"What's in a Name" article

Voices from the Middle, Volume 14 Number 2, December 2006
Roessing | What’s in a Name? A Whole Lot of Talking, Researching, and Writing
What’s in a Name? A Whole Lot of
Talking, Researching, and Writing
Lesley Roessing
I
t is important to make learning
relevant to students, and what is more
significant than their names?
I stand there looking at a sea of faces—strangers.
They look eerily alike on that first day. Some varia-
tion of skin tones, hair color, gender . . . . Wait,
three are wearing glasses (with the same frames).
Tomorrow, the first full day of school, the room
will be a sea of green, khaki, and white as they
don their school uniforms. Who are they? I think
to myself. How will I ever tell them apart? How will
I get to know them?
Who are they? Many of the students think as
they glance out of the corners of their eyes. How
will I ever tell them apart—get to know them? My
students have the same problem as I.
Every fall in classrooms around the country,
teachers and students spend the commencement
of school learning each other’s names. My class-
room is no different. Our names are the first part
of ourselves that we share with others. Just the act
of acknowledging a name makes a person feel im-
portant and accepted. Many of my students do not
know each other at the beginning of the year, and
I know none of them. I have about 75 names to
learn as quickly as possible so that my students
feel important and accepted. Sharing our names
shifts us from the role of strangers to acquaintances
and, eventually, I hope, even to friends.
During that first class period, l read the story
of Chrysanthemum, a little mouse who thinks her
name is “absolutely perfect” until she starts school,
where other students make fun of her name. Of-
ten, this is the first time the middle-level students
have seen a picture book since the primary grades,
and this concept, in itself, is interesting to them.
Tomorrow, we will continue this new tradition
with A Boy Called Slow, the story of the re-naming
of the Sioux chief Sitting Bull.
I ask the students to make name signs for their
desks, forming each letter into an item that tells
something about themselves (see Figure 1): an S
can be a flower stalk, an M two mountains with a
vacation home perched in the valley, an L might
be a pencil and a paint brush, a P a hairdryer or
hockey stick. During the time they are creating
their signs, students are chatting with their neigh-
bors, sharing supplies and ideas, playing with each
other’s names, and communicating.
Figure 1. Kristin creatively conveys information about
herself by molding action to letter shapes.
22_30VM_Dec06 10/27/06, 8:53 AM22
Copyright © 2006 by the National Council of Teachers of English. All rights reserved.

In other words, these young
adolescents are learning how
to make the writing process
and the characteristics of
good writing work for them,
rather than simply learning
about writing.
As we look at the finished signs, I ask students
how they got their names. Ears perk up. What?
Amazingly enough, very few have thought about
it. Even the “Juniors” and “the Thirds” may not
be sure why their parents chose that tradition, but
that does give us a starting point to discuss cus-
toms and feelings and to begin an inquiry. (“So,
how do you like being ‘Little Frank’ even though
you are two inches taller than Dad?”) I have caught
their attention—and it is important to catch stu-
dents’ interest from the beginning—because I have
capitalized on what adolescents like to hear about,
talk about, and find out about—Themselves.
Research, observation, and common sense
show that students work more willingly on topics
that matter to them, topics that interest them. In
Conversations, Regie Routman (2000) states, “Stu-
dents have to care about their writing to write well,
and they care about things in which they are in-
terested” (p. 213). Ralph Fletcher (1993) writes,
“It’s important to begin with the realization that
there is little inherently interesting about any sub-
ject. . . . It is not the subject itself that will hold
the reader but the writer’s relationship to that sub-
ject” (p. 152). For the next two weeks, each class
embarks on a search for the meanings and tradi-
tions behind their names: given names, surnames,
confirmation names, nicknames. We achieve this
through a combination of teacher lecture, print
and Internet research, interviews with family
members, and the exploration and noting of per-
sonal feelings and experiences. But what I am ac-
tually teaching—the lesson behind the lessons—is
a study of the characteristics of good writing: con-
tent, focus, organization, style (including voice),
and conventions. [Note: These characteristics are
referred to as “domains” by the Pennsylvania De-
partment of Education, who has issued a PA Writ-
ing Assessment Domain Scoring Guide for its
standardized writing assessments. The majority of
states refer to the writing “traits” identified by the
Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory in
Portland, Oregon: ideas, organization, sentence
fluency, word choice, voice, and conventions. In
this article, I use the term characteristics or the ge-
neric term traits interchangeably.]
I also use this personal interest in the topic to
help my students scrutinize the writing process as
they brainstorm and collect data and organize it
meaningfully in order to draft, revise, and edit their
writings. In other words,
these young adolescents
are learning how to make
the writing process and
the characteristics of
good writing work for
them, rather than simply
learning about writing.
Over the following
weeks, the students
gather information, de-
cide the most appropri-
ate ways to present it (mode and genre), and learn
how the characteristics of good writing will let
them most effectively communicate their mes-
sages. We begin by compiling ideas, or content,
for the writing.
Content
Content is the information or details from which
writing is composed. Students rarely have suffi-
cient content in expository writing; before they
even begin to write, they need to have enough data
available from which to choose what bits are the
most effective or interesting. To help my students
gather a quantity and quality, as well as variety, of
content for this project, I model several techniques.
I share information on given names; the history
of names and naming; recent naming trends; tra-
ditions in different cultures, religions, and time
periods; meanings of names in various languages;
statistics on name popularity; and so forth. This
assortment of information is presented in a vari-
ety of ways, and I present it for interest’s sake.
There are no required notes, no quizzes—just a
lot of class discussion. The students pay attention
because “John” in different languages—Ivan, Juan,
Ian, Sean, Jan—is intriguing and applies to them
or their friends, as does the popularity of names
through the decades, and religious or cultural nam-
ing traditions. The introduction of the nickname
is relevant because their friends bestow nicknames
22_30VM_Dec06 10/27/06, 8:53 AM23

upon them, especially as they enter the sports
arena. My students find themselves jotting down
information (taking notes!) because they want
more knowledge about themselves. We brainstorm
a list of criteria that can be taken into account when
naming a baby so they can go home and ask par-
ents about what influenced their choice(s).
I also explain how family names came about
and the four basic types of surnames. They have
fun changing their surnames to patronyms using
their fathers’ names or matronyms using their
mothers’ names. We check telephone books to
identify obvious patronyms (Johnson), place names
(Woods), professions (Smith), and descriptive names
(Short). Consulting their foreign language teach-
ers, some students translate their names into En-
glish from different languages (Bauer, farmer).
Using these techniques, Frank Weiss, whose fa-
ther, David, is a carpenter and who lives at the top
of a hill becomes Frank Davidson, Frank Carpen-
ter, Frank Hilltop, or Frank White.
After the students discuss the information pre-
sented over the previous days and determine what
may be applicable to their names, they generate a
list of questions that they would like answered. “A
healthy dose of ignorance is often helpful when
you begin researching a subject. . . . It insures that
you will be a learner. . . . It provides room for the
imagination which, as the writer Bruce Brooks has
pointed out, flows from what is known to what is
not known” (Fletcher, 1993, pp.153–4). Students
generate many questions based on all their names:
Who named me? Why? How was the name
chosen?
Does anyone else in our family have this
name? Was I named after him/her?
Were other names originally chosen? What
if I had been a girl/boy?
What do my names mean?
How do I really feel about my names? Have
I always felt this way?
Has my name ever caused a problem?
Is my name popular? Was it ever?
Has our family name always been the same?
When/why was it changed?
Who gave me my nicknames? Why? How
do I feel about nicknames?
In After the End, Barry Lane (1993) writes, “I
explain to [the students] that every story begins
by answering a question and some of their ques-
tions make me want to write more than others”
(p. 14). He continues, “The art of asking ques-
tions is intrinsically linked with the art of having
something to say, of valuing your experience, and
trusting enough to share even painful experiences,
first with yourself and then with others” (p. 16).
My students next divide their lists into three
types of questions: interview questions to ask fam-
ily members, research questions to check in books
and on the Internet, and personal questions to
brainstorm themselves (see Figure 2). Pairing off,
they discuss and share their personal feelings about
their names, building community in the new class-
room. Regie Routman (2000) validates the impor-
tance of building a community: “Establishing
community in the classroom is likewise necessary
if we and our students are to be able to work at
our best” (p. 226). She adds, “Today, we know that
taking the time to get to know each other and build
community in the classroom is one of the best ways
to get the mind working well” (p. 539).
Figure 2. Students used the Internet, among other
resources, to research questions about name origins,
meanings, popularity, and history.
22_30VM_Dec06 10/27/06, 8:53 AM24

After completing their questionnaires, the
students are always excited about what they have
discovered and are delighted to disclose the infor-
mation. The divergent questions elicit a variety
of content—statistics, facts, reasons, examples,
anecdotes, family folklore. Chris found out how
popular his name was the year he was born and
what percentage of the U.S. population is named
Christopher. Amanda Grace shared her mother’s
musical version of Amazing Grace, and Brittany
complained that her name was too common while
others wished for more popular names. John dis-
covered that he, in fact, is not a “Junior,” because
his middle name is different than his father’s.
Stephanie never noticed that she shared her
father’s name (Stephen), and Sarah discovered that
all the women in her family for the last four gen-
erations had one of two names—Sarah or Barbara,
or, in some cases, both. Ian George determined
that his names reflected heritages from both sides
of his family, Irish and South African, and was sur-
prised to learn that his White mother could be
South African (prompting a mini social studies
lesson). And the stories went on.
Unbidden, students bring in coats of arms and
genealogy charts. Everybody has something to say,
an anomaly for an eighth-grade heterogeneous
classroom. The young adolescents talk together
SIDE TRIP: IF YOU PLAN IT, THEY WILL COME (AND SUCCEED!)
From a human development standpoint, a unit where students can learn more about themselves and their
families couldn’t come at a better time than middle school. The search for identity and need for affiliation
are well known among middle school learners. Like any journey, it begins with knowing where you came
from. Leslie Roessing feeds that need by providing her students with the means and the space to begin to
discover who they are.
Planning is key to the successful implementation of a unit like this in your classroom. It is helpful to
assemble a variety of materials tailored to the research needs of your students. As with any research
assignment, be sure to discuss the importance of accurate information. Source materials and websites on
name origins abound. Consider bookmarking websites on your classroom computers that can offer mean-
ings of names of representative cultures. Many of these sites are intended to help new parents name their
babies. Be sure to screen them carefully before students use them, as some ask for a subscription fee or
market other services.
Books deserve an equally close screening. While there is a wide variety of books that describe the mean-
ings of names, some offer dubious information. Encourage your students to verify using two or more
sources of information. Two books with excellent background information include:
Norman, T. (2003). A world of baby names (rev. ed.). New York. Perigree.
Stewart, J. (1996). African names: Names from the African continent for children and adults. New York:
Citadel.
As a follow-up to this unit, consider extending your students’ understanding of the role of family in the
words and phrases of the English language. For example, words and phrases associated with father (patri-
arch, patron, “father knows best”), mother (alma mater, matriarch, maternal, matrimony, “mother
tongue”), brother (brethren, fraternize, “brothers in arms”), sister (sorority), children (kindergarten,
pediatrician, pedagogy), and family love (affiliation, fidelity, Philadelphia, genealogy, genetics, “blood is
thicker than water”) abound.
—Nancy Frey
22_30VM_Dec06 10/27/06, 8:53 AM25

about what they have in common, and, equally
important, listen in interest to the dissimilarities.
For once, students who may view themselves as
“different” have information that other students
find fascinating, such as Fazil, whose Malaysian
surname actually is a patronym; and James, whose
surname comes first in his Korean culture. Every-
of the data that I have collected would be appro-
priate support, and we highlight it on my infor-
mation sheet. We choose the focus that either has
the most support or is the most interesting to me
as the author.
Next, the students ask questions and decide if
I need to conduct additional research in that area.
(Here’s a tip: “Teach students to replace ‘The End’
with a list of five questions generated by a neigh-
bor” [Lane, 1993, p. 17].) I may have thought I
was at the end of my brainstorming, researching,
and organizing, but their questions showed me
otherwise. This step demonstrates the recursive
nature of the writing process. With this model
under their belts, the students review their own
information and determine the focuses of their
writings. Any data not pertaining to the selected
focus is eliminated, at least for this writing; this
information can be transferred to their writers’
notebooks for later consideration. Last, each writer
discusses with a partner any additional questions
that may need to be answered by adding informa-
tion.
Style & Voice: Genre Choice
Style is what makes the reader want to read on;
voice is the presence of the author communicating
with the reader. As I explain to my classes, all writ-
ing needs content, of course, or there would not
be anything to read, but one never hears a reader
waxing poetic over a writer’s organization or fo-
cus or conventions. Style and voice, however, can
compensate for weaknesses in other characteris-
tics.
Style can gain a reader’s regard even when the
topic is not of particular personal interest. I tell
my students that many times I have read articles
on subjects of no particular concern to me just to
“hear” the author’s voice, and I illustrate with an
example of John McPhee and his environmental
writings. Besides a lead that captures the reader’s
attention and a conclusion that leaves a memo-
rable impression, style is determined by choice,
use, and arrangement of words and a diversity of
sentence structure (Pennsylvania Writing Assessment
The students feel special as
they learn they are special,
and, sharing their stories and
collected data, they grow to
know more than each other’s
names. The content for their
writings becomes “substan-
tial, specific, and illustrative.”
one has a name—even
those who may not read
a book or write a poem;
therefore, all students
have something they can
add to our name discus-
sions.
What they all dis-
cover is that their family
members spent a lot of
time and effort confer-
ring their names and, in
many cases, there are
family, religious, or cultural traditions associated
with their names—both given and surnames. Even
those students who insisted that they already knew
everything about their names admitted that they
found out new information because they had a new
goal—writing about their names. The students feel
special as they learn they are special, and, sharing
their stories and collected data, they grow to know
more than each other’s names. The content for
their writings becomes “substantial, specific, and
illustrative” (Pennsylvania Writing Assessment Do-
main Scoring Guide).
Focus
After discussing the concept of focus as a single,
controlling point made about the topic, the stu-
dents are to look over their collected data to de-
cide what point each wishes to make about his or
her name. I share a transparency with the data I
collected about my name. Together the class brain-
storms the possible points I could make about my
name. They come up with three: that I have never
liked any part of my name; that my name reflects
my heritage; that my name is more multicultural
than I am. For each focus, the class decides which
22_30VM_Dec06 10/27/06, 8:53 AM26

Domain Scoring Guide), which create a rhythm.
Style also can be achieved by effectively using
an unexpected mode or an unusual genre, such as
a comic book, as long as the writer is proficient in
that format. At this point, I usually discuss indi-
vidual options for mode and genre, including
atypical genres, such as a eulogy or obituary for a
name, or a persuasive advertising brochure. Some-
times groups of students collaborate to draft my
data in different genres for practice; “The Sad
Ballad of Lesley-Irene” will always be a favorite.
I have file boxes of samples of different genres
and formats that students can examine and use as
models if they wish to try a new type of writing,
an idea borrowed from Linda Rief (1992, p. 26).
While some students are more comfortable be-
ginning the year with a familiar and practiced
genre, some accept my invitation to experiment.
Over the years, students have taken risks and writ-
ten in many divergent genres. Joel created a com-
mercial storyboard for his name, while Stephanie
wrote a commercial script for hers:
Stephanie is a name that is unique enough not to be
heard everywhere, yet is popular enough that every-
body knows it! It’s originally Greek for “crowned,”
but this name is so great that many cultures just had
to have a version of their own! The Germans also
have the name Stefanie; the Polish and Ukrainians have
Stefania; the Russians have Panya, Stepanida, and
Stesha; in the Czech Republlic [sic], it’s Stepanka; the
Hawaiians have Kekepania and Stefana, the French
have Etiennette; the list is endless. . . . Hurry! This is a
limited time offer. (Also comes in Stephen.)
Also experimenting, Calvin composed a rap, Chris
went back in time to meet an ancestor who could
educate him about the family name, and Bridget
fashioned an instruction manual for new parents,
Baby Naming Tips. A budding playwright, Debbie,
wrote a three-act drama starring her parents: Act
1—The Announcement; Act 2—Pregnancy,
Month 6; and Act 3—The Birth and The Nam-
ing. In Act 3, Peggy, who has been contemplating
the names Rachel or Tiffany, “looks up at Ken,
tears streaming down her face as she sees her baby
for the first time. She pauses for a moment:
‘Deborah Elizabeth, my little honey bee.’”
Two of the most creative products have been
Dan’s comic book featuring a research hero, Name
Boy, and Nicole’s multi-stanza limerick that be-
gan:
It was time to look in the book.
Some names made them laugh ’til they shook.
They each made a list
Of names that they wished.
Then they exchanged them and then took a look.
and ended . . .
My mother was glad I was a dame.
What happened next, she was to blame.
A girl I was born
From chosen ‘Melissa’ I was torn
Because “Nicole Danielle” I became.
Two components of style are word choice and
sentence structure. I find that students want to use
strong and picturesque words when describing
scenes inspired by their names or when portray-
ing their feelings. An example is Krista’s memo-
rable lead, “In a cozy brown leather chair, Krista
While some students are
more comfortable beginning
the year with a familiar and
practiced genre, some accept
my invitation to experiment.
hit a roadblock on the
highway of writing.” As
she writes about her
grandfather’s enlistment
in the WWII Army, she
describes the front of the
recruitment center: “A
mammoth American flag
was waving in the chilly
December air”; she describes the recruiter, Ser-
geant Walker: “His name gleamed in the bright
light of his lamp. His khaki uniform was in pris-
tine condition and newly pressed.” He spoke “in a
calm and collected voice that instilled fear in many
of his inferiors.” We talk about varying sentence
structure and type and the power of sentence
length. We even discuss the situations in which a
fragment can be used effectively. Like now. Hope-
fully, this beginning induces students to think
about style or voice in informational, as well as
creative, writing.
Organization
The next step is for the students to decide on the
most logical and effective arrangement of their
data and the development of that information
22_30VM_Dec06 10/27/06, 8:53 AM27

throughout their writing. We discuss the fact that
every genre, even a poem or a letter, will have a
beginning, middle, and end. The students review
transitions and transitional devices and practice
using them appropriately within and between
paragraphs, sentences, and ideas (or stanzas and
comics frames). Beginning her third paragraph,
Victoria wrote, “Even though my first name did
not come from one of my family members, Tatiana
[her middle name] did.”
As the students look at their information, they
ask themselves and each other questions about
what they really want to discover or say about their
names. They then practice drafting their leads
using a few methods (quotation, statistic, surpris-
ing fact, provocative question, dialogue, setting or
character sketch) to see which works best with their
focus and genre and to practice drafting different
types of leads for future writings. One memorable
lead was Andy’s fictitious anecdote, written in
flashback, about an ancestor in County Cork, Ire-
land, meeting a friend and discussing her baby’s
name, Andrew. The story then fast-forwarded to
the present time to his mother in America, meet-
ing a friend and discussing naming her baby Andy.
It was quite effective in illustrating the folkloric
quality of naming practices, and this lead aroused
interest in the facts that followed.
Bobbi took a storybook approach and began
at the beginning (literally):
It was a snowy December day at the hospital when a
baby girl entered the world. She was tiny, pale, and
had light brown strands of hair peeking out of her
magenta hat. A blanket, fuzzy and pink, was wrapped
around her small, fragile body as she rested atop the
tiny bed as if she were a queen upon a throne. She
opened her rather large, hazel eyes and glanced into
her joyful parents’ proud eyes.
After leads, we consider conclusions. I encour-
age conclusions that share insights, that answer
the So What? Another similarly effective conclu-
sion for this type of writing would be an observa-
tion or understanding. Many students had
interesting observations to share with the class
after conducting their research:
“I did not realize that my parents put so
much time and effort into my names.”
“My names contain a lot of our family
history.”
“My name doesn’t reflect who I am; it
reflects who my parents wanted me to be.”
SIDE TRIP: READWRITETHINK LESSON PLANS TO
SUPPORT NAME STUDIES
• Alphabiography Project: Totally You
(http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp
?id=937)
Instead of writing their life stories in a linear fashion, students
write their biographies from A to Z in this nontraditional
autobiography activity, which was inspired by the book Totally
Joe by James Howe. After the entry for each letter in their
alphabiographies, students sum up the stories and vignettes by
recording the life lessons they learned from the events.
• Investigating Names to Explore Personal History and
Cultural Traditions
?id=878)
In this lesson, students investigate the meanings and origins of
their own names in order to establish their own personal
histories and to explore cultural significance of naming tradi-
tions. After Internet research and interviews with family or
community members, students write about their own names,
using a passage from Sandra Cisneros’ The House on Mango
Street as a model.
• Avalanche, Aztek, or Bravada? A Connotation Mini-Lesson
?id=75)
Would you rather drive an Avalanche, an Aztek, a Bravada, a
Suburban, or a Vue? In this mini-lesson, students examine
familiar car names for underlying connotations, then proceed
through a series of steps, increasing their control over language
until they learn to select words with powerful connotations in
their own writing.
Lisa Storm Fink
www.readwritethink.org
22_30VM_Dec06 10/27/06, 8:53 AM28

Bobbi offered this end to the tale of her ac-
ceptance of a typically “male” name and her kin-
dergarten classmates’ teasing:
Loudly the girl asked, “Is it true that your name is
Bobbi? What were your parents thinking? That’s a
really weird name.”
Bobbi continued to color her picture; she giggled
on the inside as she simply stated, ‘Thanks . . . I like it
too!”
Conventions
As this is my students’ first writing, I do not spend
much time teaching conventions. We talk about
the purpose of conventions—so that the reader
can comprehend the communication. I point out
that conventions apply to all the genres—even
poetry is punctuated—but many genres have their
own unique conventions. Since the writers will be
sharing this writing with their peers and families,
they do look at editing lists and ask other students
for editing advice, and many rewrite another fi-
nal, publishable copy, incorporating my conven-
tion suggestions. However, for me, this writing
serves as an initial formulative assessment to dem-
onstrate the students’ strengths and weakness, and
it lets me know what I must review or teach in my
convention mini-lessons that school term.
Assessment
My assessment of this writing is based on the writ-
ing characteristics, modified to reflect what I have
taught, modeled, and expected and to emphasize
the focus of this particular writing (generating
ideas/content). I give my students a rubric in ad-
vance so they can use it in their peer revision con-
ferences as a point of discussion. I look for content
that is substantial and varied—a blend of anec-
dotes, statistics, facts, organization, examples—and
represents a mixture of research, interview infor-
mation, and personal feelings; I expect a focus that
is maintained with supporting details. I am also
looking for organization that appears to be logi-
cal and effective for the writer’s purpose. Subjec-
tively, style is what keeps me reading and serves as
a mirror to their interest in the topic, but objec-
tively, I give weight to attempts to expand word
choice and use figurative language and varied sen-
tence structures. Misuse of conventions are
marked and noted in this writing but not graded;
they can use my comments to generate a personal
conventions list.
Reflections—My So What?
It’s not often that middle school students express
their appreciation for a lesson unless it involves a
game or prizes. Of course, as teachers, we feel that
most of what we teach is interesting and valuable,
but usually young adolescents do not acknowledge
this. Upon submitting this writing over the years,
numerous students have mentioned that the ex-
perience of researching their names and discover-
ing their own family histories is not only
interesting and novel but also important to them.
Besides learning and practicing the characteris-
Their own lives and their
histories fascinate my stu-
dents. Because of this interest
and because the writers want
to share this information as
effectively as possible, they
endeavor to write well about
themselves.
tics of good writing, stu-
dents gain a sense of cul-
tural, national, and
family folklore. Also
valuable to them is learn-
ing that research can be
conducted through inter-
viewing experts in the
field, in this case, their
families. In What a
Writer Needs, Ralph
Fletcher (1993) writes, “I
seek a subject to write
about with two distin-
guishing characteristics: it must interest me and it
must be something that I think I can write well
about” (p. 152). Their own lives and their histo-
ries fascinate my students. Because of this interest
and because the writers want to share this infor-
mation as effectively as possible, they endeavor to
write well about themselves. They accomplish this
with assistance from mini-lessons about writing
traits (domains) and my models, not to mention
the cooperative support of their classmates.
Mr. Fletcher continues, “A significant subject
is usually connected, however loosely, to my life”
(Fletcher, 1993, p. 152). Students’ names are very
22_30VM_Dec06 10/27/06, 8:53 AM29

closely connected to their lives, and they find out
just how closely through this unit, which makes
their names a truly significant subject to study and
and to write about. The added bonus is that, by
the end of these writings, strangers have become
acquaintances and future friends. I agree with
Nancie Atwell (1998) when she says, “We know
that young adolescents value school friendships
and social relationships far more than school sub-
jects and teachers” (p. 66).
This Names Unit provides students with op-
portunities to know each other and know about
each other. During this two-week period, these
young adolescents are employing all the language
arts—reading, writing, researching in the library
and computer lab, talking, and listening. Through-
out the project, they are gathering information,
which they then work to comprehend, apply, ana-
lyze, synthesize, and evaluate. Students work co-
operatively with their peers, sharing creative ideas,
research materials, personal stories, writing strat-
egies, and revision advice, which mimics how
adults act in their professional lives. The unit of
study integrates academic and affective education
by capitalizing on age-appropriate social and in-
dividual interests, community building, writing
strategies, research methods (including interview-
ing), the reading of a variety of nonfiction sources,
use of technology, and the recursive nature of the
writing process. I also integrate vocabulary les-
sons, introducing terms such as onomastics and ge-
nealogy, words that also lend themselves to the
study of affixes.
This inquiry-based research and writing serves
to prepare the students for paying attention to the
characteristics of effective writing while also pre-
paring them for success in the school year. As a
bonus, it lets me become acquainted with my stu-
dents through views of their families and their
lives—postcards from their 13-year trips.
Some Resources Used in the Classroom
Bruchac, J. (1995). A boy called slow: The true story of
Sitting Bull. New York: Penguin.
Chou, J. S. (2004). Quick baby names. New York:
America Media Mini Mags.
Dunkling, L. (1991). The Guinness book of names.
Middlesex, Great Britain: Guinness.
Hanks, P., & Hodges, F. (1993). A dictionary of first
names. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Hanks, P., & Hodges, F. (1994). A dictionary of
surnames. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Henkes, K. (1991). Chrysanthemum. New York:
Mulberry.
Naming Your Baby. (1993). New York: Mimosa.
Tutalo, G. (1995). What will we call the baby? Boca
Raton, FL: Globe Communications.
Various websites: Search for “surnames” and “ethnic
given names and surnames,” “naming history,” and
“naming practices.”
References
Atwell, N. (1998). In the middle: New understandings
about writing, reading, and learning (2nd ed).
Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Fletcher, R. (1993). What a writer needs. Portsmouth,
NH: Heinemann.
Lane, B. (1993). After the end: Teaching and learning
creative revision. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Rief, L. (1992) Seeking diversity. Portsmouth, NH:
Heinemann.
Routman, R. (2000). Conversations. Portsmouth, NH:
Heinemann.
Lesley Roessing has taught eighth-grade language arts for 16 years in southeastern Pennsylvania.
She is a teacher–consultant for the Pennsylvania Writing and Literature Project and has published
articles relating to the various language arts. Email Lesley at lesley_roessing@ridleysd.k12.pa.us.
22_30VM_Dec06 10/27/06, 8:53 AM30

"What's in a Name" article

Empfohlen

Empfohlen

Weitere ähnliche Inhalte

Andere mochten auch

Andere mochten auch (20)

Ähnlich wie "What's in a Name" article

Ähnlich wie "What's in a Name" article (20)

Mehr von Lesley Roessing

Mehr von Lesley Roessing (20)

Kürzlich hochgeladen

Kürzlich hochgeladen (20)

"What's in a Name" article