In September, Michele Davis, a language arts teacher at Arapahoe
High School in Centennial, Colo., asked parents of her ninth
graders why writing effectively was important to them in their work.
She posted her question on her blog. Parents wrote their responses,
posted via their kids' blog accounts.
The result is a long list of answers to the question, "Why
do I have to learn this stuff?"
You can see Michele's post and parents' responses by clicking
here.
Michele's great idea could be used by other classroom teachers
or homeschool groups. It could be adapted for use with topics other
than writing, too.
Writing Points presents: free
resources
Twitter alternative designed for teachers
Educational technologists love Twitter,
but many school administrators don't. Edmodo
provides a Twitter-like platform that's safer, more secure, and
more useful for teachers and students. That's because “Edmodo
is a private communication platform built for teachers and students.”
Like Twitter, Edmodo allows only microblogging (super-short posts),
but unlike Twitter, Edmodo provides automatic threading so you can
see who is responding to whom.
Edmodo also provides other features including ability to send out
assignments to entire groups of students, with attachments, and
have students respond to the message and/or upload a file with their
completed assignment.
You can't beat the price either. Edmodo is free.
I once had a student who literally broke into a sweat and shook
at the sight of a blank piece of paper. I've never had another student
with such an extreme reaction to a blank page, but I've had plenty
whose clenched jaws and pained expressions testified to their inner
state.
You can reduce the stress of writing for struggling students by
-
Requiring frequent informal writing.
-
Reducing the size of the writing surface.
Informal writing lets students get used to the physical act of
writing down their thoughts. Also since informal writing is graded
solely on having done it, students have an incentive to conquer
their aversion to writing.
You can have students do writing tasks on 3x5 cards or
quarter-page scratch pads or use a microblogging site like
Twitter
or Edmoto
as the digital equivalent. The small writing surface is adequate
for many writing tasks, such as creating a working thesis or summarizing
the main point of assigned reading.
Writing Points presents: subscribers-only
benefit
Downloadable narrative writing prompts
A downloadable version of the guy-friendly narrative writing prompts
is available now in the Writing
Points Teachers Resources. The material includes a link to
a text-version of just the prompts so if you want to use one or
more, you don't have to retype.
To access the download section, you will need the password in the
e-mail you received telling you the December Writing Points
was ready.
Note: If you use Internet Explorer as your browser, you may have
difficulty getting the password protected page to open. Microsoft
is trying to protect you from hackers, since IE is a hacker-magnet.
The easy solution is to use a different browser. I use Firefox,
which is open-source and free to download, unless IE is absolutely
the only option. Thanks to Monica S. for reminding me of the IE
problems.
The newest addition to You-Can-Teach-Writing are forums where you
and other writing teachers can ask questions, share success,
and wail about your teaching disasters. Look under free services
in the left-hand menu on any site page for a link to the forum directory
page.
For starters, I have set up six teacher forums:
You can suggest
other forums. These are just for starters.
In addition, I've established a forum
where students can get help with their writing. My goal is
not only to answer the questions students usually e-mail to me,
but to give teachers a place to see what questions students have
about writing.
Reading and posting to the forums requires no membership, no
registration, no sign-in.
Forums are part of the Web 2.0 movements. Web 2.0 is the term for
visitor-provided web page content like forums, Wikis, and
visitor comments on blogs. Web 2.0 is a hot topic in education as
well as in business. Many educators think teachers who are not using
2.0 tools in their classrooms are dinosaurs.
Unfortunately Web 2.0 features are pricey. Even my website provider,
SBI!, was charging an extra $99 a year for Web 2.0, which is why
I didn't jump on earlier.
However, since the November Writing Points, SBI!
added Web 2.0 functionality to its package without raising costs
a penny. The forums here at You-Can-Teach-Writing are due to SBI's
commitment to over-delivering for site owners like me.
I know some of my readers have been checking out SBI! If you hesitated
because you didn't have the money up front, SBI! now lets you choose
the lump
sum payment or monthly
payments of $29.99. The monthly option costs more in the long
run, but you can start building your site and your business right
away. Something to think about.
The next issue of Writing Points should be released
January 15, no providence preventing.
Until then, visit the forums and keep your pencil sharp.
Linda Aragoni
