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Posts from the ‘Classroom Snapshot’ Category

Apr 9

Building Better Writing Through Culture, Conversation, and Connection

One of the biggest challenges I face with my English language learners is getting them to move beyond simple responses in their writing. So, for the past few years I have been experimenting with an assignment that not only supports their writing development, but also honors who they are and where they come from.

Background

Students spend the first part of the school year reading a powerful memoir called Dreams and Nightmares: I Fled Alone to the United States When I Was 14 by Liliana Velazquez. In this book, Liliana writes about her experience leaving her home in Guatemala to find a new home and the promise of a new life in the United States. In our writing, we focus on a powerful moment where Liliana describes sewing a quilt to preserve her culture and memories of her grandmother: “I don’t want to lose my culture, and it can be a remembrance of my grandmother. I’m going to sew a quilt… I want to give my mother this quilt as a present that I have made with my own hands. I want to give her a memory of Guatemala, of my tradition.” That idea became the inspiration for the writing assignment – students are tasked with creating and writing about their own culture quilt square.

Brainstorming

The process starts with an active and collaborative brainstorm through a gallery walk and talk. Around the room, I post topics like music, celebrations, food, and holidays. Students rotate, discussing and adding what they already know about their own cultures. Then they walk around a second time to create a personal brainstorm list – combining their knowledge with the collective knowledge of their classmates. This low-pressure brainstorming helps them realize they already have a lot to say as well as provides them with additional ideas.

Research

Next, we move into inquiry. Students review sample interview questions and then create and share their own. Their goal: learn more about a cultural topic that matters to them. Over the weekend, they are tasked with interviewing an elder—a parent, grandparent, aunt, or uncle.When they came back from this assignment, the room was full of stories. One student talked about discovering his uncle’s favorite song, “100 años pienso en ti” by Pedro Infante, and how that music connects to his own tastes. Another learned that her mother and grandmother made their own clothing growing up. A third noted the traditions her mom shared about her hometown in Mexico: “When I talked with my mom, I learned the traditions of ‘La Barranca Moroleon GTO’. I learned the activities that the people did, how they danced the cumbia, walked with the ‘santito’, went to eat in the houses of different people, and also the clothing that they used to wear—huipil—to special occasions like the party of July 25, ‘the misa’ when many people are together listening the ‘padrecito’.”

Putting it all together

Before jumping into a written essay, students consolidate their brainstorming and research by creating a visual “quilt square” representing what they value most about their cultures. For this part of the assignment, students return to their brainstorming and research to mark the parts of their culture they think are most important in their lives and their families. Then they spend time creating a visual to show those key elements. The only requirement for this part of the process is that they represent their cultural background in some way – all the other elements are self-selected. This step is key. It gives them space to synthesize their ideas and organize their thinking in a different way. It also affords them choice in what they ultimately decide to share about their cultures.

Then came the writing.

Because students had already brainstormed, researched, and discussed their ideas, they had a wealth of language to work with. Instead of struggling to get started, we could focus on developing their ideas, organizing their paragraphs, and expanding their writing. The project ended with a celebration. Students shared their quilts and essays, learning about each other’s cultures and experiences. I also printed their work post on our publication walls and to share with families during spring conferences—an added layer of pride and connection.

More than anything, this project reminded me of the power of conversation. Students learned they have a lot to say by getting the opportunity to speak. The gallery walk and talk brainstorm invited students to build on collaborative knowledge. The interviews students conducted with family members didn’t just give them content to write about—they created space for connection, storytelling, and the passing down of culture. The celebratory sharing invited students to show off their hard work while also learning more about each other. These conversations became the heart of the writing, making it more meaningful, more personal, and far more than just an assignment.

Kelly Virgin is a WCWP teacher leader who teaches high school English for the Kennett Consolidated School District.






















							

		

			

			

				

					
Feb 8

				

									

											

			

			

				

					Moving Beyond the Worksheet: A Writing Workshop Approach to Grammar Instruction
				

				

In our writing workshop class, grammar doesn’t live on worksheets—it lives inside stories, poems, conversations, and the students themselves. When we review parts of speech, for example, the goal isn’t just for students to identify them, but to use them intentionally in their own writing. For my English language learners especially, that connection between language rules and meaningful writing is essential.





We start our parts of speech review with nouns. Instead of defining them right away, students first notice nouns in a poetic excerpt from Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse. Together, we look closely at the objects Hesse includes and talk about what those items reveal about the speaker. What matters to her? What kind of life does she live? Students quickly see that nouns do more than name things—they reveal character.










Using those observations, students craft their own personal list poems. They choose specific items from their own lives and begin to see how selecting certain nouns can tell a reader who they are and what’s important to them. This is where the grammar and the writing start to click.





Once we have that foundation, we expand our understanding of nouns by sorting them into types: proper and common, concrete and abstract, singular and plural. Because my students are English language learners, we also pause to notice the language rules that come along with these nouns—capitalizing proper nouns, adding -s to make plurals, and naming the exceptions as we discover them.





To get students moving (and collaborating), we take our learning on the road with a nouns scavenger hunt around the school building. Students work in pairs to complete tasks like introducing themselves to an adult and writing a sentence about who they met, finding the name of our high school and explaining where they are, sitting on something concrete and naming it, or making a facial expression and identifying the emotion they’re showing. It’s active, social, and full of real-world language practice—and it’s always a favorite.










As a culminating project, students create a “noun heart” for someone important to them—a family member, friend, teacher, or mentor. Around the outside of the heart, they brainstorm meaningful nouns connected to that person, thinking again about the different types: people and places, concrete objects, abstract ideas. On the inside, they use that brainstorm to write five or more sentences directly to that person. Sentence frames like You are my ____. I enjoy going to ___ and ___ with you. Thank you for giving me ____. You make me feel ____. support students while still allowing for authentic voice.










Because this project happens the week before Valentine’s Day, I encourage students to color their hearts and give them to their people as a valentine. It’s a simple addition that adds motivation and joy—providing an authentic audience always enhances any writing task.





In the end, this work solidifies the fact that grammar is not a set of rules to memorize, but a living part of language. When students use grammar to express their identity, relationships, and gratitude, it becomes meaningful and human. Students aren’t practicing grammar in isolation – they’re using it to communicate ideas that matter to them. In this way, it lives in their reading, their writing, and their lives beyond the classroom.










Kelly Virgin is a WCWP teacher leader who teaches high school English for the Kennett Consolidated School District.






							

		

			

			

				

					
Nov 19

				

									

											

			

			

				

					The Color Conversation: A Classroom Strategy That Actually Gets Teens Talking
				

				

How do you get high schoolers to open up and share something real? If your students are anything like mine, they tend to deflect, joke, or suddenly become very interested in the ceiling when it’s time to make personal connections to literature.





So earlier this week, I tricked them—gently—into opening up with a “color conversation.”





The setup was simple: a pile of sticky notes and a handful of colored Sharpies. Before showing the prompts, I told students to grab one marker. Then I revealed the color-coded questions:





Green = Goodbyes: Who is someone you’ve had to say goodbye to?





Red = Bravery: When have you had to be brave?





Purple = Fear: When have you felt afraid?





Orange = Hope: What are some of your hopes for the future?














These emotions connect to the memoir we’re reading together, and because my students are English language learners, I also provided sentence stems to support fluency. I set a 7-minute timer and told them to create and post as many sticky notes as they could. For a bit of motivation, the table with the most notes earned a trip to the class snack bucket.





When the timer dinged, we took a silent gallery walk. Of course, silence didn’t last long. A few whispers broke through: “Wait—whose house caught on fire?” or “Hey, who’s from Ciudad?” While I reminded them there was no pressure to identify their notes, most students did. They wanted to.

















































The best part? This activity works for any pre- or post-reading moment where students might hesitate to go deeper. And I’m saving the sticky notes. When it’s time for them to write their own memoirs and someone inevitably says, “I don’t have anything to write about,” I’ll point to their own words on the wall—a whole collage of lived experiences waiting to become stories.















Kelly Virgin is a WCWP teacher leader who teaches high school English for the Kennett Consolidated School District.

							

		

			

			

				

					
Oct 15

				

									

											

			

			

				

					From Copying to Connecting: How My Students Rethink Note-Taking
				

				

How do your students take notes?





In my classroom, we’ve been using a two-column note-taking system that helps students move beyond simply copying information. On the left side, they record notes from a short lecture or a hallway walk. On the right side, they engage with those notes — analyzing examples I provide or finding their own connections to the new terms.










For this particular lesson, students copied definitions for different types of supporting evidence, highlighted the key words, and then cut and sorted examples from a reading we had completed the previous week. What started as a simple sorting task turned into thoughtful conversations about how evidence functions within an argument.





Once students correctly sorted their examples, they taped them into their notebooks and flipped the paper to analyze the effect of each type of evidence on the writer’s overall argument. What I love about this approach is that note-taking became an active learning process, not just a record of information.










Kelly Virgin is a WCWP teacher leader who teaches high school English for the Kennett Consolidated School District.

							

		

			

			

				

					
Sep 17

				

									

											

			

			

				

					Learning Through Exploration
				

				

Throughout in the school year, I like to give students chances to learn beyond the four walls of the classroom. Early on, one of my favorite ways to do this is by turning them into “experts” on their own school building.





This week, for example, students started class by studying building maps. They drew routes to different resources around the school, then teamed up to practice their English by writing out step-by-step directions to those spots. After that, they got to put their directions to the test—walking the routes, talking through them, and even creating a second set of directions to a new location.





It’s a simple activity, but one that’s engaging and collaborative. The maps, conversation, and exploration help students build both confidence with language and comfort in their surroundings.





Later on, this activity will grow into a larger project. Students will each choose one school resource to research in greater depth in order to create a student-friendly guidebook that explains what the location has to offer. Their written directions will be just one small part of the final product—alongside a Q&A with the resource expert, plus the key facts and supporting details they uncover along the way. 





This project not only strengthens their language skills, but also helps them see the school as a place full of people, spaces, and opportunities ready to support them.


































Kelly Virgin is a WCWP teacher leader who teaches high school English for the Kennett Consolidated School District.

							

		

			

			

				

					
Aug 27

				

									

											

			

			

				

					An easy strategy to kick start student collaboration
				

				

Want to get your students talking? Hand them a clipboard and get them on their feet. Early in the semester, I like to pose a simple question: What do you need to know about someone to know you’ll work well together? After a few minutes of brainstorming, I give each student a clipboard with a blank chart, and we head to the hallway. 





Students line up facing each other, and with a 90-second timer running, they talk. The clipboard gives them something to look at, and the questions give them something to focus on. While these elements make the conversations feel low-stakes, they often lead to high-reward connections.





Conversations don’t always stick to the prompt—but honestly, those off-track moments are often the best ones. When the timer goes off, one row of students shifts down to new partners, and the process starts again. Before students leave for the day, I ask them to jot down the names of classmates they think they could work well with.





This quick activity gives me useful input for seating arrangements and helps students see that effective collaboration doesn’t always depend on sitting next to a friend.



















Kelly Virgin is a WCWP teacher leader who teaches high school English for the Kennett Consolidated School District.

							

		

			

			
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