write.share.connect

Teacher to Teacher: Using Videos in the Classroom

by Lynne R. Dorfman

When we use double entry journals, we ask students to use two columns, one for note-taking and the other for note making. The first is passive and often uses someone else’s language. The second is where we take the new learning and make it our own by asking questions, using graphic organizers, summarizing, and making connections to other situations, lectures, discussions, and readings. When we show videos in class, we want our students to watch actively rather than passively in order to do the very same thing.We want our students to be active viewers.

When it comes to video, students shouldn’t just get it; they should also have something to say about it. Students need to be active and reactive viewers. In order to do this it is important to sometimes fill in with some necessary background information by reading an article, doing an experiment, setting up an anticipation guide to pique interest, or taking a survey.  Students need to be comprehending and evaluating what they are viewing. At the same time, they need to accommodate new learning with existing schema and share their knowledge with others – a partner, small group, and/or whole class.

There are many strategies to foster essential media-literacy skills. Backchanneling is a way you can have students take some notes and react together, in real time, using a backchannel to create a running record that can be viewed later. Kahoot is a game-based classroom response system – for schools, universities and businesses. Mentimeter is a cloud-based tool that lets you engage and interact with your audience in real-time.  Use Class Pager to engage your classroom with polls, exit tickets, after-class reminders, and more, delivered to each student on their own phone or tablet.

Transcripts aren’t always available, but when they are, they can be a really powerful tool. One option is to have students follow along on the transcript and annotate as they watch. Better yet, have students read the transcript before watching.  This way students can create their own essential question for the video. With InqScribe, play videos and type your transcripts in the same window. Insert timecodes anywhere in your transcript, then click on a timecode to jump to that point in the movie. Type anywhere in the transcript, just like a word processor. Do a word-for-word transcription, or just take notes. The choice is yours! Read more

Teacher to Teacher: Revision, the Heart of the Matter

by Lynne R. Dorfman

We all want our students to revise but in order for them to be willing to do the work, they must first understand its value. After you have a writerly discussion about why we should revise, then we can start to talk about how to engage in the revision process. When I talk with writers about revision,

I always suggest that they begin by looking at the content to see if they have developed their ideas. Elaboration is key to good writing. Ask students to work with partners. As each writer shares her piece, ask the partner to listen for places where more details/information can be added. Mark these places with small sticky dots or a light pencil mark. Try for two different kinds of elaboration. Here are some suggestions:

Character: Flesh out the individuals in your piece of writing. Select a key feature of the character and develop him/her like a cartoonist or portrait artist would. How do her hands look? How does her mouth work when she smiles or talks? In The Witches Roald Dahl writes: With each word she (The Grand High Witch) spoke, flecks of pale-blue phlegm shot from her mouth like tiny bullets. (1983, p. 72-73) What about the character’s hair, eyes, clothing?  Close your eyes and try to picture the character in a specific location

Dialogue: In a narrative, dialogue is a key element. Readers expect that talk will be scattered throughout a story. Let the characters talk instead of telling what they say. Show the character’s personality – what he is thinking and feeling. If your writers are not sure how to punctuate conversation, forget about that for the moment. Ask them to skip a space or indent every time a different character speaks, and concentrate on creating a voice for each character. From The Witches: “You may rreee-moof your vigs!” snarled The Grand High Witch. (1983, p. 69)

Setting: Look for places in the narrative where places are mentioned but there are no specifics about what those places look like. Add details – use your senses – to develop them in greater detail. Try to create a picture in the reader’s mind. From The Witches by Roald Dahl: At the back of the room there was a large folding screen with Chinese dragons painted on it… I tiptoe to the back of the room and settled myself on the thick green carpet behind the big screen. (1983, p.57)

Center of Gravity: (For older writers) Find the best part of your story – the place where you believe everything is working well. Begin writing right at this place. Forget about the other parts.  Spill your words here as quickly as possible. See if your piece wants to continue in that direction. See where your writing takes you, and then decide if it works for you – if you are happy with it.

Write More: What else do you know about this character? Place? Particular story?  Is there a sequel to this story?  Is this piece really two stories?

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Teacher-to-Teacher: Clearing Space By Janice Ewing

“Is this the Marie Kondo thing?” my husband asked, as he saw the grocery bags

filled with recycled paper, the clothes packed for Goodwill, the books en route to possible

sale at the local used bookstore.

“Not really,” was my response. It’s more of a refocusing.”

He looked uncertain, but moved on to more practical matters. “Those bags

won’t all fit in the recycling can, and it’s going to be too windy to put them out like that.”

I paused, calm in my Zen-like decluttering trance. “We’ll work it out. We can put a couple of bags out each week.” Letting go of things, after all, is not to be rushed.

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Live This Day: A Teacher to Teacher Post

by Lynne R. Dorfman

Watch the stars and see yourself running with them. ~Marcus Aurelius

When you surround yourself with positive people, do you feel more positive yourself?  Who are the positive people in your life?  I know that one of the reasons I get up early on a Saturday morning  and travel the 50 minutes to the Writing Project for Continuity Days is to feel the energy and be surrounded by “rays of light.”  It sounds like I am exaggerating, but really – I assure you I am not. These Writing Project fellows are my support group – always encouraging, challenging, validating my accomplishments and my goals. They love coming together and sharing. There is an easiness, a feeling of home.

As I walk into Room 200 in Main Hall on the West Chester University campus, I think about my good intentions and my commitment to the Project and our goals. As I participate through writing and talking and listening and sharing, I nurture my mind with great thoughts. I am reminded of all the wonderful PAWLP gatherings for spring and summer and look forward to PAWLP events like the unbook club – where you can participate without reading the book first and then consider if you want to read it. How cool is that!  Or the March 2nd PAWLPDAY that will feature Matthew Kay, Writing Project fellows, and an author panel. Taking turns to tweet for PAWLP, attending courses, or teaching for the Young Writers and Readers summer program for students – there are always possibilities!

It’s good to wish for and look forward to the wondrous things in life. ~Mary Smart

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Tools of the Trade: Using Objects to Spark Memory Writing

by Kelly Virgin

In Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge by Mem Fox and Julie Vivas a little boy literally interprets explanations of memories and brings a collection of objects to his aging neighbor. At first the neighbor, Miss Nancy Allison Delacort Cooper, thinks the boy is strange, but then as she handles each object she begins to remember…

This story of friendship proves how powerful objects can be in provoking strong and vivid memories. With this in mind, my students and I spent a week observing the tangible in hopes of triggering the intangible.

A Penny for Your Thoughts

Students selected a penny from a small pile on their table and then quickly listed as many memorable moments from the year on that Penny as possible. (Note: be sure to only offer pennies with dates from your students’ accessible memories – for my students this was 2007 – 2018) I prompted students to first orient themselves in that year by considering what grades they were in and then to think about milestones, celebrations, friends, family members, homes, etc. We rotated quickly through several rounds of this brainstorming before students returned to their lists and picked one surprising or unexpected memory to write about. The fast pacing of the list brainstorming prevented students from editing their thoughts and the longer second round of writing enabled them to really dig into one or two memories. Read more