Dear Librarian: Writing a Persuasive Letter

Finished editing and posted Dear Librarian: Writing a Persuasive Letter, a 3-5 lesson inspired by events in Emily’s Runaway Imagination by Beverly Cleary.

Tags: English language arts |
K12 instruction |
ReadWriteThink

My prediction…

Mark your calendars. I’m making a prediction that the Republicans will use the current problems caused to the oil industry by Katrina to argue that we must open alaska to oil production immediately—and someone will say, at some point, that if we had already done so we would be in less of a mess right now.

Idea generation methods

This Idea generation methods site mentioned on 43 Folders looks like a great potential resource for a prewriting lesson plan.

Audio Listening Practices: Exploring Personal Experiences with Audio Texts

Just finished writing and proofreading a new 9-12 lesson plan that asks students to explore the ways that audio texts play a role in their lives. Students keep a daily diary that records how and when they listen to audio texts, such as radio, streaming media, songs on MP3 players, and podcasts. Students then analyze the details and compare their results to published reports on American radio listeners. They conclude by reflecting on their findings and writing a final statement on their audio literacy practices and interests.

Tags: English language arts |
K12 instruction |
ReadWriteThink

#506 – Guess the artefact

My actions and thought process are now the subject of a contest. Go ahead. Try to guess what I’ll choose :)

August 15 Content Report

We turn in content reports for ReadWriteThink on the 1st and the 15th of each month, so today I did the last-minute work to get the report turned in. The report lists the lesson plans that were published since the 1st of the month and the never-ending pile of broken links. In addition, I finished editing the September calendar, and we added two sites to the Web Resources Gallery:

Revising Himself : Walt Whitman and Leaves of Grass http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/whitman-home.html This Library of Congress exhibition traces this evolution of Leaves of Grass and Walt Whitman’s life, tapping a range of editions and drafts of the famous work. A wealth of interesting biographical material on Whitman, his friends and associates, his work as a teacher, tending the wounded during the Civil War, and for the federal government, also appears in the exhibit. Say it Plain: A Century of Great African American Speeches http://americanradioworks.publicradio.org/features/sayitplain/index.html This rich site includes a audio files and texts of speeches by Booker T. Washington, Dick Gregory, and Stokeley Carmichael. The site includes the only known recordings of Marcus Garvey as well as Barbara Jordan’s defense of the US Constitution during the impeachment hearings of President Richard Nixon.

Tags: English language arts |
K12 instruction |
ReadWriteThink

7 Days So Far…

So as of about 10:30 this morning, I have gone a week without my favorite beverage—diet brown soda. I think the headaches may be mostly over. I’m not having the constant horror that it was anyway.

I’m really tired of water though. I want something that tastes like something. I did get stuff to make decaf iced tea and some juice. The diet advice for acid reflux says no citris-based juices because they can increase the problem. So I went in for things like apple-cherry, grape, and strawberry-kiwi. Turns out juice wasn’t a good idea. It created a fire in my stomach. So I’ve poured all that down the drain. Then I did more research. Apparently white grape juice aids digestion. Okay, so it’s only been proven in babies and little kids, but I’m willing to give it a try. I used to be able to find white grape-peach and white grape-pear in Texas, but they didn’t have it in the grocery store that I usually go to. Maybe I’ll try another store—assuming I can drink it.

The iced tea seems okay, but I’m not sure. There were some rumblings, but I’m not sure if it was the tea or something else. I’m not really eating right. I’m sure of it. I’m so confused between what I want to eat and what I am supposed to eat. There’s all this info in my head about what’s “good” for me to eat, but it’s info about dieting to lose weight (which I also need to do as I am bigger than a mama panda). What might be okay to lose weight isn’t okay for acid reflux.

One of the benefits of all this is that I now realize that all the burping after I eat lettuce is part of this pattern. It’s another part of this complicated mess that is my life. Imagine being on a diet and not being able to have a salad. Go ahead. Think about that. Like what are the options for grabbing a quick lunch at a restaurant if you have to rule out salads. There’s not a drive-thru in the world that can help you.

I guess I should try to accomplish something today, not that I’m feeling inspired to write or clean or do the laundry. My, but I have a mixed up world.

Two new lessons posted

Edited and published two new ReadWriteThink lessons, both for 3-5 classes.

Graphing Plot and Character in a Novel is a departure from the typical plot diagram. Students diagram plot events on a spectrum from positive to negative (as they define it for the books they’re reading). The lesson uses the Graphic Map Interactive to publish the finished graphs.

Creating Family Timelines: Graphing Family Memories and Significant Events asks students to interview family members and then create a graphic timeline of significant family events. This lesson also uses the Graphic Map Interactive.

Tags: English language arts |
K12 instruction |
ReadWriteThink

Web Increasingly Cluttered By Sites Full of Paid Links

I am dumbfounded by how this could be a new observation. Geesh.