In+the+Company+of+Children

__In the Company of Children__ by Joanne Hindley (1996: Stenhouse Publishers)

This chapter outlines the development and philosophy of the Manhattan New School. Pg 7 Don Graves reminds me that I want the year my students and I spend together to be one that we will remember forever. Yes, I want them to remember literature discussions, and writing projects, and mathematical investigations, but what will make them memorable is that they are learned and shared in a community of people. It is in building this community that we will lay the foundation for a year of academic learning but also for learning about people and the way we live in the world together. So, we will “work together” but equally as important, we will “play together.” Pg 13 Quoting notes taken by Betsey Osbourne (emphasis mine) A writer’s notebook can be many things: a place to make mistakes, to experiment, to record overheard conversations or family stories, to remember an inspiring quotation, to free associate, to ask questions, to record beautiful or unusual language, to jot down the seeds of unborn stories or story beginnings, to tell the truth or to lie, to record memories, to embellish memories, to remember what you’ve been reading, to record stories you’ve heard about other people, to remember one word that conjures up an image, to remember things you’re surprised by, to observe, to record impressions, or to describe a picture or a person or an image you can’t get our of your head. A notebook is a receptacle, a tool, a way to hold on to things. Students should view notebooks as a document of their lives; **//they learn not only to honor what they see but to look in the first place//**. If students become more aware of the world around them, and know there is a place for these observations, then this awareness will more naturally be included in their own writing. They learn to think on the page so their notions of what’s possible become less limited. Pg 96 Mini-lesson “tips” about reading can be very informative, but I’ve come to realize that what experts in the field have said for a long time is true: students don’t learn to read through lessons, they learn to read by reading. With that thought in mind I remind my self to keep my mini-lessons //brief.// It is when the students are reading and I am involved in individual conferring that the most important learning takes place.
 * Chapter 1 Supportive Settings and Caring Communities**
 * Chapter 2 The Writer’s Notebook: Not Just for Kids**
 * Chapter 9 Mini-lessons: Taking our Cues from Children**