Write To Learn
Current Topics(in order of appearance) - Long Island Writing Project at Nassau Community College Winter/Spring Schedule, Hofstra Literacy Studies, POETRY AND SHAKESPEARE JAMS, SEASON OPENER (Memory Grid/Essay Topic Generator), General Writing To Learn Practices, Writing Reference Sites (clickNgo), National Writing Project Updates.
Long Island Writing Project, NCC - part of the National Writing Project based at Nassau Community College, scheduled meetings, summer programs, in school programs, teachers helping teachers, all grade levels through College, all subjects, practical writing to learn strategies you can use in your classroom immediately, professional development credit and graduate credit available. Become a member.
WINTER/SPRING SCHEDULE: *** May 7: Consultant from the national professional development organization, Facing History, Facing Ourselves, will lead a series of writing-to-learn exercises centered around a historical/cultural theme.
Contact Prof. Toby Bird, LI Writing Project Director, 516-572-7177/7185 or e-mail birdt@ncc.edu, with any questions. Mention brainbabies.net. - Cyber Jim
Hofstra Literacy Studies: Available degree programs: MSED in Literacy Studies, MA in Writing, Professional Diploma in Literacy Studies, and Doctoral Program (debra.goodman@hofstra.edu). CLICK ON "ETC" FOR MORE WORKSHOPS.
POETRY AND SHAKESPEARE JAMS
Careful not to step on others' lines, students call out a phrase or word that interests them from the poem or Shakespearean passage under discussion. Repeats and playing off other student's choices are acceptable. It's over when it's over.
Your class will want to do this with other poems and Shakespearean pieces which isn't a bad idea because it promotes:
- clearer/deeper understanding of the work
- group effort
- sense of tone
- importance of language
- learning is fun - Cyber Jim
SEASON OPENER (Memory Grid/Essay Topic Generator) - Draw intersecting vertical line and one horizontal line. Enter suggestions one at a time as students copy and respond to what you have on the board. In the upper left quarter, write: a happy family place, a place you want to go back to, a place you want to go. In the upper right quarter, write: your first best friend, your first love, your saddest loss. In the lower left quarter, write: someone you know and admire, someone you'd like to meet, someone who has had an influence on you. In the lower right quarter, write: a time in your life when you changed, a time when you were happy for five straight days, a time when you remember watching the sun set, looking at a river, etc. Your students now have twelve personal topics to choose from for those first experimental essays. (All grade levels.) - Cyber Jim
General Writing To Learn Practices - These strategies are useful in all subjects. Grading for writing errors is not critical. The focus is to encourage students to expand and to organize their thinking. Most of this student writing is personal or shared in class discussion.
1. Freewriting - at beginning of the class, to become present and centered, eliminating distractions, to connect the brain with the pen.
2. Focused freewriting - to initiate exploration of a term, issue, question, or problem.
3. Attitudinal writing - to discover attitudes that affect aptitudes for learning by asking such questions as: What expectation or experience do I bring to this reading? What difficulties did you have with the last assignment? What is most difficult for you at this point in the course? What do we need to do differently?
4. Reflective writing - to initiate or conclude a class discussion or, mid-class, to refocus a discussion that is confused or lacks energy. What still bothers me about the lesson? What do I already know about the next topic? 5. Process writing - to examine how one reads, takes an exam, works on a problem, writes a paper, thinks about an issue, etc.
6. Explaining errors - to help students and teachers recognize where things went wrong and why on a test or homework. What was my biggest problem on the homework? How do I feel about the test I took yesterday?
7. Questioning - While doing homework or at the end of a class, to enable students and teachers to recognize doubts and confusions. When students write questions, they focus on what they don't understand. At the beginning of class, teachers can collect questions based on the homework and respond during class or write back to the student later. Also, students can respond to each other's questions during class discussion, in small groups, or in writing.
8. Summarizing - what is said in class or reading.
9. Defining - to substitute personal definitions, however imprecise, for memorization of textbook terms. When students use their own words to write out definitions, they are forced to think about the meaning of the concept and usually remember it better.
10. Creating Problems - to define problems and issues of one's own, as alternative to answering others' questions. For example, an elementary teacher gives his/her students a picture or cartoon and asks them to construct a math problem from the picture/cartoon, give it to a friend to read, rewrite it if necessary, and then copy it neatly on a sheet of paper for the class bulletin board. When students write their own problems, they often choose situations from their own experience and see how math applies to their own lives.
11. Double-entry journal - to report what an author says and, in a facing column, to respond to it. Reactions and questions are part of the next day's discussion.
12. Letters (Elementary/Middle School) - some possibilities: (1) write a letter to a friend, telling how you feel about science or math, discussing how to solve problems, or giving advice on how to get better grades, (2) towards the end of the school year, write to an imaginary cousin who is coming to elementary/middle school what he/she needs to know to get along in the class, (3) at various times during the year, write a "Dear Teacher" letter to tell the teacher what's going on with you in the course. - Cyber Jim
Writing Reference Sites (clickNgo)
Response to September 11th: Resources for Educators (The National Writing Project has posted educational resources to support teachers and students. Click on tan titles.)
Journal Writing Every Day: Teachers Say It Really Works! (Reactions, methods, writing motivators). new
Grade 8 Problem Solving Journal Guide (Click on Links, scroll down/click on NYS K-8 Mathematics Mentor Network, and scroll down to Grade 8 Guide; Sally Decker, grde 8 teacher, Hoosick Falls Middle School, Hoosick Falls, N.Y., uses journal writing in math to address two skills on the 8th grade exam: interpreting questions and supplying written explanations -- parts 2 and 3; lesson plans, problems, and answers are supplied; free).
"Let's Talk": Building a Bridge between Home and School (Discussing classroom ideas at home; tips for promoting quality verbal interaction - Catherine Humphrey, English teacher, Etiwanda High School, S. Cal.)
Tensing Up: Moving from Fluency to Flair (Introducing narrative tension - Suzanne Linebarger, 3rd and 4th grade teacher, Pines Elementary School, Chico, Cal.)
www.writeenvironnment.com (Click enter; scroll to bottom; click on About the Writing Process -- check out: Handling the Paper Load; Assessment; Peer Response; Motivation; click on Writing Assignment Ideas; check out: Checklist for Writing Assignments; Rubrics; free, all grade levels).
www.discoverwriting.com (Click on Help! I Need a Lesson Plan! for current and past writing suggestions; lessons are organized by K-2, 3-8, and 9-12; free).
www.eclectics.com/ (Click on Writing Articles; good articles for "real" writers; I liked Motivation, Endings, Self-Editing, and Fiction Writers Character Chart; free).
http://w3.one.net/~banks/writing.htm (successful writer shares Miscellaneous Tips for Writers, Five Important Rules for a Successful Writers' Group, and much more; free).
Essay Writing (an excellent how-to-with-examples source; 6 - College; free). TEMP OFF LINE
Writing Term Papers (step by step procedure; excellent links; 6 - College; best I've found so far; free.) Also www.indiana.edu/~wts/wts/plagiarism.html#original (makes good plagiarism recognition and avoidance packet for class use; 6 - College, free).
"I write because I don't know what I think until I read what I say." - Flannery O'Connor
Click on icon below for National Writing Project Updates: 
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