Lesson Plan 4

Lesson:  The fusion of critical thinking and artistic response

Objective: To create a list of verbs and adjectives that are reflective of a famous painting

Activity:  Students will choose a famous picture and create a list of verbs and adjectives that are reflective of  that piece.  They will write a verb and adjective on a sticky note and place it by the picture they were describing.  Students will be working in groups and be given a picture with all of the sticky notes. They are then going to brainstorm and  write a poem using the words on the sticky notes.  Students will create a free verse poem and can use the words in any order.

Differentiation: To challenge students they will then create a haiku in reflection of the poem.  On the first line, students are to write a list of words with a total of 5 syllables, the second line will contain 7 syllables, and the third line will contain 5 syllables.  The haiku will then be written in graffiti and posted around the classroom.   

5 & 6

I originally wrote my lesson to be implemented with fourth graders. But, since I do not have my own classroom yet, I used a kindergartner instead. We went on a hike on Tubbs Hill after we had discussed poems and nature. We found a nice spot to have a snack and rest while discussing what our senses were experiencing. We did not take notes like I had mentioned in my plan, so we wrote a poem as soon as we got back. She chose to write an acrostic poem. We both had so much fun with this and now she is writing acrostic poems for various words, using her own vocabulary as well as the dictionary.

Assignment 5&6 - Lesson Plan Implementation and Reflection

Reflection – Dialogue between two animals lesson plan.

Since I am a pre-service teacher, I used my own children for this lesson.  It gave me a good opportunity to differentiate (I have a kindergartener and 2^nd grader).  We discussed and brainstormed what the animals might be thinking and then went to work on our writing.  My 2^nd grader independently wrote dialogue between the eagle and fish.  It was more of a script than a formal dialogue with quotation marks but I hadn’t reviewed any dialogue requirements prior.  I worked individually with my kindergartener transcribing her thoughts on what the eagle and fish would be thinking.  We shared our work orally and then both children voluntarily drew illustrations.  My 2^nd grader proceeded to make puppets and acted out her dialogue in a puppet show. This lesson went well. I thought about more adaptations for the younger grades (reader’s theatre with puppets, comic strip sheets, illustrations).  There a lot of possibilities with this lesson.

Assignment 4 - Lesson Plan

Lesson Plan

3^rd Grade

Dialogue between two animals

Objective:  Students will think about opposing points of view and what each might be thinking.

CCSS:  W.3.3.b Use dialogue and descriptions of actions, thoughts, and feelings to develop experiences and events or show the response of characters to situations.

Activity:  Show the class a picture of an animal and its prey (eagle and fish for this lesson).  Have a whole class discussion on what each animal might be thinking.  The students will then write dialogue for each animal.

Assessment:  Students will write dialogue for each animal.

Differentiation –Assistance:

Chose one animal and write what it might be thinking.

Use comic strip sheets with one animal.
Use comic strip sheets with two animals for dialogue writing.
Provide writing prompts.
Student may dictate their work.

Differentiation – Challenge:

The students may write a narrative with dialogue.

Adjustments for other grades:  This is a third grade lesson but can be adapted for other grades.  The differentiation-assistance suggestions could be implemented in the lower grades.  The differentiation-challenge suggestion could be implemented in the higher grades using points of view from a variety of sources (ex. social studies – Native Americans and pilgrims).  

lesson reflection

The lesson when as well as could be expected.  My students had never done anything like this before  and because of their age, I can tell you now that I should have done a lot more with them to prepare them.  On the other hand, maybe my students did okay and because I haven't done anything like this, I didn't know what to expect.  I decided to use three nature pictures from the internet,  a sand desert scene, a tropical forest and a river running through, and grassland wild flowers all over a hillside. Most of the kids couldn't pick which one they like best.  They did a lot of talking about the pictures but most of it was what they could do in those places like ride a four wheeler or motorcycle on the dunes, swim in the river or fish, and pick the flowers which is very much what our students do in our rural community. After a few minutes I had to discuss whole group about what the pictures made them think about or feel like and what words would describe those thoughts and feelings.  This brought forth other words of visual descriptions. We make lists for each of the pictures and then students picked from those lists.  If they thought of other words, I would write them on the board. I'm planning on typing them up and printing off each of the pictures and using them as a bulletin board display.

Assignment 7: Follow up

Great ideas from reading other people's lesson plans!  One thing in common is the "active" nature of the learning activities.    English was definitely not the same when I was a student.  In my plans for next year I will work more with editing groups.  Students need to edit on a regular basis to become proficient.  I was excited to learn that I will be getting a document camera next year, which will make it much easier to examine passages in class, as Jeff Anderson demonstrated.  The reverse Simon Says and other activites from FLOW will fit in nicely at the beginning of the year. 
I appreciated the opportunity to learn more "tricks of the trade". 
Thank you!

Breif Lesson Plan

Write as Well as you can as fast as you Can for 3 Minutes
Objective: Students will practice producing writing
Grade Level: 1st
Activity:
1.) Students will raise their hand and volunteer two different words (without knowing they will write about one of them)
2.) Once two words are picked out, the teacher will explain that the students will be choosing ONE of the words to write about for 3 minutes
3.) Have students pick one words, showing they have picked a word by giving a thumbs up
4.) Once all students have a words give them 30 seconds to think about what they will want to write about
a. Set a timer to be sure to give students time to think
5.) Once the timer goes off for think time, allow students to pick up their pencils
6.) On your mark, get set, write!--- for 3 minutes, setting the timer again
7.) When the timer goes off tell the students to left their pencils and count their words
8.) Write the amount of words completed under writing
9.) Have two different students pick two new words and start the process over
10.) Students can compare their writing to see if they can get more words each time

Differentiation:
Some students may feel like they do not know what to write. You may need to help these students get started by having sentence starters. This might be a good place to start for all students the first couple of times this activity is done. You can brain storm some sentence starts as a class. Eventually though you would want students to write all on their own.
Students, who cannot write for different reasons, may be able to tell their story and have the other person write it down. For example an aide, parent helper, or the teacher may help listen and write for the student. If an aid or parent helper is not available students may want to write for each other as an exercise. Another option might be to allow the student to tell the story into a tape recorder.

Extension:
This activity is nice because students at every age level may do this activity. The time can be altered as well as the topic. One idea that I like is having students do one of these quick writes at the beginning and end of a unit. At the beginning the students could tell you what they know already about the topic, and at the end they can write what they learned or any questions. This is a good quick way to get an idea of where your class stands in understanding a topic.

Assignment 6: Reflection

My attempt to do a 5 part Peer Revision Sheet in an editing workshop went from a disaster to a successful activity.  We have an A day/ B day block schedule.  My first A day attempt wasn't even "organized chaos," it was just chaos.  I tried to do the editing in too short of a time (35 minutes); I didn't give the editing groups enough instruction on their role; and there was a problem with some individuals in the groups finishing their papers too quickly and just sitting there, while other students held up the passing papers to the next group.  No paper made it through 5 editors, so I had students take their papers and have students edit them outside of class.  The next A class I called each group up before I gave them the papers and made sure they understood what to mark on the paper.  This took even more time, and once again, no paper made it through all 5 editing groups.  By B day I figured out to go through all 5 parts of the editing sheet with the entire class before starting the groups and telling them they only had 5 minutes to complete their task and send their paper to the next group.  This was more successful.   My " do over" notes are to allow more time for the entire activity and specify a set amount of time when papers have to be sent to the next group,

Assignment 7 follow up

As a follow up to our reflection poetry, I will read the poems, a couple each day.  Also, I will use this activity to pick out key words and create a poem in other areas, I already mentioned social studies.  I think this would work as a good formative assessment tool too. 

I also tried the power writing in class and my students love it.  They beg to do it each day!  Next year, I will start at the beginning of the school year simply making lists of adjectives and nouns, then using that list as power writing words. 

I also plan on using the art walk.  I will gather pictures from the early colonial times and have students write one verb, and one adjective for each.  I haven't done this yet simply because we haven't quite gotten to the colonies yet. 

One final way I will use lessons learned is with a variation of the nature walk.  We are going on a field trip later this year and I will take pictures.  I will use those pictures for student responses when we get back.  Students will write about what they see in the pictures, and also use the pictures to recall what they learned along the way. 

Assignment 6 How it went

I was pleased with how this lesson worked.  The students were more than willing to create a list of words that stuck out to them during the Stations of the Cross, but were a little hesitant when I instructed them to create a poem from those words.  They were relieved that it was a free verse poem.  I found it effective that I shared my poetry first.  (I know we are always supposed to model, but find that sometimes instead of modeling I roam.)  After I shared my attempt at a poem I asked the students who wanted to share.  Of course, there is always that one who is willing to share everything and he got things rolling.  After the first student shared I just waited.  It seemed like a long time, but I forced myself to just wait to see what happened.  Slowly, but surely, another hand went up to share, then more, until finely, about half the class volunteered.  The poems they created far exceeded my expectations.  I found them to be thought-provoking and insightful.  It was extremely quiet and peaceful in the room with students obviously reflecting on each poem.  After the lesson, I asked for their feedback. Students agreed that at first it was scary, but once they got started they enjoyed it.  They were also complementary of each other's poetry.  I will definitely be doing this activity again, and figure there will be other times I can use this as a response to literature.   

Assignment 4 Lesson Plan

Lesson:  Therapeutic poetry writing

Objective: To reflect on the Stations of the Cross.

Activity:  Students will be shown an electronic version of the Stations of the Cross.  The version has pictures and words.  Students will select one to three words from each station that really stick out, for whatever reason they choose.  Students create a list of words as they progress through the Stations.  After completion of the Stations, students will use only the words they chose to create a free verse poem.  They may use the words in any order.   

Differentiation: Younger students or ENL student may use their own thoughts, rather than words written in the text, from the images they see.  Older students or gifted and talented may be challenged to create a certain type of poetry from the words they chose.    
Extension:  Instead of considering the poetry therapeutic, creating a poem from key words could be used in other areas.  For example, it could be used in social studies after hearing an important historical document read.  Or, we read The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere in class.  This activity could be a poem from key words in response to that poem. 

Assignment 4: Lesson Plan

Lesson:  Point of View Writing

Objective: To show how different points of view can change a story.

Activity: Students will be shown a picture of an animal and its prey. Half the class will write a story from the animals point of view and the other half will write a story from the prey's point of view. I  will then partner up the students into "animal" and "prey" pairs. They will share their stories with each other.We could also take time and share stories as a large group for those that are willing to share their writing.  After listening to the point of view stories, we will discuss how point of view is an important aspect of writing a story.

Assessment: After sharing stories and listening to the different point of view, the students will chose either the animal or the prey and write a final story.

Differentiation: The students could partner up to write their final stories.

Extension: Students that finish could illustrate a scene to go with their story.

Connections: This writing activity fits nicely into my science animal unit.

Michael Wilkinson

Personification Poem Lesson Feedback

Okay, I didn't get to do my lesson with 6th graders because we had a snow day then a field trip before we left on spring break. But what I did do was an experimental grade level mixed bag. I gathered up my friends' children along with mine and did the lesson with them- two 5th graders, one 7th grader, and one sophmore.

We went for a walk in the nearby park and they chose an inanimate object to write their free verse poem about- "What am I". Of course it was a mixed bag of items which made it very fun and funny. I think the major difference was the items they chose (some more obscure) and the level of detail given was very different.

I will say this, more time was needed than I had originally allowed for. I will be doing a small poem unit with my 6th graders before school lets out for the year, and I will be doing this with them.

The feedback I got from the kids was, "That was fun." They like that the poem didn't have to rhyme, and the "guessing part" was really engaging.

Lastly, I will have more examples of personification poems to share before asking them to do their own.

Lesson Plan

Nature Walk

Lesson Plan

Objective:

Students will use their senses to write a list and/or notes while experiencing nature and write a poem about their nature walk.

Activity:

First the class will start out by discussing senses and how we use them to describe things.

Then the class will be taught about poetry and different forms of poetry.

After arrangements have been made for transportation and permission slips have been turned in, the class will go on a field trip to Tubbs Hill in Coeur d’ Alene.

The class will walk the main trail before finding a spot to rest and observe nature.

The students will write down words in a list describing their experience.

The students will go back to school/class and create a poem about their nature walk.

Students will then share their poems with the class.

Assessment:

Students will write a poem using words to describe their nature walk.

Adaptations:

For students with learning disabilities- will be provided a paper source with words and senses to help them describe their experience.

ESL students- will have the paper source with picture ques.

Extensions:

Students that finish will be given a chance to illustrate a scene to go with their poem.

Connections:

This nature walk could be easily connected with Science using animals, plants, geology, or weather.

Assignment 3

I would first talk with the class about nature and maybe introduce some new vocabulary to help describe nature. Talk about how using our senses will help describe what it is we experience in nature. Of course poetry would be a main topic, since they are to write a poem about nature.

After discussions, take the students out on a field trip into real nature (or out to the playground, if it is not possible to get to real nature). While each student is observing, they will have their journals to take notes of what their senses are experiencing.

When the class gets back, they get to write a draft, using their notes that were taken on the trip.

After final writing, they get to share with the class, so that they all see how different people experience different things while in nature.

Assignment 2

Connecting Kids with Nature Through Writing was the workshop that would definitely both work for as well as be a challenge for me. It would work because it is extremely important to get students out in nature and learn to appreciate and care for it, which is something that is being lost. The most challenging part of it, is that field trips aren’t as easy to go on to get to nature if you do not have close access.

Assignment 5

I will not get the chance to test my lesson as we are on Spring Break.  My intention is to try it out when we get back.  I may tweak the idea over break.  I may come up with something better.  I hope to keep up with the other posts in the meantime.

Assignment 3

I enjoyed Chris Cahoon's Connecting Kids Through Nature workshop and plan to use her dialogue between animals activity.  I like how this lesson challenges students to think about opposing points of view.  During the workshop, we practiced this activity by writing down what one of the animals might be thinking.  I would like to build on this and use Chris's dialogue suggestion (write dialogue for each animal).  

Assignment 4

Lesson: Ekphrastic Expression
Objective: Students will respond to artwork through writing.
Background:  This will be the first time that my second grade students have written in this manner.  Because this is the first time, I will not expect them respond in any specific way.  Their writing will reflect whatever they want it to be because of the artwork.
Lesson format: I will display 3 pieces of artwork.  Students will choose one to look at and study for 30 seconds.  Then they will think about any part of the artwork that they find interesting for another 30 seconds. This could be anything from the colors used, action within the piece, what it makes them think about, etc.  At the end of the time they will then begin to write.  For this first lesson, there shouldn't be a time limit.  Some students will most likely write more or less than others.  When everyone is finished, those students willing to share, will.

For more advanced students this lesson could be used to teach a specific concept or skill, provide more practice, or informal assessment.  For example, verbs, adjectives, or more specifically feeling or sound words (for younger students) might be the directive. Students could work in pairs or small groups to arrange written phrases to create poems.  Still again, the artwork could be used to practice writing describing words or even verbal communication for those students with more specific needs.

Assignment 7
Follow up
For the follow up lesson, I am thinking that we will create the same sort of list, but have it be a list of what we did during spring break, whether we liked to it or not.  I love this idea, because it is not the usual writing prompt of "what is did over____ (summer, winter, spring) break.  That prompt usually leads to either nothing (because they didn't go to Hawaii) or a list of things they did in Hawaii.  Using this format, they will get their list out of the way.  Allowing them to focus on one item on the list.  Hopefully this will produce a clear and more focused piece of writing.

Assignment 6
reflection
The students really enjoyed the lesson.  They loved the power writing. they loved writing about food items.  I had never asked my students to write about food before, and it was a hit.  I think they enjoyed being able to write freely without the worry of correct spelling or sentence structure.  I would practice this activity again.  I may want expand the lesson, and take note of growth as we practice.

Assignment  5
Implement
The lesson from Assignment 4 was implented and the students loved it.  I did add some other things that I learned from the conference as the lesson progressed. We had fun with short writing experiences.

assignment 4

Assignment 4
Purpose: Enhance the joy of writing.
Lesson includes quick, fun writing experiences without editing or grading.
1. Students will brainstorm the "things you spend time doing everyday, whether you like doing it or not". 
Teacher puts a list of on the board as the students work on their list.
2. Students now choose one thing from their list to write about. 
Teacher shows writes and talks about two ways they can write about the one thing they choose.  Either in a story format, the narrative writing that has been worked on all year. Or they can explain the thing they choose, informative/explanatory writing.  Both forms of writing are described and components are written on the board.
3. Students finish with first one and are asked to choose another, only this time they have to use the informative/explanatory type writing.
4. Teacher introduces power writing.  2 words are written on the board and the students are instructed to choose one to write about for 2 minutes.
5. Can be repeated as needed.

Differentiation
The writing prompt can be limited to one, then further developed into an edited piece of writing.
Students can share with a friend after each writing experience.
Students can draw pictures to illustrate their writing.

Adjustment
Younger students can use pictures instead of sentences or paragraphs to tell about their choice.
Older students can use the prompt as a springboard for a more in depth assignment.

Assignment 4

The Talking Eggs – 4^th Grade

Objective: 

Students will listen to the story The Talking Eggs by Robert D. San Souci  and will identify and list characteristics of one of the main characters in the story. Students will use the text to find the words in the story that “show”, or support, each of the character traits listed. Students will collaborate and present their character trait analysis in a visual format to the rest of the class.

Procedure: 

Students will listen to the teacher read The Talking Eggs aloud two times.  The first time, students will listen to the story and will choose a character to look at a little closer. During the second read aloud, students will identify and list character traits of their character.

After the second read aloud, students will use the text to find words or actions in the story that support each character trait listed.

Finally, students will join with a partner or small group who chose the same character to collaborate with and create a visual representation of their character and character traits analysis.  Each group will present to the rest of the class.

Differentiation:

This format of whole group, individual, partner/small group work lends itself nicely to all levels of learners in the classroom.  It provides struggling or reluctant learners an atmosphere in which they are held accountable for their own learning, but are also supported by others.  High achievers could complete a character analysis of two or more of the characters in the story.

Adapting:

This lesson could be adapted to any grade level.  It could be used with novels for older students where students analyze a character from beginning to end.  A whole class could analyze character traits of one of the main characters in a novel and look for new character traits that may evolve as the plot develops.  It could be used to compare and contrast two or more characters.  It provides a basic foundation for character analysis.

 

Assignment 4

Persuasive Essay Outlining/Organization
Based on Diverse Learners using Multiple Intelligences Seminar

Once all research on personally choice topic is completed, students will be ready to move to organizing their information.

Prior to the below, have each student take the MI test to identify which styles they learn best by.  Discuss how this is a way to understand how we learn; not a method for getting out of work (i.e., I can't do this essay because I am a kinesthetic learner).

1. Review of the different type of graphic organizers used this year.
2. Discuss which organizers students liked and for what reasons.
3. Identify students who did not choose and organizer and ask/discuss why none worked for them.
4. Begin to brainstorm other possible ways to organize your thoughts.
         Lead discussion to include artistic, physical, verbal, and other MI methods.
5. Have students identify a method which they feel would work for them. 
6. Proceed in the process of organizing the research based on the graphic organizer that best matches their MI.
7. Within a two class period timeline, allow students to work on their organizer and in the method they have chosen.
8. At the end of the second class period, students meet with me one-on-one to discuss what worked and what did not work for their organizer.

Goals of this lesson:
1. Have students organize their research.
2. Empower students to find methods of learning, studying, and completing work that may be unorthodox by some but helps them.
3. Allow students some choice in demonstrating their knowledge of how to organize researched material prior to writing.
4. Identify the different learning styles for each student

Lesson 4 addition

An additional step for the editing of fluency and organization is to have student authors go on a computer and hit a return at the end of every sentence of their paper before giving it to an editor for fluency and organization.  By having all sentence starts at the left hand side of the paper, it is easy for an editor to find repetitive sentence starts and sentence structure.

Lesson Plan

Power Writing. Students will pick 2 topics, any topics.  The class will write as much as they can about one of the topics for 1 minute.  They will count how many words they wrote and chart it.  Next, a student will pick 1 topic and the teacher will pick the other topic.  Again, students will write for 1 minute about one of the topics.  They will count words and chart.  The third time, the teacher will pick both topics relating to specific content area.  Students will chose one topic and write for 1 minute.  They will count words and chart.  Students will then have 5 minutes or so to share their latest writing with the class.  This would lead into content area writing if the teacher so desires.

My lesson plan

Class: 3rd grade Language Arts

Unit: Nouns and Adjectives

Objectives:
My students will identify adjectives and nouns in their novels, and then to use adjectives and nouns to describe a piece of art. We will then classify words into the appropriate categories.

Anticipatory Set :
I will ask my students what they see around our room. Someone will notice the pictures hanging about and they’ll start asking me what we are doing with the art.

Teaching: Modeling
Using a piece of art that is not on display (my students like to “borrow” my ideas and I want them to think on their own) I will list several nouns and adjectives I see in the piece. I will then ask for other ideas. Together as a class, we will classify each word into the appropriate group.

Teaching: Checking for Understanding
We have practiced using nouns and adjectives in previous lessons, but I want to reinforce and practice.  My students will begin by “sentence stocking” their reading book (the novel or picture book they are currently invested in) and they will make a list of 3 nouns and 3 adjectives. After this, we will do a whip around and each student will say one noun and one adjective. We will make a chart categorizing each part of speech.

Guided Practice :
My students will go around the room describing each piece with an adjective and a noun. They will have a sticky note for each piece and will write their 2 words on the note, leaving the note on the wall next to the piece it is describing. After my students have a chance to visit each piece, we will go over all the words they wrote and categorize them into nouns and adjectives.

Closure :
We will close by discussing the words in each category and coming to a conclusion as to why the words fit in each category.

Independent Practice:

My students will write a poem in their writer’s notebooks using 3 adjectives and 3 nouns. They will share their poems with their neighbors.

My gifted students will search and make lists of other parts of speech.

Materials
Sticky notes, 8 art pieces, 2 large pieces of crate paper, writer’s notebooks and pencils.

Duration
1 hour

Lesson 4 Brief Lesson Plan

April Niemela's 4 part Peer Revision sheet, is the model I am going to use to help my seniors do a writer's workshop on their 1 1/2 - 2 page Senior Project Reflective Essay.  The first reader will just look at FORMAT.  At the senior level this would mean MLA format.  In grade school, it might mean looking to see if all sentences start with a capital letter and end in a period. 
The second reader would look for sequence.  I can envision helping visual learners by giving students highlighters.  The topic sentences could be highlighted and the supporting details numbered.
 The third reader is responsible for mechanics.  I will give them an editing handout and have them use common proofreading symbols. 
The fourth reader looks for fluency and organization.  I am going to have them highlight the first word of every sentence.  That way they can quickly see how many short, choppy sentences in a row they have and notice if they start multiple sentences with the same word.  This will work for all grade levels.

Implementing a Plan

I posted this last week, but it was at the bottom of another assignment I think.

Here it is again.

Michael A. Wilkinson

EDCI 505: Teaching Writing K-12 NIWP SC12

Professor Duvall

March 17, 2012

Implementing One Activity

As a follow-up to the This I Believe personal essay unit that my 6^th and 7^th graders are just ending, I will have my students write a personal poem on “What They are Happy to Be” based on a poem by Charles Simic.

We, ourselves, wrote a poem in the Therapeutic Use of Poetry class with instructor Lynda LeBlanc on this topic, and I enjoyed it very much.  I felt freed up to write about what I would want to be, and it did not have any perimeters to make me feel stifled.

My students have explored and evaluated their personal beliefs, values, and important aspects of their lives in order to write a personal essay. I feel writing this poetry piece would be complimentary to the overall project and provide further opportunity for self-expression.

Lesson Plan

Michael A. Wilkinson

EDCI 505: Teaching Writing K-12 NIWP SC12

Professor Duvall

March 19, 2012

Lesson Plan: Personification Poetry

Grade: 6^th

Time: 90 minutes

Materials: paper/tablet, pencil, and the Frayer Model formative assessment sheet, sample poems, and dictionaries

Directions:

1) The teacher gives the definition of personification and asks students if they can give examples. The teacher reads a few samples of personification poetry and asks students to identify where personification has been used in the poems.

2) The teacher informs students they will be writing their own personification poem entitled, “What am I?”.  Students will go on a walk outside and be asked to pick an inanimate object (and write it down). They are to be thinking of what human-like characters they can give it (and write them down). They are to keep their object a secret.

3) Students will return to class and write a poem (for 20 minutes) about their object. Teacher instructs students to use artistic license- humor is good & descriptive language.

4) Students read their poems out loud and students try to guess what inanimate object they are. Students and teachers discuss language used to personify and redirect/clarify any incorrect understandings as needed.

5) Individually, students fill out the Frayer Model sheet (formative assessment). Students may use the dictionary to define the word “personification” on the Frayer Model.

Modification/Adaptations: students may draw a picture in place of writing their poem and verbally deliver the personification, students may draw a picture to illustrate their poem, lengths of poems may vary depending on student ability, some students may need to work with the teacher one-on-one and/or or in a small group setting to complete the writing portion, some students may require more time for completion

This lesson plan can be changed for lower level grades by having students act out their object and/or just illustrate their object as it personifies human-like characters instead of writing. Student may also work in a partnership or groups in order to act out their personification. The teacher will introduce & share personification poems that have illustrations accompanying them for lower-level grades. These illustrations will be posted on the wall for students to access while they are drawing or preparing to act out their object.

Common Core Standards Addressed:

Language- vocabulary acquisition & use

Reading- reading literature (poetry)

Speaking & Listening- poem deliver & audience

Writing- range of writing

The following workshop learning was implemented in this lesson plan: Common Core Standards, poetry, and formative assessment

Plan for implementing activity

In Jody Conrad's session: The Reasons we Write:  Linking Assessment to Intention, we worked in groups to produce a list of what we determined to be the 5 key elements of argumentative writing.  After posting the lists, we examined the similarities and differences between and lists, then she gave us the descriptors she uses in the writing center at WSU.

My students are required to write a reflective essay for their Senior Project.  I am going to talk about who the audience for the paper is (judges for the project), and  what the purpose is (to present yourself in a positive light).  Following the example of Jody, I am going to have groups come up with 5 key elements for the reflective essay.  We will then compare the lists to see similarities and differences.  Then I will give them the rubric we have to grade the reflective essay and see what is included from their lists and examine anything different on the rubric.

The workshop that worked for me

The therapeutic use of poerty
This workshop focused on the use of poetry as a way for people to have an emotional outlet. This powerful workshop discussed poetry as a way for students to express what they are feeling and an opportunity for the educator to gain insight to the student and their way of thinking. Poetry in this fashion is about releasing emotions and expressing oneself. This focuses less on grammatical structure and following the rules of poetry. Therapeutic poetry provides a way for students to 'speak' freely and start an understanding and hopefully a relationship between teacher and student.

Assignment 3

In our second grade writer's workshop, I thought I would try to do what Jeff Anderson advocated- use a good model, study that model and then emulating it. I'd like my students to try some different story formats.  The two books that I would have students look at are The Cake that Mack Ate and Grandpa's New Shoes.  The students will I'm sure notice that each of the lines are repeated before a new subject line is added.  These are fun stories and I bet the students will be successful in following these models and will enjoy the repetitive stories they create.

Plan

I plan to do an art walk in my classroom, tying adjectives and nouns into the activity. I need to reinforce both parts of speech and I feel this might be a fun way to do so. I will post a number of art pieces around the room, and my students will describe each piece with an adjective and a noun. After my students have a chance to visit each piece, we will go over all the words they write and categorize them into nouns and adjectives. We will then move into the writing piece.

March 13 blog

One workshop that would work for me…

My favorite lesson demonstrated was the one that was actually developed for high school students.  I will be implementing it, but it will not be one I can report on because it will take more time than there is to share lesson and results in this blog.  The lesson was demonstrated by April Niemela, “Ekphrastic Expression”.  I’m going to use this practice to “wake up” the love of writing in my students and I am going to use her  “show and tell” idea to encourage all of my student to appreciate themselves and take ownership and pride in who they are.

One workshop that would challenge me…

The same workshop will be my challenge.  I will have to reconstruct it to fit 8 year olds instead of 15 year olds.  But I am very excited to give it a try.

What I will use from this conference

 

The workshop that I could see most used in my classroom was the teaching the 6 traits with picture books.  I am a fairly new teacher, this is my 3^rd year, and I finally feel like I have a better handle on my curriculum and what I need to teach throughout the year.  I loved seeing how the 6 traits could easily be taught through text.  I sometimes forget that modeling writing is the best way to teach certain traits.  Since this conference I have already begun to point out the traits in the read alouds I do with my first graders.  I hope to begin next year with teaching the 6 traits of writing and then referring back to them frequently throughout the year.  The ideas from this workshop will be used the most in my classroom.

Workshop that worked for me

The workshop that was beneficial for me was teaching 6-trait writing with picture books. I've used it in my class earlier in the week and loved it. I made some changes to the lesson by teaching genres, and literary elements instead of having the kids find the 6-traits in each book. I also incorporated the Ekphrastic Expression art walk lesson in my class this week. The students generated a list of verbs and adjectives about each picture and created a poem. They then changed the words into a haiku and are posting them in graffiti. The collaboration conncetions workshop has been difficult to incorporate. I have not found the ideal lesson to infuse websites into my content area.

NIWP Spring Conference!

The workshop that would work for me was April's Ekphrastic Expression. I love the use of art in the classroom and I try to use art across the curriculum. I teach 3rd graders so I’d have to tailor it to younger students but I think it’s doable. We’ve done an art walk type thing, but next time I plan to tie a writing activity to it.

The workshop that challenges me is the Smarter Balance Assessment CCS workshop. I’m unfamiliar with the CCS, and I feel like I have 1 foot in both camps. My students are being tested on Idaho State Standards, but I need to start the shift to CCS. It’s a hard balance when so much is at stake with the ISAT’s. I’m looking forward to the “switch” when my focus can be solely on the CCS.

NIWP Spring Conference

Teaching 6-Trait Writing with Picture Books in All Areas of the Curriculum was awesome.  I used to use picture books a lot more but I seem to be squeezing them out of my instruction.  I feel so overwhelmed with the district focus of "fidelity" to the district curriculum.  I am going to make a point to bring picture books back into my teaching practices on a regular basis.

The CCSS, Smarter Balance Assessment workshop was totally overwhelming.  I feel like I need to be teaching using the framework I have in place for the current ISAT test format, but really need to be making the shift toward CC.  Not sure how to do both at this time.  I will have to work at this.

Workshop that works/workshop that challenges

Argument Writing is a workshop that will work for my sophomore classes.  I was disappointed with the essays I received first semester, primarily because they expressed personal opinion with little evidence of research to support the thesis.  The Toulmin model is visual, simple rather than complex, and provides a straightforward framework for my students to use.

Memoir Writing could be a challenge in that I would need a large chunk of time to manage this and do it well.  I liked the idea of the short pieces (name, artifact, Christmas present, etc) and could see this as an alternative to a longer piece.  

The workshop that I would find the easiest to use in my classroom is the Using Picture Books to Teach the Six Writing Traits.   This would be the easiest because picture books are a staple in class.  The most difficult would probably be the Using Poetry as Therapy. This would be the most difficult for  young writers because they are so concrete and haven't developed the varied levels of thinking to use poetry in a self refection lesson.

A workshop that would work for me and a workshop that would challenge me

A workshop that would work for me:  Quick Formative Assessments. 

I walked away from this workshop with over a dozen new formative assessments.  There were a variety of types that could work for pre, during, and/or post lessons as well as cross the content areas.  Since I am a pre-service teacher, I am always looking for resources to use in my future classroom. 

A workshop that would challenge me:  Ekphrastic Expression.

I really enjoyed this workshop.  I have already thought about how to adapt the lesson plans for younger students and plan to use them in the future.  I know this will be challenging for me because I struggle with artistic interpretation and response.  More practice and listening to children’s simple but profound ideas will help!

 

Workshops that Work

I found the Best Practices for Diverse Learners to the workshop I would most utilize.  Working in a school that not just promotes differentiation but demands it often places me in the place of how exactly can I make this work for that learner.  My 8th grade students are in the midst of writing compare/contrast essays; I was able to immediately come back to class and target a few kids with what I perceived to be their intelligence.  By switching simple tactics I have been able to get better work out of those kids.


Introduction to Smarter Balance was the most challenging workshop for me.  The challenge comes not from the material itself, but more from a personal belief and concern I have around CCSS, standardized testing, and privatization of education.  When I come into contact with these types of workshops and professional development, I have to put my negative perceptions toward this topic in check and look for what is helpful for my students and me.

March 13: One Workshop that Would Work and One That Would Challenge Me

One Workshop that Would Work for Me and One That Would Challenge Me

I think that one workshop that would work well for me is "Connecting Kids with Nature through Writing." I think my students would love the activity of writing from different points of view (i.e. writing from the hawks point of view and/or the mouse's point of view). It would also be fun to have a debate from the different perspectives.

The workshop that would challenge me would be "Teaching 6-Trait Writing With Picture Books." The challenge would be to find/purchase the books necessary to for the different activities. I would also be challenge by trying to figure out what book teaches what trait. I would need more training and practice to feel confortable teaching this to my students.

 

Workshops:Easy to Difficult to Do & Why

Michael A. Wilkinson

EDCI 505: Teaching Writing K-12 NIWP SC12

Professor Duvall

March 12, 2012

Workshops: One that Would Work for Me and One that Would Propose a Challenge

The workshop on formative assessment will prove to be most easy for me to implement because it provided samples to use. With a variety of examples to utilize, I will be able to pick through them and discern which ones best suit a given project; this does not require any creating or time on my part.

As opposed to the workshop on FLOW, which I will struggled with because it will require me to be imaginative and think outside of the box. Unfortunately, I often struggle with being creative when it comes to different ways to stimulate writing. I will most definitely need to explore the philosophy and ideas promoted within FLOW. Perhaps then, I will feel more comfortable with the concepts and it will come more easily. In addition, I struggle with the feeling that beginning FLOW activities may not be seen as valid or worthy to the writing process and therefor I won’t be able to justify in words “what” I am doing and the “why”.

Assignment 7 (April 12) - Reflection

Please post what you will do/ or would do to follow up. Now what will you try? Finish up by April 12th please!

Assignment 6 (April 7) - So, how'd it go?

Post a brief reflection on the implementation - yes, give us some juicy details... :-) Please post by the end of April 7th and please respond to someone else.

Assignment 5 (April 5) - Just do it!

Implement the lesson! Not need to post!

Assignment 4 (March 30) - Post a Lesson Plan!

Post a brief lesson plan that includes implementation of something you learned ; include differentiation ( for ENL, disability, gifted & talented, etc) and briefly state how this lesson might be adjusted for other grade levels (example: if your lesson is for an elementary grade, how might it be taught at middle school and high school?)  Please post this by March 30. Please repond to at least one other plan.

Assignment 3 (March 20) - Post a Plan!

Respond by posting a brief plan (approximately 100 words or less) for implementing at least one activity in your classroom. Post by March 20 please!

Assignment 2 (March 15) - A Workshop That Would Work - or not!

Reply to this post with a brief statement (approximately 100 words or less) on one workshop that would work for you and one that  would challenge you; say why. I have heard that some folks have already gone ahead and tried some FLOW! Please post by March 15! AND respond to someone else by March 20th!