Spelling and Grammar….YAY! (or yay…)

Do you enjoy diagramming sentences or does the very thought of trying to remember what a preposition is make your brain hurt? Were you the kid who couldn’t wait to kick butt every year in the school spelling bee?

…or did spelling bees have this affect on you?

Depending on who you ask, spelling and grammar and their close cousin, punctuation (aka mechanics), are either the best or the worst parts about teaching writing. When you ask most folks if they think they write well, poor spelling and bad grammar are often the reasons they cite if they say no. Actually, these are among the few aspects of writing that are “cut and dried,” meaning there is ONE right way to do them. There’s one right spelling of a word; this is the way you punctuate dialogue and so on. Yet all too often, these conventions get way too much attention early in the writing process as opposed to where they should get the most attention…in end during the editing process. It’s unlikely that you have ever stopped reading a book or a magazine article because of poor spelling, grammar and mechanics; most likely, you stopped reading because the content and the idea behind the text didn’t resonate with you…you couldn’t “get in” to the story.” Right?? Focusing too much on conventions detracts from the writer’s purpose and development of the idea. This is why we tell our students to brainstorm and draft first without worrying about conventions.

Here’s the bottom line: Writing is about communication and the most important thing about communication is the idea…what do I have to say? And to whom do I want to say it? But if that message is fraught with errors, the reader won’t get your message or will lose respect for your message because of the errors. In teaching grammar, spelling, and mechanics, it is important to keep these tips in mind:

1. Keep it real. Teach grammar, spelling and mechanics  in the context of REAL writing. This is the great part about writing workshop; it allows you to help students with these issues “on the fly,” while they are actually writing and with their own writing. Spelling, grammar, and mechanics are hard enough for some students; teaching it in isolation just makes it harder.

2. Use real writing…really!  It is best to use a real piece of writing as opposed to a contrived example. For example, the poem “dog” by Valerie Worth featured in Love That Dog, is an excellent example of using prepositions and verbs/verb phrases to describe the dog and what he is doing. Find examples of excellent, well structured sentences and examine them together. Rather than making up a sentence with errors for them to correct, find one that works and talk about why.

3. Spelling in context. Use their writing to help determine weekly spelling lists. In addition to teaching it in context, writing workshop also allows you to assess students’ writing to develop weekly spelling lists. This makes the spelling more authentic and address actual needs. Notice words most students know how to spell and spell correctly on a regular basis.  Find out what words most of them are repeatedly misspelling and use those words along with grade level pattern lists. See this handout for more spelling information, teaching ideas, activities and games: Spread the Word 0412. 

4. Play games!  From Scrabble to Taboo to Cranium,most of our favorite board games or party games involve words. Showing students that you can have fun while learning spelling and grammar rules is important, and for some students, maybe the only way they will understand. In this video, the teacher explains how she plays “Board Race” with her ESOL students to review a grammar rule.

Are spelling, grammar, and mechanics the most important aspects of writing? No, they are not. But they do matter because they impact what matters the most about writing…the message. And it is not enough to run spell and grammar check on the ol’ computer. We must teach these skills, and it is not a question of if, but how.  As Mem Fox wrote, “In the end, they must be able to spell and punctuate; they’re powerless without those skills. Their power won’t come about without practice and the practice can’t come about without purpose.”

 

M.O.M: More on Memoirs

As you prepare a draft of your memoir for your Writer’s Circle group (due tomorrow, by the way!) and as you work to prepare the final draft, here are a few links you might want to check out:

The NY Times “Lives” section features a section for everyday folks to submit true personal stories (average of 800 words) for print. In this article, they offer great advice to writers, many of which we have already discussed or tried ourselves, including “telling” the story first. Click here for some examples of “Lives” stories in the NY Times.

Another memoir example I found entitled “Dear Folks” by Andrew Marcinek tells the story of handwritten letters from his grandmother and how much they meant to him after she passed away.

Remember: only you can decide how best to tell your story but I think these links will be helpful as you continue to “flesh out” the details of your story and craft it in such a way that it resonates with your readers.

 

Once Upon a Unit Plan…

In case you missed the email I sent before spring break via D2L, this Fairy Tales Unit plan  from ReadWriteThink will help you to envision the pacing for your unit. It is targeted anywhere from grades 3-5 and each lesson (session) spans 50 minutes. I strongly encourage you to look at the entire unit plan as you make decisions as to how to pace yours. CAVEAT: As with all resources I share, these are designed to help you envision what this assignment might look like in a classroom. They are shared by the authors not for you to copy directly but for you to modify, adapt, and give CREDIT for using their ideas.

Two additional resources:

The blog How to Teach a Novel  will help you with ideas for reading, writing, discussion and other authentic literacy activities for your unit. I recommend looking at the list of labels (tags) the author has provided.

This unit plan for The Outsiders includes standards, Big Ideas, Essential Questions, and pre-reading/introductory ideas for their book. This plan will also help you to understand how to pace a unit as well as more ideas for authentic literacy activities. This plan is NOT structured like the IUP unit plan template; instead of lesson plans they list Tasks for each day. You can see how these can be converted to a more traditional lesson plan format.

May you plan happily ever after…

 

Collaboration Station: Julie Ramsay’s class website and projects

In “Can We Skip Lunch and Keep Writing?”, you’ve probably already noticed that Julie gives links to her class projects. Her class website includes a link to her Collaboration Station, which features examples of some of the projects you are reading about. One of the projects you can view is the Love the Earth poetry project you read about in Chapter 4 in which the students use VoiceThread. As you listen to their VoiceThread, you can also hear the comments other students left for the authors! Again, this is another way to help you envision your own digital storytelling draft and how you might use this in the classroom. One reason I chose this as our course textbook is because she SHOWS you how she teaches quality, best practice writing along with suggestions for digital tools. She also provides examples of REAL projects completed by REAL students. In other words, Julie isn’t some “talking head” who wrote a book. She is a real teacher, teaching real students, dealing with real curriculum mandates, standards, and testing issues, just like you will some day. And she is showing how all of this can be accomplished through meaningful, collaborative, and engaging learning. 

I recommend you visit the Collaboration Station and check out the many digital projects Julie, her students, and other collaborators have done. These projects exemplify the importance of choice, audience awareness, and collaboration as a means for communication. They also show Julie’s commitment to first making sure she is teaching grade level, required content and good writing in a way that also integrates 21st century technology. Julie is preparing students to be successful in the world in which they currently live and for the future (see also: Common Core Standards!), not the world she grew up in. 

 

In which I finally post my Voicethread….

After all the technical difficulties in class, here, finally, is my VoiceThread digital draft. This is a draft of a story I might write about adjusting to life in PA and how instrumental Pittsburgh sports were in that adjustment. As I said in class, the pictures are very helpful in jogging your memory and providing extra details you might not otherwise include. I used 21 pictures, but you don’t have to use that many.  The cool thing about VoiceThread is once you share it, others can post comments so it’s a great tool to learn for future use in the classroom.  My voice-over is also in draft form (note the “ums” and “uhs”…I would definitely get rid of those later!) so if I wrote about this for my memoir, this draft would eventually become my final visual representation of my memoir with a few edits. If you have not already done so, I recommend watching the Memory Object stories and The Snowman on the digital storytelling site. It will give you an idea of what you need to do with yours.

 

Of Muppets and Memoirs

“Memoir has to be an honest transaction with your memories and your emotions.” -William Zinsser, author  “On Writing Well and” “Writing About Your Life”

While the memoir was once thought to be reserved for older authors who had achieved significant accomplishments in life, today there is no shortage of memoirs in libraries and bookstores. Depending on who you ask, this is either a good thing or a bad thing for the genre. From Frank McCourt’s brilliant Angela’s Ashes to James Frey’s highly scrutinized A Million Little Pieces, memoirs have been both praised and criticzed in the media.Just this morning, I ran across a review for Memoirs of a Muppets Writer (You mean somebody actually writes that stuff?) by Joseph A. Bailey. I love the Muppets and learning about the people behind them is intriguing.

The Muppets Take Manhattan!

Personally, I enjoy reading memoirs. I like to read about how other people have coped, succeeded, and otherwise lived their lives. Memoirs are often about family dynamics; part of the appeal of the genre is that authors write about events that most people can relate to, at least to some degree.  I’ve read brilliant memoirs from truly gifted writers and storytellers, and I’ve read some mediocre memoirs from authors who either write to sensationalize their lives or are really not “telling the truth” about their lives. Because to me, that is what makes or breaks a memoir: does the writer tell the truth as best he knows it?

My favorite memoir is The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls. I first read this as part of a university’s common freshman reader program and had the privilege of hearing the author speak at the convocation. I was riveted from the first page and found it hard to put down. Jeanette Walls not only tells the truth, she tells it through the use of powerful words; she takes you in to her life and makes you feel what she felt. I will read the first chapter in class, but you can watch this video to hear her tell about that chapter and how she came to write The Glass Castle.

So now you’re really inspired to write your memoir, right?! Here are a few tips and things to keep in mind:

1. Dig deep. Tell the truth. You don’t have to write about anything too personal or traumatic, but choose something that you care about, that you can tell about truthfully, that to you, is a great story. If the memory is meaningful to you, chances are you can tell it in such a way that it becomes meaningful to others, too.

2. A family affair. Think about favorite family stories. You know, the ones you hear every at holiday gathering. Ask family members for memories they have about you. The story you’re tired of hearing that everyone else thinks is hilarious…yep, it’s probably a good memoir.

3. A picture is worth a 1,000 words. Go through pictures or other visual artifacts. Which ones bring a smile to your face? Or a tear to your eye? This is why we are creating a digital draft!

4. You don’t have to be a Kardashian or a former president to write a memoir. Don’t wait for something amazing or incredible to happen or for your life to become “fabulous.” Real authors write about every day things but they do it in powerful, interesting ways.

5. Nobody’s perfect. Rather than focusing on your awesomeness, think of your flaws. There is generally a story or two that can come from our not-so-great moments in life. Remember the Jerry Spinelli video? He thought of a time he became a bully, and shazam! A story was born…

6. Just write.Once you decide on a story, just write anything that comes to your head for 10 minutes; words, phrases, whatever. Get it out on paper and then you can work with it.

Most students are intimidated by the memoir assignment at first, but in the end, are proud of what they’ve written. They go through the writing process and use the six traits to make their writing “work.” More importantly, they come to understand the importance of time and space and choice in writing. And so will you.

 

Making the Most of Your Posts…and a few math raps!

I had a chance to read and comment on everyone’s blog this past week and you are all off to a great start! The blogs look great and many of you have already added your own links and pages. Here are a few tips and reminders as you continue to blog and reflect on this semester’s learning and your future as a teacher:

1. Summarize and Synthesize: Include a summary of your readings but also synthesize it with other things you’ve read or experienced. For example, if you read about Julie Ramsay’s writing workshop, think of what you’ve learned about classroom management and what you need to do teach this way. Connect to experiences you’ve had as a student and what implications it holds for you in the future as a teacher.

2. Keep the Reader in Mind: Provide the reader with links to additional resources that relate to your post or insert related media. One of the best parts about digital writing is that it affords us the opportunity to use multimedia to enhance our writing and to connect our thoughts to the thoughts and ideas of others.

3. Blog consistently: Most bloggers have a schedule they follow. Some of the blogs I follow are like clockwork with their posts, e.g., every Monday morning, every Sunday evening. Some bloggers post almost daily, others weekly, some only monthly. For our course, one post a week is the requirement; choose the day of the week you believe is best for you to blog and put it on your calendar. I try to do mine on Sunday nights.

By the way, here are a few great math teacher blogs I found. You may want to check these out and add them to your blogroll!

f (t) 

Let’s Play Math

Sweeney Math

Mr. Sweeney is a high school math teacher in Philly.  You’ll have to check out the calculus video parody of Cee Low’s song! It reminded me of a few other good math parody videos I’ve seen. This is such a great way to use all of the language arts (reading, writing, speaking, listening, viewing, and visually representing) to have your students create digital projects to explain math concepts! Lyrics are really poetry, and  finding ways to use music and rhymes to help students remember concepts is a great teaching strategy. Think of some of the things you remember to this day because you learned them as a song. This was the premise and genius of Schoolhouse Rock.You can tell the kids enjoyed making these videos and as a teacher, it’s important to show that you can have fun with your subject!

In this video  a California teacher explains how and why he uses rap to teach math.

Here are a few more videos for your math enjoyment! (Where were these videos when I was in school???!)

I Will Derive 

Math, Math Baby

Crank Dat Calculus

Crank That Quadratic Formula

Here’s an example of Mr. Duey, who is somewhat of a YouTube math rap legend:

Mr. Duey Raps Long Division with a SmartBoard

 

Writing is a thinking and learning process, not just a set of skills

“Writing is thinking on paper.” This is one of my favorite sayings about writing because it is so true. Writing is the only way we can take our thoughts out of our heads and examine them more closely. When our thoughts continue to rattle around in our heads, we continue to wrestle with them without any real progress. It is only when we seem them winking back at us on paper or on the screen can we truly begin to make sense of them.

Good writing, digital or otherwise, is dependent upon good teaching. Writing is a recursive process and should be taught as such. Students need instruction in more than just the parts of a paper and grammar and mechanics. Students need to understand that there are strategies and techniques they can use to improve their writing and make writing more enjoyable and more meaningful. Writing is indeed hard work, but if we  want our students engaged in writing, we must provide choice, challenge, purpose, and collaboration in the writing workshop.

Authenticity & Purpose

The emphasis on high stakes testing has reduced much of the writing students do to “test prep,” the 5 paragraph essay, and other structured assignments. While organization is certainly an important component of writing (it’s one of the 6 traits), the kinds of writing students do in order to learn organization often lack purpose and authenticity. Students  need to understand what kinds of things people write in the “real world.” Students also need to understand that real writers have a purpose and an audience for their writing.  In higher education, one of the requirements for professors is to publish; for us, writing is a very real job requirement and our tenure and promotion are predicated in part on what we publishIt is unlikely our students’ future bosses or managers will ask them to write a 5 paragraph essay, but they may very well be asked to create a dynamic presentation or infographic that includes videos and graphics, or post company news to a blog or social media outlet.

Choice

Students need to understand how real writers work

and how they get ideas.

Real authors do not sit for hours looking at a blank screen or blank piece of paper. Real writers do not write to prompts nor are they all interested in writing on the same topic as other writers. Real writers do not start and finish a piece in a short period of time. We need to move beyond writing prompts where every student writes the same thing. They can all write a narrative story, but do you really want to read 24 stories about a favorite birthday present? Students can write in the same genre, but surely do not all need to write on the same topic or prompt within that study. We also need to move beyond the “factory model” of writing where every student writes on the same topic on the same day and finishes at the same time. Teaching this way ignores the need to differentiate instruction and does not allow teachers to meet students where they are and address writing needs.

Collaboration

Students need to read, hear, and study what real writers do to craft their writing; what do authors do to make their writing resonate with readers. Reading like a writer, noticing the six traits of writing in all pieces of writing and finding an author to use as a writing mentor, as Jack did with Walter Dean Myers in Love that Dog are essential. Mentor texts show how students can use the writing of real authors as models for their own writing.

Students need to collaborate with others as they write. Peer revision and editing are key in learning to write well. No real author works alone; he or she often has colleagues to provide insight and assistance with revision and a professional editor to proofread. I spent the better part of an hour today on Skype editing an article with a colleague from Duquesne. We submitted this for publication and the editors and reviewers have requested revisions. We utilized technology, mostly Google Docs,  to revise and edit as we realize the absurdity of trying to do it by ourselves. The idea that writing is a solitary process seems silly when you examine what real writers do. Sure, sometimes they need “quiet solitude” in which to write and concentrate, but we need to reinforce the sociocultural nature of writing in the real world in the classroom.

Challenge

Students need to move beyond  their own comfort zones in writing; we also need to stop assigning writing in rigid formats and formulas and engage students in real writing for real purposes, as evidenced by Julie Ramsay’s practices.  In order to do this and to motivate students to want to write, teachers need to provide venues for students to publish and share their writing. There are many ways to publish student writing including a class blog or website. Other ways to publish student work include Animoto, Voicethread, Google Docs, LiveBinders, Flipsnack, and a plethora of other digital storytelling tools. Students will be more motivated to write and the writing will naturally improve when 1) the writing matters to them and 2)they know they have a real purpose and audience for their writing.

Back to the Future

When I first started teaching in 1989, paper and pen/pencil were the primary tools students used for writing. Sadly, those are still the primary writing tools in schools today even though the computer is the primary writing tool in society. Most schools have computers and more schools than ever before have high speed, broad band Internet access yet technology remains under-utilized. Digital writing affords us the opportunity to “write” with more than just words, to link our words to the words and ideas of others, and to express our ideas in multiple modalities.  It is the primary means by which people write today and by which our students will surely write in the future. Students need the opportunity now to learn to use new tools and aspects of technology that they may not otherwise encounter or those in which they already have interest and expertise.  Many of today’s students find digital tools very intuitive and need the chance to see how they can use these tools for 21st century literacy and learning. We can no longer afford to teach this 21st century students solely with 20th century tools.

Click here to view the “Writing as a Process” Sliderocket presentation.

 

Poetry in Motion!

I have always loved poetry…I also loved teaching poetry, though, like Jack in Love That Dog, not all of my students loved it.

By middle school, poetry was viewed by them as something else they had to read and analyze, just another school assignment to do. The poems also seemed boring to them because they weren’t the Shel Silverstein-style poems they were used to hearing in elementary school. They thought, “Who on earth would want to read Robert Frost’s ‘Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening’ when they could read something funny like ‘Sick’ by Shel Silverstein?” But what if they experienced it like this?

Like Mrs. Stretchberry, I used poetry as a springboard to writing and introduced them to poets and poems they weren’t used to reading and largely had never heard of. I also had them do things with poetry they weren’t used to doing: choral reading, recording reading (on a tape recorder!), reader’s theater of poems, “add the next stanza,” artistic impressions of the poem, and on and on.

Today, teachers and students have access to a wide range of multimedia with which to listen to and view interpretations of poetry as well as tools to create their own responses and interpretations of poetry. There are so many ways for poetry to come alive and to be “in motion.” My sliderocket presentation details more about teaching with poetry and examples of multimedia responses to poetry. Like Jack, I hope poetry can help you to give voice to a story you have to tell!

 

Because Digital Writing Matters

After reading the Introduction and Chapter 1, what are your thoughts on digital writing? What implications does digital writing hold for you as a future teacher? Discuss with your group and post a comment.