Michael A. Wilkinson EDCI 505: Teaching Writing K-12 NIWP SC12 Professor Duvall Due March 17, 2012
Implementing One Activity
As a follow-up to the This I Believe personal essay unit that my 6th and 7th 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.
Michael I feel this is a great way to incorporate a peom. I was also inspired to use poetry as an outlet for students and feel this workshop opened my eyes to the beautiful use of poetry. I would have loved to have an the opportunity to write this poem when I was in school.
Michael this would be a wonderful idea for my exploratory. I am teaching a "healthy living" class and we are holding an auction for things that are important to them. It is a great opportunity for students to really think about what is important in life. I could also incorporate your idea of writing a personal poem about their values and beliefs. Thanks for sharing!
Your essay unit sounds very neat, and the poem is a nice thread. Not only is this a great toll for expression for your students, but a great way for you to get to know them as well.
My students are close to finishing Fahrenheit 451 and will be assigned a persuasive essay as the final assessment for this novel. I am going to incorporate the Toulmin model for persausive writing from April's workshop into the rubric and use the prompt: "In what ways might we be living in another dystopian society or not? Compare/contrast it to the culture of 451.
This is a great idea. I teach Farenheit 451 as the example novel for my Banned Books class. This would be a great discussion for my students for this class as well as when reading 1984 for my Utopian Lit. I bet your students will find a good number of similarities.
I actually already used Jeff Anderson's power writing activity in my class. I wanted to get the writing juices flowing with my 5th grade class, and this activity really did the trick. I picked the first two words, then called on students to pick them. Students were anxious to contribute their own words. We did three rounds of writing for one minute each. After each writing, we surveyed number of words written. As expected, students started trying to beat their previous word count, and beat each other. They had such a good time, they did not want to stop.
I am so glad to hear that the power write was a success in your classroom. This activity was also inspiring to me and I am eager to implement this activity into my classroom.
Assignment 3:One activity that will be implemented in the classroom is… I have tried a few of the ideas and activities this week. I used ideas from Chris Cahoon’s “Connecting Kids with Nature through Writing”, and “Quick Formative Assessments” with Ayrha Ellis. The activity includes the use of “thought shots”. I want to provide more time to write (Jeff Anderson) through the use of thought shots. I liked Cahoon’s use of pictures as prompts to these quick bursts of creative writing. We began with Jeff Anderson's "list of things I do". This provided us with a list of instant prompts that the students already had ownership of. We tried the power writing as well. The students had great time with these activities. We moved forward with thought shots of different pictures (out of children's books)projected on the board. Later we tried some Ekphrastic writing with pictures of art work projected. This proofed a little more difficult for my third graders.
I have been working on compare/contrast essays with mow to 8th graders. They have really been struggling with outlining the research information. They know the info, they just don't know how to get it on the screen. After Best Practices for Diverse Learners seminar, I began identifying each style of learner within my classes. I came back and in each class we brainstormed different ways students could organize information: drawing pictures, talking into a recorder (or similar), take a walk around the school with notepad in hand, etc. Each student identified a tactic that would work for him/her (some even chose to stick with the standard outline format). By the end of the next class, I had ideas on screens, on paper, as well as cohesive thoughts and confident kids.
The activity that I plan on implementing is the idea of the power write. A power write is when the students in a class are presented with two words. They then pick a word to write about for one minute. The student is to write as much as they can, as fast as they can, as well as they can. I feel this will be a wonderful way to get students invested in their writing. I hope they get excited by the challenge and attempt to beat their previous record and write more in each round. This topic was presented by Jeff Anderson as a way to get students warmed up to writing and challenge themselves. I cannot wait to implement it into my classroom.
Assignment 3: implementing an activity into the classroom
The activity I plan on implementing this week is the power write. I plan on choosing two words, one verb and one noun for my 6th grade remedial students to write about. They will have 30 seconds of think-time and then write for 3 minutes. The students will count the number of words, and then write again for 3 minutes about a different topic. They are going to chart their highest number of words, this will be done twice a week. This may be a positive visual for struggling students and make it easy to see their growth. I can also use this information in IEP meetings and parent conferences.
One lesson that I plan on implementing in my classroom is from "Quick Formative Assessment" workshop. The lesson is entitled "Graffiti Wall." The students are to create a graffiti wall with colorful markers and large poster paper. They are to creatively design this graffiti wall with things they already know about a subject and add to it as they learn new things. I am going to do this with Idaho History. It will be an ongoing graffiti wall that will be a good display of everything they have learned. I think this is a great alternative to the KWL chart.
I agree that this makes a nice alternative to the KWL chart. It would appeal to a variety of different kinds of learners, too, especially visual/spatial.
One lesson plan that I used is from April's Ekphrasis workshop. I followed what she did pretty closely--I took artwork that went with our literature series and posted it around the room. Students had just finished studying clauses and phrases, and we're headed into a more in-depth poetry unit, so they used post-its to write a verb and adjective for each painting and post it next to the painting. Then they used those words to create clauses and phrases, and in groups they created poems from those clauses and phrases. This is a nonthreatening, collaborative activity that combines poetry, word choice, art, and grammar.
Currently I am subbing and do not yet have my own classroom. One idea that I feel like I could incorporate in my different classrooms was the “Write as much as you can, as fast as you can, as well as you can in one minute” idea from Jeff Anderson. Depending on the grade and students I would probably adjust the time. Ranging from one minute to five minutes. I like the idea of students coming up with the two words to get their brains going as well. I also enjoy how this could range from creative writing to a review of a book or a unit. Very versatile-which is why I think it would work great for subbing (and in my own classroom someday ).
I liked this a lot as well, Kamie. And your right, it would be a great side activity for those subbing days when you need something ASAP. I think that this activity gets kids charged and they can really get writing almost effortlessly.
Activity: Dialogue between two animals This was an activity presented by Christine Cahoon in the Connecting Kids with Nature workshop. The activity will include a picture of an animal and its prey. Ideally they will be animals we have studied so the students will have previous knowledge. The students will choose one of the animals in the picture and write what it might be thinking, or write dialogue for each animal. This is a way to bring nature into the classroom through writing while meeting common core state standards.
I really enjoyed Christine Cahoon's workshop. I think this will be a fun activity and the kids will enjoy it. I'm interesting to hear how it works out for you. :)
Michael A. Wilkinson
ReplyDeleteEDCI 505: Teaching Writing K-12 NIWP SC12
Professor Duvall
Due March 17, 2012
Implementing One Activity
As a follow-up to the This I Believe personal essay unit that my 6th and 7th 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.
Michael I feel this is a great way to incorporate a peom. I was also inspired to use poetry as an outlet for students and feel this workshop opened my eyes to the beautiful use of poetry. I would have loved to have an the opportunity to write this poem when I was in school.
DeleteMichael this would be a wonderful idea for my exploratory. I am teaching a "healthy living" class and we are holding an auction for things that are important to them. It is a great opportunity for students to really think about what is important in life. I could also incorporate your idea of writing a personal poem about their values and beliefs. Thanks for sharing!
DeleteYour essay unit sounds very neat, and the poem is a nice thread. Not only is this a great toll for expression for your students, but a great way for you to get to know them as well.
DeleteMy students are close to finishing Fahrenheit 451 and will be assigned a persuasive essay as the final assessment for this novel. I am going to incorporate the Toulmin model for persausive writing from April's workshop into the rubric and use the prompt: "In what ways might we be living in another dystopian society or not? Compare/contrast it to the culture of 451.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great idea. I teach Farenheit 451 as the example novel for my Banned Books class. This would be a great discussion for my students for this class as well as when reading 1984 for my Utopian Lit. I bet your students will find a good number of similarities.
DeleteI actually already used Jeff Anderson's power writing activity in my class. I wanted to get the writing juices flowing with my 5th grade class, and this activity really did the trick. I picked the first two words, then called on students to pick them. Students were anxious to contribute their own words. We did three rounds of writing for one minute each. After each writing, we surveyed number of words written. As expected, students started trying to beat their previous word count, and beat each other. They had such a good time, they did not want to stop.
ReplyDeleteI am so glad to hear that the power write was a success in your classroom. This activity was also inspiring to me and I am eager to implement this activity into my classroom.
DeleteAssignment 3:One activity that will be implemented in the classroom is…
ReplyDeleteI have tried a few of the ideas and activities this week. I used ideas from Chris Cahoon’s “Connecting Kids with Nature through Writing”, and “Quick Formative Assessments” with Ayrha Ellis. The activity includes the use of “thought shots”. I want to provide more time to write (Jeff Anderson) through the use of thought shots. I liked Cahoon’s use of pictures as prompts to these quick bursts of creative writing.
We began with Jeff Anderson's "list of things I do". This provided us with a list of instant prompts that the students already had ownership of. We tried the power writing as well. The students had great time with these activities.
We moved forward with thought shots of different pictures (out of children's books)projected on the board.
Later we tried some Ekphrastic writing with pictures of art work projected. This proofed a little more difficult for my third graders.
I have been working on compare/contrast essays with mow to 8th graders. They have really been struggling with outlining the research information. They know the info, they just don't know how to get it on the screen. After Best Practices for Diverse Learners seminar, I began identifying each style of learner within my classes. I came back and in each class we brainstormed different ways students could organize information: drawing pictures, talking into a recorder (or similar), take a walk around the school with notepad in hand, etc. Each student identified a tactic that would work for him/her (some even chose to stick with the standard outline format). By the end of the next class, I had ideas on screens, on paper, as well as cohesive thoughts and confident kids.
ReplyDeleteWay to go with identifying the different style of learners in your class! ANd what a lucky bunch to have you.
DeleteThe activity that I plan on implementing is the idea of the power write. A power write is when the students in a class are presented with two words. They then pick a word to write about for one minute. The student is to write as much as they can, as fast as they can, as well as they can. I feel this will be a wonderful way to get students invested in their writing. I hope they get excited by the challenge and attempt to beat their previous record and write more in each round. This topic was presented by Jeff Anderson as a way to get students warmed up to writing and challenge themselves. I cannot wait to implement it into my classroom.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteAssignment 3: implementing an activity into the classroom
ReplyDeleteThe activity I plan on implementing this week is the power write. I plan on choosing two words, one verb and one noun for my 6th grade remedial students to write about. They will have 30 seconds of think-time and then write for 3 minutes. The students will count the number of words, and then write again for 3 minutes about a different topic. They are going to chart their highest number of words, this will be done twice a week. This may be a positive visual for struggling students and make it easy to see their growth. I can also use this information in IEP meetings and parent conferences.
I am really interested to see how well this works for you. I was intrigued by this idea but unsure of how to use the information this would give me.
DeleteOne lesson that I plan on implementing in my classroom is from "Quick Formative Assessment" workshop. The lesson is entitled "Graffiti Wall." The students are to create a graffiti wall with colorful markers and large poster paper. They are to creatively design this graffiti wall with things they already know about a subject and add to it as they learn new things. I am going to do this with Idaho History. It will be an ongoing graffiti wall that will be a good display of everything they have learned. I think this is a great alternative to the KWL chart.
ReplyDeleteI agree that this makes a nice alternative to the KWL chart. It would appeal to a variety of different kinds of learners, too, especially visual/spatial.
DeleteOne lesson plan that I used is from April's Ekphrasis workshop. I followed what she did pretty closely--I took artwork that went with our literature series and posted it around the room. Students had just finished studying clauses and phrases, and we're headed into a more in-depth poetry unit, so they used post-its to write a verb and adjective for each painting and post it next to the painting. Then they used those words to create clauses and phrases, and in groups they created poems from those clauses and phrases. This is a nonthreatening, collaborative activity that combines poetry, word choice, art, and grammar.
ReplyDeleteA great idea to try with my advanced students as well as lower level! I need to get my classes up and moving during the 90 minute period.
ReplyDeleteCurrently I am subbing and do not yet have my own classroom. One idea that I feel like I could incorporate in my different classrooms was the “Write as much as you can, as fast as you can, as well as you can in one minute” idea from Jeff Anderson. Depending on the grade and students I would probably adjust the time. Ranging from one minute to five minutes. I like the idea of students coming up with the two words to get their brains going as well. I also enjoy how this could range from creative writing to a review of a book or a unit. Very versatile-which is why I think it would work great for subbing (and in my own classroom someday ).
ReplyDeleteI liked this a lot as well, Kamie. And your right, it would be a great side activity for those subbing days when you need something ASAP. I think that this activity gets kids charged and they can really get writing almost effortlessly.
DeletePlan
ReplyDeleteActivity: Dialogue between two animals
This was an activity presented by Christine Cahoon in the Connecting Kids with Nature workshop. The activity will include a picture of an animal and its prey. Ideally they will be animals we have studied so the students will have previous knowledge. The students will choose one of the animals in the picture and write what it might be thinking, or write dialogue for each animal.
This is a way to bring nature into the classroom through writing while meeting common core state standards.
I really enjoyed Christine Cahoon's workshop. I think this will be a fun activity and the kids will enjoy it. I'm interesting to hear how it works out for you. :)
Delete