such books, known as concept books when writtenby adult authors. from the library? As the months ofthe semesterpassed and these first graders grew as writers, there were changes in the -all about" books they wrote. Topics were delfberately selected becauseauthorshad spectfic information theywanted to share with their readers. After readtngaboutanlmals, Ertcwrote to share his information with classmates. He used a more complex structure (chapters), which he discovered in a book he was reading, The One In the Mlddle is the Green Kangaroo, by Judy Blume, to organize his -all about" animals book: 9 LANGUAGE ARTS JOURNAL OF MICHIGAN Anumols byErlc Jan 131988 Deducatede to my sisder and mom and dad Capturone Reptols wen a ltsards tatl folls off he gros a nather one and he easts plants. wne a radol snak dtse someone they nuty boye and he eats plants too but he eats mise. rabets, frogs and brdstoo. ChapderTwo mamols PePoI are mamols. cows are mamols They eat gras and hey. b1lly Goats are mamols they eat gras. tubneko, and other things like dos. Chapderthree birds birds make nest. they ley eggs. they need wigs or they can't fly they eat bugs. Animals January 13, 1988 Dedicated to my sister and momand dad Chapter One Reptfles When a lizard's tatlJaUs off. he grows another one. Re eats plant. When a mttFesnake bUes someone, they might die. And he eats pEant too, but he eats mice, rabbits, frogs and birds, too. ChapterThlo Mammals PeopFe are mammals. Cows are mammals. They eatgrass and hay. Billy goats are mammals. They eatgrass, tobacco, and other things like clothes. Chapter Three Birds Birds make nests. They lay eggs. They need wfngs or they can'tfly. They eat bugs. Although Erlc organized his information under three headlngs- Repti~es, Mammals, and Birds-within each of these chapters the information was 10 VolumeS, Number 1 presented in a random fashion. This structure by grouping is an extension of the ~all aboue book (Newkirk 133). Eric is growtng as a writer. In dealing with his inventory of pieces of tnfonnation about animals, Eric was able to clustercertain pieces togetherintomeantngful chunks. This clusteringhelps Eric's reader make sense of the tnfonnation in his Wall aboutw animals book. The growing writing competence of another of my young students, Krista, was apparent even in her Wall about- book. Her story, a list of the features ofthe dinosaurs' Christmas. also included elements offiction as well as a knowledge of dinosaurs. Dinosaurs Christmas by Krista Dinousurs have Christmas. Dinouars have fun at Christmas. Christmas Is good for Dinouarus. Dinousars l1ke Christmas. Transres get's a par ofvapir teeth. Stagsaurs get's plant's. Ak:I..eaosaurus get's annr. Dinosaurs get prasents at Christmas. Dinosaurs' Chlistmas byKrfsta Dinosaurs have Chlistmas. Dinosaurs haveji.m at Chrlstma.s. Chlistmas is goodJor dinosaurs. Dinosaurs Uke Christmas. Tyrannosaurus gets a pairojvampire teeth. Stegosaurus getsplants. Ankylosaurusgets amwr. Dinosaurs getpresents at Christmas. The subject ltselfls fiction- thatofthe dinosaurscelebratlngChrlstmas- and Krista lists the features of this event In "all about- fonn, but also uses her knowledge about dinosaurs to cleverly plan the gtfts so they are suitable for their recipients. The Wall about" book seems to provide thisyoungwriterwith a comfort zone that allows her the flexibll1ty to experiment and take risks. Newkirk sees the writers of Wall aboutWbooks growing "toward mature expository prose- (142). Krista's piece suggests that she Is growing toward effective narrative, even within the "all about" genre. As a result of this research I am convinced that I should continue to allow my young writers to develop within this -genre" rather than pushing 11 LANGUAGE ARTS JOURNAL OF MICHIGAN them on to ~real wrttlng" If they are choosing to wrtte ~all about" books. Being Mpushed on" diminishes the potentlal found In the "all about" books as a flexible, comfortable structure In which young wrtters can grow in compe­tence. Some young wrtters begin w1th the ~all about" structure, but then extend their efforts w1thln that structure as they learn to focus their wrtting. organize their informatlon. and create fictlon. WorbClted Blume. Judy. The One fn the Middle is the Green Kangaroo. Scarsdale, NY: Bradbury Press, 1981. Dillard, Annie. "To Fashion a Text." Inventing the Truth: The Art and Craftoj Memoir. ed. WtlIJam Zinsser. Boston: Houghton-M1ffIln. 1987. 53-76. Gibbons. Gale. FIllitUpl AUAboutSeroirestations. New York: Crowell. 1985. Newkirk. Thomas. "The Non-narratlveWriting ofYoung Chtldren.· Research fn the Teaching oJEngllsh, 21.2 (1987): 121-144. Petty. Kate. Sharks. New York: Franklin Watts, 1985. Selsam. Millicent E. A FIrst Look at Dinosaurs. New York: Walker and Company, 1984. Seuss, Dr. IHadTroublefnGettingtoSollaSollew. New York: Random, 1965. Sowers. Susan. "The Story and the'AIl About' Book." Breaking GroW'ld: Teachers Relate Reading and Writing fn the Elementary School. ed. Jane Hansen. Thomas Newkirk. and Donald Graves. Portsmouth. NH: Heine­mann Educational Books. 1985. 73-82. IBJary Ferguson teacbetl flnt grade at Adams Elementary School In Midland, MicblgllD 12 

Simple Listening or Developing Competencies: A Teacher\u27s Look at the  All About  Book

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Simple Listening or Developing Competencies: A Teacher\u27s Look at the All About Book

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