Writing Points presents: teaching
tip
Hype practicality with National Writing
Day tie-in
The National Council of Teachers of English is trying to establish
October 20, 2009 as a National
Day on Writing to make people aware of the importance of
writing in everyday life in the 21st century. This is a great
opportunity for teachers to connect classroom with real life.
NCTE invites people from all walks of life to submit samples of
the kind of writing they do every day for inclusion in a
digital National Gallery of Writing.
You could tie classroom activities to the event by
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Preparing your own submission to the National Writing
Gallery.
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Having students prepare submissions.
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Organizing an exhibit of work by your school, homeschool
co-op, or class.
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Having students interview people in various jobs
about the writing they have to do (and perhaps get some samples)
and write up their findings.
Visit the NCTE
site to find resources you can use for the event and
for related resources such as tips parents can use to help
children to write. You don't have to be a NCTE member.
I know October seems a long way off, but this project offers all
kinds of potential if you prepare for it well in advance. Don't
forget to plan to grab some publicity for your school or program
at the same time.
You and your students can get help with information searches from
NoodleTools.
The site provides free resources to help writers........
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Define a topic
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Find quality results
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Research in a specific discipline
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Limit results by timeliness
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Limit searches to facts, opinions, or specific types of media
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Create APA or MLA citations and bibliographies
While you're there, check out the teaching resources about 21st
century literacies and ethical researching accessible from the
site's homepage.
The MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (7th edition)
came out in March. If your students are heading to college in the
next couple years, getting them used to the 7th edition MLA is a
good idea.
The new edition is the first that isn't print-oriented: web sources
are given a much higher priority than in the 6th edition. Also,
handbook buyers get access to a restricted access website that give
much more information than is in the print handbook.
You can order the handbook from the Modern
Language Association's website for $22 or shop around for a
lower price. Just be sure you get the 7th edition, ISBN: 9781603290241.
All earlier editions of a stylebook become obsolete when a new one
comes out.
Incidentally, I will teach a student
course in writing humanities papers next fall using the new MLA.
I recommend you register your interest soon. Application deadline
is June 1. Students should participate in an
orientation in July to be sure they understand what they are getting
into before it's time to pay the fee.
Writing Points presents a teaching
resource
National study finds Linda was right
OK, slight exagggeration. A national study found teachers at the
elementary and high school levels say they feel unprepared to
teach writing, despite their college courses, in-service training,
and their own study. If you've read my "about"
page, you knew I began my web site specifically because I'd
found that out without doing a nationwide study.
The study also found there is actually very little writing going
on in schools.
More detail and view a video interview with Steven Graham of Vanderbilt
University, one of the researchers on the project, is on my website.
My page
also has an entire "I told you so" list of Graham's recommendations
with cross references to other pages on my site.
Writing Points presents a teaching
tip
Paragraph development alternatives
Although I firmly believe in starting beginning writers out writing
essays with body paragraphs that can be organized by rote formula,
I don't want students to think that the only way to write nonfiction
is to follow formulas.
In my experience, the easiest way to move students to more creative
writing is to embed in writing prompts a requirement that a body
paragraph of an essay use a different type of organization. I discuss
alternatives to the "topic sentence and three pieces of evidence"
type of organization in a series of pages:
Incidentally, analogy use is such an important part of teaching
writing that I discuss authentic
analogy practice on the best teaching practices thread.
If you've been thinking about signing your youngster up for one
of my online classes, time is running out. Note: I've added a calendar
to the web site showing class dates, other events. Look under Courses
and events in the left hand column menu.
Source paper course deadline: June 1
June 1 is the last day to apply for the half-year courses in writing
a technical source paper (APA paper format)and humanities
source paper (MLA paper format). I'm planning to offer both
of those again in winter-spring 2010, so if the fall courses don't
fit your schedule or wallet, you'll have another chance at the courses.
Prep Col Comp course deadline is June 8
June 8 is the late day to apply for the Preparatory College
Composition course. Click for pdf of course details.
July 2 deadline for next Zucchini in Zero Gravity
session
The next Zucchini
in Zero Gravity course is July 6-16. I'll decide by
July 2 whether there's enough enrollment to run the class, so
if you want a youngster in that class, please sign up early. I'll
set more class sessions for late summer into fall shortly.
The next issue of Writing Points will be emailed
on June 15, 2009, no providence preventing.
Until then, keep your pencil sharp.
Linda
