ReadWriteThink

Resources that Rocked the Classroom This Year: May 15 to 21 on ReadWriteThink

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El Camion Mexicano, Soho, W1Now 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]

Bedford Bits

Defining Learning: Bits Flashback for May 23

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cat tailThe LearnStreaming blog posted 50 Quotes About Learning last week. The quotations are sometimes familiar or predictable: “You can teach a student a lesson for a day; but if you can teach him to learn by creating curiosity, he will continue the learning process as long as he lives.”~Clay P. Bedford. That’s just an ambling restatement of the “give a man a fish” aphorism.

I disagree with some: “You aren’t learning anything when you’re talking.” ~Lyndon B. Johnson. Fiddlesticks. Learning while talking is sometimes the point, especially in the socially collaborative classroom. I smiled at others: “If you hold a cat by the tail you learn things you cannot learn any other way.” ~ Mark Twain. Yes. Absolutely true. A life lesson is described right there.

As I reviewed the list, I began wondering how I might use the quotations in class. I admit that I didn’t fact-check or authenticate the quotations, so one activity might be doing so and hypothesizing where errors came from. Another activity could be arranging the quotations into categories (e.g., those about experience) and then comparing all the quotations in a specific category. The simplest activity perhaps is asking students to each choose a quotation that fits some experience from their lives, and then tell that story so that the quotation is the conclusion—a sort of moral at the end of the fable.

According to the site list, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. said, “Man’s mind stretched to a new idea never goes back to its original dimensions.” Consider expanding the dimensions of your mind by checking out the ideas in these Bedford Bits posts from last week:

A Few Extra Links

Let us know what you want to know about teaching writing or about using digital tools in the composition classroom by leaving a comment. Your response will help shape upcoming posts.
 

[Photo: cat tail by blhphotography, on Flickr]

Personal Journal

Please Think When You Abbreviate

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Dear World,

I normally do not like pointing out little errors of spelling, grammar, punctuation, mechanics, and other minor issues in public, but sometimes you go too far.

Va Ass Teachers of English (yeah, really)

Please think before you abbreviate

Sadly,

tengrrl

Bedford Bits

Graduations: Bits Flashback for May 16

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Lightning!! A severe thunderstorm brought graduation ceremonies at Virginia Tech to an abrupt and very early conclusion here in Blacksburg on Friday night. The keynote speaker never even made it to the podium. Fortunately, students were able to pick up their diplomas on Saturday morning during college and departmental ceremonies. It may not have been the original plan, but everything worked out.

As you reach the end of the term where you teach, I hope the ceremonies and celebrations go well (even if they aren’t what you originally expect them to be). As move on to the second half of the month, take a few minutes to check out these Bedford Bits posts from last week:

  • Now that testing is finished for the year, High School Bits blogger Jesse Tangen-Mills shares some classroom activities that work well for Treating Post-Test Syndrome
  • Andrea Lunsford argues that Texting IS Writing, and that we need to pay very close attention to it and learn from our students how they use this new way to communicate.
  • Mary Tripp discusses Self-Efficacy in the WAW Classroom: Preliminary Research Results. Her report includes interesting student visualizations of themselves as writers.
  • Want to create a super-mobile, super-light virtual classroom? Barclay Barrios describes the system he is adopting for his class this summer in Twitter Me This.
  • Are students doing Long Writing vs. Hard Writing? Traci Gardner explains the difference (and why it matters).
  • Nancy Sommers reflects on her year of teaching and shares some plans for the summer in Looking Back, Looking Forward.
  • Susan Naomi Bernstein reminds students what is important to them—where they come from, what and whom they love, why they have succeeded in the past—in Writing Beyond Stereotypes.

A Few Extra Links

Let us know what you want to know about teaching writing or about using digital tools in the composition classroom by leaving a comment. Your response will help shape upcoming posts.

 

[Photo: Lightning!! by aresauburnâ„¢, on Flickr]

ReadWriteThink

Preparing for the Last Weeks of the School Year: May 15 to 21 on ReadWriteThink

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More empty classroom stuff, UMBCThe 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]

Bedford Bits, classroom activities, Teaching Composition

Another Trauma Narrative: Bits Flashback for May 8

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KeyboardOn Saturday, Black College Wire posted an article on a composition assignment that had consequences the teacher never expected. The teacher, Lisa Carl, asked students to write “either a first-person autobiographical account of a significant event in their lives or an analysis of a graphic novel or anthropological classic.”

In response, student Jessica Martin wrote the essay “I had an affair with my high school teacher,” which was later published in the N.C. Central University’s newspaper, the Campus Echo, as part of an annual collection of first-person narratives. The student’s account has resulted in campus scrutiny of her decision to write the essay and the newspaper’s decision to publish it—as well as the arrest of the high school teacher she wrote about.

As I read about the aftermath of the essay’s publication, I thought immediately of Holly Pappas’s Trauma Narrative post last month and how pertinent all the questions she raises are in this situation. It’s worth rereading Holly’s piece and thinking about how it applies and the new questions that it raises.

While you’re looking at past entries, also check out these Bedford Bits posts from last week:

A Few Extra Links

Let us know what you want to know about teaching writing or about using digital tools in the composition classroom by leaving a comment. Your response will help shape upcoming posts.

 

[Photo: Keyboard by cheetah100, on Flickr]