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“I Statements” in Expository Writing

heather — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 04:18:22 +0000

This weekend I’m presenting at the CATE conference in Santa Clara, CA. It’s a session on developing high level, critical-thinking commentary in expository writing. My feeling is that great commentary is the Voice in Expository, it is the Show, Not Tell in what could otherwise be a passionless genre for many students.

A couple of colleagues brought some concerns to my attention and I thought I’d put it out here for some input. (...)
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Post tags: curriculum design, curriculum development, Ed Tech, essay, k-12, k12, Language Arts, metacognition, middle school, new teachers, peer teaching, teaching, technology, Title I, TLN, Writers Project, writing

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The Excitement Graph: Plot and Word Choice

heather — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 01:04:08 +0000

Every year, I do this activity when teaching Narrative Plot. I’ve used it from 3rd grade to 12th grade. I learned a version of it first in 1993 at a UCLA Extension class on “Teaching Reading to Secondary Students” and I’ve adapted it from there. It’s called:

THE EXCITEMENT GRAPH(...)
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Post tags: 2008, achievement gap, assessments, blog, book review, classroom library, critical thinking, Curriculum, curriculum design, curriculum development, description, differentiation, Ed Tech, education, ELA, essay, fundraising, integration, k-12, k12, Language Arts, middle school, new teachers, peer teaching, professional development, tween, Writers Project

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The Carnival #178 is in town!

heather — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 15:49:35 +0000

An (aspiring) Educator is hosting this week’s Carnival of Education #178. I’ve tweaked my How to Take Control of Your Teaching list and although it’s still in an evolving state, you can read it here. Enjoy the Carnival and the post.

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Post tags: 2008, achievement gap, assessments, blog, book review, btsa, budget, Careers, carnival of education, character, Character Education, classroom library, collaboration, computers, concrete, contract, CORE, credential, critical thinking, CUE, Curriculum, curriculum design, curriculum development, differentiation, Ed Tech, education policy, ELA, electives, essay, essay starters, jobs, k-12, k12, Language Arts, life long learners, merit pay, metacognition, middle school, NCLB, new teachers, online, peer teaching, performance pay, PI, podcasting, powerpoint, professional development, Proficiency, school accountability, school funding, speeches, standardized testing, technology, tenure, Title I, TLN, top 10, union, voice, websites, Writers Project, writing

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This Totally Beats the “#1 Teacher” Mug

heather — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 21:45:43 +0000

Sometimes, if you’re lucky, you get a student who gives you a mug at the end of the school year. Sometimes, you even get a letter of thanks on a Teacher Appreciation Day. And then there are the times (maybe) that you get an idea of the influence that you had on someone. And then there is an email such as the one that I want to share with you today.(...)
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Post tags: credential, education, ELA, employment, essay, k-12, Language Arts, learning, life long learners, merit pay, middle school, PI, teaching, Title I

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Oral Presentation Rubric

heather — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 21:59:11 +0000

Here is a short Oral Presentation Rubric that I developed for my Teach the Teacher unit. Haven’t used it yet, but the students have heard all the terms and definitions before.

I’ll hand one out to each of the students to have on their desk before them to refer to as they all begin presentations. Each student is presenting a 10-15 lesson on an activity of his or her choice. I’ve scaffolded each of their multi-modal assignments (narratives, persuasive essays, posters, ads, recipes, powerpoints, etc…) that they could choose from. We’ve used Inspiration to create entire lesson plans to help guide the creation of our presentation note cards. I’ll walk you through the unit in another post. It was pretty cool this year, but I will definitely tweak things for next year to help scaffold the rigor even more.

Hope this helps with your own classroom needs.

ORAL PRESENTATION RUBRIC

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Post tags: Character Education, differentiation, education, ELA, essay, k-12, k12, learning, peer teaching, PI, ribric, speeches, teaching, Title I

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Writing Dialogue: or, How to Use Quotes Without Hurting Anyone

heather — Fri, 30 May 2008 04:11:31 +0000

As I teach Narrative, I eventually get to the proper rules of Dialogue.

In their Writer’s Notebook, they take notes on the following PowerPoint by writing down the numbered rules. They generally don’t copy down the entire example. It’s meant more to engage then to have a quiet, tedious copying time. I also incorporated my students’ voices for a multi-modality approach to the presentation. They also helped to write its content. When I originally wrote the text, I used words they felt were imprecise for their generation, so many thanks to Sarah, Claudia, Nathan, and Brian. But you can always replace their voice with students of your own.

Hope it helps you in your own dialogue-teaching endeavors. Enjoy!

Quotation_Review

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Post tags: collaboration, curriculum design, curriculum development, dialogue, differentiation, ELA, essay, k-12, k12, powerpoint, quotations marks, teaching

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Book Review: Skulduggery Pleasant

heather — Tue, 20 May 2008 16:58:13 +0000

I loved Derek Landy’s Skulduggery Pleasant. Let me say it again: I loved this book. It’s edgy, dark, and hilarious. I haven’t read a vivid character like this is a long time. Skulduggery is in one breath a rapscallion, a role-model, and a rogue. Picture Errol Flynn sans skin.(...)
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Post tags: Attention-getters, book review, character, curriculum design, curriculum development, differentiation, education, ELA, essay, hooks, peer teaching, sensory detail, voice

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Hooks Powerpoint: or, How to Get a Reader’s Attention

heather — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 04:58:28 +0000

Here’s how I have set up this lesson:

Having been trained in the America’s Choice Writer’s Workshop as well as History Alive, I have my students keep a Writer’s Journal with a running Table of Contents. This is a journal that serves as a student-created textbook of sorts. If your class doesn’t keep such a journal, having them take notes and keeping it in their binder will do as long as the students have access to the information as a reference guide to use in writing any essays that come their way.

The following Powerpoint should be shown in conjunction as students take notes on how to write a proper Hook. It allows for student choice because it teaches so many different styles . At the time of its creation, I was teaching CORE (Language Arts and History) so the examples I have used integrate both subjects. The subject for the mythical essay that I am writing is “The Plague” so you’ll notice that the Hooks cover the same topic but in different ways to introduce the same paper. (...)
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Post tags: America's Choice, Attention-getters, CORE, essay, essay starters, History, History Alive, hooks, k-12, k12, Language Arts, middle school, powerpoint

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