Jan 07
By Traci GardnerAmerican Lit, classroom activity, ReadWriteThink
If you’re looking for some activities to celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. Day this month, read on! This post includes materials on the ReadWriteThink site that fit three categories:
- Resources specifically focused on Dr. King and texts he wrote
- Biographical activities you can use to explore Dr. King’s life and writing
- Family activities that relate to Dr. King
The materials range from mini-lessons to complete units and cross the grade levels. So read on, and celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his work.
Focused on Martin Luther King, Jr.
- In 1929, Martin Luther King, Jr. was born on this day.
Students study Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech and work in groups to create a mural that depicts Dr. King’s vision of peace.
- Exploring the Power of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Words through Diamante Poetry
Students explore the ways that powerful and passionate words communicate the concepts of freedom, justice, discrimination, and the American Dream in Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech.
- Entering History: Nikki Giovanni and Martin Luther King, Jr.
Nikki Giovanni’s poem “The Funeral of Martin Luther King, Jr.” is paired with Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, taking students on a quest through time to the Civil Rights movement.
- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech in 1963.
Students explore the “I Have a Dream” Foundation’s website and brainstorm ways they can help themselves or others at their school achieve their educational dreams.
- Martin Luther King, Jr. and Me: Identifying with a Hero
This lesson provides ideas for celebrating Martin Luther King, Jr. Day by encouraging students to explore the connections between Dr. King and themselves through journaling and inquiry-based research.
- Living the Dream: 100 Acts of Kindness
This lesson provides the “action piece” for any study of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In this project, students participate in Dr. King’s dream by doing 100 acts of kindness.
- How Big Are Martin’s Big Words? Thinking Big about the Future
Inspired by the book Martin’s Big Words, students explore information on Dr. King to think about his “big” words, then they write about their own “big” words and dreams.
- Every Punctuation Mark Matters: A Minilesson on Semicolons
Students analyze stylistic choices and grammar use in authentic writing, focusing on the use of the semicolon in Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail.”
- I Have a Dream: Exploring Nonviolence in Young Adult Texts
Students will identify how Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream of nonviolent conflict-resolution is reinterpreted in modern texts. Homework is differentiated to prompt discussion on how nonviolence is portrayed through characterization and conflict. Students will be formally assessed on a thesis essay that addresses the Six Kingian Principles of Nonviolence.
Biographical Lesson Plans
Family Activities
- Amazing Biographies: Writing About People Who Change the World
After reading about historical figures and other important people that have changed the world, children choose someone that they consider to be “amazing”—either someone they’ve heard about or someone they know—and create a book page that highlights this person.
- Think Peace
Podcaster Emily Manning shares books that serve as a springboard to discuss how children and adults alike can use peaceful, nonviolent methods to affect change in society. This is episode 21 of Chatting About Books: Recommendations for Young Readers, a Podcast for Grades K–5.
- Celebrate Heroes
Encourage children to spend a little time thinking and writing about just what makes a hero and who their personal heroes might be.
- Dr. King Bio Cubes
Families and children can gather or summarize information about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. with the Bio Cube interactive.
- Create Poetry with the Word Mover App
Use the word bank from Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech and create found poetry.
If you want even more resources, check out the Martin Luther King, Jr. collection from Thinkfinity.
[Photo: MLK Memorial by alvesfamily, on Flickr]
Jan 02
By Traci Gardnerclassroom activity, community building, composition, ReadWriteThink
Making a New Year’s Resolution is easy. Keeping it? That’s a different story altogether. Personal goals end up competing with teaching goals. The busy whirl of heading back to the classroom crowds out all those plans, and the next thing you know, it’s March and those teaching resolutions are long forgotten.
How about some help with those goals? I’ve gathered some of the best resources from ReadWriteThink and Thinkfinity to help make sure your good intentions all become accomplishments in 2013!
- Learn something new: Did you set the goal of learning a new technique or strategy to use in the classroom? Try these resources to get started:
- Collaborate more with other teachers: You can share ideas, give other teachers some advice or feedback, and ask questions about your classroom and students on the Thinkfinity site.
- Plan activities further in advance: What teacher hasn’t found herself scurrying at the last minute to figure out what to do in class tomorrow—or even later this afternoon! I know I have. Use these calendars to find activities and sketch out your month in advance:
- Help families and students learn at home: Families are often eager to try fun, educational activities at home, but it takes time to round up the materials and get them into a parent’s hands. Here are some ready-made materials you can use right now:
- Publish your ideas: Want to share your teaching strategies with teachers everywhere? ReadWriteThink welcomes contributions from educators who want to write or review for the site. Fill out our online interest form and you’ll be on your way to publishing a lesson plan, a classroom printout, or a strategy guide on the site!
Whatever your goals, I hope you meet them and have a fantastic 2013.
[Photo: Resolutions 2012 by simplyla, on Flickr]
Dec 20
By Traci Gardnerclassroom activity, ReadWriteThink, technology games, mobile apps
It’s the gift-giving time of year, and if you’re giving someone an iPad, you can start getting it ready with these great apps for children, teens, and teachers.
Download Reading and Writing Apps
Word Mover App
Take poetry on the road with this ReadWriteThink app. Kids and teens can create “found poetry” by choosing from word banks and existing famous works like “America the Beautiful” and Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream.” Kids can pull up a famous work or the word bank, find words that inspire them, and arrange them into an original poem!
Trading Cards App
With this ReadWriteThink app, kids and teens can create trading cards for fictional people and places, real people and places, objects, and Events. Imagine the fun of having kids create trading cards for favorite holiday characters and places. How about making trading cards as place cards for a holiday dinner—one card for each family member! Going on a family trip? Make a card for each place you stop. The possibilities are endless!
Download Apps for Other Content Areas
For other content areas, try these apps and reviews to find tools that will encourage kids and teens to learn while exploring their new iPads:
Build an App!
If you’re working with teens, also look at The Verizon Innovative App Challenge, which provides the opportunity for middle school and high school students, working with a faculty advisor, to use their STEM knowledge, their ingenuity, and their creativity to come up with an original mobile app concept that incorporates STEM and addresses a need or problem in their school or community.
Dec 09
By Traci Gardnercardmaking, classroom activity, ReadWriteThink
No matter what holiday you are celebrating this month, nothing is quite as precious as a handmade card—especially when it comes from a family member or friend.
We’ve collected some easy ways that you can help the students you teach make cards in class as well as instructions that you can send home for families to use together during the Winter holidays.
The resources do not refer to any particular holiday, so they work whether students and their families want to make cards for Hanukkah, Yule, Christmas, or Kwanzaa. The materials can even be used to celebrate the first snowfall or wish someone a Happy New Year. And, of course, the same instructions work for Thank You cards too. So read on, and get ready to make some fun greeting cards!
- Make a simple card: Make a funny or thoughtful greeting card with photos of family or friends and a poem, joke, or riddle. Find simple step-by-step instructions on how to Send a Smile! For a full lesson plan for early elementary students, check out Using Greeting Cards to Motivate Students and Enhance Literacy Skills.
- Draw a cartoon: Use the Comic Creator to make a one-of-a-kind greeting card. Kids and teens can illustrate scenes that show how they celebrate with family and friends or create scenes that show what would happen if a dinosaur showed up to celebrate at their home.
- Write a poem: Help a Child Write a Poem for the inside of a card, or frame it for a special piece of art. Use one of our online tools to write an Acrostic Poem, a Diamante Poem, or a Theme Poem.
- Create a folded card: Use the Stapleless Book to make an 8-page card for a special family member or friend—and it all fits on one sheet of paper!
- Design a postcard: Write a postcard with the Postcard Creator then print it out and illustrate the front in a variety of ways, like drawing a picture, creating a collage of images, or printing and pasting clipart in place.
- Publish a greeting: Make a nontraditional greeting card with the Book Cover Creator. Kids and teens can imagine what a book about a Winter day with their family would be like and create front and back cover as a greeting card.
- Compose a year-end letter: Help a child or teen write a letter to friends and family that sums up all the things they have done in 2012 with the Letter Generator.
Whatever you do, hope you have a fantastic December. Leave us a note in the comments on how you spent your time together!
—Traci Gardner
[[This entry cross-posted in the Community Hub on the Thinkfinity Community site. Photo: Group work on cards by San José Library, on Flickr]
Mar 31
By Traci GardnerLiterature, poetry, ReadWriteThink acrostic, diamante, found poem, free verse, haiku, headline poem, parallel poem, parody, sonnet, two-voice poetry
April is National Poetry Month, sponsored by Academy of American Poets and other poetry organizations. Last year, we posted thirty poetry activities, one for each day of the month of April—and the good news is that we’ve got an updated poem-a-day activity for you this year too!
Each day has a link to a different kind of poetry writing, either a specific poetic form, like sonnets or acrostics, or poetry focused on a particular topic, like seasonal haiku or color poems. The materials range in grade levels, but can usually be adapted for any age (even college students).
So here’s the challenge for you and students: I found a different poem for every day of the month. How many different poems can you write? And remember that even if you don’t have time in class to write a poem each day, these poetry activities will work any day of the year!
Cross-posted to the NCTE Community ReadWriteThink.org Group and the Reading and Language Arts Group on the Thinkfinity Community.
[Photo: Magnetic Fridge Poetry by Minimalist Photography, on Flickr]
Nov 07
By Traci GardnerEducation, ReadWriteThink, teacher quality assessment, evaluation, professional development
Today I’ve read two articles that make me curious about the way “teacher quality” is being defined and measured these days.
First, I read a New York Times article about a school in Tennessee where the principal is so busy with paperwork and unnecessary observations that he’s lost touch with many of the things happening in the school. The title of the article neatly summarizes their feeling for the way that Race to the Top has led to a redefinition of “teacher quality” at their school: In Tennessee, Following the Rules for Evaluations Off a Cliff.
Then, I read Six Questions for Better Professional Development on the Edutopia Deeper Learning Blog Carnival, and wondered about how different the assumptions about “teacher quality” were compared to those in the Times article. The author talks about quality teaching (and professional development) as collaborative, organic, and reflective. It involves “cultivating a healthy professional community,” and that school in Tennessee seems to be on a track where they are able to do anything BUT support professional growth and “teacher quality.”
Maybe it can be partially attributed to the language that’s used, but the Edutopia blog seems to posit “teacher quality” as something that you nurture and encourage while the the Times article seems to describe a scenario where “teacher quality” is something you have to badger people into developing or revealing.
I understand the desire and need for ways to measure “teacher quality.” I’m just not sure of the right way to go about it. How do you think “teacher quality” should be defined? I’d love to hear some real teachers talking about the issue.
Cross-posted as a
Discussion Question in the Verizon Thinkfinity 101 Community on the
Thinkfinity Community site.
Aug 09
By Traci Gardnerclassroom activity, ReadWriteThink, social media, technology whiteboard
Interactive whiteboard redefine hands-on activity in the classroom, as students manipulate information on a giant digital display. They also bring teachers a new challenge: what activities can you use to make the most of this new technology?
Teachers on the Thinkfinity Community have been busy collecting answers. Theresa Gibbon suggests trying ReadWriteThink’s interactive Word Mover for “I Have a Dream” and Word Mover for Holes and asking students to rearrange the words on the whiteboard as a class experience. Find dozens of additional ideas on the Thinkfinity Community discussion board.
This post is the introduction from “August 10 to 16 on ReadWriteThink.” Read the rest of the post in the Thinkfinity Community site.
May 23
By Traci Gardnerclassroom activity, lesson plan, ReadWriteThink Brooklyn Bridge, Emerson, menus, Mister Rogers, Rachel Carson, Sally Ride, Scott O'Dell
Now that classes are nearly over, it’s that time when I begin reflecting on the year and deciding which activities I want to be sure to try again next year. I try to think of the resources that surprised me or particularly engaged students.
One of my favorites is Cooking Up Descriptive Language: Designing Restaurant Menus. It gave students a chance to compose menus that reflected their family and cultural backgrounds, and they were able to learn more about text design and layout. I’ll definitely try it again, and I’m considering other possibilities for the activity, like using it as a book report alternative by asking students to create a menu for a restaurant that characters in a novel visit (or might visit). It was definitely a keeper!
For more great classroom activities, check out the calendar entries, lesson plans, and classroom activities below for this week. Have a great week!
New Resources
- Share the stories of war, sacrifice and honor of these heroic women and men with your students with this special collection of lessons, interactives and resources on Honoring Our Military.
- Help students understand the science of spring with lessons and activities from Thinkfinity.org, including The Science of Spring from Science NetLinks.
- Explore the universe with your students. Launch rockets, explore planets and test gravity with lessons and interactive tools.
- Make the most of summer. Use the Verizon Thinkfinity resources to kick off a summer of learning for students.
From the Calendar
- May 22: Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood premiered in 1967. After thinking about TV shows, books, and movies from their childhood, students write about what they remember and revisit how they feel about it at an older age. (For grades 7–12)
- May 23: Author Scott O’Dell was born on this day. Students select a set of books to read and compare fiction and nonfiction books and discuss their findings as a class. Students can follow up by writing short stories about the topics they explored.(For grades 5–12)
- May 24: The Brooklyn Bridge opened on this day in 1883. Students explore the literary concept of point of view by examining a pair of picture books that highlight the controversies surrounding the Brooklyn Bridge. (For grades 5–12)
- May 25: Ralph Waldo Emerson was born in 1803. Students visit a quotation attributed to Emerson and identify the definition of success. Students then use the Postcard Creator to write a note to a person that they feel is successful. (For grades 7–12)
- May 26: Sally Ride, first American woman in space, was born in 1951. After exploring information about Sally Ride on the StarKids Who’s Who site, students write a letter using the Letter Generator to Dr. Ride. (For grades 3–8)
- May 27: On this day in 1907, Rachel Carson was born. Students learn about Rachel Carson, explore different environmental websites, and write a Diamante Poem about a particular habitat. (For grades 3–12)
- Look ahead to next week for lesson plans and activities on Memorial Day, the National Spelling Bee, the debut of CNN, Jesse James, and Walt Whitman.
Connecting with Other Teachers
If you have feedback or questions about ReadWriteThink, all you have to do is contact us.
[Photo: El Camion Mexicano, Soho, W1 by Ewan-M, on Flickr]
May 16
By Traci Gardnerclassroom activity, lesson plan, ReadWriteThink asian-pacificislander, calendar, charleslindbergh, family, lessonplans, literacy, malcolmx, misterrogers, parent, reading, ReadWriteThink, resources, writing
The school year is soon coming to a close. Students will make their way to summer camps, family vacations, and nearby pools and parks. Before you face that room of empty desks, spend a few minutes thinking about the resource that worked best for you this year, make plans to reflect with students on all you’ve done during the year and encourage families to keep students learning during the summer months. Check out the calendar entries, lesson plans, and classroom activities below for this week and the approaching last weeks of the school year on the ReadWriteThink site. Have a great week!
New Resources
From the Calendar
Connecting with Other Teachers
If you have feedback or questions about ReadWriteThink, all you have to do is contact us.
[Photo: More empty classroom stuff, UMBC by sidewalk flying, on Flickr]
May 07
By Traci Gardnerclassroom activity, lesson plan, ReadWriteThink Asian-Pacific Islander, blues, christopher paul curtis, civil rights, george lucas, puerto rico, robert johnson, star wars
In her Community Story, Jacquelynn Pleis describes how she uses ReadWriteThink’s Exploring and Sharing Family Stories lesson plan as part of a year-end celebration of students’ cultural backgrounds. If you don’t have time for the kind of cultural fair that Pleis describes, try one of the cultural or historical events from this week’s calendar.
You can look at music and the blues, civil rights in the U.S., and the Puerto Rican Independence movement. For a wider focus, ask students to talk about their personal heroes, whether cultural, historical, or both, as part of a celebration of Star Wars creator George Lucas’s birthday. Finally, May is Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, so it’s a wonderful time to honor the heritage of Asian and Pacific Americans and their contributions to the United States.
Find lesson plans and classroom activities to kick off your cultural and historical exploration plus what’s new on the ReadWriteThink site detailed below. Have a great week!
New Resources
From the Calendar
Connecting with Other Teachers
If you have feedback or questions about ReadWriteThink, all you have to do is contact us.
[Photo: 29th Asian Pacific American Heritage Festival by Asian/Pacific American Heritage Festival, on Flickr]
Older Entries
Hi, I’m Traci Gardner, known in most circles as Tengrrl. I’ve been exploring and writing about the best ways to teach composition using digital technology for over 20 years. You may have come here because you’re looking for my 
