Irony

The Things We Say Wrong

Are we teaching writing wrong?

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

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

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

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

I See What You Mean!

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

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

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

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

Get them organized!!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Words to Write By

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

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

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

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

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

The Manual of Style

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

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

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

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

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

Get up and READ!!!

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

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

Why? Well - here are 52 reasons why.

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

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

FREE e-book: Critical Thinking and Web Research Skills

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

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

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

Mechanics of searching

Lesson plans Title Description Searching — Lesson plan — Beginner, Microsoft Office Word document, 73 KB Students who are starting to learn the research process develop beginning skills for conducting an effective and efficient search of web-based information. Searching — Lesson plan — Intermediate, Microsoft Office Word document, 84 KB Students who are proficient in conducting accurate web searches learn to refine them and explore the ways to develop questions and to translate those questions into search queries. Searching — Lesson plan — Advanced, Microsoft Office Word document, 81 KB Students refine search-conducting skills to develop the ability to search for specific sites from a variety of organizations, such as education or government agencies, and sites from specific countries and in specific languages. Student worksheets and handouts Title Description Searching — Student handout, Microsoft Office Word document, 42 KB This handout provides a search reference list that includes web addresses and their endings, along with tips for effective searching. Searching — Student worksheet 1, Microsoft Office Word document, 44 KB Students record and evaluate search results with this worksheet. Searching — Student worksheet 2, Microsoft Office Word document, 143 KB Students create a graphic organizer to track search progress with this worksheet. Class demonstration guide Title Description Searching — Teacher demo — Beginner, Microsoft Office Word document, 1.2 MB Teachers can show students this beginner-level search protocol to use as they begin to learn about web research. Searching — Teacher demo — Intermediate, Microsoft Office Word document, 50 KB Teachers can show students this intermediate-level search protocol to use as they learn more about web research. Searching — Teacher demo — Advanced, Microsoft Office Word document, 250 KB Teachers can show students an advanced-level search protocol to use as they learn about web research. Searching — Teacher demo — Tips, Microsoft Office Word document, 376 KB This handout includes tips for teachers who are demonstrating web searches and teaching web search skills.

Validity and reliability

Lesson plans Title Description Validity — Lesson plan — Beginner, Microsoft Office Word document, 77 KB Students learn beginner-level skills that help them validate the accuracy and content of a website. Validity — Lesson plan — Intermediate, Microsoft Office Word document, 70 KB Students learn intermediate-level skills that help them validate the accuracy and content of a website. Validity — Lesson plan — Advanced, Microsoft Office Word document, 77 KB Students learn advanced-level skills that help them validate the accuracy and content of a website. Student worksheets and handouts Title Description Validity — Student handout 1, Microsoft Office Word document, 59 KB Students can refer to this list of questions to consider while researching on the web. Validity — Student worksheet 1, Microsoft Office Word document, 44 KB Students find and record information about websites. Validity — Student worksheet 2, Microsoft Office Word document, 47 KB Students review websites and record how and where they were able to confirm their accuracy. Validity — Student worksheet 3, Microsoft Office Word document, 44 KB Students review websites, evaluate their accuracy, and reflect on the evaluation process. Validity — Student worksheet 4, Microsoft Office Word document, 44 KB Students review Wikipedia articles and answer questions about validity, including bias. Class demonstration guide Title Description Validity — Teacher demo — Beginner, Microsoft Office Word document, 63 KB Teachers show students how and where to find information about websites, including the publisher. Validity — Teacher demo — Intermediate, Microsoft Office Word document, 48 KB Teachers guide students through websites and lead a discussion about each site's publisher. Validity — Teacher demo — Advanced, Microsoft Office Word document, 46 KB Teachers introduce the concept of bias on web sites. Validity — Teacher demo — Wikipedia, Microsoft Office Word document, 41 KB Teachers explain how information is published on Wikipedia.

Plagiarism

Lesson plans Title Description Plagiarism — Lesson plan — Beginner, Microsoft Office Word document, 87 KB Students learn the difference between plagiarism and paraphrasing. Plagiarism — Lesson plan — Intermediate, Microsoft Office Word document, 72 KB Students learn to evaluate copyright material and how to paraphrase for research. Plagiarism — Lesson plan — Advanced, Microsoft Office Word document, 77 KB Students learn about the concepts of copyright friendly and fair use and their importance in research. Student worksheets and handouts Title Description Plagiarism — Student handout, Microsoft Office Word document, 44 KB Students can refer to this list of resources about plagiarism to help during research. Plagiarism — Student worksheet 1, Microsoft Office Word document, 38 KB Students review source information, decide whether it contains plagiarized material, and then explain their conclusions. Plagiarism — Student worksheet 2, Microsoft Office Word document, 39 KB Students review source information and then practice paraphrasing information. Class demonstration guide Title Description Plagiarism — Teacher demo — Beginner, Microsoft Office Word document, 59 KB Teachers show students the difference between paraphrasing and plagiarizing. Plagiarism — Teacher demo — Intermediate, Microsoft Office Word document, 46 KB Teachers guide independent or group work to demonstrate conceptual understanding of plagiarism and paraphrasing.

Citing web sources

Lesson plans Title Description Citing web sources — Lesson plan — Beginner, Microsoft Office Word document, 65 KB Students learn about website documentation and how to electronically document the sources they cite. Citing Web sources — Lesson plan — Intermediate, Microsoft Office Word document, 61 KB Students practice finding and document the information they need to properly cite websites. Citing web sources — Lesson plan — Advanced, Microsoft Office Word document, 77 KB As students refine their website documentation skills, this lesson provides an opportunity for them to electronically document the sources they cite. Student worksheets and handouts Title Description Citing web sources — Student worksheet — APA 1, Microsoft Office Word document, 585 KB Students practice beginner-level skills needed to cite web resources according to the American Psychological Association (APA) preferred format. Citing web sources — Student worksheet — APA 2, Microsoft Office Word document, 40 KB Students practice intermediate-level skills needed to cite web resources according to the American Psychological Association (APA) preferred format. Citing web sources — Student worksheet — APA 3, Microsoft Office Word document, 40 KB Students practice advanced-level skills needed to cite web resources according to the American Psychological Association (APA) preferred format. Citing web sources — Student worksheet — MLA 1, Microsoft Office Word document, 164 KB Students practice beginner-level skills needed to cite web resources according to the Modern Language Association (MLA) preferred format. Citing web sources — Student worksheet — MLA 2, Microsoft Office Word document, 40 KB Students practice intermediate-level skills needed to cite web resources according to the Modern Language Association (MLA) preferred format. Citing web sources — Student worksheet — MLA 3, Microsoft Office Word document, 39 KB Students practice advanced-level skills needed to cite web resources according to the Modern Language Association (MLA) preferred format. Class demonstration guide Title Description Citing web sources — Teacher demo — Beginner , Microsoft Office Word document, 53 KB Teachers show students beginner skills needed for citing sources. Citing web sources — Teacher demo — Intermediate, Microsoft Office Word document, 52 KB Teachers show students intermediate skills needed for citing sources. Citing web sources — Teacher demo — Advanced, Microsoft Office Word document, 51 KB Teachers show students advanced skills needed for citing sources.

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

Back to School - Back to Blogging!!

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

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

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


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


What is it?

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

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

I see dead people...

Just kiddin'.

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

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

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

I have enabled comment moderation on this blog.

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

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

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

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

Can writing keep us well?

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

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

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

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

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

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

What does it do for you?

Not Your Father's Blooms!

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

Not Your Mother's Kindle!

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

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

And then they launched this...

You can read more about it here via Kindlerama blog.

Not Your Father's Principal

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

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

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

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

Not Your Father's Research Paper

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

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

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

Not Your Father's Book Report!

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

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

How are you transforming the traditional book report?

Non-Fiction Mentor Texts

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

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

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

There's no writing in math class!!!

Oh yes there is!!

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

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

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