National Writing Project: Letters to the next president

Letters are a great way to teach voice. The audience is focused on a single person. The writer is having a conversation with words with an audience of one. The Letters to the Next President Project began with a specific audience of two possible presidents. Now the audience is a little more defined! This great idea is sponsored by the National Wrtiing Project

Check out a short video on the topic: Letters to the Next President: Writing Our Future

Let's keep writing!

Conventions in the ESL Classroom

At the end of each 6-traits online class I ask participants to revisit their weekly reflective journal and assemble a refection that covers the full span of the class. In this excerpt, Tim D. synthesizes his insights about Grammar and English. ~ Dennis

When I was teaching at a middle school in Asia the administration decided it would be a great idea to break up "English" into two categories: Grammar and English. While I was teaching short stories and poetry in my room the teacher next door had these thick text books full of sentence diagrams and editing worksheets. What really struck me about this is that the grammar portion was never utilized when the students wrote for my class. They knew how to do the diagrams and edit sentences but when it came to their own writing it was still full of errors.

I didn't handle this very well and took to marking up papers with red ink. The truth is most of these students had only been speaking English for a couple years. Their parents had pulled them out of the local school and plopped them into a sub standard "American" school. Not only were we dealing with middle school students, but we were dealing with second language learners as well. Honestly I think listening to American music and watching American movies was as helpful as anything. It allowed them to "hear" English.

Spandel offers a lot of very interesting ideas in this lesson. The ones that struck me were teaching the editing marks in the beginning and then having them use them on progressively more difficult work. Instead of using worksheets she suggests using others' work. This is brilliant. Especially if its done in front of the class because it allows students to see things that they might not have caught on their own. Finding errors in everyday samples like newspaper, ads, and mailings is also a great idea because it teaches them to look for those things. (I would suggest the Dunn County News as a great resource for this…)

Comments: This lesson really solidified in me that I need to combine teaching conventions with other material because it allows me to point out examples within good writing instead of using arbitrary examples that the students aren't familiar with. Actually, reading the posts by the other teachers was very enlightening on how they weave grammar into their programs.

Resources for Young Writers

This list of links was lifted from the always interesting WordSwimmer blog.







Claremont Review
Giggle Poetry
KidPub: Where Kids Write!
Lightening Bug
Merlyn's Pen
NaNoWriMo's Young Writers Program
New Moon Girls
Ralph Fletcher's Tips for Young Writers
Skipping Stones
Stone Soup
Teen Ink
Write It
WriteGirl
Young Poets (Canada)
Young Writer (UK)
Young Writers Online
Young Writers Society

New 6-Traits / Writing Process poster available

New product from the NWREL: Help support their great work!

Get your poster here!

Here's a question for you all to ponder! Where do Web 2.0 concepts and tools like information fluency, blogs, wikis, and e-learning environments fit in the dynamic 6-Traits / Writing process landscape?

Information Fluency Skills (the ability to efficiently search, evaluate and ethically use digital information) certainly fit in the Ideas/Pre-writing area. This is particularly true for modes of writing like the expository, persuasive and research.

What about Blogs, WIKIS or Google Documents?

Where do you see these 21st Century tools fitting in the diagram above?

Anyone willing to take a stab at creating a poster with Web 2.0 integrated into it all?

Let us know?

National Poetry Week: October 9, 2008

National Poetry Day (October 9) (Resources from Annenberg Media/Learner.Org)

Watch beautiful hour-long documentaries about the lives and works of 13 American poets in Voices & Visions <http://www.learner.org/resources/series57.html>. Featured poets include T. S. Eliot, Robert Frost, Emily Dickinson, Langston Hughes, Walt Whitman, Sylvia Plath, and William Carlos Williams.

Literary Visions <http://www.learner.org/resources/series41.html> offers mini-lectures, dramatizations, and poet interviews to illustrate the most important elements and devices of poetry. See Programs 11 through 17 to explore the role of imagery, tropes, symbolism, theme, character, and much more.

Observe high school English teacher Chris Mazzino teaching about stereotypes by having students interpret and edit a poem in Teaching "The Children of Willesden Lane" Program 12, "Gaining Insight Through Poetry" <http://www.learner.org/series/cowl/ch13-19/>.

See how poetry teaches about American societal trends with "Rhythms in Poetry" <http://www.learner.org/amerpass/unit10/>. This program in American Passages: A Literary Survey features the poetry of Langston Hughes and William Carlos Williams.

The American Passages archive <http://www.learner.org/amerpass/slideshow/archive_search.php> contains artifacts related to poetry and poets such as Phillis Wheatley, Anne Bradstreet, Emily Dickinson, and Marianne Moore, as well as poetry related to specific eras and social movements. Search by keyword and/or era and/or ethnic group to explore the archive.

Consider different approaches to teaching poetry with Write in the Middle: A Workshop for Middle School Teachers, Workshop 3, "Teaching Poetry" <http://www.learner.org/channel/workshops/middlewriting/prog3.html>.

Teaching Reading K-2: A Library of Classroom Practices <http://www.learner.org/channel/libraries/readingk2/> presents ways of working poetry into language arts lessons at the early elementary level.

In Engaging With Literature: A Video Library, Grades 3-5, watch a fourth grade poetry lesson based on poems from "Baseball, Snakes, and Summer Squash" by Donald H. Graves and "Hey You! C'Mere: A Poetry Slam" by Elizabeth Swados. See Program 3, "Starting Out" <http://www.learner.org/channel/libraries/engagingliterature/starting/>.

6-Traits Spanish Laguage Resources from NWREL

The 6-traits of writing hold true for all languages. The early research was conducted in multiple languages and found to apply. I did a quick search for Spanish Language resources on the NWREL site. (To see everything click here.)

The Highlights:

NWREL has a Spanish language scoring guide for you right here:

http://www.nwrel.org/assessment/scoring.php?odelay=3&d=3

Here are Spanish language lesson plans:

http://www.nwrel.org/assessment/lessonplans.php?odelay=2&d=3

There is also Spanish language scoring practice at:

http://www.nwrel.org/assessment/scoringpractice.php?odelay=3&d=3

Spanish teachers! I know this approach, combined with a writing process based workshop will work for you!

NCTE's newest policy research brief "Writing Now"

NCTE's newest policy research brief "Writing Now" explores what writing means in our changing world. The brief defines key terms, debunks common myths about school-based writing, outlines our understanding of writing now, and shares research-based recommendations for effective writing instruction and assessment. For the next step, try any of the following ReadWriteThink lesson plans, which all explore ways we write and teach writing now:

Elementary Level Lessons

• Authentic Writing Experiences and Math Problem-Solving Using Shopping Lists (E)
• Once Upon a Time Rethought: Writing Fractured Fairy Tales (E)
• Teaching the Compare and Contrast Essay through Modeling (E)
• Using Picture Books to Teach Characterization in Writing Workshop (E)

Middle Level Lessons

• Cooking Up Descriptive Language: Designing Restaurant Menus (M)
• Fairy Tale Autobiographies (M)
• Leading to Great Places in the Middle School Classroom (M)
• Reading and Writing Workshop: Freak the Mighty (M)

Secondary and College Level Lessons

• Creative Outlining—From Freewriting to Formalizing (S-C)
• Modeling Academic Writing through Scholarly Article Presentations (S-C)
• Persuading Readers with Endorsement Letters (S-C)
• The Children's Picture Book Project (S-C)
  

NOTE: Free access to journal articles mentioned in this INBOX is provided for 21 days. After this free access period expires, articles are available to journal subscribers only. This Inbox Idea was published 9-16-08.

Initials in annotations indicate academic level of the resource (E=Elementary, M=Middle, S=Secondary, C=College, TE=Teacher Education, G=General).

To subscribe to INBOX, NCTE's free weekly e-newsletter, visit http://www.ncte.org/forms/lists/inbox.asp.

6-Traits Online

Teaching and Assessing Writing with the 6 Traits: Classes are are Filling Fast!

WRITING COURSE:

EDUC 744 920F Teaching and Assessing Writing with the 6-TraitsElementary (Gr. K-4) - 3 gr. cr. begins September 22, 2008.

EDUC 744 909F Teaching and Assessing Writing with the 6-Traits - Middle/High School (Gr. 5-12) 3 gr. cr. begins September 22, 2008.

Learn to teach and assess writing with the 6-Traits of writing (voice, ideas, word choice, organization, sentence fluency and conventions). Learn to use the 6-Traits with the writing process to teach revision strategies. Help learners meet higher standards and improve test scores.

Please forward this announcement to teachers in your district.

Earn graduate credits via online courses that support your professional development goals for licensure renewal, salary advancement and advanced certification.

Sign up soon to reserve your spot! Registration closes this week!

to allow time for assigning user names, passwords and ordering/shipping the textbook.

Classes are TOTALLY ONLINE. You may participate from your home or school computer. Registration is limited to 20 participants per section.

Syllabus and other details:

http://www.uwstout.edu/soe/profdev/traits.shtml

REGISTER ONLINE
or
REGISTER BY FAX
Fax: (715) 232-3385

Books for Teaching 6-Traits

Looking for just the right book to present a traits concept?

Checkout my Writer's Bookshelf!

6-Traits: Vickie Spandel

6-Traits: Ruth Culham

Great Writing Advice

Teaching Ideas & Content

Teaching Voice

Teaching Organization

Teaching Word Choice

Teaching Conventions

Northern Nevada Teacher In-service Courses Centered around WritingFix

The Northern Nevada Writing Program & Writing Fix (The best 6-traits website on the Internet) are offering in-service workshops. http://writingfix.com/about_us/inservice.htm





Here is a quick description of the workshops they offer:

• Workshop: Using Picture Books as “Mentor Texts” for Writing Lessons
• Workshop: Using Chapter Book Excerpts as “Mentor Texts” for Writing Lessons
• Workshop: Using Literature Excerpts and Classic Poetry as “ Mentor Texts” for Writing Lessons
• Workshop: Song Lyrics, Video, and Podcasts to Inspire Powerful Writing
• Workshop: Writing Across the Curriculum Techniques: Wacky We-Search and Deeper Student ThinkingHere is the current listing for NNWP sponsored In-service Fall 2008:
  

http://www.unr.edu/educ/nnwp/inservice_fall.html

Here are the Spring 2009 offerings:

http://www.unr.edu/educ/nnwp/inservice_spring.html

Do yourself a favor: Attend one of these workshops and improve your craft!

Conferenceing for conventions

Be specific about what is working:

• "You've used some lower case letters."
• "I can see that you know that there are spaces between words."
• "You remembered that I is always capitalized."
• "Look at the capitals at the beginning of each sentence!
• "You ended each sentence with a punctuation mark. That tells me how to read your writing."
• "Wow! Quotation marks! Now I know when someone is speaking."
• "Look at this word. You heard the beginning, middle and ending sound."
• "These words are all spelled correctly."

As questions to extend meaning:

• "What mark would you like to place at the end of this sentence?"
• "How would this sentence change if you placed an exclamation mark here?"
• "Do you know the marks we use to show that someone is speaking?"
• "Which words do you think you spelled close to the dictionary spelling?"
• "Listen as I say this word. What sounds do you hear?"

Jonathan Harris Collects Stories

This piece is about collecting stories and ideas from life and from the internet. Writer Jonathan Harris, in this TED Talk explains his unique vision of how stories can be found in the artifacts left on a street corner, harvested from blogs with with bots, or captured by camera while exploring Inuit whaling camps in Barrow Alaska.

The talk ends with a photo essay themed on happiness and wishes found in the Kingdom of Bhutan. Harris interviewed over a hundred folks found along the paths of Bhutan. He asked each to write one wish on a balloon. The imagery and ideas are good to think about.

This man creates technology generated mind-maps that go way beyond the solo clustering we sometimes teach as idea generation.

Harris is a traveler, thinker, and creator. Spend some time with his mind by watching this TED lecture and then exploring his unique site: We Feel Fine

video: http://ted.org/index.php/talks/jonathan_harris_collects_stories.html

Jonathan's website: http://www.wefeelfine.org/

Huge list of online links to Writing Project Sites

Thanks goes to Bud Hunt (Blogger, Bud the Teacher) for compiling a remarkable list of writing project sites. This is from his delicious social bookmarking account.

http://del.icio.us/budtheteacher/writingproject

An interesting evening of web surfing dedicated to writing instruction awaits!

Enjoy!

~ Dennis

New 6-Traits Board Game From NWREL

Pirates, Treasure, Adventure, and …Word Choice?

Your students will love learning about the traits of good writing as they sail the high seas in this action-packed, pirate-themed board game. Doubloon Island: The Traits of Good Writing Board Game is the fun way to teach students about the six traits and how they contribute to good writing.

• Accommodates two to eight players
• Can be played in 40 minutes
• Easy to learn, fun to play
• Helps build vocabulary
• Teaches kids fun facts about oceanography, geography, and pirates
• Game is set up so teachers can develop their own questions and game cards
• Applicable for grades five through nine (three through four with adult assistance)

Available from the NWREL At:

http://www.nwrel.org/pirate/

Pass the word? Help make it a 6-traits online summer!

Please forward this announcement to teachers in your district.

This summer teachers from around the nation and the world will join online to exchange ideas and share best practices. The conversations are rich. The community is real. If you've never taken an online class before... this is the one to start with!

Teaching and Assessing Writing with the 6 Traits

EDUC 744 920 Elementary (Gr. K-4) - 3 gr. cr. begins June 16, 2008 EDUC 744 909 Middle/High School (Gr. 5-12) - 3 gr. cr. begins June 16, 2008

Learn to teach and assess writing with the 6-Traits of writing (voice, ideas, word choice, organization, sentence fluency and conventions). Learn to use the 6-Traits with the writing process to teach revision strategies. Help learners meet higher standards and improve test
scores.

Earn graduate credits via online courses that support your professional development goals for licensure renewal, salary advancement and advanced certification.

Sign up soon to reserve your spot! Registration closes this week! to allow time for assigning user names, passwords and ordering/shipping the textbook.Classes are TOTALLY ONLINE. You may participate from your home or school computer. Registration is limited to 20 participants per section.

Syllabus and other details: http://www.uwstout.edu/soe/profdev/traits.shtml REGISTER ONLINE or REGISTER BY FAX Fax: (715) 232-3385

For more details e-mail Dennis O'Connor: oconnord@uwstout.edu

Free Writing & Research Curriculum from Intel

FREE GOLD:

• Intel® Education: Technology Literacy This is an online curriculum for writing and research using technology tools. It's about how to write research using the net. Aimed at middle school students, this work could be used for beginning research methods in graduate school. Superb instructional design. A hidden gem. Brilliant!
  (tags: e-learning curriculum writing writing-process)

6-Traits Video (Schools brew writing videos)

• traits Writing - Page 1 - Blinkx Video Results Blinkx video is a search engine dedicated to just video. They claim to have 18 million hours of video in the search index. A few minutes of all that video is dedicated to 6-traits writing. Fun and worth a look!
  
  (tags: 6-traits video)


• writing process - Page 1 - Blinkx Video Results Writing process video, these are student produced. your kids should get a kick out of them!
  
  (tags: writing writing-process video)

Crafting Writers, K–6 (Full text online)

Crafting Writers K-6
Elizabeth Hale
Year: 2008
Media: 272 pp/paper
ISBN: 978-157110-739-8
Grade Range: K-6

Here's another online full text preview from Stenhouse Publishing.

The book is available via PDF download, a chapter at a time.

Here is the table of contents:

Contents
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Specific Craft
Chapter 3: Gathering Craft
Chapter 4: Categories of Specific Craft
Chapter 5: Crafting with Punctuation
Chapter 6: Primary Writing
Chapter 7: Teaching Craft Lessons
Chapter 8: Researching Strengths in a Conference
Chapter 9: Researching Next Steps in a Conference
Chapter 10: Teaching the Conference
Chapter 11: Group Conferring and Other Management Techniques
Chapter 12: Assessment
Final Thoughts
Appendix A: Additional Mini-Lessons on Craft
Appendix B: Mini-Lessons for Independence in Memoir Writing
Appendix C: Mini-Lessons for Independence in Nonfiction Writing
Appendix D: Mini-Lessons for Independence in Poetry Writing
Appendix E: Forms for Researching Craft
Appendix F: Guided Practice in Researching Craft
Appendix G: List of Specific Craft Presented in Chapters 4, 5, and 6
References
Index

If you use it, buy it! Reward a writer and teacher's hard work!

Free Tools for Thinking, Researching, Writing

Intel is creating great tools for educators. You'll find real treasures on their education website.

Here's a link to Intel's Thinking Tools:

http://www.intel.com/education/tools/index.htm?iid=teach+tools

Here is the Education Site Map that provides access to all of their resources:

http://www.intel.com/education/site_support/contents.htm

Bookmark these pages if nothing else. This is an amazing free resource.

I recently reviewed Intel's Technology Literacy Curriculum for alignment to ISTE NETS-S standards.

http://www.intel.com/education/technologyliteracy/

If you're looking for a carefully designed curriculum to teach research and writing skills, this is it. Again this is a free resource. In my opinion it is more than detailed enough to work at the college level. These could be the basis for a very strong semester of instruction.

The curriculum was written for kids 11 -15 years old. Don't let the Technology Literacy title throw you. This is about how to research and write using online and traditional sources.

Dennis

Melody's Real World Editing Lessons

Melody Brennan was my co-facilitator in the Spring 2008 edition of the 6-Traits online writing class. She did a terrific job! Here's bit of advice she offered during our module on conventions. ~ Dennis

Thinking in terms of modeling and practicing, technology spell checking, and just plain teaching how to edit.....

While in the classroom I used our weekly classroom newsletters rather than DOL.

Here's how:

Each week I would type our newsletter that would be sent home to update the parents about what happened that week and what was hopefully going to happen the next week (one can never be 100% sure...even though we plan!) I would add errors, especially ones that spell check would not change or highlight. Students would look it over (peer editing), work together after looking individually, and then we would all come together to create our "final" draft. I would make the revisions and hand-out the final draft for copying. I would then ask a co-worker to come in so that I could ask them in front of the class if they could find some time to edit my work. I know what I want my newsletter to say, but sometimes that is the biggest problem....my brain is thinking one thing and my paper or newsletter is really saying something different. The students saw me asking another peer to look it over one more time before submitting the newsletter as the final draft.

This worked great! Life lessons in the making! I had parents searching to see if they could still find an error with their students at home. Of course, they were not always perfect and I would sometimes be greeted on Monday morning with a big circle around something. However, they all appreciated the learning that went behind the weekly newsletter.