I guess January is made for reflection. The last two weeks I've been thinking about The Write Place and trying to really center my work as well as look ahead to possibilities. I'm in an awkward position since I'm funded by ARRA money and unless I can find a way to fund this Center next year, it will cease to exist in June. This is compounded by the fact that I need to establish the presence of the writing center in order to attract the attention of people who would see this as a viable funding opportunity. I've been in this position before, acting "as if" great things are already happening or building my bridge as I walk across it.
So, I drafted some possible options for 2nd semester and some thoughts about next year...I met with the principal and we narrowed my ideas down to another all-school write; work with the 9th grade teacher on preparing for the state writing test in April; and work with students preparing to enter the History Day competition this year. I also plan on hosting at least a couple of "Writing Excursions" for interested students.
Then, I met with others in a Writing Center Symposium format and started re-thinking my role once again...Is this writing center for the students or for the teachers? I want it to be for the students, but I am unsure how much summative writing is actually assigned, and I wonder if it is being assigned, do teachers understand the process approach to writing and how a writing center could be used by students to develop their final drafts? I'm only thinking this because in the 3 instances in which I have worked with teachers, I have not seen final products. In each case, I was asked to help develop and deliver the assignments but my work with students and their writing was minimal. Should I be visiting Professional Learning Communities here and give them a menu of possible writing topics I could explore with them? Or is that really branching away from my focus?
More later...
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Digital Poetry
It seems like awhile since I last posted but only because I haven't had the time...A 10th grade English teacher requested support for a concluding project for a recent poetry unit. The district curriculum called for a "chap-book" (ex. Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse) format for the concluding piece in the unit, but because of a variety of circumstances, students had not written more than one or two poems which were in very rough draft form and this teacher needed to conclude the unit. It seemed to make sense to both of us to have students bring one of their drafts to a polished form and digitizing that piece seemed perfect. Although B. didn't feel he could carry that out on his own, I felt confident (over-confident?) that I could provide what was needed to help his students create some intriguing products.
Needless to say, with technology, it's one step forward, two steps back. While I smoothly went through the process using imovie and a student poem, my version of imovie was not the same as that at the school which created problems for me that I hadn't anticipated. While I had worked with both versions, I was not an expert at either. I was fortunate in having a tech friend support me through all the stages of our process and step in to help students when I was at a loss for what to do.
I will attach my powerpoint and samples but basically, students came to the lab on their first day with rather hastily created poems. It did concern me that we were creating final projects out of very rough or nonexistent 1st drafts, and I had to remind myself that my role was to help students digitize their writing as a second draft. What surprised me was how much that step contributed to the revision process. It forced students to look at their poetry in a new way - to look for images to fit with their thoughts and in the process, change their words to fit the images. As it turned out, students created many more drafts than they would have in a traditional assignment.
Our final step was supposed to be the addition of voice - students reading their poetry into the computer. Not having done this before, I was sure that the process was easy - I tried it myself, at home. What I didn't count on was the background noise in the lab and the softness of the students' voices. They needed to record with a microphone and in a quiet room. The majority did not want to have their voices attached to their poems. The pictures and words by themselves needed some kind of background sound so we gave students the option of downloading appropriate music without lyrics. Now the project seemed finished.
Frustrations about final editing were similar to working with traditional writing: spelling - getting students to edit their work; capitalization - following the rules or at least being consistent in not following them. I ended up telling students that if they were consciously breaking conventions that they needed to attach an author's statement explaining why they made the choices they did - otherwise, they would be graded according to traditional grammar and spelling rules. As you will see in the videos attached, it worked to a degree. If the class was my own, I would have required stricter editing. Oh, and I would have censored the "love" theme which comprised 90% of the finished work.
After working intensely with the 3 classes, I was motivated to experiment and create a family video combining music, words and photos which I gave to my family for Christmas. I am now anxious to go in another direction with digital writing and build on what I've learned.
Needless to say, with technology, it's one step forward, two steps back. While I smoothly went through the process using imovie and a student poem, my version of imovie was not the same as that at the school which created problems for me that I hadn't anticipated. While I had worked with both versions, I was not an expert at either. I was fortunate in having a tech friend support me through all the stages of our process and step in to help students when I was at a loss for what to do.
I will attach my powerpoint and samples but basically, students came to the lab on their first day with rather hastily created poems. It did concern me that we were creating final projects out of very rough or nonexistent 1st drafts, and I had to remind myself that my role was to help students digitize their writing as a second draft. What surprised me was how much that step contributed to the revision process. It forced students to look at their poetry in a new way - to look for images to fit with their thoughts and in the process, change their words to fit the images. As it turned out, students created many more drafts than they would have in a traditional assignment.
Our final step was supposed to be the addition of voice - students reading their poetry into the computer. Not having done this before, I was sure that the process was easy - I tried it myself, at home. What I didn't count on was the background noise in the lab and the softness of the students' voices. They needed to record with a microphone and in a quiet room. The majority did not want to have their voices attached to their poems. The pictures and words by themselves needed some kind of background sound so we gave students the option of downloading appropriate music without lyrics. Now the project seemed finished.
Frustrations about final editing were similar to working with traditional writing: spelling - getting students to edit their work; capitalization - following the rules or at least being consistent in not following them. I ended up telling students that if they were consciously breaking conventions that they needed to attach an author's statement explaining why they made the choices they did - otherwise, they would be graded according to traditional grammar and spelling rules. As you will see in the videos attached, it worked to a degree. If the class was my own, I would have required stricter editing. Oh, and I would have censored the "love" theme which comprised 90% of the finished work.
After working intensely with the 3 classes, I was motivated to experiment and create a family video combining music, words and photos which I gave to my family for Christmas. I am now anxious to go in another direction with digital writing and build on what I've learned.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Into the Classroom
https://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B1D1HZ6LK3ZWMWEzYjVlOTAtOTQ3ZS00NjcxLWJjZmUtYTAxZTY4ODdiNDRj&hl=en
My sole purpose for this job is to get to the students - to create an interest in, if not a passion for expressing themselves through writing. After the all-school write, I didn't really have a plan for next steps. Lots of options but no plan.
So, when I entered The Write Place last week, I was surprised to find a social studies teacher waiting for me. I greeted him and he sort of sideways asked for support for his 7th grade students who were going to be writing historical letters situated in the period of The Civil War - in 5-paragraph essay form. And then he was gone! With that little bit of information, I began to think through how I would introduce this genre - definitely I would use a model of some sort. And I would ask students to identify the characteristics of the model letter. I also would want them to identify typical contents of the letters of the time. I dashed off these ideas to Mr. W. who responded enthusiastically and we negotiated a date when I could come into his classroom and work with students.
I began to do a little research on Civil War Letters and found some great websites. http://reflections.mndigital.org is a site that houses various types of MN historical artifacts including letters and diaries. I used letters written from White Bear Lake, Minnesota in the early 1900s to acquaint/remind students of the trivia included in personal letters. I also found a Civil War letters site that offered love letters from The Civil War as well as ordinary soldier's accounts of life on the front. (http://www.civilwarhome.com) Another valuable piece, in terms of letter writing is "Making Sense of Letters and Diaries" by Steven Stowe. From this source, I solidified my thinking on what I wanted students to look for in the models that I gave them. (http://historymatters.gmu.edu/mse/letters/letters.pdf)
I ended up with a 6-slide Powerpoint presentation (attached) that I estimated would take about 45 minutes with an intro, student reading, and student writing sections.The lesson went reasonably well - it is always difficult to step cold into the middle of someone else's unit. The students were fantastic. Glitsch's: 1) wrong adapter for my computer (it's probably still on my LCD at home) - no problem because I emailed the pres. to the instructor who brought it up on the SmartBoard. 2) Inadequate space to record student thinking - should have anticipated this one - will bring chart paper next time - ended up using a corner of the whiteboard that the instructor erased immediately at the end of the lesson. 3) Disconnect between what the instructor wanted students to write and what it means to write an historical letter. The 5-paragraph essay with an adequate introduction is not the same as an historical letter. I offered to come back another time to talk about essays and support them.
It would be great to follow-up this lesson with students - When they left class today, most knew their role; some had decided on their audience (who they were writing to); most had 3 historical facts to include in their letters; I'm not sure if they saw the need to include mundane details in order to make the letter seem real, and I'm definitely not sure how they will include an "introduction" at the beginning of the letter as Mr. W. is requiring.The student teacher explained that the introduction would summarize what they were going to be talking about in their letters - Who does that? She also gave them the word of the day, Epistle, pronouncing it E-pistol "not to be confused with guns." She suggested that the letters they were writing would be "E-pistols," Hmmmm.
I'm anxious to find out how the next hour went. Mr. W. felt he could handle that one alone.
I know the PowerPoint attachment is not showing up correctly - 1/2 the words missing - How can I fix this ?
My sole purpose for this job is to get to the students - to create an interest in, if not a passion for expressing themselves through writing. After the all-school write, I didn't really have a plan for next steps. Lots of options but no plan.
So, when I entered The Write Place last week, I was surprised to find a social studies teacher waiting for me. I greeted him and he sort of sideways asked for support for his 7th grade students who were going to be writing historical letters situated in the period of The Civil War - in 5-paragraph essay form. And then he was gone! With that little bit of information, I began to think through how I would introduce this genre - definitely I would use a model of some sort. And I would ask students to identify the characteristics of the model letter. I also would want them to identify typical contents of the letters of the time. I dashed off these ideas to Mr. W. who responded enthusiastically and we negotiated a date when I could come into his classroom and work with students.
I began to do a little research on Civil War Letters and found some great websites. http://reflections.mndigital.org is a site that houses various types of MN historical artifacts including letters and diaries. I used letters written from White Bear Lake, Minnesota in the early 1900s to acquaint/remind students of the trivia included in personal letters. I also found a Civil War letters site that offered love letters from The Civil War as well as ordinary soldier's accounts of life on the front. (http://www.civilwarhome.com) Another valuable piece, in terms of letter writing is "Making Sense of Letters and Diaries" by Steven Stowe. From this source, I solidified my thinking on what I wanted students to look for in the models that I gave them. (http://historymatters.gmu.edu/mse/letters/letters.pdf)
I ended up with a 6-slide Powerpoint presentation (attached) that I estimated would take about 45 minutes with an intro, student reading, and student writing sections.The lesson went reasonably well - it is always difficult to step cold into the middle of someone else's unit. The students were fantastic. Glitsch's: 1) wrong adapter for my computer (it's probably still on my LCD at home) - no problem because I emailed the pres. to the instructor who brought it up on the SmartBoard. 2) Inadequate space to record student thinking - should have anticipated this one - will bring chart paper next time - ended up using a corner of the whiteboard that the instructor erased immediately at the end of the lesson. 3) Disconnect between what the instructor wanted students to write and what it means to write an historical letter. The 5-paragraph essay with an adequate introduction is not the same as an historical letter. I offered to come back another time to talk about essays and support them.
It would be great to follow-up this lesson with students - When they left class today, most knew their role; some had decided on their audience (who they were writing to); most had 3 historical facts to include in their letters; I'm not sure if they saw the need to include mundane details in order to make the letter seem real, and I'm definitely not sure how they will include an "introduction" at the beginning of the letter as Mr. W. is requiring.The student teacher explained that the introduction would summarize what they were going to be talking about in their letters - Who does that? She also gave them the word of the day, Epistle, pronouncing it E-pistol "not to be confused with guns." She suggested that the letters they were writing would be "E-pistols," Hmmmm.
I'm anxious to find out how the next hour went. Mr. W. felt he could handle that one alone.
I know the PowerPoint attachment is not showing up correctly - 1/2 the words missing - How can I fix this ?
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Updates on the All-School Write
I started this entry last week but never had time to get back to it...Oct. 12
Frustration! When I got here today, I went to my mailbox expecting at least a few responses on the cards we had passed out, but nothing! So, I typed up the ones I received last week and found that, minus the anonymous ones and ones like, "I lik ur hair," there were 20 I could designate for the newspaper and for prizes.
Prizes are another story altogether. I struggled with deciding between school-related items (pencils, pens, pencil boxes, notebooks, etc.) and hokey Halloween items - finally settling on the Halloween items. They're either going to come across as extremely hokey/dorky or clever/cool just because students don't usually get small insignificant prizes for writing...right?
I distributed the prizes to the appropriate homeroom boxes and then decided to stay and drop in on the newspaper group. That was when I found out that A, the instructor, had visited my mailbox on the previous day and, to my surprise, had pulled all additional cards I had been looking for. His perception was that they were "pretty negative," but he had found about 6 that they would publish in the newspaper. Of course I had to relate that I had just finished sending prizes out to the 20 people from last week and that some of them needed to be included in the publication as well. No problem, he said. They would just add another page to the paper.
Long story, short, the next day I had all of the cards...sent out more candy and thank-you's and transcribed and sent the second set of responses to the principal. He loved them and asked if I would display blown-up copies of the responses on a bulletin board in the cafeteria. The results are in the photo above. I ended up with between 40 and 50 really thoughtful responses and I am content with that.
Other bonuses from the all-school write: Publicity - I gained a permanent bulletin board in a prominent location to display student work and writing opportunities. I used the postings on the bulletin board as an opportunity to send emails to all staff encouraging them to read the responses and to do some writing of their own on the National Day of Writing, October 20. Although there is not school here, I suggested that with 3 days away from students, that they might like to do a little writing. I asked them to think of a time when they were younger and struggling with difficult circumstances or a tough decision. I suggested they write a letter to that younger self with advice from their older self on how to deal with the situation. (idea from NWP/MWP)
So, I have really gotten my money's worth out of the all-school prompt.
Frustration! When I got here today, I went to my mailbox expecting at least a few responses on the cards we had passed out, but nothing! So, I typed up the ones I received last week and found that, minus the anonymous ones and ones like, "I lik ur hair," there were 20 I could designate for the newspaper and for prizes.Prizes are another story altogether. I struggled with deciding between school-related items (pencils, pens, pencil boxes, notebooks, etc.) and hokey Halloween items - finally settling on the Halloween items. They're either going to come across as extremely hokey/dorky or clever/cool just because students don't usually get small insignificant prizes for writing...right?
I distributed the prizes to the appropriate homeroom boxes and then decided to stay and drop in on the newspaper group. That was when I found out that A, the instructor, had visited my mailbox on the previous day and, to my surprise, had pulled all additional cards I had been looking for. His perception was that they were "pretty negative," but he had found about 6 that they would publish in the newspaper. Of course I had to relate that I had just finished sending prizes out to the 20 people from last week and that some of them needed to be included in the publication as well. No problem, he said. They would just add another page to the paper.
Long story, short, the next day I had all of the cards...sent out more candy and thank-you's and transcribed and sent the second set of responses to the principal. He loved them and asked if I would display blown-up copies of the responses on a bulletin board in the cafeteria. The results are in the photo above. I ended up with between 40 and 50 really thoughtful responses and I am content with that.
Other bonuses from the all-school write: Publicity - I gained a permanent bulletin board in a prominent location to display student work and writing opportunities. I used the postings on the bulletin board as an opportunity to send emails to all staff encouraging them to read the responses and to do some writing of their own on the National Day of Writing, October 20. Although there is not school here, I suggested that with 3 days away from students, that they might like to do a little writing. I asked them to think of a time when they were younger and struggling with difficult circumstances or a tough decision. I suggested they write a letter to that younger self with advice from their older self on how to deal with the situation. (idea from NWP/MWP)
So, I have really gotten my money's worth out of the all-school prompt.
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Education World ® : Curriculum: Journal Writing Every Day: Teachers Say It Really Works!
http://www2.educationworld.com/a_curr/strategy/strategy013.shtml
Terrific ideas to make journal writing relevant and authentic for students.
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Staff Connections
Publicity and buy-in from staff, students and community is going to make The Write Place a viable and dynamic part of the school. I have a million ideas of what I'd like to see happen, but at the moment, it seems like there are so many logistical pieces in the way. One, of course, is that I am not on site every day so feel a little bit peripheral when I'd like to be integral, or at least have The Write Place be integral. Another piece is the schedule: students attend most of their classes every other day, so I'm constantly referring to the schedule to see what's when. The school has extended hours, which are optional, so that students have potentially 10 class options over two days plus a homeroom. It seems overwhelming. So, for example, students meet twice on even weeks and three times on odd. I have taught under that schedule and found it extremely hard to get continuity. But maybe that will not affect the writing center's effectiveness.
Monday I met with the arts teachers: Video Production, Chorus, and Band. I loved talking with them because of my own arts background. I see such a correlation between creating something visually and creating a piece with words. I always took my students in art and English through similar processes when creating new pieces. Anyway, these teachers would like to create Moodle blogs for groups of their students to give feedback/peer reviews of each other's work. They would also like to have their students write artist's statements about the work they do. I have promised to find examples of critiques so that students will have models to follow. I have some sample artist's statements as well. Our meeting was brief, so I think I will follow up with each of the teachers individually so that I can see some of the work that students have been doing.
Tuesday I introduced myself to staff and presented the all-school write at each of the morning staff meetings that are held at 7:30 and 8:30 am monthly. I had intended to be a little more compelling - maybe present a short video clip of students or others talking about writing, but I didn't realize when the meeting was until just the day before it, and it didn't seem worth waiting another month. As it turned out, all presentations were brief, and teachers were anxious to get to class. I hope a few take time to write a response to the prompt.
Monday I met with the arts teachers: Video Production, Chorus, and Band. I loved talking with them because of my own arts background. I see such a correlation between creating something visually and creating a piece with words. I always took my students in art and English through similar processes when creating new pieces. Anyway, these teachers would like to create Moodle blogs for groups of their students to give feedback/peer reviews of each other's work. They would also like to have their students write artist's statements about the work they do. I have promised to find examples of critiques so that students will have models to follow. I have some sample artist's statements as well. Our meeting was brief, so I think I will follow up with each of the teachers individually so that I can see some of the work that students have been doing.
Tuesday I introduced myself to staff and presented the all-school write at each of the morning staff meetings that are held at 7:30 and 8:30 am monthly. I had intended to be a little more compelling - maybe present a short video clip of students or others talking about writing, but I didn't realize when the meeting was until just the day before it, and it didn't seem worth waiting another month. As it turned out, all presentations were brief, and teachers were anxious to get to class. I hope a few take time to write a response to the prompt.
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
All-School Write
Today was our first "All-School" write.
Pluses:
a. The students
b. Mingling with the students
c. Being visible to the students
d. Working with the newspaper reps
e. A few thoughtful responses
Minuses:
a. The venue selected to introduce the task: The lunchroom
b. The time of day selected to introduce the task: Lunchtime
In preparation for today, I contacted the principal and the AV guy. The principal first, so that I was sure this would be sanctioned by the administration and I just didn't know the logistics of presenting a schoolwide prompt. My thoughts centered around posting the prompt around the building (which is huge) and then advertising through homeroom about the writing opportunity. The principal felt that students probably would not respond to the postings around the building...I'm not sure. Anyway, he suggested that I hand out cards and pencils to everyone in 3 lunches along with an explanation of the prompt. I think everyone knows the downside of doing anything during school lunches, but I was willing to give it a try...The AV guy was ready with the prompt projected and a microphone available. Even with the microphone, the principal could not get students to be totally quiet during the 1st lunch, but 3 of us walked among the tables and distributed cards with prompts attached, and we did receive back about 20. During the second lunch, it was very quiet, but the group was almost entirely ELL. I introduced the prompt at this lunch, but when I walked around, no one had a clue as to what they were supposed to do with the card. During 3rd lunch, N. from the school paper met with me ahead of time to go over what she would say. We had to introduce the topic ourselves without the benefit of the principal somewhat calming the lunchroom. Controlled chaos is what it felt like. We distributed cards and prompts but really only received a couple back.
Things I'd do again: Attach the prompt to the notecard (a last minute decision that really paid off). I would contact the custodian beside the AV guy, because we waited quite a while for someone to raise the curtain and move the screen out. I also would only have the prompt itself on the screen in the future. Today, I had all the background/directions up as well as the prompt.
My foot is slowly opening the door...
Pluses:
a. The students
b. Mingling with the students
c. Being visible to the students
d. Working with the newspaper reps
e. A few thoughtful responses
Minuses:
a. The venue selected to introduce the task: The lunchroom
b. The time of day selected to introduce the task: Lunchtime
Things I'd do again: Attach the prompt to the notecard (a last minute decision that really paid off). I would contact the custodian beside the AV guy, because we waited quite a while for someone to raise the curtain and move the screen out. I also would only have the prompt itself on the screen in the future. Today, I had all the background/directions up as well as the prompt.
My foot is slowly opening the door...
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