By Mariann Zimmerman

Several of the lessons I taught at Shine involved modeling a read aloud and then
having the students write about it. For a couple lessons in the Library I used
the Mercer Mayer book All By Myself. This lesson was very difficult to present
and to get the students to participate due to the fact that they rarely give
their own thoughts about something. They are usually repeating, copying, or
retelling. With the help of the Shine teachers translating, my anchor charts,
and my own completed example, the students were able to successfully complete
their own page telling about what they can do all by themselves. I turned their
work into class books which I presented to Naomi on our last day at Shine. She
was amazed that their students were able to complete such beautiful work. I
learned that most of the students are beautiful artists. Because they don’t
watch TV, they spend a great deal of time drawing. Naomi learned that this was
a great activity to do with the students during Library time and it would help
link the reading and writing. She is also going to keep the books in the
Library for the students to read each day. Hopefully, when we return next year,
we will see a new section in the Library dedicated to student made books.