Cyndi's Demo

I like the level of involvement that doing the background research invites. Certainly, it invests students in the process far more than a powerpoint, irrespective of how artistic it is. I would love to have the rubric and "student roles" sheet as a model. Since I teach CTs, I will borrow heavily from this. Thanks, Cyndi.

cyndi's demo

Great job! I would love to be in your class. I learned so much just from the little bit that we got to do today. I really felt like we were being immersed into the time period. Also, nice way to "set the stage" by using Orff. Cool! I would think many kids would recognize that as something they've heard somewhere before. It is used for so many movies and commercials. Good job woman! You are awesome.

Cyndi Demo

Bravo! This was outstanding. I am curious to know if this is a correlation standard with your students and their History content.
That would be amazing. I can see from your style that you recognize that we are teaching and educating a group of children who thrive in the hands-on world. It is extremely evident that you value voice, creativity, exploration and importance of being able to get up in front of a group and present. I would have loved to have been in your class. I am thinking about going back to school and collaborating with the teacher who will have my students for Social Studies and developing a unit that we could do together.
HMMMMMM.......this gives me a some great correlations to what my research is going to be about. Wonderful, wonderful!

Mary Ann

Cyndi

Great job Cyndi. I really like how you used music to bring us into the time frame. I also like how the students research the historical aspect of this time period. I think this would make literature more interesting. You seem to have a love for your profession and I think students could learn in your class.

Cyndi's Lesson

Shout out to Cyndi for a great lesson!! I enjoyed working in the groups and learning info about the Medieval Times. I think you value the engagement of your students in the lesson and that this was a great way to have them actively engaged in the project. I think this could be used in any type of class! Great Job!!

Way to go, Cindy!

I loved the draw of the music in the beginning. What a great and fun lesson. I could totally have the choir students come dressed in an era and have them report about them. What a fun and engaging time. You are awesome!

Cyndi,

What a neat lesson. I never looked at trying to find credible websites because I only limit my students to the websites I know. I think that our computer lab teacher is teaching those things to the kids. It was interesting to hear about life back then. The Old English video at first was fascinating. I wasn't aware that it was pronounced so differently from Middle English.

Cyndi's demo

I thought the informal nature of this research project was great. Also it is probably fun for the students to research these cultural aspects of medieval life and present on them in the context of reading Chaucer. Of course discussing credibility is important and I liked your handling of this.

I wonder in what ways some fun informal writing could be incorporated into this research project? Writing scripts for small skits? Descriptions of events or locations? I could see this really being a good long unit using multiple resources and facilitating a lot of learning styles.

Cindy

Cyndi's lesson was so much fun because she let students find information that was interesting to them and share it with the group. She was tight enough to make the lesson meaningful and loose enough for students to have a great time with it. I also found her grading system to exceedingly organized and precise. I would love to be in her class. THANKS! Cyndi

Cyndi's Demo

Great Job Cyndi! I've been with you all the way through this lesson at school, so I know the kids love it. They really get into this lesson. They put a lot of effort into getting all of the research and putting the papers together as well as putting on a good show for the class.

I know that Cyndi thinks that writing is very important in her classroom. She has the kids do it often, and it is usually something fun like this lesson. I think that a lesson like this could be adapted to any time period that you are studying.

Informal Research

I like the idea of informal research. Maybe formal research and inquiry would be less intimidating if students have done a variety of informal research. I also like the implications for prework here. If on Thursday I want to begin a novel, I can ask the students to search, find and informally share as we did today. They can provide the background info which is needed but not the integral part of my lesson. Thanks for the ideas Cindi.

Middle Aged Menswear

Cyndi-

For the rest of my life I will remember that during the middle ages, only upper class men were allowed to wear super-short buttocks-revealing gowns!

What struck me the most about your lesson is how completely in tune you are with your audience (students) and how you so beautifully help them relate to the subject matter. I absolutely love how you brought in modern references and used your knowledge and passion to keep us engaged and excited about this time period. When you shared about how you'd heard something on NPR(?) and immediately took it to the classroom, all I could think of was, "Wow! What a fabulous teacher to recognize and grab these teachable moments and take them right into school with her!"

Great job and thank you.

Great lesson Cyndi

Cyndi did a really cool lesson today! I learned many things that I didn't know. I can tell how enthusiastic she is about her topic. I imagine that her students really get into this research and have a lot of fun while they are learning. I liked her research approach, and how just listening to all of the other peoples topics I too will walk away with new knowledge.

The Middle Ages

Being someone who does a huge research project with my sophomores, it was refreshing to have the reinforcement of using "credible research." I had never thought of using the smart search to limit their sites. I usually tell them that it must end in .gov .edu or .org. I will have to try this in the fall with their multigenre projects.

I like how this lesson layers on the idea that even though it was centuries ago, it can still be relevant today. I think that students are more likely to "listen" to us when technology is involved. They will still find interesting details, like Cathy and I with the showing of mens' buttocks in clothing....HA!

Sometimes fewer words say more

"Buddy has been lost for some time, his wipers whisking the thick Maine snow, when he spots a missed turn in his rearview and brakes. The car fishtails, rocketing into a spin. the faster it pivots, the slower time moves. Buddy is the fixed point, the world careening around him.

He takes a young maple with him into the gully. A few stubborn leaves cling to the branches that protrude through the windshield. Everything is abruptly quiet. He sees bits of sky. A lone heron. The car is resting on its side with Buddy somehow in the passenger seat, his back to the window and his foot beneath the crushed steering wheel. The angle is impossible; it appears to be someone else's leg. The dead engine ticks; he smells gasoline and sap, freshly split wood, his sister's griddlecakes."

April & Oliver by Tess Callahan

This is an excerpt from the prologue. This author says so much with so few words. I really enjoyed this book and thought you guys might want to check it out. Some authors rattle on forever to really say just one word. She says a book full with just a few.

This book is a roller coaster ride but I think you'll enjoy it if you're willing to take the risk.

Good job Chris

I think Chris did an excellent job today with her demo. My feelings on cut and paste have not wavered . However, it is time to move on and get things done. I really enjoyed our reading group today as always. It is an interesting group of people and it makes discussions about Palmer worthwhile.

Story Time!

Great job today, Chris! Excellent use of technology--I can't wait to try out the Elmo in my room! I loved the card idea and also the story time today. Thank you for a useful and helpful way to share information with students!

June 30

Chris, nice job on your presentation today. You certainly planted many seeds for interesting ideas for writing in different genres. I hadn't thought of Christmas cards, and, of course, that generated so many great ideas from the group with sympathy cards, invitations, thank yous...

The cut-and-paste activity surprised me in the variety of emotions and perspectives it elicited. I might have used it without any expectation of a reaction other than another tool for revision. Thank you, Brea and Lynn, for opening my eyes to the sensitivity and awareness that needs to accompany all our choices.

Today

Chris, you did a great job on your demo and as others responded to your lesson, I got more ideas on how to modify this lesson for others books, holidays, seasons, or other subject areas for my students.

After I left yesterday, I found myself unhappy with the question I posted up on the wall. I'm not sure what kind of use it will have for me in my classroom. As I reflected on this, I decided to change the question. I was talking to Kelly and told her what I was hoping to find out. After some clarification, she told me what she heard me saying so now I have a focus for my research. Thank you Kelly! Now, that problem is slightly solved.

However, I am not 100% happy with my narrative. Tracy worked on mine after we cut them apart. She suggested some things to make it better. During lunch, I played out events in my head of what to include and the course my new writing is going to take. While my son is playing in a baseball game tonight with the Meigs Amer. Legion team, I will have my pencil and notebook in tow. Hopefully I won't be hit on the head with a foul ball. Most recently, some have come close.

Unexpected

Well gang, I didn't expect that I would go through so many different kinds of emotions while working on the personal narrative. At times I was laughing, crying, anxious, and shocked when I made a personal connection to an event in my life now. Very unexpected. I guess I had not ever taken the time to write in this way before. I felt like I was being constantly groomed to write a research paper using perfect form and citations. The cutting apart...that brought on a whole new slew of emotions. Very interesting morning.

Reading groups help build a sense of community

I really enjoyed our reading group today. We talked about many things that are affecting us, and I actually feel a sense of community with the people in my group. Community is important to us as teachers....as sometimes that can be our only sanity. Although I didn't like the cut and paste activity with narrative writing, I do think it would be helpful with other types. Great job today Chris on your lesson! I really think that I will adapt that and use it in my room.

Revising with Scissors

I am sort of on the fence with this exercise. On one hand, I felt quite conflicted about cutting apart someone else's work. I didn't feel qualified to tell them what was and was not important to them. On the other hand, they didn't have to take my revision of the paper just as I did not have to take their revision of mine. I had the choice to take all, some or none of the suggestions the person made on my paper. I can see how, on a paper so personal, it could be gut-wrenching for some to have it cut apart as it was; however, to me, it was just a piece of paper. The emotions and feelings don't change whether they are on an 8 1/2 x 11 piece of wood pulp or in my head, but I can absolutely understand and totally sympathize these feelings that some had. I hope that everyone's paper turns out to be something cathartic, and if it cannot be cathartic, I hope it is at least somewhat fun.

The Courage to Write?

Today's activity of taking our personal narratives and (essentially) chopping them up was quite an eye-opening experience. I think, many times, people are so fearful of writing that they maybe don't know how to begin? Maybe they are afraid to write, for whatever reason: fear of failure, fear of exposing the private concept of "self" to others (which in turn may raise feelings of vulnerability/inadequacy), fear of being thought of having bad grammar (why does, seemingly, everyone feel that they shouldn't say this or that because "the English teacher" will judge them harshly?). Today, some writers felt great pain when completing this exercise; yet, others, had no qualms about the process at all.

For myself, I had no qualms about chopping my work up, at all. I knew it was a draft, and I was actually just writing down a stream of thoughts, memories, experiences as I remembered them. Be they good or bad. I never stopped to process what I was writing: I just wrote. I figured I'd sort out "all of that stuff" at some later point. Having another person help me with that was, as Don says, "all good."

Stepping back a bit, I have to say that I feel so sad when I meet someone for the first time, and then they find out that I teach high school English. Suddenly, what started out as being a promising conversation/dialogue, story-telling, etc - becomes a situation in which I am "perceived" as an expert on grammar - a "judge" (if you will) and then suddenly the person begins "policing" themselves in anticipation of what they think I may be thinking about their content. They begin to flounder and wonder HOW they should say something rather than just having their true voice(s) shine through and just - say - it (whatever it is).

Similarly, writing, I believe, is much the same way. We, as tentative writers, seem to have a certain level of discomfort in sharing our work with others. A certain fearfulness or uncertainty. But, as difficult as the exercise was today, it was a very valuable learning experience because if we don't challenge our notions of how WE should write then how can we help to foster the writing process amongst our students? I like what Chris B said today (and I'm loosely paraphrasing): "Doesn't it take a small amount of pain to grow, even a little"?

today

Chris, Great job today, I liked your lessons and I have already found several uses for it in my class.

I'm also interested in how so many of our texts are personal narratives on their own. Today's readings are a prime example. Is this like a case study?

As a person who doesn't get too worked up over most stuff, I didn't mind our cutting activity today. I wish mine had been easier to work with. Sorry Judy. I usually have that safe distance between who I am and what I do. My thoughts, "It's just an assignment, learn what you can." I don't wish to take away from those who had some trouble with the activity. Clearly you had much more emotion wrapped up in your work than I did.

It would take me months to get my class to a place where I would try this. It might just be too advanced for my class, at least in many years. However, it did get me thinking about how to use peer editing and that I should try more of that. I do a little but I'm always afraid of hurt feelings. Hurt feelings in my class usually means hours of extra paperwork for me.

Scissors.

The activity today that will stick with me was our post-lunch discussion about the cutting of the essays. I'm grateful to have been the one to have re-imagined Brea's essay, for it really helped me think about how I give feedback to my students at Hocking, whose whole purpose in Comm I and Comm II is to write the personal essay. We all have these stories, pieces of our lives that are so powerful and emotional (either wonderful or painful) that putting them out there is terrifying, and I try to remember this with my Hocking students, who seem to carry with them some of the most astonishing stories I've ever heard.

Brea and I talked a little later, and both agreed that we'd have liked more time after it was over to process all of this with the person whose paper we worked on. I also wish she had had my paper so we could have spent the follow up time talking further about our the re-imagining activity. Logistically speaking, I would have liked to exchange papers with someone than pass it down, because at the end we didn't have the opportunity to share our own stories because we had one person's and another person had ours, and I really wanted to talk more with the person who had my paper and the person whose paper I had.

For me, it was a relief to give my paper to someone else because it is really bothering me right now. I was itching for some radical ideas of rearranging that might help shake things up and put me back on track (Thanks, Kelly!)

Cut and Paste Revision -Arrgh!

In thinking back on the day and taking in what everyone said about the revision activity. I can see where it could be a beneficial activity in some respects but at the same time it could really impact in a negative way some of my students. I really did not think I would be affected in the way that I was by the revisions made to my paper and I did not feel bad taking the paper I was working with and rearranging the order. I saw it as maybe helpful to the writer, but it did not feel that way when it was mine. I kinda felt like a 2 year old. Mine, mine, mine, and how dare you mess with it. But now that we are several hours away from the activity I just feel like I need to put on my big girl panties and look at it from that perspective and then move on! And I can always know that it will be all good!!!

Re-visioning My Narrative

While I know that most did not like cutting into their drafts this morning, I loved it. I felt a sense of empowerment by doing so. Cutting through it let me know that this is not the final draft and that it has a long way to go before it will get to a copy that I will feel at least somewhat comfortable about. I also liked taking another person's draft and trying to arrange in an order that made sense to me. I know that it was not the order of the original, but it gave me a different perspective on how to possibly view my own draft in that not everything has a set place.

This activity is one that I plan to use with my AP students this fall. Within the first week of school, they will write their first literary analysis essay. I usually do a revision exercise using highlighters, but it always has mixed results. I think this will help them see how their ideas connect.

I agree, though, with what a lot of you were saying in that you wouldn't use it with an assignment like this, but I won't completely throw the idea out the window. I think it's the type of thing that has to be used with caution and I think it's the type of thing that might work better with juniors or seniors rather than freshman or sophomores because of the maturity and growth level.

I will have to see how it works with my AP students before I see how to use it with my Creative Writing or General English students.

Chris's Demo

Thanks Chris for a great job! I really liked the card element. I liked the idea of the informal writing in an alternative genre of greeting cards. I loved that during the discussion people talked about using manipulatives with high school students is desirable. I know that my students enjoy these practices, and I know that by using manipulatives and creativity that students are actually more likely to retain and own the knowledge that I intend to teach. And yet I often skip right into the lesson because "I don't have time." I need to rephrase this thought into, "I don't have a choice; I must if I want retention and not just covereage. So thanks for an easy, quick manipulative that I can apply to my classroom.

I need to celebrate!

Autobiography break through! I knew I wasn't feeling my paper. So I revised it and took it even farther in the wrong direction. Lydia read my paper to me and I took notes. She had some great insights but the most helpful part was when she read and she read a sentence in the way I heard it then I knew it was a good bit. When she read it and I didn't hear me, then I knew I was going in the wrong direction. So I went home and mostly changed it, heavy deletions, and CLARITY. I'm not saying it is done, but I feel good about it. I feel like it has potentional to be a solid piece and before I just felt fear. So in relation to my class here are the insights I gained.
1. I knew that my Elbow "felt sense" was not what I wanted. But I felt it, and how do I teach that skill for my students to feel it? It is a moving, ellusive skill. Prior to the class I may have just thrown my hands in the air and said, "I don't know!" But I am starting to form an approach, informal, practice, voice activities, etc... may form the basis of my new approach. Thank you OUAWP!
2. Oh boy are my kids going to see my drafts! First snippets of what I think is important in my life, then interview and Chris's take on my life, first draft--too clinical, second draft--even more clinical and long. I got bored twice in my own paper. Third draft barely looks like draft one and two. And even now it is not done. I know it is flawed, but it is flawed in a way that has possibilites. I don't feel like crying when I read it. I feel like digging in and making it better. This is a new process for me and I am liking it, even though it is certainly more work.

Home with stomach virus

Hey everyone I am home today with some yucky stomach thing. Hope to be in later.
Mary An

Surprisingly good.

Well, I must say that I was surprised by the concept of starting work on the final paper before finishing the current one but I understand why now. Even though my brain feels like it is stretched to the max right now it was good to start the discussion. I was a little leery when I saw the papers going up but I liked the activity. It was good to see everyone's starting point. I also liked the fact that we were able to brainstorm questions beforehand. All of that was very helpful...which makes me wonder...what does Sherrie have up her sleeve next?

Day 2, Week 2 FEAR REARS ITS UGLY HEAD AGAIN!

Oh dear lord, I left here yesterday feeling pretty good about this class only to have FEAR prickle throughout my body yet again! When Sherri brought up that we needed to start thinking about our Research Project when the Narrative is not yet complete "ARE YOU KIDDING ME???" But, yet now as I think back to Phase 1 and trusting Sherri yet again I feel better about the process. I loved the activity! I found it so interesting that not one single person in the room chose the same idea! However, the ideas that we did choose were spring-boarded with questions for us to ponder as we embark on this journey. This was not only reaffirming that perhaps we did choose a topic that has potential, but also gave me some different avenues to look at it. TRUST, TRUST, TRUST something that I need to actively embrace. Wow how must my students feel when I give them some of the assignments I give them? Thank you for the reminder!

Brainstorming Charts

I thought the brainstorming charts we did this afternoon was such a good idea. Getting feedback gave me another perspective on how to look at the question. I also felt that I was making an important contribution when I commented on each of the charts. Some comments were suggestions of what I thought would work while others were ideas of what I've learned in professional development or my own classroom experiences themselves. I'm so surprised that the scented ("smelly") markers were such a huge hit in class today :). I use these on a regular basis in my own class when we do projects that lend themselves to the markers. They are fun to use.

Question activity

This activity helps to get different perspectives on the questions we presented. I appreciate this concept because it allows us to think about about our own question via another avenue. I could see how this could be beneficial in my science class. I was thinking I could use this method when students are trying to generate a problem for their science fair project.

Collaboration!

I loved the activity today and I will be taking it back to the classroom. Teaching research papers is hard. And even though I am referencing the traditional type of paper, this activity can still be applied. Should be, applied. One of the early stages that I teach is to create questions to guide your research. Students have a hard time digging in and getting started. I have students who agonize for hours over their thesis. I liked that Sherri forced us to put it down in writing. Yes I felt rushed, but it made me make a decision. It may be the decision of the moment; it may look very different later in the process but it was a place to get started. Then the collaboration was brilliant in two ways. First, each student is getting multiple ideas to get started on this process that is very murky in the beginning. Thirteen different perspectives have already weighed in on my inquiry project and are giving me insights on how to get started and what are the different type of angles that this paper may need to consider. Secondly, I liked getting a feel for the assignment by seeing what my classmates are doing. Felt like another good exercise in community.

Inquiry Question

I was very intimidated by this concept of forming a question for inquiry rather than traditional research, not because of the overall task, but how to frame the question correctly (whatever that means)--that need to "get it right" is strong, even when comfortable with the community we've established. I was ambivalent about writing questions/concerns for each person's question, but having read mine, I have a better idea about how I might frame my inquiry. Thank you all!

Posing a question activity

At first I was a little worried about coming up with a question or narrowing it down, but after I looked and read others, I began to get the idea. I really enjoyed how we walked around and shared ideas or questions about each others questions. I think I have a good start for an idea now...or at least how to formulate one. This activity could be posted and used with various topics within a classroom. Also, Megan did a great job with her lesson. You can tell that she is a great music teacher, and really cares a lot about kids.

The back door.

What I loved about this activity is that we got our questions up on the wall and they immediately went from private to public. I had these ideas scooting around in my head and had just started to get them down on my computer screen, when POW! Before we could question our questions, we had to grab one, take it up to the wall and invite our colleagues into our heads.

Like so many of the other activities we've done in here, Don and Sherrie take us right to the heart of a difficult or personal issue, but it's through the back door. Suddenly we are smack in the middle of a big idea, and we don't realize what we've just done until, TA DA! Our tentative inquiry paper question suddenly has 15 fantastic questions and ideas below it and we feel like we are off and running. Very cool.

Smelly Markers Rock!

How cool was it to use the (good not bad) smelly markers today? To tell you the truth, that was my favorite part! I was in heaven. Down to the useful part, though, I loved the non-formal way we got to write our questions (still loving those markers) on the BIG sheets of paper. It was fun to get to write ideas or parts of ideas under or around each very creative question. This was an awesome way to get the ball rolling on brain-storming. I am seeing all sorts of ways I could use this in my music classes-for young and old alike. Thank you for this super-accessible idea!

Wall activity

I love stuff like that where I get to get up and think about many different topics at one time. I also hate it because I don't want to write unless I have some useful insight, which, given the time constraints and the broad area to think about, is not always the case. Basically, I feel that my comments waste people's time, and I don't like how that feels. As with everything, the usefulness of the comments depends on the caliber of the person making the comment. In this case, you folks seem to be very bright so the comments were very useful and I would like to thank everyone for them. If my comments helped anyone then I'm gratified. I fear that they were not useful to everyone.

Megan, your technique for teaching basic rhythm was brilliant, either I had bad music education or I was a lousy student. I thinking back, I believe that I was a terrible student of music. Let the good times roll.

Questions, questions, questions

It was interesting to see the process of the questioning strategy for generating ideas for research. As I read other questions and responses around the room, I started thinking about what I wanted to research. Initially, I was thinking of how to develop a workshop-based classroom (a community of writers), but now I'm not so sure. So many questions and ideas are once again swirling around in my head...argh.

On the flip-side, I can see how this can be useful for our own students when introducing the research process. Rather than having students pick a topic and write a thesis, have them pick a topic and ask a question about that topic. Then, put papers like this up around the room and have students comment on the question or ask other questions to help guide the students to the start of their research.

Lots of stuff to think about tonight as I try to come to terms with finishing my narrative and including the good, the bad, and the downright frightening.

Responding to Brainstorming Questions with Smelly Markers Part 2

Ok I am back again! I love the smelly markers! I really thought this idea of writing the question and then going around and posting on each others papers was a great idea. Not only did we get a lot of different perspectives on our idea but we were able to help out our friends and classmates. I think you could totally do this in any class with a variety of topics. And did I say I loved the smelly markers!!

Reflections on Inquiry Questions

I think that one fascinating part of the exercise today was that no two people came up with the same questions. I liked that we could see other people's questions and could comment on them. This allowed us to get others' views on our own questions to get another perspective to help us narrow or broaden our approach if necessary.

Responding to Brainstorming Questions with Smelly Markers

First let me just say I love the smelly markers!

Shared Article: "Teachers Are The Educational Experts"

from The Chillicothe Gazette
Teachers are the educational experts

I'm missing class this morning and seeing you all this morning, and I hope the storms haven't caused any problems for any of you last night. I found this in the morning paper, and I thought I'd share. I've been following the Gazette's coverage of SB 5 over the past few weeks, and too many readers in past weeks have been SO OVERWHELMINGLY NEGATIVE that I almost stopped reading their comments (because it seems that most commenters have placed little value on what we teachers are trying to do for THEIR KIDS), but this one reaffirms The Courage to Teach. The way the readers' past comments have gone were pretty much like this, "throw all of the worthless lazy do nothings out" (and the consensus seemed to be that ALL teachers fit into that category). I remember reading those earlier comments and feeling so disrespected, so undervalued, SO BEATEN DOWN...

Now this article.

Thoughts?

Prompts for Guiding Student Revision

Here it is.

This list is not a definitive list of things to ask students to write about other student’s writing.  Use these prompt verbatim, if you wish, but always consider how you might reword them for your own students to fit their particular assignment and voices.

Before I have students “trade papers” (and I control this process; I have them pass them forward around the room six times or pass them backwards 3 times), I have the students attach a blank sheet of paper underneath their draft and have them do some of these prompts on that extra sheet.  Sometimes I keep going and I may need to have students add another blank sheet once this one gets filled, but you should always consider your purposes in having students answer these questions; sometimes, it’s better to have them answer fewer of these prompts but responding to them in more depth.  Sometimes I am very explicit about how much they need to write to answer these prompts (i.e. “each response needs to take up at least a quarter of a page”) and other times, I let the prompts dictate how long or how short the responses are.

I typically begin with having students read through and the fix “obvious” errors first before going to these prompts.  Some students cannot attend to other issues until they’ve dealt with surface correctness issues first.

Prompts:

1) Read through the paper and write a sentence that expresses what you would say is the writer’s message. Is the message in the paper or is it merely implied? If this message is explicitly stated in the paper, circle it.

2) What details did the writer seem to skim through?  If the writer were asked to add an entire extra page to this assignment, what would you tell them to make that additional page about?

3) Underline the best sentence in this paper.  Now, explain why you like this sentence. What makes this sentence work for you?

4) How well would you say the writer fulfilled the requirements of the prompt?  If the writer made choices that took the writing away from what you think was assigned, what advice would you give about how to bring this paper back toward what the assignment was asking for?

5) Draw a box around the five most interesting words in this paper.  List them here and explain what makes them good choices.

6) Draw a triangle around the five weakest word choices in this paper.  List them here and offer suggestions for more interesting words.

7) Draw a star somewhere in the paper and draw the same start on this paper.  Now write a simile that you could insert into the paper.

8) Describe how this paper is organized.  How else could you fulfill this assignment using the material in this paper using another way of organizing the material?

9) What details in the paper seem to take up space without adding anything to the reader’s interest or understanding?

10) If you were to describe the person you think this writer is writing this paper for, who comes to mind?  Who do you image as this writer’s ideal reader?

11) If this paper is supposed to be “academic,” in what ways does the writer match the academic “voice”?  In what ways does this paper not fit “academic” expectations?

12) If sometime later tonight, you were telling someone about this paper you read and critiqued today in class, what would you say was most memorable about it?

13) What mood or emotions would you associate with this paper?  Does this mood seem appropriate for this particular assignment?

14) If this paper were to be sent off to a writing contest that was going to be judged by a famous novelist, what suggestions would you make to this paper’s writer to increase the chances for winning the contest?

15) List five questions you would ask the writer about this piece if you were a reporter and you were assigned to write a story about this paper’s topic.

16) Imagine that this paper is going to be published in a magazine.  What suggestions would you make for the illustrations that would accompany the text?

17) Rewrite this paper into a haiku.

18) If this paper were a flavor of ice cream, it would be ________  because _______.

19) After reading this paper, what would you say the writer values the most in his or her own writing?

20) Did anything in this paper surprise you?  If so, what would you say surprised you the most?  If nothing surprised you, would you say this paper suffers from being too obvious?  How might the idea of surprise make this paper more interesting?

21) If this paper were remade into a YouTube video, what music would be a good choice for its soundtrack?

22) If you were to take the message of this paper and put it on a T-shirt, what would it say?

23) If you didn’t know the identity of the writer of this paper, would aspects of the writer’s identity would you be able to figure out from the text alone?

24) Write something encouraging to the writer about this paper.  Be enthusiastic without being sarcastic.

Creation and Revision

I've really been thinking about how I write today. Not just whether it's legible or coherent (or even pretty, because when I was growing up, good penmanship also really mattered), but really, I've begun to really evaluate the process of writing itself: HOW I write. Usually, I sort of sit and stew - just think on some topic of interest - either important - or even mundane, and I really sort of just "weigh and consider" and then, I write.

When I begin, I just write, write, write, and I don't stop to think about "is this good stuff? bad stuff? or even is this God-awful hideous stuff?" -- I just do it, and I believe that, at some point, later on down the road, I'll sort it all out. Maybe. Sometimes I do, but sometimes I don't. It just depends upon what I was writing about. Does this piece matter "enough" to warrant a revision? I'd just not made a conscious decision to really look into my writing and revision philosophies until I took this class. I never really stopped to think about the "how, or the why, or what each of my "steps" of what my writing process was like, but now I have begun, which is a good thing because it will help me to better meet the needs of my students and give them the encouragement to write, too. Not just for an academic grade, but for their souls, their peace of mind, their need to help them to think in depth on some issue, or just to make them feel more connected to their world.

How, then, do we make the decision to revise? What IS important enough? How do we revise? Do we look simply at organizational structure, or do we look into parts, or do we revise some aspect of the particular piece of writing itself - or do we revise the whole thing? These are not issues I had considered much (if at all) before this class, but now, revision is something worth considering in greater detail. Creation is only one-half of the pie. Revision and presentation is what makes the pie attractive and tasty, and makes the casual observer want to not just taste it, but to consume and thoroughly enjoy it.

"I don't know what to put in it" (whine, whine, whine)

Going back to Sherrie's discuss this afternoon about revision. This is a phrase that I hear OFTEN from certain students in particular. They'll show me their work. I'll tell them that I really like their ideas and what else can they add to it? What else can they tell me? The response: "But I can't think of anything else!" Followed by pouty lip and much whining. I tell them, "Yes, you can. Now go work on it. Maybe your friend might have an idea." They are gone 2 seconds (the amount of time that it takes to walk to their chairs and back to me. They repeat, "But I can't think of anything!" Translated means - I don't want to work on this anymore. It is too hard. You should do it for me. How frustrating!!! Anyone else have this problem?

Personal Narrative Nightmare!!!

I will not lie when I first started doing my personal narrative one of my favorite children's books comes to mind Judith Viorst's ALEXANDER'S HORRIBLE NO GOOD VERY BAD DAY! I didn't know where to begin now mind not that my life is that exciting, however there have been turbulent events that have shaped my life over the years and the majority of them believe it or not was from my children! As Lynn so delicately put it in his essay of my interview AT LEAST ONE OF THEM IS LIKE ME THE REBEL! I wasn't quite sure in what direction to take my narrative, was this to be a timeline of my life, should I focus on those important events or what? After careful consideration and digging deep inside I found out what I indeed needed to write about for several different reasons. My narrative is resonating some "truths" to me. This narrative will be therapeutic much cheaper than a therapist! This narrative is not only for the Writing Project but to help me bring to the forefront some closure to an extremely difficult area in my life. This narrative will help me to reign in some feelings, wrap my head around something that was very traumatic, and perhaps finally forgive. Wow Don, Sherri, and Lydia did my husband tell you I needed to get in this year so I could finally GET OVER IT!! All joking aside while I know this narrative will be difficult I also know that to everything there is a season. Hmmm so my season is now here and I need to face it.

Great day everyone thanks for the wonderful bonding that has occurred. The collaboration, the discussion, the lessons and just your smiling faces made it much easier to get up this Monday to face this class. By the way they were write if you can just get through week one YOU CAN DO THIS!!!!!!

Mary Ann

GO BIG BLUE!

discussions about palmer

Enjoyed these discussions. One point I wanted to make is that our schools are designed for all of our students to learn at a certain age yet we are all different in the time in which we can learn certain things. I wish the people that make decisions about education would consider this instead of making education out to be a fortune 500 company.

Lesson on Revision

Today made me really think about revision in my class. Do I ever use it? I know I use it with my own writing, but it's kind of my own made up way to revise. With my students...we write to learn all the time...but I don't think that I have the students ever go back to revise. I am going to implement more of this. I also like the thought of taking away the negative connotation that comes with the word REVISION....I had come to view it as a way to change my grammar and now I know thats not what it is at all. Enjoyed my readers group today too. We have alot of good discussions and it helps me realize that we all are human, and deal with things that happen in our classrooms. I am starting to feel more comfortable as the days go on with sharing my work, because this environment is beginning to feel very safe.

My Personal Demon - Narrative Writing

Personal Narrative

I have typed a lot on my personal narrative, but I'm having a difficult time not making it an "and then" paper. I've listened to the readings that most of you have shared, and I'm thinking that I'm not much of a creative writer. I think that maybe I'm more of a technical writer. My narrative sounds more like a user's manual for a VCR or a microwave oven. I suppose that is what the revision process is for.

I've started the narrative over about four times, but each time it ends up sounding angry or depressing and it is still and "and then." Maybe I should just change the topic altogether. If anyone has any grand, eye-opening suggestions, I would love to hear them.

Time.

From Tracy's lesson, to the extra time Don gave us to look at our drafts, to the revision discussion with Sherrie, and finally, the immensely affirming and thoughtful reading group talk with Lena, Judy, Kelly and Brea - it was all good. (Not sure that last sentence reads so smoothly, but hey, this is a blog).

Our discussion this afternoon about Palmer's book really resonated with me, and I imagine it did with the rest of the group. It was such a comfort and a relief to be able to relax and talk about our lives and our teaching with no time limits or external expectations. Kelly's point about loving the people she works with, but wishing that they wanted to take the time to talk about teaching was so spot on. How many of us work with people who never want to talk about teaching if they don't have to, or perhaps if we're out at a teacher happy hour, only want to complain about students, parents, or our workload?

The one theme that has resonated with me today has been TIME. We need the time to revise, to restore ourselves, to talk with our colleagues and get to know each other, to seek out professional development opportunities that will keep us motivated...but the time is not there and it's not coming anytime soon. Not sure what the answer is...

Thoughts

I can't believe how everything we are doing weaves together so nicely! I know I have made this comment more than once but it is totally about the connections that are being made for me. Everything that I am doing this summer has that interconnected feeling and even though at times it seems like it is going to consume me there is the definite theme. The MAIN THEME would be that I need to give my students more opportunities to write, not only for a grade but as a tool to to demonstrate understanding and maybe even vent about the events of the day. Using writing in my class gives students a voice to present ideas, questions, concerns, ect. Then we can use that process as a spring board to more in depth conversations. We can look at those ideas and maybe look at them form different perspectives and this will foster some higher level thinking.

Revising

The revising discussion this afternoon was wonderful. Throwing ideas around to each other helped me reflect on what I need to do in my own classroom. When I thought about my own revising of the past, it was only to check the mechanics and spelling errors of my students. From time to time, I would look at both the revising poster and the editing poster hanging up on my wall and wonder how the 2 were different. I never came up with an answer. I have a different vision of revising after today's discussion and can't wait to get my first piece of writing from my students next year and try some of the suggestions. I am also glad Don will be offering us different tips on revising so I can guide my students through the revision process and make them see it as play, just as Lydia did.

Re-vision

I appreciate the insights today about revising and how it is not so much a way of making it better, but making it different. When redirecting students in their music-making in my choir, I applaud their mistakes. I tell them to make their mistakes big enough so I can hear them. I'm not applauding mediocrity, but am trying to show them that in making mistakes they really are not mistakes at all, but an opportunity to learn. (I have Dr. Brown, my wind ensemble director to thank for giving me the, "make mistakes so loud that I can hear them," mantra.) I want students to see or find a way to start doing or looking at things differently from that point on.

(Ha, ha! I love ending a sentence with a preposition! Thanks for the freedom, Don!)

As far as my revising goes for my personal narrative, I'm still in the blabbing on and on in my writing stage. I have not found a good framework or picture frame to place the information in yet. I'm hoping some ideas may surface soon.

Revision thoughts

I love the dialogue we had today on revision. There were so many concretes ideas to use with students that will really help drive the concept. I think I've used parts of many of the strategies, but these will help take it farther in the process. Can't wait for Don's list!

Great discussion with the Parker Palmer book. So many sections resonate with all of us. The Student from Hell elicited memories from all. And we related to the paradoxes, especially recognizing and honoring the silences of teaching--"Silence gives us a chance to reflect on what we have said and heard..." (80). Sometimes we get so caught up in the myriad details, the assembly-line mentality of teaching, we have trouble getting comfortable with the silence. But if we don't acknowledge that need, we short-change the learning process.

Monday (again)

Shout out to Tracy, great lesson. As for our book discussion, we don't really talk about the book but we have certainly done a good job exploring some very important issues facing educators and students. I found the discussion worth while. I also enjoyed our talk about re-vision and I've managed to generate some ideas I can use. I think I'm going to come up with some content item and have the boys do a short piece of writing, then I'm going to do it again. After they have about four pieces of writing, I'm going to run them through a series of revisions, letting things perk for a while. The key to this plan is the length of the writing very short. This is necessary for my class. Also limiting the time spent on the assignment is key. I also expect that I'll lower the stakes by offering the assignments as pass fail instead of putting them through the anguish of letter grades. I hope that this will build up there academic endurance, their tolerance for writing and separate them from their work. I think I'm also going to let them snowball a couple pieces. Still processing that.

My narrative is going well enough, I've restarted it three times but I'm much happier with the third attempt.

NO FEAR, but keep the common sense.

Revisions

Kelly wrote:


If every paper they ever write feels like it has to be a finished draft, and yet I define finished draft as writing as one or two drafts, what kind of quality writing I am getting from them?


While we may not always like their choices, if we are to respect their agency, we need to practice framing student writing in terms of choices.  If, for example, a student who is capable of writing an A paper wants to settle for a C paper because she has volleyball practice tonight and isn't interested in doing another draft, we need to step back and remember that we can't make their choices for them.  Otherwise, they lose ownership of their writing.  We can't make them care about particular assignments, but we can try to make them care about their ability to write.

Tracy's Star Demo

I liked what I learned during this lesson.  I never understood where the whole Zodiac came from before and now this makes complete sense to me (not the whole Astrology thing, just how the 12 Zodiacs fit into different months of the year).

I like writing assignments for students that allow them to mix creativity with the information they've learned.  When people get to do something fun with something they've just learned, it helps the brain record the information that makes it easier to access later.  So... cool.

Students love mythology.  They love it because it touches on so many aspects of what makes life interesting.  Besides, who doesn't love a good story, and the study of mythology is the study of good stories.  Thanks for sharing this demo.  Great job!

And now I'll respond

This was so much fun. I love the way that writing, storytelling, science and exploration are all included in this lesson, as well as time for kids to use technology.

From this lesson, I would say that Tracy recognizes the importance of exploration as a part of creativity. She believes that story-telling and creativity are important parts of learning and culture. Also, this lesson illustrates really well the way that research can influence writing and new ideas. Students are not just citing their research, or looking for quotes that support a pre-formulated thesis. This research is truly exploration, and the myth-making is more a response to that research than a mining of it for the student's own purposes. This reflects how scientific research actually works: we draw on one another's ideas to create new theories and discover new things. It is an ongoing conversation. I love the way this lesson illustrates these principles without lecturing students about it. It is now just a part of their experience.

Mythology in the Stars

I loved how even during the lesson you guys gave me ways I could make this lesson better for my kids. The pbs.org creating constellation website was awesome. Thanks Cathy!

Excellent Job!

Bravo! I liked the use of technology in this. I could tell, that you enjoy teaching this lesson, Tracy. Excellent job. It was fun, creative, and hands on, which totally clicked with me. I liked the emphasis on creative writing in your science class. It seemed so natural to be studying the stars and then going into writing about them. It is evident that you value writing in your classroom.

I loved Tracy's teaching demo. It is hard enough to get middle school kids to write, but this gets them to write without them really knowing that they are doing it. I think it shows that Tracy feels that writing is very important no matter what the subject area. Sometimes people feel that there is no room for writing in subject areas such as science, but such is definitely not the case.

Integrating so many different technologies into one lesson also helps with the various learning styles and helps to differentiate the lesson. It is very difficult for students who are of a different learning style than the one being presented to learn anything, but if the lesson is differentiated, then these students have the opportunity to explore various options to fit their needs.

You did a great job Tracy. I'm sure that your students enjoy this lesson. I loved the PBS "Create Your Own Constellation" site as well. Mythology and science...I love the combination.

Loved the Constellations!

Tracy, I loved the entire lesson. It was a lot of fun. I liked the fact that you presented the lesson with the YouTube video to explain what a myth was. I really was unsure how to go about it until I saw the video. That was a great tool! I also liked the fact that you give the students lot of time to work at the computer to explore Google Sky and Google Earth. They will learn so much from that experience with you becoming a "facilitator" of learning. I can imagine that they will probably also be sharing with their neighbors cool things that they have discovered. Fun! If you didn't want to take the time to visit the PBS site you could always give that information out as "something you might want to try at home or at the library". Just an idea. I also liked the non-threatening way that you allowed each of us to share our myths. There was no pressure and so if it was crap I could have just kept my mouth shut and you wouldn't have embarrassed me in front of the entire class. Thank you! I appreciate that sense of security and I'm sure you're students do as well. (My agency is still in tact.)

Great job Tracy

Tracy, you did an outstanding job. I like the web sites we used and I can see how I could take some parts of this lesson to use for myself. I enjoyed how you allowed us time to visualize a constellation before we actually write about it. I can see you use technology in your classroom and that is very important. You well know science and technology go together. Trying to use writing in science lesson can be challenging and you did a good job of handling that this morning. Do you have a list of websites you use for your class? How often do you have access to computer lab? Great Job.

What a Great Lesson

Tracy did such a wonderful job today! I loved the google sky and looking at the different constellations. I really enjoyed the lesson, and I know students would be so excited about creating their own constellation and writing their own stories. It is also a great way to get them to view the different constellations, almost like they learn them without even realizing that the are learning. You can tell Tracy is a hands on teacher, and she believes in getting her students involved in the learning process. I like the way she showed the you tube clip, and told us a story of her star sign, and then let us research it on our own. This movement was an easy flow and kept us engaged. I know students would want to spend a lot of time on google sky, looking at the telescope, and all of the different star signs. Also really like the site that Kathy found while researching too. Kids would love this! Great job!

Tracy's Teaching Demo

I really enjoyed Tracy's teaching demo today. I was one of those students who was, and still is, fascinated by what is in the universe. I think one of the best parts of the lesson is the integration of technology. I know that my own students get excited when I tell them that we are going to the computer lab or that they get to come up to the Smart Board for a particular assignment. In this lesson, students get to explore and learn on their own while all still meeting a common goal. Science was the main focus, but she also combined writing and mythology into it without making it feel threatening. It's also a way that earlier cultures and civilizations told stories and tried to explain the world around them.

I will admit that at first I struggled with this lesson in the terms of making up our own constellation, because even though I like space and science, I have a hard time "seeing" the constellations. It's just the way my brain works! When it came to writing my own myth, I got a very slow start but once I heard Tracy telling someone else that she had a student make a basketball constellation, I got the idea of what we should be doing.

Tracy, very interesting presentation combining constellations, mythology, and creative writing. You seem to celebrate the differences of your students by allowing them to choose their constellations to investigate. I like that you provided an effective creative balance to the more structured domain of science with the writing assignment. I also like that the assignment and structure of the lesson helped students make connections between discipline--science, mythology, writing.

I really liked Tracy's lesson. I also teach a unit in our science book on constellations. This lesson will allow me to adapt it to the younger students, and I would use the ceiling projector to show google sky to the whole class. They would be in awe to see the constellation images on the big screen. During computer lab time, I can have them explore the constellations on their own. We can even try to make up stories too.

I liked how Tracy introduced the lesson with the video and then gave us the story of Taurus as a way to see how our own stories would evolve. Good Job Tracy!!

Tracy's Lesson

Thanks for a great lesson, Tracy. The night sky is magical and fascinating, and your enthusiasm for the constellations and their accompanying myths was exciting to see throughout the class. You used a number of different genres and gave us a lot of good background to help us with our own myths and get excited about what was coming next.

In the computer lab, you were supportive and kept us on track with gentle reminders about getting started on our own myths, and also allowed us the freedom to find new sites to share that would help us in our own mini-research assignment. The myths our classmates shared were full of meaning; some were funny, others were poignant. At the end of the class, we had the choice of whether or not to share our myths, and I chose not to share my work in progress, "The Myth of the Garter Snake," but that doesn't mean I won't return to it and try finish it up! I think maybe I didn't have my head completely in the constellation game at first :-), but after hearing the others' myths, I get it, and am really looking forward to adding some meat to the bones of my garter snake myth.

This lesson has motivated me, and probably others, to go back to Google Sky and Google Earth and play around some more with the constellations. Or maybe it's time to finally buy that iPad!

Thanks again for a really cool experience, Tracy!

The Myth of Constellations

I loved Tracy's lesson on the myth of constellations. I am sure that this lesson would be a hit with students of almost any age. She made excellent use of the video projector to demonstrate the various constellations, complete with definitions of what a constellation was, and the stories that went along with them. Once we had a good understanding of what a constellation and a myth was, we were invited to the computer lab so that we could discover our own constellation. Using both Google Earth and Google Sky, we could find an existing constellation about our physical address and then "create" our own. This was so cool, and this helps us to literally see "our place in the universe." The constellation Perseus is above my home, so I chose that one, and I reconnected the dots of the stars to create the constellation Aeros Rex, the lone piper, a wood sprite, from southern Ohio, who wandered the hills playing haunting melodies in the key of A minor...

This is an excellent demonstration that would surely fire up the imagination of any learner. We will not quite look at stars the same way now. Students would learn about placement of stars, constellations, and the time in the year when they would be most predominate. We also learned to write, creatively, and then we shared that with the class. The learning was entirely interactive and had a strong technology component, which is appropriate for a science class. This lesson was fun, exciting, and I could see where students would really enjoy making a poster of "their" constellation and printing and sharing the story of the origin of their constellation.

I loved this!

Myths Demo

This was a wonderful lesson! Great job bringing all the elements in for all learners. Tracy you do a great job making this lesson feel very safe. Constellations I have to admit are very intimidating to me quite frankly because the only one I can identify is THE BIG DIPPER. You can tell you have enthusiasm for your students and that it is a hands on science class. This whole lesson would have been a complete bust if you would just have presented them with a picture and then the name. By allowing them to embark into the Solar System via the computer you have brought this lesson alive and made it real for them. With so many of us facing budget constraints and not being allowed to go anywhere we must remember we HAVE BEEN BLESSED with the WORLD AT OUR FINGERTIPS. We need to strive to use these tools and stop making excuses for not being able to bring a lesson to life. Ok Don my soap box! ;0) Bringing the lesson to the close with children finding their own constellation and then writing the Myth was brilliant. You gave them ownership and allowed creativity to flow. I think you did a wonderful job Tracy. Perhaps if I had, had you as my teacher I could find more than the Big Dipper.

For fun

Before I respond to the demo, here is the myth I wrote, which is based on a myth my son, Sawyer, actually told me, and often changes. Here is the picture of the constellation. And here is the story:

This constellation is “Sawyer Becomes Human.”

This depicts the famous scene from the myth of Sawyer the monkey-child where Sawyer removes his tail to join his human mother’s family. We can see him holding the tail aloft , about to bite into it, in this constellation. As we will recall, after the great Monkey Battle of Stroud’s Run, in which both of Sawyer the monkey-child’s warrior grandmothers were killed, Sawyer found himself alone in a strange land with no monkey kin to care for him. Being a resourceful and advanced monkey-child, he found himself a new human family with Lydia the mother, Michael the father, and Fionn the tormentor-brother. During this scene in the myth, Sawyer cuts off his own monkey-tail and eats it in order to transition to his human form. He then shaves his monkey fur. He finds the burial place of Lydia the Mother’s own father (the great Grandfather) and unearths him in order to remove his hair and glue it to his own head. At this point he presents himself to Lydia the Mother and is accepted as part of the human family. He is dubbed by the older brother and arch rival, Fionn, Sawyer the Destroyer.

Myths

Thank you Tracy! In regards to the writing aspect I really liked the idea of modeling what you write first. I liked that you shared the story of your constellation zodiac. Then we went to the computer and students can read more stories of constellations to get a feel for the major components of a myth. Well done. Regarding a general component of the lesson, I liked the layering of elements: History Channel clip, definition to be considered, visiting Google Sky, etc. I liked that the pieces all came together to prepare the students for the next step. From your lesson I can see that you value your student's imagination. You want them to apply knowledge and create something new. There was not a master key answer that looked for regurgitated information. Palmer would be proud that you were focusing on process and thus allow final product to develop through the steps in your lesson.

Astronomy

Wow, great lesson. Like Don said, I love the interconnected nature of this lesson. From here, you can go anywhere. Stay in the sciences, talk about what stars the ancients would see from their fields. How do gods and goddess connect to natural patterns and form ecosystems. Unlimited possibilities. Great lesson. One of the elements, and it is always an element of risk is the use of the technology. The internet might be down, or the file won't open, things happen. But students love using the computer, or doing something on their own phones that they didn't know could be done, something they can take out of the classroom and do later is a wonderful gift. My daughter's phone shows stars depending on where it is pointed, I can hold it up to the sky and see the constellations high lighted where I cannot see them otherwise. Imagine what kind of power this discovery would have on a high school student. Mythology plays such a strong role in learning, it is the intersection of all the core disciplines. An understanding of all four core content areas really is necessary to completely understand constellations. I have used mythology to start all four core subjects. I eventually stopped because the students complained that they didn't know what subject they were in. I may restart and let them suck it up. Mythology is the beginning of a journey that could lead anywhere. THANKS!

p.s. great web sites!

Register for NWPi

Hello SI 2011 members,

I'm Susan Hagerty, tech liaison for the AWP. One of my jobs is to register everyone for the eAnthology located on the National Writing Project website.

In order to do this, I need something from you: 1) I need your first and last name (you may send it to me via email for privacy--my email is sdh1920@frognet.net).  ( bc_shagerty@belpre.k12.oh.us) 2) You need to log on to the NWP site and register for NWPi, the interactive site. This is where the eAnthology can be accessed.

Once you've done these two things, I can get you registered for the anthology. Please check it out--the eAnthology is a great place to share writing and learn more about NWP and writing--it's awesome!

I hope you have enjoyed your first week at the SI. AWP is such a rewarding experience--I know you will love it!

Looking forward to hearing from you,

Susan

Beautiful stories!

Everyone did such a great job with their stories this morning. We did it! Yeah! I was so nervous about sharing what I had written with the group. I second guess myself all of the time. AND to read it OUTLOUD! Eek! It's one thing to share what you have written about someone else with that person but then to also read to everyone else. Yikes! This is really hard for an introvert like me to do. I'm a behind the scenes type of person - let other people have the spotlight and I will just quietly watch from behind them. A strange way for a musician to feel that is usually required at some point to perform infront of an audience. But hey, Chopin hated being in the spotlight too so maybe I'm not so weird. Maybe it's a piano thing?

Letter from a Student

Good morning, friends -
Here's a quick read I think you'll probably like:

"Why I Teach: A Message From a Former Student."

See you soon -
Cathy

Resonating with Qualley

Alright, so I know this isn't a therapy session, but I just have to get some things out...I loved the insights from Qualley in reading from chapter two. There is an example given about a parent telling a child not to touch the stove so the child will not hurt his/herself. Indefinitely the child touches the stove and experiences the pain on his/her own, personally coming to an understanding of the request or "truth" the parent expressed to the child. This randomly reminded me about Don's comment the other day that we don't have to accept being talked down to just because an authoritative administrator has decided that it is his/her way or the high way and making sure that we have to do things as educators "just because he or she said so," without any real educational value. It is important to remember personally that we are the experts and that we have personally come through this by "going through the fire" per se.

So, now my rambling has brought me to where I am going with this! I think sometimes I know I get so caught up in being perfect in my writing that I am afraid to make mistakes, so it's easier to just throw it out the window and forget it. It is so much more important to tell students (and to remind ourselves) that mistakes are Wonderful (within reason) and should be encouraged to promote problem solving strategies in writing and in life.

The Courage to Teach

Today, our group of five discussed The Courage to Teach by Parker J. Palmer. Given today's climate in the heated debate in the political area and endless criticism from the public, at large, we asked ourselves this one question: "How do keep our morale up, be there for a colleague (who may need a boost), and have the will, the desire, the passion to continue to go back to the classroom the next day? The answers we had were twofold: "It's becoming more difficult to do so (educators being honest with one another), but there was also a greater truth: because we love our jobs and we care deeply about our students and their success. Teaching is not a job, it's a career, a profession, and - yes - a "calling." Then, we asked one another, "Do you have alumni come back to your classrooms for visits?", and the answer was (I believe) unanimous. We do. A few of us (myself included) looked at those visits as the motivation to "keep up the good work and hang in there because we must have done something right if the student had thought enough of us to come back. Others thought, "No, once graduated, the alumni belong in their new life with their new responsibilities." For myself, last year has been a very challenging year, and I am so thankful for this program and for Parker's book, because I needed the rejuvenation. The reminder of what brought me into education in the first place. For me, Parker's book is therapeutic, and I look forward to this summer session and what we will continue to discover together. I left our group discussion feeling that "I was not alone."

I really enjoyed Chris's demonstration this morning. Of course, I was the one who let the power go to my head and was ready to bump someone off by the end of the exercise, but I can see how students would learn a lot about how governments need to make hard decisions sometimes that may or may not be popular. This can help with their understanding with these issues.

I can also see how this exercise can be adapted to other subjects. I was thinking that when I used to teach business that it would have worked well when the baking system in the U.S. was in collapse by using the different financial institutions such as Wall Street, the big banks, the Federal Reserve, and various other institutions as the "islands."

What increases students knowledge of the topic?

One of my reactions from Chapter 2 was the comment on p. 31 that stated short answer and extended response questions seem to increase student knowledge of the topic. It was discussed that note taking was not effective, and I can see that argument. However, comprehension questions are not supposed to be effective either. If the question content is on the lower end of Bloom's Taxonomy such as Knowledge or Comprehension, then I agree. If the questions are formulated on the upper end such as judgement, synthesis or analysis, then the answers require a lot of thought, critical thinking, and take more time to formulate an answer than just spewing out information. When I make up any type of question sheet for my students, I always try to include both lower end and upper end questions. SA and ER questions can be these higher level thinking questions so the comment on page 31 is only somewhat true.

Blog Attempt - Take 2

I feel like my brain is on information overload and that I need a computer chip implanted in it to help me process and store the information for retrieval later! This isn't a bad thing. I get like this with every conference I go to, especially the OCTELA conference. :)

I really enjoyed the "book club" at the end of the day. It was a relaxing and open way to bring closure to everything that we discussed and wrote about today. I love talking to other teachers about their own experiences within their careers and buildings. It helps me see a different perspective and to know that sometimes I'm not the only one who might think a certain way. It helps me to connect and evaluate what I do in my classroom and to think about what I might be able to bring in in the future.

Parker Palmer

Our group was just a tad slow starting, but once we started, it was great. Thanks to Don for bring us back to the text on our brief diversion. It was good to hear the issues at other schools-- I guess it's comforting to know I'm not alone! I especially resonated with our discussion on who we are as people impacting who we are in the classroom and the importance of that personal ingegrity as teachers. Students are so quick to recognize frauds.

Qualley

Back in high school, we did Romeo and Juliet. I hated reading it but every class period, the teacher would translate from Shakespeare to Freshman speak. I enjoy watching something that was somewhat unclear transform to something that was easy to understand. This afternoon's session was something like that. I wasn't as lost today as I was then but the emotion is the same. Being able to clear up things that are confusing and reduce anxiety is one of the reasons I decided to become a teacher. Thanks!

Birthday thoughts!

And we are back after losing all our great blog starts! Now I feel rushed, but that's okay. I can practice that "magic energy" that comes from freewriting under a time crunch. It's been a great day and I've enjoyed every minute of it, especially the discussion on Parker Palmer's book. I can't wait to keep reading and discussing it with our group next week, and will need to force myself to allow time for all the other reading assignments, too.

The reason I loved the discussion is that it brought back memories of some of my previous teaching environments and invited me to think about what makes them good and what makes them crummy. I've taught at several of each and have learned a great deal from all of them. During the discussion, I talked about my fabulous experience at Middlebury High School in Vermont, but there is one school that sticks out even more, Sandy Spring Friends School in Sandy Spring, Maryland.

SSFS is a Quaker school and my husband and I lived and taught there for a number of years. Parker Palmer is Quaker, and right now the connections that are exploding in my mind are too numerous to write about at this late hour in the day. The Quaker approach to education mirrors so many of Palmer's points. I'm also thinking about a book someone gave me years ago called "The Tao of Teaching." Have any of you heard of this book or read it? When I read it the first time, it really struck a chord so I need to go back and explore why.

Many might think that a dentist appt, all-day class, and a 100+ page reading assignments might be a depressing way to spend one's birthday, but I will disagree with that. It's been a wonderful birthday so far, and though the reading will be long, I look forward to it (once I've had my birthday dinner with the family at Casa!)

How Can We Have the Courage to Teach

The thing that impacted me the most today is how everything we did today was interwoven and struck a chord with my teacher heart. The overarching theme is that what we strive for is "authentic learning" we want our students to expand and deepen their thoughts and their processes. As we continue to develop as educators we continue to wrestle with concepts that stretch us. It is our job to continue to grow and impart that concept to our students.

The dialectic notebook started out the day with looking back at what struck us in Elbow and commenting on how that impacted us. Chris lead us in an activity that could be changed and modified to be used in any classroom, which I am definitely going to use in Science. Then we talked about Qualley which is not only challenging my stuck in the 10th grade reading ability, but in a cool way striking the chords of my teacher's heart with helping shape what I see about the goal of teaching. Then we look at The Courage to Teach and it affirms what my heart is telling me. " Then teaching can come from the depths of my own truth- and the truth that is within my students has a chance to respond in kind." (Palmer, 34) As I deepen and grow so does my teaching and therefore my heart for my students grow.

Internal revision - Qualley

O.K. I need some clarification. Is internal revision the turning of ideas or "percolating" of ideas in your head before writing them on paper considered internal revision?

Day 3 Complete!It

Wow.....Well after crying last night, feeling so overwhelmed and questioning my purpose in this class I feel much better. The group I am with THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR BEING SO AMAZING!! I am learning so much well Don just gave us four options on what to Blog about where to begin. I am going to go out on a limb and THANK SHERRI for her amazing discussion time. As we did our 5 minute write I feel compelled to share how I was feeling then and now....

It ESSENTIAL that to help form my own mind and that of my students is to allow time for dialogue, reflection and inquiry. I also need to not have THE FEAR to let my students explore and form opinions based on the notion of BOTH/AND. This process can be accomplished with safe 6th grade topics (Thanks Kelly) to expose my children to the notion and I can foster it. This process is going to also allow myself growth and having an open mind to this skill and practice myself to formulate opinions, stances, and beliefs so that I TOO CAN GROW! Qually has forced me to think outside of the box to make sure I am not a FRAUD. I believe that I as a teacher do not produce test-takers, and claim to produce LIFE-LONG LEARNERS and I have not done so. I need to help continue to stimulate and help their minds to grow.

Thanks for a GREAT DAY!!! HAPPY READING EVERYONE!!!!! HA,HA

Qualley thoughts, 1997

One of the passages that I focused on was, "In each situation, during the dialectical process of trying to comprehend or understand an other, one's own beliefs and assumptions are disclosed, and may themselves become the object of interpretation, critique, and even metamorphosis. It is this risk of alteration to one's view of the world that makes this kind of reading dangerous, but also valuable. If the reader is not at risk, his or her current understanding and (self) awareness remain safely immune to further complication or illumination." 61 This section reminds me of a discussion in class this spring. When I asked my students if it was wrong to kill another human being, they said no. And yet as we approached the end to Of Mice and Men where George shoots Lennie, they were not as definite. Students could see the "other." Though many students have strong religious backgrounds, though they loved Lennie, though they said no at the beginning of the text, now they were waffling. Would it be better if Curley got ahold of Lennie? Would Lennie be better off in prison without George?Would loneliness and solitude, an essence of which the book wrestles with, be better for Lennie? Is Lennie a danger to society? Might he accidentally kill another being since his patterns do show escalation? Students were conflicted because they wanted to argue that murder is wrong, that is what they have always known to be true and yet with Lennie that certainty is clouded. That book makes my student reader's take a risk. Their current understandings must take into account this reading, and then they have to go back to their beliefs and wrestle with these new questions. When we left class, the students didn't know, I didn't know, and I thought it was one of our best classes ever. It was a wonderful class because I know they were thinking. And now I know that according to Qualley the were experiencing a moment of suspended closure. It was a moment to be appreciated and celebrated and complicated.

Today's Thoughts

Lena - I have to give you props...I didn't understand where you were going in the beginning but I thought you brought it all together for me. I really like the large group, small group, and individual direction your lesson went. Even though I have not seen the movie I thought it was a great attention grabber for the kids.

I thought the priming the pump activity was really cool because it took the abstract idea of Reflexivity and made it fun and more concrete in my mind.

The Interviews were cool because we got to know more about people in the class and it was intersting to get to know Cindy more and I can't wait to write the story. I think you could use this in class with a student's writing to help them see our writing from another person's point of view.

It's only day 2 and I can already see how I can deepen my students experience in science through writing and I can't wait to see how it grows over the couse of the next few weeks.

Shout Out

Shout Out to Lena, great lesson today. Spent the drive home trying to figure out how much of it I can steal. Thanks!

Interview process

Today's activity really started to show me the reflexivity process and where that process is going for this class. Chris is going to write my story. That even sounds weird saying it. We talked today about reflexivity being an uncomfortable process. During the interview it felt odd talking about myself and the whys of some of my life moments. If anything it is a good practice to remind me that when you share writing or life moments it can be disconcerting. The status quo and comfort may not be the best place to start if you want to write something truly insightful. If it is comfortable, maybe it isn't insightful and critical. This interview and Chris's work are going to make me a little uncomfortable (even though Chris is great), but maybe my final writing will have a better angle or depth because of my discomfort and new perspective.

This is really cool!

I'm enjoying this! I think this would be so cool to do with my students.

turtle hospital

Here is the link to the turtle hospital.

sidewalk chalk art guy

This guy is amazing. I've been showing his work to my classes for years as a treat.

Good morning, everyone! I finally made it!

For those of you who have wondered, "Who is Glider Island and how in the heck did they hack into our OUAWP blog?" - well, that is me: Cyndi Garnes. I forgot that I had an existing blog linked to the first e-mail that I had given to Don. So, here I am: A conflicted individual due to multiple Gmail accounts. Please excuse this old sleep-deprived zombie of a woman. Once I'm fully caffeinated, you'll see a whole new gal! I'm looking forward to this course, and if anyone is really curious about who/what Glider Island is (my alter ego that: discusses, rants, occasionally philosophizes, or most generally rambles aimlessly over nothing for my own amusement about "Life in 'dem backwoods", then "glide" on over to my other blog, Glider Island, and you'll surely see another side of me.

Uh oh!

Or Is Writing Like This?

Stranger than Fiction:



Wonder Boys

Wishing I was at the Beach

Dreaming about being on Sea Turtle Watch! The last three years I have had the opportunity to see the Sea Turtles hatch while on vacation at Oak Island, North Carolina. This was an amazing experience that everyone should make an attempt to see. My next goal is to actually see the Mother Turtle come in to lay her eggs.

Look At This!

Look at what some people can do with pencils! It's a sea creature!

First week of OUAWP

Good morning all! Just checking to see if this blog thing is working for me....... Guess it is. ( :

My first blog

I cannot believe I made it this far.

Good morning, OUAWP Team!

It's good to finally be on board with you all!

First day of summer!

It's all good.

I've arrived!

Morning, All! Start of the second day. This is my first blog 'o the summer...

Snacks, anyone?

Good morning, friends! I just realized I forgot to eat breakfast. At least I have some mints in my purse.

New! New! New!

I am so excited to be in a room with other teachers who want to share what they are doing. Lena and Don love Stephen King's book for creative writing class, and now I want to read it. Tracy talked about using blogs to have students post classroom notes. Sherri talked about playing with the informal writing. Bree made me nervous for my demo because I loved her ideas so much; I hope what I present can be valuable to someone in the class. Thanks to all who have shared so far--I think I'm running out of paper to keep track of all the new ideas.

May the Force Be With You

Woot! First Post. I have yet to wake up this morning, so I'm feeling a little uncreative at the moment. I promise...more creativity will follow!

First Blog

This is my first blog. I believe that this will be a successful attempt.

My first blog!

Wow! I've been wanting to do this for some time now. Unfortunately, once the school year begins, I seem to hit survival mode, and all the new ideas fly out the window--not to mention all the barriers schools put up "in the best interest of the students."

I can't wait to try this with students. Once I saw all the assignments my youngest daughter had to do online with post-secondary and now on-campus, I knew I needed to give my students more exposure to this type technology.

What Is the Purpose of Writing?

Yesterday we talked about letting more genres of writing become "informal" or "low stakes." We discussed how important it is that writing be used for learning, as illustrated so well in Brea's demo. So here is Calvin and Hobbes view ont he subject:

My First Blog

This is my first blog. I've never blogged before. I think I'm going to be needing some caffeine very soon because my eyes are getting heavy.

Summer Vacation Myth! :)

Hello Everyone,

Wow wouldn't you love to show the average member of our society what WE are doing with our Summer!! We would definitely squelch the rumor that WE get our Summer's off! Seriously though I am looking forward to the next four weeks with all of you. I do have to admit when I left here last night I felt totally overwhelmed. I am going to need to develop a plan for success or the STRESS LEVEL IS GOING TO BE INSURMOUNTABLE! I can't wait to see future demos the one Bre did yesterday inspired me! Keep Reading it is already looming out their in the dark hole.

Have a great day!

Mary Ann

My first Blog!

I'm in and I am very proud!

This is it: 2011 Summer Blog

Hey Summer Institute People -- This is the space we'll be using to blog (almost) every afternoon.

It's a good space to reflect, record, and respond your reactions to each day's discussion and activities.