WritingFrameworks

I hope your weekend passes slow-ly

2010-09-24T08:21:00.000-04:00

Mr. Morton

2010-09-23T08:19:00.000-04:00

Less? Fewer?

2010-09-22T08:15:00.000-04:00

Irony

2010-09-21T08:12:00.000-04:00

The Things We Say Wrong

2010-09-20T20:08:00.000-04:00

Are we teaching writing wrong?

2010-09-14T09:32:00.000-04:00

Dean Shareski shares his thoughts on writing recently and in particular, questions the use of things such as 6 Traits and writing benchmarks.

The post and embedded links, as well as the comments that follow, are a lot to digest. I think that writing digitally is very different than writing on paper - but for lots of different reasons. And I am pondering the pieces of his post about drafts and revisions.

And I can't help think about the districts I work with - where teachers are struggling to teach writing because they were never taught how to do that themselves. And now we are asking them to teach writing in uncharted territory...digitally. Not an excuse - just thinking about the change process, especially in education.

I'm pondering a lot of what he has to say - and wonder what you think. Post your comments on this blog or that - but weigh in!

I See What You Mean!

2010-09-13T20:03:00.000-04:00

"Write your answer and if you have time left over, you can draw a picture."

This all-too-familiar instruction to children sends the unfortunate message that writing has content and value and will be graded, but drawing is optional and will be ignored.
Yet these assumptions are not true of real-world information texts, whether they are reference books or CD-ROM resources. Information can come in pictures as well as in words, and more usually in the kind of text that combines images with words. Teachers across the curriculum, therefore, have an obligation to teach students how to read and write these visual texts.

That is the book description for Steve Moline's book I See What You Mean. Powerful stuff!!

And if you have been working with your students on visual learning - Steve and his publisher Stenhouse are looking for samples of student work to include in a new edition. You can submit your work at this Ning or just check out the fabulous resources they have there on visual literacy.

Get them organized!!

2010-09-10T08:32:00.001-04:00

It's that time of the year when organization (or lack thereof) raises it's ugly head as you meet your new students. Marrying technology with the need to be organized there are some great tools out there that you might want to share with your students (or your Response to Intervention team):

Soshiku is designed for middle and high school students and has a great feature that allows you to receive a text when an assignment is due!! I really like the long range view that the site gives - showing overdue assignments, things due that day as well as the next and a monthly calendar. Time management is a big factor in disorganization and this site could help with planning.

Remember the Milk has been around a while and is one that I use on my iTouch. This application is nice because it allows you to organize your tasks in a way that makes sense to you - list format, tagging, making notes, etc. As someone who travels, I can also use the map feature to make sure that I don't book things too close in time when there is a lot of driving involved.

TrackClass looks interesting as in addition to keeping track of tasks and sending reminders, it allows you to keep notes and assignments (like essays and presentations) together in one place.

If you are more of a "lister" than long-term tracker, Ta-Da Lists might be the site for you! And if you are more of a post-it kind of person, try Square-Leaf!

Of course, at the end of the day - there is always the good old stand-by: the back of a napkin!!

Thanks to Free Technology for Teachers for some new links!!

Words to Write By

2010-09-09T10:55:00.008-04:00

Over at Two Writing Teachers, they shared some inspirational quotes to share with students and paste on the inside of writer's notebooks.

And if you are looking for ways to launch your notebooks - you should check out this great idea they got from a conference.

My resources for writer's notebooks are over on my wiki - including my favorite Unlucky Writer's handout that can be shared with parents and students.

And I leave you with some of my favorite quotes to inspire writing:

The art of writing is the art of discovering what you believe. Gustav Flaubert
Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart. William Wordsworth
If you would not be forgotten as soon as you are dead, either write things worth reading or do things worth writing. Benjamin Franklin
You can't wait for inspiration, you have to go after it with a club. Jack London
Convince yourself that you are working in clay, not marble, on paper not eternal bronze: Let that first sentence be as stupid as it wishes. Jacques Barzun

The Manual of Style

2010-09-08T12:38:00.000-04:00

Style manuals for writing always crack me up - they are pretty dense and have lots and lots of writing rules. Most of which, I am not sure I follow. I guess that is why I am a writer not a Writer!

The 16th edition of the Chicago Manual of Style is out and has some interesting new, "state of the art" style conventions I found interesting and thought I would share:

The title of a work that ends in a question mark or exclamation point should now be followed by a comma if the grammar of the sentence would normally call for one or, in source citations or in an index, if a comma would normally follow the title. 6.119, 8.164, 14.105, 14.178, 16.54.

Brand names that begin with a lowercase letter followed by a capital letter now retain the lowercase letter even at the beginning of a sentence or a heading. 8.153.

And in case you are interested, you can go here and download a free electronic copy of the first edition (1906) to see how things have changed.

Get up and READ!!!

2010-09-04T08:10:00.000-04:00

I know that it is Labor Day weekend - a federal holiday in America that is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers but all to often marks the end of summer and beginning of the school year. Barbecues - last minute school shopping and the like generally are the hallmarks of the extended weekend.

But while you are out - consider the fact that September is Library Card Sign-Up month!! Encourage your students to get out and get a card and use their local library!!

Why? Well - here are 52 reasons why.

And it's not your grandmother's library anymore - check out this recent article in my hometown newspaper to see how times they are a'changing!!

And while you are out - be nice to those people who are working this holiday!

FREE e-book: Critical Thinking and Web Research Skills

2010-09-03T11:33:00.001-04:00

It seems like the common answer to "What is.....?" these days is "Google it!"

Not an entirely incorrect answer given the wealth of digital devices at our disposal lately - but it does make me wonder if everyone really knows HOW to Google it!?!?!

This free classroom guide from Microsoft geared toward middle and high school students covers the following:

Mechanics of searching

Lesson plans

Title	Description
Searching — Lesson plan — Beginner, Microsoft Office Word document, 73 KB	Students who are starting to learn the research process develop beginning skills for conducting an effective and efficient search of web-based information.
Searching — Lesson plan — Intermediate, Microsoft Office Word document, 84 KB	Students who are proficient in conducting accurate web searches learn to refine them and explore the ways to develop questions and to translate those questions into search queries.
Searching — Lesson plan — Advanced, Microsoft Office Word document, 81 KB	Students refine search-conducting skills to develop the ability to search for specific sites from a variety of organizations, such as education or government agencies, and sites from specific countries and in specific languages.

Student worksheets and handouts

Title	Description
Searching — Student handout, Microsoft Office Word document, 42 KB	This handout provides a search reference list that includes web addresses and their endings, along with tips for effective searching.
Searching — Student worksheet 1, Microsoft Office Word document, 44 KB	Students record and evaluate search results with this worksheet.
Searching — Student worksheet 2, Microsoft Office Word document, 143 KB	Students create a graphic organizer to track search progress with this worksheet.

Class demonstration guide

Title	Description
Searching — Teacher demo — Beginner, Microsoft Office Word document, 1.2 MB	Teachers can show students this beginner-level search protocol to use as they begin to learn about web research.
Searching — Teacher demo — Intermediate, Microsoft Office Word document, 50 KB	Teachers can show students this intermediate-level search protocol to use as they learn more about web research.
Searching — Teacher demo — Advanced, Microsoft Office Word document, 250 KB	Teachers can show students an advanced-level search protocol to use as they learn about web research.
Searching — Teacher demo — Tips, Microsoft Office Word document, 376 KB	This handout includes tips for teachers who are demonstrating web searches and teaching web search skills.

Validity and reliability

Lesson plans

Title	Description
Validity — Lesson plan — Beginner, Microsoft Office Word document, 77 KB	Students learn beginner-level skills that help them validate the accuracy and content of a website.
Validity — Lesson plan — Intermediate, Microsoft Office Word document, 70 KB	Students learn intermediate-level skills that help them validate the accuracy and content of a website.
Validity — Lesson plan — Advanced, Microsoft Office Word document, 77 KB	Students learn advanced-level skills that help them validate the accuracy and content of a website.

Student worksheets and handouts

Title	Description
Validity — Student handout 1, Microsoft Office Word document, 59 KB	Students can refer to this list of questions to consider while researching on the web.
Validity — Student worksheet 1, Microsoft Office Word document, 44 KB	Students find and record information about websites.
Validity — Student worksheet 2, Microsoft Office Word document, 47 KB	Students review websites and record how and where they were able to confirm their accuracy.
Validity — Student worksheet 3, Microsoft Office Word document, 44 KB	Students review websites, evaluate their accuracy, and reflect on the evaluation process.
Validity — Student worksheet 4, Microsoft Office Word document, 44 KB	Students review Wikipedia articles and answer questions about validity, including bias.

Class demonstration guide

Title	Description
Validity — Teacher demo — Beginner, Microsoft Office Word document, 63 KB	Teachers show students how and where to find information about websites, including the publisher.
Validity — Teacher demo — Intermediate, Microsoft Office Word document, 48 KB	Teachers guide students through websites and lead a discussion about each site's publisher.
Validity — Teacher demo — Advanced, Microsoft Office Word document, 46 KB	Teachers introduce the concept of bias on web sites.
Validity — Teacher demo — Wikipedia, Microsoft Office Word document, 41 KB	Teachers explain how information is published on Wikipedia.

Plagiarism

Lesson plans

Title	Description
Plagiarism — Lesson plan — Beginner, Microsoft Office Word document, 87 KB	Students learn the difference between plagiarism and paraphrasing.
Plagiarism — Lesson plan — Intermediate, Microsoft Office Word document, 72 KB	Students learn to evaluate copyright material and how to paraphrase for research.
Plagiarism — Lesson plan — Advanced, Microsoft Office Word document, 77 KB	Students learn about the concepts of copyright friendly and fair use and their importance in research.

Student worksheets and handouts

Title	Description
Plagiarism — Student handout, Microsoft Office Word document, 44 KB	Students can refer to this list of resources about plagiarism to help during research.
Plagiarism — Student worksheet 1, Microsoft Office Word document, 38 KB	Students review source information, decide whether it contains plagiarized material, and then explain their conclusions.
Plagiarism — Student worksheet 2, Microsoft Office Word document, 39 KB	Students review source information and then practice paraphrasing information.

Class demonstration guide

Title	Description
Plagiarism — Teacher demo — Beginner, Microsoft Office Word document, 59 KB	Teachers show students the difference between paraphrasing and plagiarizing.
Plagiarism — Teacher demo — Intermediate, Microsoft Office Word document, 46 KB	Teachers guide independent or group work to demonstrate conceptual understanding of plagiarism and paraphrasing.

Citing web sources

Lesson plans

Title	Description
Citing web sources — Lesson plan — Beginner, Microsoft Office Word document, 65 KB	Students learn about website documentation and how to electronically document the sources they cite.
Citing Web sources — Lesson plan — Intermediate, Microsoft Office Word document, 61 KB	Students practice finding and document the information they need to properly cite websites.
Citing web sources — Lesson plan — Advanced, Microsoft Office Word document, 77 KB	As students refine their website documentation skills, this lesson provides an opportunity for them to electronically document the sources they cite.

Student worksheets and handouts

Title	Description
Citing web sources — Student worksheet — APA 1, Microsoft Office Word document, 585 KB	Students practice beginner-level skills needed to cite web resources according to the American Psychological Association (APA) preferred format.
Citing web sources — Student worksheet — APA 2, Microsoft Office Word document, 40 KB	Students practice intermediate-level skills needed to cite web resources according to the American Psychological Association (APA) preferred format.
Citing web sources — Student worksheet — APA 3, Microsoft Office Word document, 40 KB	Students practice advanced-level skills needed to cite web resources according to the American Psychological Association (APA) preferred format.
Citing web sources — Student worksheet — MLA 1, Microsoft Office Word document, 164 KB	Students practice beginner-level skills needed to cite web resources according to the Modern Language Association (MLA) preferred format.
Citing web sources — Student worksheet — MLA 2, Microsoft Office Word document, 40 KB	Students practice intermediate-level skills needed to cite web resources according to the Modern Language Association (MLA) preferred format.
Citing web sources — Student worksheet — MLA 3, Microsoft Office Word document, 39 KB	Students practice advanced-level skills needed to cite web resources according to the Modern Language Association (MLA) preferred format.

Class demonstration guide

Title	Description
Citing web sources — Teacher demo — Beginner , Microsoft Office Word document, 53 KB	Teachers show students beginner skills needed for citing sources.
Citing web sources — Teacher demo — Intermediate, Microsoft Office Word document, 52 KB	Teachers show students intermediate skills needed for citing sources.
Citing web sources — Teacher demo — Advanced, Microsoft Office Word document, 51 KB	Teachers show students advanced skills needed for citing sources.

	Civil discourse Read it - you might just learn a tip or two as well!!

Civil discourse

Read it - you might just learn a tip or two as well!!

Back to School - Back to Blogging!!

2010-09-02T11:28:00.000-04:00

Here it is - the start of a new school year in Western New York!

About half of our districts start this week - with another half starting next. I know my own family is split - with the eldest two nieces starting today and the youngest niece and nephew starting next week.

So - like me, now is the time to get into blogging!!

Whether you have been neglecting your class blog or just been too hesitant to jump write in - the Edublogger Student Blogging Challenge will begin soon!!

What is it?

10 weekly tasks designed to improve blogging and commenting skills
Connecting with a global audience!
Open to class blogs and individual student blogs
NOT limited to blogs hosted by Edublogger
FREE!!

Click here to see more and most importantly, to register!! And then share the links of your class/student blogs so we can see the fun and development!

I see dead people...

2010-08-11T08:34:00.000-04:00

Just kiddin'.

But as a social studies teacher, I love this idea via Free Technology for Teachers. Facebook for Historical People!!

Using this template (which does not create an acutal Facebook account) - kids can write about historical people in a manner they are likely already using!

I didn't want to do it....

2010-08-10T15:41:00.000-04:00

I have enabled comment moderation on this blog.

It's not that I am swamped with comments or anything - unless your name is SPAM. In that case - you are a dedicated reader and follower!!

But I don't want to go through having to take it down and they are pretty persistant.

So I still want to hear from you if you are a living being who cares about what I write. Or wants to push back. Or share some of your stuff. And I don't want you to have to enter those silly nonsense words to prove it. It will just take me a bit to make your comment public.

So come on now folks - let's beat them at their own game and comment more than SPAM!

Can writing keep us well?

2010-08-10T15:31:00.000-04:00

That was the group writing prompt posted over at Confident Writing this summer. I came upon it again today and thought it timely.

Writing can keep us well. It can help us get out our thoughts - in the most raw and basic form. And then they can be refined and molded to send the message we want to deliver to the person (people) we want it delivered.

Or it can never be seen again. My mom teaches my nieces and nephews that when they are angry - they need to write it down and then shredd it. Words never to be seen, never to be uttered. Get it out of your system and let it go.

Or it can be read aloud. Two of my nieces are writing books this summer. They like to read them aloud to show progress and to share their thoughts. Funny how their characters sound/look a lot like them. They hear that in each other - but never in themselves.

It can be frustrating - I am writing web page text. Not fun. The words don't sound right and when they are translated to the web, don't look like. But nothing worth doing is ever easy. Ask any teacher.

Writing helps me be well. And still. And creative.

What does it do for you?

Not Your Father's Blooms!

2010-08-06T09:33:00.002-04:00

Ending our trend on a funny note.....

Not Your Mother's Kindle!

2010-08-05T09:23:00.000-04:00

I don't hide it. I am a slave to my Kindle. You all know it because you have read about it here and here and here.

My mom has one. My sister-in-law has one. My aunt has one. We can just swap Kindles the way we used to swap books. I thought we were ahead of the curve.

And then they launched this...

You can read more about it here via Kindlerama blog.

Not Your Father's Principal

2010-08-04T09:05:00.000-04:00

When I presented at the NYSCATE Leadership Summit in mid-July I was very disappointed to learn that my session was up against a leader that I truly wanted to see: George Couros. George is a K-12 principal for a district outside of Alberta, Canada and is truly inspiring. (Visit his blog and you will see why! I am especially partial to his post on "Play")

George recently presented at the Reform Symposium, an online conference. You can catch his presentation on a fantastic school movement called "Identity Day" here. It's a long session (just over 2 hours) but incredibly inspiring! On Identity Day, everyone within the school community shares their passion.

George had me at "Relationships are central to everything...and are more important than academics." But beyond that it is that they start with what is in the best interests of the students and work backwards from there. He share the link to Daniel Pink's trailer for Drive in which he asks "What's your sentence?" a powerful force to have students write and think about.

How are you transforming learning? What's your sentence?

Not Your Father's Research Paper

2010-08-03T08:46:00.000-04:00

Via The History Channel This is Not Blog - integrating technology into the old fashioned research paper. In two posts based upon a recent presentation, Nate talks about how he integrates tools such as Diigo, RSS Feeds and Zotero into his student research paper assignment.

The first post gives an overview of the session and the second post shares the slides.

I have made a personal summer goal to learn more about Diigo and integrate it into my work as I think it has some great potential. I'd love to hear how others are transforming the research paper!

Not Your Father's Book Report!

2010-08-02T20:41:00.002-04:00

Via Free Technology for Teachers, a fantastic alternative to the traditional book report can be found at Book Trailers for Readers.

In addition to some great trailers on YA lit that you can share with your students, there are links to book blogs and other goodies. It is also a great model for what you could create within your school to promote reading and have students create reviews!!

How are you transforming the traditional book report?

Non-Fiction Mentor Texts

2010-07-30T10:14:00.000-04:00

The Stenhouse Blog always provides some nice resources and lots of free online learning. This recent tip on selecting non-fiction mentor texts is from Dorfman and Rose Cappelli, authors of the recent Nonfiction Mentor Texts: Teaching Informational Writing Through Children’s Literature, K-8.

I love the list of books they provide in this short post (I am already adding to my wishlists!) and the fact that some of them are picture books!!

You can read Chapter 1 of their book online in case you are interested in learning more!

There's no writing in math class!!!

2010-07-29T09:38:00.001-04:00

Oh yes there is!!

I would only do a disservice to Karl Fisch if I tried to summarize or in any other way tamper with his brilliant post on how he plans to integrate writing into his Algebra class. Go read it now! (But please come back for a moment!)

One of the most powerful things about the post (and to be honest, most of his posts) is how transparent he is in his thinking. He admits the roadblocks to implementing his plan, he lays out his plan with some links to his other work and references the work of others, and he acknowledges that he may not get to all parts of his plan.

But he uses his blog to publically announce his plan and ask for feedback. That is one example of what blogging is all about! Did you start your blog yet?

CLEAR the way to reading critically

2010-07-28T21:34:00.000-04:00

Stumbled across this post from my Twitter friends about reading critically. Roland Paris, a professor at the University of Ottawa, helps his students with an acronym for critically reading text in the course:

C-L-E-A-R

1. Claims: What are the main claims or arguments in the text? What is the author’s main point?

2. Logic: How does the author reach these conclusions? What are the steps in the author’s reasoning or logic? Is this logic sound?

3. Evidence: What evidence does the author present to support the argument(s)? Does the author offer enough evidence? Is this evidence convincing? Can you think of any counter-evidence that would challenge the author’s claims?

4. Assumptions: Does the author rely on hidden assumptions? If so, are these assumptions correct?

5. alternative arguments: Can you think of alternative arguments that the author has not considered?

It has me thinking about peer review (a topic of much discussion since I am at my annual Communities for Learning retreat!) and wondering if we might be able to use this for students to give each other some helpful feedback on expository writing.

Perseverance

2010-07-27T11:17:00.000-04:00

"It goes on one at a time,
it starts when you care
to act. It starts when you do
it again after they said no,
it starts when you say We
and know who you mean, and each
day you mean one more."

Marge Piercy, "The Low Road"

It's a powerful political poem but this stanza has me thinking about a lot of things. Here - on this writing blog - my thoughts turn to writing.

I have always thought that we need to empower students to view themselves as writers. To say "I am a writer" the same way I also expected them to say "I am a historian" in my social studies class. School needs to be more than just going through the motions and getting something done - it needs to be about learning, growing, doing and sometimes not doing it well. There needs to be forward movement.

At first, they resist. No middle schools student wants to identify themselves as a writer. Few elementary, high school, college, graduate school or life students do either. It is daunting. It is public. But it is doable. Only if WE believe with certainty that is what we want for our students.

Taxonomy of Reflection

2010-07-23T09:31:00.000-04:00

What I find incredibly interesting about writing is that if you want it to, it will never end. At some point it should - it should be published so that you get feedback, so that you can say "I am a writer" and so that others can discover your voice.

When I say published I don't mean in a book necessarily, it could be a blog post or it could be read aloud or it could be share in a somewhat final format with another human being who helps you to make it better. But even with all of those things, sometimes we just need to reflect upon our own writing and our process in order to be better writers.

That is where reflection comes it. It isn't easy. I have found that I often had to explicity teach how to reflect - to both kids and adults alike. I really like this model from Peter Pappas:

How might you use this with your students?

Ranting and Writing

2010-07-22T09:08:00.000-04:00

Great post over at Two Writing Teachers on some powerful writing activities that she engaged in. (Yes. You must go there. Now. And read about them. Go - I'll wait!)

And I learned about "Rant Poetry" - something I had never heard of but apparently has a very long history! Following the steps in that link - behold my rant poem:

"Write an essay" the teacher tells them

They should know how to do that

They are in high school for Pete's Sake

"Just write an essay"

But what is an "essay?"

How many paragraphs should it have?

What should it say? How should I say it?

"Just write an essay!!"

But no one ever really taught me how to write an essay

I mean I know how to write but I don't know how to

make my words come alive

convey all that I know

organzie my brain so it makes sense to yours

self-edit to catch my silly mistakes

Everyone says "Just write!"

But no one ever taught me to write!

Well that felt better - what would you like to rant about?

Writing and Wikis

2010-07-21T21:55:00.000-04:00

I have spend the last two days at the NYSCATE Leadership Summit in Troy and been inspired by some of the great things folks are doing out there. Two wikis really caught my eye and have me thinking about how I can support teachers and how teachers can support one another in writing.

First, Patrick Higgins shared the work his previous school district had done on creating a new middle level ELA class for all students to integrate technology into writing. This wiki is an amazing example of collaboration as well as the type of lesson ideas that just might jump start some of you this summer!!

Then, George Engel shared a wiki that he created with his math students for them to reflect. The use of videos and reflections here is incredible - but be sure to check out the discussion tabs for each student to see the peer review feedback.

It has me thinking about how I can model some of these elements in my workshops. I tend to create wiki or a Google Site for most things as a respository of resources but I think I need to make it more collaborative and more reflective. More you - less of me!

Story Cubes

2010-07-20T09:13:00.000-04:00

Love this idea and love it more now that it is an app!!

And then I started to think about the "low tech" way that we could re-create this using web images!! What fun stories we could create!

Evolution of a Reader

2010-07-19T21:07:00.000-04:00

"I envy the way my oldest son reads, stretched out on the living room couch, all of a sudden this year taking up most of three cushions. Watch his face: his lips move, his eyebrows raise and lower in drastic measures, he smiles, winces, gapes and falls still all in a mere breath.
He practices the cliché – he devours books. But, even better, the books devour him."

You'll devour this essay over at The Millions.

NOOKStudy

2010-07-16T08:23:00.000-04:00

Readers of this blog know I love my Kindle. But this might be one way to start to get e-books to students in a cost-effective manner!!

NOOKStudy is an application that will be available from Barnes & Noble in August - with access to over 500,000 free e-books!!

"Designed by students, for students" it seems that it will make a nice electronic backpack for students. I'll be interested to see how it actually works and how it might be used with secondary classrooms. And I'll let you know!

Empathy

2010-07-15T06:20:00.001-04:00

Empathy.

As a middle school teacher of social studies, it was something that I hoped to evoke in my students as we studied certain periods in US History as a way to have them understand why it is important to learn about our past.

We read primary sources, viewed photographs, watched videos - all to help with the learning process.

I've also been doing some reserach on service learning and thinking about how to integrate it into our curriculum so that our students have an impact on our world - and help create as sustainable future. Not entirely related to writing but I thought I would share this video!!

Tag This! The Book Seer!

2010-07-14T08:41:00.001-04:00

Via Free Technology for Teachers, I found The Book Seer - a book recommendation site. You just need to type in the name of the book and the author of a favorite book and it will search both Amazon and LibraryThing for other books you might enjoy.

Below is the list of recommendations for Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger (a fun ghost story!)

This would be fun for students to search for other books that might interest them based upon ones they already enjoy!!

Tag this!!

For a visual site that does the same type of thing-tag YourNextRead!

Literacy Through Art

2010-07-13T06:01:00.001-04:00

I am facilitating a workshop for middle school teachers on vocabulary instruction today and thought I would share one of my favorite new resources!!

Literacy Head provides resources for using visual arts for teaching literacy.

If you scroll to the bottom of the page - you will see the visual dictionary. For each of the week's vocabulary words, there are three images that illustrate the word and one that is the opposite.

The words come from the book of the week - which also uses images for pre-during-post reading activities.

Not only fabulous resource - I can see students doing something similar as a fantastic activity.

Life in A Day

2010-07-12T08:33:00.000-04:00

July 24th.

Capture your life in film and submit.

Be a part of a global experiment.

Wouldn't it be fantastic to re-create this within your class or school?

Challenge Based Learning

2010-07-01T11:59:00.001-04:00

Continuing on with the theme this week of 21st Century writing/literacy/teaching, I am intrigued by the idea of challenge based learning. In a nutshell,

Challenge Based Learning is an engaging multidisciplinary approach to teaching and
learning that encourages students to leverage the technology they use in their daily
lives to solve real-world problems. Challenge Based Learning is collaborative and handson, asking students to work with peers, teachers, and experts in their communities and around the world to ask good questions, develop deeper subject area knowledge,
accept and solve challenges, take action, and share their experience.

Part of a larger collaborative effort by Apple, the sample challenges described here seem to get at the heart of what we need in education: relevance, collaboration, communication. So - how do we start making learning more challenge based and less textbook based?

Networked Literacy

2010-06-30T11:25:00.001-04:00

Spending time at ISTE this past weekend has given me a lot to chew on regarding writing and literacy and tech integration and many, many more things related to my work and those that I work with. Interestingly, while searching for more on 21st Century writing (see Monday's post) I see that Jeff Utecht shared his thoughts on the topic . He has created the visual below to represent the amount of time we are currently teaching different types of literacy.

I don't think many of the teachers I work with would disagree with Jeff's assessment. And I am wondering what we are going to do about it.

What I am finding even more interesting is that while at this conference, I experienced an interesting lesson in "networked literacy." Jeff's working definition:

Networked literacy is what the web is about. It’s about understanding how people and communication networks work. It’s the understanding of how to find information and how to be found. It’s about how to read hyperlinked text articles, and understand the connections that are made when you become “friends” or “follow” someone on a network. It’s the understanding of how to stay safe and how to use the networked knowledge that is the World Wide Web. Networked Literacy is about understanding connections.

The conference opening keynote was on Sunday. While I chose not to go in person, I did follow the "Twitter stream" (the flow of "tweets" from those at the conference giving their thoughts and take-aways from the conference.) Interestingly, the flow of tweets soon turned a bit harsh, despite the conference organizers putting out some "rules."

It made me think about digital footprints and what proper networked behavior should be (all a part of literacy.) And it made me think even more about trust - which seemed to be a secondary theme running through the conference. And it made me think about the "chilling effect" watching Sunday night unfold may have had on teachers/administrators new to Twitter as well as to those who still had to present.

So it doesn't surprise me that networked literacy is not taught often. It seems we are still developing the rules.

Thinking About Change

2010-06-29T11:15:00.001-04:00

Who seriously believes that locking 25 students in a small room with one adult for
several hours each day is the best way for them to be "educated"?

21st Century Writing

2010-06-28T10:44:00.000-04:00

I'm a little over the 21st Century tag since we are part way through it, but my participation at the ISTE 2010 Conference in Denver this past weekend has made me realize that in many, many ways we aren't teaching in it.

I am not just talking about the use of technology. I am talking about thinking about what we want our students to learn and why. I heard an incredible keynote by Chris Lehmann, principal of SLA in Philadelphia in which he stated the goal of education should be to create a citizenry, not a workforce.

To that end, I have long believed that writing is the most important skill that our students have. Writing empowers them. Yet somehow, we manage to confuse the art of writing with a chore. Something to be done and not necessarily perfected.

I was reminded while at this conference that NCTE has taken a similar stance on writing: Good writing may be the quintessential 21st century skill.

Recognizing that we are in a time of tremendous change, NCTE notes:

Our schools and our nation need to recognize and validate the many ways we all are writing.
We need to develop new models of writing, design a new curriculum supporting those models, and create models for teaching that curriculum.
We need to make sure that all students have the opportunity to write and learn in intellectually stimulating classrooms.
We need to recognize that out-of-school literacy practices are as critical to students’ development as what occurs in the classroom and take advantage of this to better connect classroom work to real-world situations that students will encounter across a lifetime.

The site includes some pretty good reading on teaching writing in the 21st century that I encourage everyone to read. And I'm wondering what teachers need the most to address the points above. I'm also contemplating a new project to address some of what we must begin to do as educators to start to address this need. I'll keep you posted!

Tag This! Thesis Builder

2010-06-25T09:12:00.000-04:00

Writing a good thesis statement sometimes feels like seeking the Holy Grail - legend says it is out there somewhere but darned if you can find it!!

Thesis Builder seems like a nice resource to help students with persuasive essays. Typing in phrases in response to prompts provided, pushing a button creates a magical thesis statement that seems like a pretty good start. My sample is below:

81 Days and Counting
a Persuasive Thesis Statement on State Budget:

Even though need to be fiscally conservative with a bankrupt budget, NYS Legislature should pass a budget on time because public services such as road repair, unemployment, etc. in jeopardy and threatened shut down of the government.

Obviously, it needs some editing but not too shabby a start!! Click next on the outline builder helps the writer flesh out their arguments and indicates where transitional elements should appear. A great help for writers struggling to get their argument off the ground!!

Tag this!

Note Making - In a Digital World

2010-06-24T09:01:00.000-04:00

I am a Kindle addict - and I happen to love the recent update that allows me to send my highlights/note to Twitter if I choose and the way that I can now categorize my books. Now that I have had it a while, I have also fallen in love with how I can tag and make notes digitally and then view my "clippings."

There is one new feature, which allows me to see the most favorite highlights of the book I am reading. I have to admit that after one chapter, I turned this feature off. It was a little like buying the used textbook in the college bookstore that someone had already hightlighted.

I worked hard to teach my students "selective highlighting." It was important that they didn't randomly highlight text but were thoughtful about what (and why) they highlighted portions. I encouraged them to interact with the text and came up with lots of ways to "highlight" the textbooks (highlighter tape, use of overhead transparencies, etc.)

But now - the possibilities are endless. Just read this recent blog post and see how students can digitally make notes and use them. I am trying to think outside my Kindle and play with the other applications mentioned in order to help teachers use the tools they (and their students) have handy. I don't think this will replace the traditional note-taking/highlighter method, but I do think it will change our practice.

What do you think?

(BTW - there seems to be a pricing war with e-readers lately. If you are looking for one, now might be the time!)

Read it Online: Make Me A Story

2010-06-23T08:53:00.000-04:00

The writing process and digital storytelling go together naturally. Just as writing can be a process of discovery, so can digital storytelling, where images, words, and music all work together to create meaning.

Lisa Miller describes the power of digital storytelling as a tool for teaching writing and engaging elementary students in her new book Make Me A Story. And now, you can preview the entire text online!!

My initial preview of the books shows that it focuses on good reasons for integrating the technology (i.e. it isn't just about the tool!) and has some call out boxes of tremendous resources. The hard copy book also comes with a CD of resources including student samples of works referenced in the book.

This is one to add to the wish list!

Rules for Writerers

2010-06-22T08:45:00.000-04:00

The sources is unknown but this list came to me via innovation3 blog:

1. Verbs HAS to agree with their subjects.
2. Prepositions are not words to end sentences with.
3. And don't start a sentence with a conjunction.
4. It is wrong to ever split an infinitive.
5. Avoid cliches like the plague. (They're old hat.)

There are about 30 more but this one is my absolute favorite:

29. Puns are for children, not groan readers.

Monday Morning Musings

2010-06-21T08:37:00.000-04:00

"I was raised on words. They tumbled off the kitchen table onto the floor where I sat: grandfather, uncles, and refugees flung Russian, Polish, Yiddish, French, and what passed for English at one another in a competitive cascade of assertion and interrogation. Sententious flotsam from the Edwardian-era Socialist Party of Great Britain hung around our kitchen promoting the True Cause. I spent long, happy hours listening to Central European autodidacts arguing deep into the night: Marxismus, Zionismus, Socialismus. Talking, it seemed to me, was the point of adult existence. I have never lost that sense. "

Read the full article (and rejoice in the use of words) here.

I'm bored...

2010-06-18T08:45:00.001-04:00

...not really.

But schools in New York State will be wrapping up soon and I am counting the days until the first of my nieces and nephews utters these words this summer. As much as they dread the routine of school, after a while there is only so much television watching - swimming - crafts - reading - iPod/DS playing that can happen before they utter those words. (And bless my mother for running her summer camp for them!)

If you need ideas to send home with your students or share with parents or maybe even for you - check out the links below:

Printable journals - a list of journal prompts and activities you can print to encourage writing this summer!
Summer Reading Recommendations - a list of summer reads for kids and adults collected by by virtual colleagues via Twitter!! And a great model that you could create for your school!
Let's not forget the summer reading challenges from both Borders and Barnes & Noble - can't beat a free book!
Over at Teacher ReBoot Camp - Shelly Terrell encourages folks to participate in the 30 day challenge (there is a free e-book!!)
Locally, Mike Fisher has put together a Live Binder full of summer learning opportunities for teachers! Check out his Virtual Summer Camp!

Thursday Inspiration

2010-06-17T08:18:00.000-04:00

Digital Literacy Tour

2010-06-16T08:33:00.000-04:00

On Monday, I asked whether you were teaching Information Literacy.

Today - I ask about Digital Literacy and the all important aspect of Digital Citizenship.

I take the approach with the teachers and administrators that I work with that we need to teach students (and teachers and administrators) the right way to "act" online and how to be critical consumers of what is available. I don't believe in the Dateline "scare" approach to using the Internet.

With student having greater access to digital tools and devices and with school districts being confronted with having to make decisions about what is "allowed" while balancing how to engage students in a global world, a curriculum with digital and information literacy embedded is critical.

Google has once again come to the rescue with their Digital Literacy Tour. With three great "workshops" and tons of resources, this is a fabulous resource for teachers to explore and begin to think about including in their teaching.

Tag This! Fun With Words

2010-06-15T08:19:00.001-04:00

Thanks to a fun post on creative mistakes and malapropisms from Writing Tools, I stumbled upon this fun site!!

Fun with Words.com - The Word Play Website

At this site you can:

Play Boggle online
Read genuine malapropisms from the web
Learn about other kinds of fun with words like "Tom Swifties"

Tag this!

Are you teaching information literacy?

2010-06-14T08:11:00.001-04:00

Winning vs. Success

2010-06-11T08:42:00.000-04:00

Rest in Peace, Coach Wooden.

Providing feedback on student writing

2010-06-10T08:04:00.001-04:00

Lots of conversation lately about a recent study showing teachers using red ink scored papers more severely than those scoring using blue ink. (Read the Boston Globe article on the topic here or the published study here.)

Essentially - three different experiments were set up for the study. In one, volunteers read two paragraphs from an essay they were told was written by an English language learner and were instructed to mark errors in punctuation, spelling, grammar and word choice. Half used a red pen for correcting and half used a blue pen; guests using the red pen found signifcantly more errors than those using blue.

In another experiment, students were asked to grade a one-page paper written by an eighth grader - half with a red pen and half with blue. The paper had no spelling or grammar errors but was written at a fairly basic level. Once again, those scoring in red gave the paper lower scores than those marking in blue.

In reading the comments on the articles and blogs related to this study, many seem to feel that the papers should be marked in red. If we don't find the errors - how will students learn? Others point to the psychological aspects of being returned a paper covered in red marks.

I have always been a fan of giving manageable feedback to students. That is - mark them on whatever aspect of writing/content that we were focusing on and acknowledging other strengths of the paper. For example, if we were concentrating on word choice - the greatest amount of feedback would be on that aspect of the writing. Any glaring errors, or ones that should have been "mastered" by that point, might be pointed out but the focus should be on the skill that we are assessing for.

Teaching writing is complex - which makes assessing writing complex. The key is to make the feedback, regardless of the color that it is given in, meaningful and something that the students can use in future work.

What are your thoughts?

Storybird!

2010-06-09T08:54:00.002-04:00

I am really liking the site Storybird to help students with creative writing. Billed as "for family and friends" there is no reason to not be using this tool in the clasroom!!

In fact - to help support that, a new Storybird Ning has been created to share ideas!! Be sure to join!

SYNC this!!

2010-06-08T08:47:00.001-04:00

I am not a big fan of audiobooks but know that many middle level and older readers would prefer this format. Good new!! Sync is offering free downloads of contemporary YA with a classic starting July 1st.

Check out the details here!!

Words as Pictures

2010-06-07T08:37:00.001-04:00

Via my Twitter feed!!

"Wait" is my favorite!

words from jacques khouri on Vimeo.

Have a redonkulously great weekend!

2010-06-05T09:11:00.000-04:00

Yeah.

I couldn't help it - you know I love words!!

Check out this redonkulous blog post.

A Novel Idea

2010-06-04T08:42:00.000-04:00

Found this idea for a novel study that integrates some wonderful (free!) technology tools:

5B has just completed a novel study using the VoiceThread multimedia tool. The visual component of this VoiceThread project has allowed grade five students to showcase comprehensive volcabulary words, setting/locations and core characters from their novel study captured in a free tool called Wordle.

Check out what these kids did and how the teacher integrated technology - I promise you will be impressed!

Tag This! Einztein

2010-06-03T08:37:00.000-04:00

This came at me from several sources so I finally sat down to check it out.

Einztein is a brilliant "knowledge network" for locating college level courses and materials.

I know you are all busy wrapping up the end of the school year and thinking "what on Earth will I do with myself this summer?" No worries - I am here to help!!

I started with a general topic search for writing - and among the many offerings found this course on historical writing using documents that I think I will check out to help round out my ideas to support teachers with writing DBQs. A topic search on something this broad seemed to give me varied results so I opted to try browsing the subjects available.

Searching under education - I found this gem being offered through the University of Michigan: Individualized Reading Instruction in the Elementary Grades. It's all there - lectures, assignments, reading lists!

Being a social studies teacher - I was thrilled to discover this course on Making Civics Real and this one on Teach Global. There are many, many more courses available - all free.

If you are looking for staff development resources, are planning to develop an online course or just want to learn, I encourage you to Tag This!

Tempted

2010-06-02T15:14:00.000-04:00

There are some days I am tempted to do this just to see if anybody is out there. But I can't stand homophone abuse!!

The Standards are here! The Standards are here!!

2010-06-02T14:18:00.000-04:00

As of 10 am this morning, the final draft of the Common Core Standards for ELA and Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science and Technical Subjects were released.

The entire website has been revamped and has some very interesting information on it regarding standards in general, as well as the forces behind the standards.

I'd be interested to hear any thoughts.....

Tag This! Edistorm

2010-05-28T09:10:00.000-04:00

I have been playing around with collaborative brainstorming for some time now and have found this new site: Edistorm.

It seems to address some of the issues I have had with other sites:

You can have more than one color "post-it" on the brainstorm page - this makes it much more useful for categorizing
You can comment on the "post-it" - I envision being able to ask for more elaboration, etc.
You can "vote" for your favorite ideas - this is one thing I think is missing from the whole brainstorming process, what to do once you get all the ideas out. Vote - pick one for an action item. Do something!

Join in - I started one on Writer's Notebook ideas to get the hang of it.

Tag this!

I love words!

2010-05-27T08:38:00.000-04:00

I guess you could say I practice grammatolatry but this is no false worship - I truly love words. It doesn't make me creepy or anything - I mean I am not a labtebricole, I have a life and friends. I just love the way they sound and how we can use them to impart emotion when they are being read. And when I come across a new word (or two) it is cause for genuine maffick!!!

So imagine my joy when I discovered the new words above via the Geeks Are Sexy blog!! (I know - great title right?)

I know that some of you are thinking this is real floccinaucinihilipilification but before you judge, check out the blog post with some of these fun words and see how many you can add to your next piece of writing. Go on, don't be an aboulomaniac - check it out!!

Common Core Standards

2010-05-26T08:24:00.001-04:00

They aren't here.

But it appears there is a new draft here.

If you attended a regional forum to give feedback or filled out the survey - what do you think?

Tag This! SpringPad

2010-05-25T08:13:00.000-04:00

I am a big fan of delicious for social bookmarking (you can see what I am saving at delicious.com/tgray) and it has become second nature for me to save things for reference later. One drawback is that when I am reading on my iPod Touch and want to save to my account, there is no app for that!! (Or at least not one that I have found and like!)

SpringPad looks like it might be an option! In addition to being able to easily save from the web, you can download an app to be able to access that information from your mobile device! And more than that - you can create to do lists and do other fun notetaking.

Tag this!!

(Thanks to Free Technology for Teachers for the tip!)

Learning Maps

2010-05-24T12:48:00.000-04:00

Thanks to my colleagues at Erie 1 BOCES, my team has been working with Jim Knight on instructional coaching for the past year. Today, our last day with Jim, we have been spending time on content planning. The collaborative nature of our work has been powerful, but even more than that, we have been thinking about how our work with adults should model the work that those adults in turn do with their students.

The work on developing learning maps today was a big "a-ha" not only for me but for members of my team as we are beginning to plan for our work with districts next year. While we have always modeled our planning after our own planning experiences in the classroom, making our thinking transparent together as quite the learning process.

If you review the Content Planning handout from Jim (which is very detailed) you will see that we began with developing guiding questions and then developing a learning map that would be used to make the learning transparent with students. What is very powerful are the samples around writing - and how to create a map for direct instruction of writing.

I say powerful because so many times, I think we make assumptions when teaching writing. Assumptions about what students can do, assumptions about what they have learned and assumptions about what we as teachers know about teaching writing.

I will be working on more learning maps for teaching writing and post them for feedback. In the meantime, check out the samples that Jim provides and let me know what you think!

Passport for Reading

2010-05-23T09:45:00.000-04:00

One of my favorite Sunday activities is to hit the book store - in person or virtually.

This weekend - if you head out, be sure to pick up the Passport to Summer Reading at your local Barnes and Noble. Read more here - and encourage your students to read!

You Learn Something New Every Day!

2010-05-22T09:38:00.000-04:00

Never knew there was a genre of novels written for the cell phone.

Or that a 15 year old girl in Japan has sold over 110,000 copies of hers - grossing over $600.000.

You learn something new every day!

Cursive Writing : Does Presentation Matter?

2010-05-21T09:11:00.000-04:00

I don't want to get into a debate on cursive writing - but I want to prompt one about learning objectives!!!

This post captures a parent-teacher conversation about learning and is powerful. Really, really powerful.

Post here about learning objectives or post there about their conversation.

High Hopes!

2010-05-20T09:02:00.000-04:00

I can envision a classroom in the future where the teacher makes explicit connections to other content areas, encourages writing and promotes global citizenship.

Lucky for us - it isn't too far in the future!! Read about the work of this great 4th grade class and add your high hopes!!

And thanks to my PLN on Twitter - too many folks shared this one to link it to just one!

Web Based Portfolios

2010-05-19T08:33:00.001-04:00

As a writer, blogging has been a natural fit for me to begin integrating technology into my practice. While I have made many, many mistakes since my first blog post and have had some dry spells, I find the process a great way to think aloud and write at the same time.

I have had some success in working with teachers on the integration of blogging into their classroom practice but I believe that it must fit a need in the classroom. Technology should never be done just for the sake of the technology.

I am particularly drawn to the work of Jeff Utecht, and in particular his blog posts about creating Web Based Portfolios (WBP). In this post, he explains why blogs are one alternative for creating WBP in schools:

There are many reasons why blogs as WBP make sense. They are easy to use, highly customizable, allow you to embed almost anything the web has to offer, upload your own content, and they can be installed locally or hosted virtually. Blogs are a natural web-based container for portfolios. Even their reverse chronological order of placing the most relevant ideas, knowledge and understanding at the top is a way to show learning over time.

And don't miss the work of Isabel and her blog as a great student model of what can be done!!

So my blog readers - are you using portfolios in your school? How effective do you think they are? Would the integration of technology make them a better form of assessment? (Or maybe I should say - would the integration of technology make them more user friendly as a form of assessment?) Why or why not?

Fire!!

2010-05-18T08:25:00.001-04:00

New from one of my favorite writers!!

PYROTECHNICS ON THE PAGE helps teachers energize student writing with an in-depth look at the kind of language play commonly used by writers, 24 new craft lessons, and an extensive bibliography of relevant mentor texts. Foreword by Katie Wood Ray. Read the entire book online!

They had me at play.

Reviewing the ELA Assessment

2010-05-17T20:21:00.000-04:00

Phew!

The changes in the assessment calendar in NYS this year caused us to have regional scoring for the grades 3-8 ELA and Mathematics assessment overlap. As I write, my colleagues are immersed in scoring for the math assessment and I am slowly trying to recover from completing the ELA. I thought I would take this opportunity to share some thoughts from scoring:

Students are writing. A lot! Each of the grade levels with extended writing passages (Grades 4, 6, 8) had quite lengthy student extended responses - many of them rich with details and well organized. This is a huge jump from when we started with assessments and I am impressed with the dedication teachers have to writing.
Students are organizing better! Another testament to the work of teachers, we saw much better organization on the papers and even more, better introductions! My pet peeve of "Now I will tell you all I know about......" was rarely found.
Students still need to practice note-taking. The listening passage continues to be the downfall for some students. Students listen to a passage that is read to them and take notes (generally on the second reading except for Grade 8 when they can take notes at any time.) Unfortunately - many students are still trying to write every word and aren't using any sort of frame for their notes. As a result, they were often unsuccessful in answering the questions or were unable to give sufficient details for a higher score.
Homophone abuse was much less rampant than in previous years - with the exception of the Grade 5 editing passage in which students often changed the correct "to" and failed to catch a necessary change in "their." Sigh!
We still saw little marking of the text for reading passages - no underlines or highlights, no marking in the booklets for multiple choice questions. I know the teachers in our region are working with students on this - just not sure why it isn't showing on these assessments.
We still need to do a lot of work on inferencing - both in understanding and teaching it, as well as practicing it with students.
Teachers really value the collaborative scoring process and are extremely professional. Districts sent us their best teachers to score and the conversations around instruction and assessment were amazing. I am grateful to each and every one of them for the time they put in over the past two weeks (and even more grateful for those returning this week for math!)

I know that no one loves the state assessments but I have to say that the scoring process is powerful professional learning. And I am proud of the teachers in our region!

Tag This! Mouse Mischief

2010-05-07T09:39:00.000-04:00

I know it sounds too good to be true, but Microsoft has announced Mouse Mischief - a free download that makes your PowerPoint presentations become interactive with the use of a wireless mouse!

Since being announced, templates for use in classrooms have already sprung up: check here and here.

Given these tough economic times, this is a great way to make use of some materials you probably already have access to!!

Tag this!

Tag This! Voki

2010-05-06T09:28:00.000-04:00

I've used Voki in the past to help spruce up a wiki but I love this idea for digital storytelling.

How could you use this technology with your students?

Creativity and Play

2010-05-05T09:16:00.000-04:00

I've been spending a great deal of time lately reading and learning about creativity and play. More specifically - how we can start to use those ideas in our classrooms to create critical thinkers and problem solvers. This fantastic TED talk with Tim Brown led me to think about writing and creativity. Some connections I made:

After the first activity related to drawing their neighbor, one could hear a lot of "I'm sorry" in the audience. Tim Brown made the point that as we become adults, we are much more concerned about judgment by our peers and less likely to share our ideas. This is so true with writing - so how do we counter that?
The 30 circles test reminded me a great deal of Not A Box and Not A Stick - two of my favorite mentor texts. It also reminded me that much of the purpose behind Writer's Notebooks is to generate a large quantity of ideas that we can draw from for writing.
"Sometimes we need new rules to help break the old norms and rules that stifle the creative process." What new rules could we create for writing?

Spend 30 minutes watching - it is worth it!! And tell me what you think.

Mother always said to write a "Thank You" note!

2010-05-04T09:12:00.002-04:00

Love this blog - both as an amazing writing idea but also a fun read to add to your blog reader!!

One of my favorites as relates to writing:

And thanks to Seth Godin's blog for pointing me here!

One Book, One Twitter

2010-05-03T09:05:00.000-04:00

It's taking me a while to get back into the groove after vacation, but I am excited to share a great social networking and reading opportunity all in one!!

Jeff Howe over at Crowdsourcing proposed that the world (or at least those with a computer) all read the same book this year. After some Internet voting, the book will be American Gods by Neil Gaiman and the group read will start on May 5th.

This is a great opportunity to create a Twitter account if you don't already have one and jump on board!

Off to Vacation!

2010-04-03T10:55:00.000-04:00

I head off tomorrow for two weeks in the tropical sun and regret to inform you that I will be neglecting my blog!! I won't have Internet access but you can be sure that my Kindle is full of new reads, my iPod full of audio books and a new journal is blank and ready to acquire sand in the creases!!

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday - whether Passover or Easter - and a restful Spring Break if it is your time. Happy travels and I will see you on the other side!

Literacy Coaches - Join Us!!

2010-03-30T10:56:00.000-04:00

Angela Stockman, who I am proud to call both friend and colleague, has been a wonderful resource for literacy leaders in the Western New York region for quite some time and has recently agreed to help the teachers that I work with by facilitating a regional meeting of literacy coaches and leaders. We are calling it WNYLIT. (Read about our first formal meeting here.)

As a result of that work, she has created the WNYLIT Ning which I encourage you to join and participate.

I stress the "and participate" part because forums, whether online or face-to-face, are only as good as what everyone is able to contribute. In an effort to share our experiences, avoid having to re-invent the wheel when resources (both financial and personal) are scarce and to break down the proverbial classroom walls - we hope to have great discussions going on here!! Including a book to read "together" this summer!!

Jump in and join us!

Poetry Links!

2010-03-29T10:56:00.000-04:00

Did you know that April 29th is "Poem in Your Pocket Day?"

I love this idea of finding a favorite poem, carrying it around and sharing it whenever you can. What a great way to spark the love of words and rhythm of poetry in others!!

In honor of preparing for that day, some resources:

Writer's Almanac Poem of the Day: Sign up to get a daily email with a poem - what a great way to start your day!! (Via Choice Literacy)

30 Days, 30 Poets: A new, previously unpublished poem for every day in April!! (Via Choice Literacy)

Playable Poems: "These three poems are not just interactive, they are games. You play them by trying different things until you find one of the "endings". Each of these games has multiple endings, and some of the endings are not easy to find. This creates a challenge and an incentive to overcome that challenge."

Magnetic Poetry for Kids: Yup - online! If you have an interactive whiteboard - think of all the fun!!

Poetic Table of the Elements: Poetry + Science = Who Knew??

And of course, two of my favorite books related to poetry. First, for kids "Gooney Bird is So Absurd" (Love this line from Mrs. Pidgeon "Poetry is not to be judged. You just savor it.") and for adults "Teaching with Fire: Poetry That Sustains the Courage to Teach" (one of my coffee table books for inspiration!)

Feel free to see other things I have "tagged" related to poetry at my delicious account!! And be sure to share what your favorite poem is on April 29th!

Wonderings

2010-03-26T11:25:00.000-04:00

What should schools that are preparing students for the future look like?

If we really valued creativity and creation - what would our assessments look like?

What if all teachers taught writing?

One of the entries for a Writer's Notebook is to capture "wonders." I say capture, but I really should say "encourage." We don't often find examples where we encourage students to ponder and question lately. The wonderings at the top of the page are mine - and have been in my own writer's notebook for just about a year. I've probably thought about them for a bit longer than that - but a year ago, I put them in a notebook. They now get transferred to each new notebook as they are wonderings that I continually refine and have lots and lots to write about.

To teach wonderings this week - I started with this fantastic poem from Georgia Heard:

Straight Line

by Georgia Heard

All the kindergarteners
walk to recess and back
in a perfectly straight line
no words between them.
They must stifle their small voices,
their laughter, they must
stop the little skip in their walk,
they must not dance or hop
or run or exclaim.
They must line up
at the water fountain
straight, and in perfect form,
like the brick wall behind them.
One of their own given the job
of informer – guard of quiet,
soldier of stillness.
If they talk
or make a sound
they will lose their stars. (read the rest of the poem here)

I then showed the teachers this TED Talk video by Sir Ken Robinson:

Finally, we wrote our wonderings about the future of education and the future of our students.

I invite you to follow our path and share your wonderings in the comments below.

Qualities of a Writer

2010-03-24T08:16:00.001-04:00

Today is the day that I will be working with teachers on developing Writer's Notebooks and I am very excited!! Of course, we will be looking at some mentor texts and I thought I would share one of my new favorites:

Library Mouse is really named Sam and at night he sneaks out of his home behind the reference materials to read, read, read. Inspired - he decides to become an author and writes and illustrates his first book: Squeak! A Mouse's Life. His books are discovered by the library patrons who eat them up (sorry - couldn't resist!) and the librarian soon invites him to "Meet the Author Day." I won't tell you the rest - but will tell you that it warms my little writing teacher heart.

So you want to write?

2010-03-23T11:04:00.002-04:00

I am very lucky to have a person in my life who I am going to call my Zen Fairy. Beginning on my birthday last year - a milestone birthday that I was having some diifculty accepting - she and another friend gave me a wonderful gift:

Wreck This Journal is a fantastic journey in not just writing but having a little bit of fun. Let me tell you - you will never look at fruit stickers the same again!!

This year for my birthday - the Zen Fairy gave me another gift:

I can't explain how amazing the Awe-Manac has been not only for my writing but for my sense of me. If you are my friend on Facebook or follow me on Twitter, you will sometimes get gems from me that come right from this book. My only regret is that it is so heavy I can't take it with me when I travel!!

Since my birthday is in January, I couldn't wait for the Zen Fairy to acquire this book that she shared with me and I bought it yesterday:

Life is a Verb has been keeping me company while I travel and added to my list of resources to share with teachers this week as we explore Writer's Notebooks.

I hope you all have a Zen Fairy in your life - but if you don't, start with one of these to jump start your writing and your zen.

Tag This! Random Word Generator

2010-03-22T11:35:00.000-04:00

I am working with teachers on using Writer's Notebooks this week so many of the posts for the week will feature elements of Writer's Notebooks.

Aimee Buckner shares a writing fluency strategy in "Notebook Know-How" called Writing from a Word. In this strategy - students are given a noun (or adjective, verbs, adverbs, etc) and asked to write for 20 minutes or so thinking about the word and then just writing, writing, writing. The goal is to write for the entire time period - even if the writing veers off topic.

I like using this Random Word Generator to come up with the word that can be written about. One small problem that I am having with the site is that the word that comes up does not always match the part of speech that I put in. So - if you are focusing on parts of speech in addition to building up writing stamina and generating ideas, this might not be ideal.

But still - Tag This!

Tag This! Guess the Wordle

2010-03-18T09:31:00.000-04:00

I have posted about using Wordle and other word cloud generators here in the past. While there are lots of ways to use word clouds with students, I was excited to find this resource via my PLN:

Guess the Wordle

This site provides a wordle for classroom teachers to use with their students that follow the following format:

Monday & Wednesday Wordles

Monday's Wordle will be easy. All the words will have ONE thing in common.
Wednesday's Wordle will be a bit more complex. All the words will have TWO things in common.
Tuesday, Thursday, Friday Wordles
Tuesday's Wordle will be the date of a famous event in world history.
Thursday's Wordle will be the title of a book, poem, song, fable, etc.
Friday's Wordle will be a famous location.

If you like using visuals and word clouds in your classroom, Tag This!!

My thanks again to Melissa at Technology for the link to the resource!

Tag This! Writing Across the Curriculum

2010-03-17T09:16:00.002-04:00

Stumbled across this wiki on Writing Across the Curriculum via my PLN recently and thought I would share some great resources from it:

Image Journaling: The wiki has some great visual prompts and the author has created a set of image journaling questions that scaffold up Bloom's Taxonomy. I will likely be modifying it to make a cubing activity to use soon!
Writing Prompts: The wiki provides lots of sites for writing prompts but the one that made me laugh out loud was this one!! Go ahead - pick one a write - I dare you!!
Bubbl.us - an online brainstorming tool!

Tag it!

Thanks to Melissa over at Technology for posting the initial link.

Literacy Defined

2010-03-16T07:57:00.001-04:00

By now - you must have heard about/seen/read/reviewed the draft of the common core standards that have been developed and are now available for public comment. (If you haven't - please be sure to review them and register your feedback before April 2nd!!)

One of the interesting components of the new English Language Arts standards that have been proposed is the section on Literacy in History/Social Studies and Science. This is something I have been pretty passionate about for quite a while - long believing that the literacy required of students in my social studies course was quite different from the traditional concepts of reading and writing that have been taught in ELA.

This has been a hard concept for folks to embrace - because understanding literacy and specifically content literacy can be a tricky thing. To understand a little of what this looks like, take some time to consider this podcast by Neil deGrasse Tyson, the director of the American Museum of Natural History's Hayden Planetarium, as he talks about scientific literacy.

While he focuses on scientific literacy, Tyson makes some important points regarding teaching, learning, teachers and literacy that are applicable to us all:

Science literacy is not the know-it-all who’s fluent in science jargon; science literacy is the person who knows how to question the world around them, and en route to an answer that’s deeper than you would otherwise get.
Passion is an important cog but is not specific to science literacy – it is the ability to ignite science interest from teacher to student. Most teachers don’t have this – if they did, we would have more than 3-4 teachers who we remember as impacting our lives
Educational system needs to reflect upon what it takes to succeed in life and have that be reflected in the classroom
We need to take our essential content and figure out a way to make a lesson plan that is a living expression of that content - so that students experience it, are curious about it and want to learn more
You have cast a learner into the world – the most powerful thing you can do as a teacher

These are my quick notes from the almost 30 minute podcast - I encourage you to listen to the entire thing in order to truly understand the context in which he speaks about literacy.

I am sensing the beginning of a shift in how we think about (and teach) literacy. What do you think?

Thanks to Presentation Zen for the link to the podcast and a fantastic post on learning from storiesand experiences.

Beware the Ides of March!

2010-03-15T08:49:00.000-04:00

Not really - just hoping to grab your attention with a title!! Since this is the month of the Roman god, Mars and the day was generally marked with a military parade in his honor, I thought instead that a parade of resources for the literacy soldiers amongst us was appropriate.

The spring issue of The Big Fresh - one of my "go to" resources for literacy has been published with 30 links to amazing resources!! I have just started to go through them all - so don't be surprised to see posts later this week that highlight one or two.

This year, the links are organized by categories such as Multimedia Sites, Conflicts with Colleagues, and Offbeat and Fun (I am starting there!!)

Thank you to Choice Literacy and enjoy the links!! If you find one you really enjoy - share it in the comments below!

Using WallWisher

2010-03-13T08:52:00.002-05:00

I was intrigued by all the members of my PLN who were using WallWisher and similar sites so I decided to try in with a regional Social Studies forum that I host. Our WallWisher is here:

While I didn't get as many folks posting resources during the session as I had hoped (we had about 20 teachers in the room) - I really like it as a workshop tool and as a tool for teachers. So it was fantastic to find 17 Interesting Ways to Use WallWisher in Your Classroom.

How have you been using WallWisher?

Tag This! Fotobabble

2010-03-12T08:37:00.002-05:00

As stated in the last post, I am a fan of assessing what students understand in quick summary statements. Fotobabble allows students to upload a photo, record a 60 second message and then share using an email link or embed code.

This Fotobabble from Mole555 on educational applications sums it up:

Tag this!

One Minute Literature

2010-03-11T08:23:00.001-05:00

The process of condensing information down to "sound bites" can be a critical thinking skill as you have to diffuse the language without losing any of the meaning. So I found 60Second Recap an interesting way to not only think about introducing new books to students, but also as an alternative to the "book report."

The pick of the week also highlights some current books - and I have already added a few to my wish list!!

Thanks to Dangerously Irrelevent for the tip!

Tag This! PaperRater

2010-03-10T08:13:00.001-05:00

Many folks in my PLN have been abuzz about PaperRater - an online source that "pre-grades" papers by checking grammar, offering writing suggestions and determining if the paper contains plagiarized text. The site is developed by linguistics professors and graduate students and looks to be a powerful tool for students to proofread their papers before turning them in.

Digging around the site, I also found it has a "Vocabulary Builder" which provides a random word, the definition and appropriate usage in a sentence.

Tag This!

KidsBuzz

2010-03-09T08:03:00.000-05:00

Do you have a book club with your students? Thinking about starting one?

KidsBuzz is an amazing resource featuring book giveaways and author stories. In the March 1st edition you will find:

The story behind Hidden Voices by Pat Lowery Collins which looks to be an interesting historical fiction piece!! Read an excerpt here.
Information on By the Time You Read This, I'll Be Dead - a story about bullycide, suicide becauae of bullying.
News on the Riot Brothers new book!

Many of these authors are on Facebook or Twitter and are willing to call or Skype into your classroom!!

Tag This! Exploratree

2010-03-08T08:54:00.002-05:00

Via FreeTech4Teachers I found Exploratree - an online library of "thinking guides" from the UK. These guides can be printed, edited online and stored or you can create your own.

These guides are also great for use in planning or visioning activities with students or faculty.

Tag this!

Random Acts of Kindness

2010-03-06T08:01:00.002-05:00

Does writing get any more authentic than this?

"Rules" for Writing

2010-03-05T08:06:00.000-05:00

I am not a big fan of following rules - I tend to stretch and bend them a bit. I wouldn't call myself a "rule breaker" per se - I just think that there are something things (like writing) that cannot be contained by rules!!

But I really enjoyed reading the list of rules that The Guardian (UK) compiled from authors about writing fiction. Check out the lists to find your own gems. Some of my favorites include:

Read it aloud to yourself because that's the only way to be sure the rhythms of the sentences are OK (prose rhythms are too complex and subtle to be thought out – they can be got right only by ear). Diana Athill
Do it every day. Make a habit of putting your observations into words and gradually this will become instinct. This is the most important rule of all and, naturally, I don't follow it. Geoff Dyer
Increase your word power. Words are the raw material of our craft. The greater your vocabulary the more effective your writing. We who write in English are fortunate to have the richest and most versatile language in the world. Respect it. PD James

Borrow from this list - create your own or even better - have your students create their lists!

Goal Setting

2010-03-04T07:53:00.000-05:00

Apparently - many of us miss an amazing opportunity for learning at the Dublin Literacy Conference!!
Thanks to A Year of Reading, I have been able to explore what others have been learning there and I fell in love with the idea of student self-assessment and goal setting as described here.

The templates (shared in Google Doc format) as well as a list of picture books related to goal setting are a treasure!!

How do you help your students set goals?

Tag This! In Search of the Novel

2010-03-03T07:40:00.000-05:00

"Discover creative strategies for bringing novels to life for middle and high school students with this workshop, featuring the words and works of 10 novelists, including Charles Dickens, Mary Shelley, J. K. Rowling, and Toni Morrison. Within the framework of real classroom practice, the workshop offers interviews with contemporary authors, literary critics, teachers, and students, as well as film clips from adaptations of the novels featured. In Search of the Novel poses basic questions that can help you examine the genre from multiple perspectives and bring it to life for your students."

In Search of the Novel is a free professional development resource for middle and high school teachers from Annenberg Media. In addition to 8 workshops on topics such as "Who owns the novel?" and "What's In it For Me?" - there is an email discussion forum to participate in.

Tag This!

Revision Fun!

2010-03-02T07:26:00.000-05:00

That's right - I said fun. I truly think that revision can be an opportunity for writers to have some fun with their work, to take it in a new direction. In fact, I love this definition found through a quick Google search:

revise/revision – the process of reworking or reseeing writing, which includes: considering changes in audience, purpose, focus, organization, style; elaborating, emphasizing, clarifying, or simplifying text (adding, deleting, reordering, or substituting) [Source here]

Roy Peter Clark shares some fabulous resources for seeing author's revisions - a great model for students. From Shelley to Elvis -these resources are a great visual for revision.

Or you could try your own hand at creating something similar with Crocodoc, a fun web-based tool to share and revise documents! You can share and revise PDF and Word documents (see a fun demo here) as well as power point slides!! A great tool for peer review!!

Musings on March

2010-03-01T07:26:00.000-05:00

Hard to believe that it is March already! Here in Western New York we spent the weekend blanketed in heavy, wet snow - a reminder that Spring is still a bit away!!

March was originally the first month on the Roman calendar - one that was named after Mars, the Roman God of War. So it is understandable that after being bumped to the third month it is a little cranky and shows it in the weather!!

March has much to celebrate! It is Music in Schools month - something we should all celebrate and keep in mind in this age of budget cuts! It is also International Ideas Month!!

And so - for March, think of writing activities that celebrate ideas. Use new "brainstorming" activities in class, celebrate the funniest or most original idea of the day. And of course, have music playing in the background!

Happy March!!

Photo Credit: Wikipedia

What we can learn about writing from Shaun White

2010-02-27T10:28:00.000-05:00

The Olympics are winding down and no matter where they are hosted or who actually wins, there are always incredible global stories while watching. In honor of these past two weeks, I am adapting this from a post over on The Talent Code blog.

First - head over there to watch the video and read the original post. Go ahead - I'll wait.

Fun right? So here is my take as it relates to writing:

Lesson One: Start out with the big picture first. Who is your audience? What do you want to communicate? What is the best voice for you to use? Brainstorm - sketch - get out the big picture first.

Lesson Two: Isolate and compress the key elements. Draft writing is critical here - revision is key. Play with the words, switch your intro and your conclusion, cross out entire paragraphs, start in the middle. Play in the "foam pit" (or what I call the sandbox) and don't be afraid to perfect just one element a day.

Lesson Three: Work in a stepwise manner. Read your writing aloud, share it with someone else. Does it flow? Is it logical? Are there more revisions that you could do?

Lesson Four: Put a year's worth of writing into one day. Well - not literally, but write every day.