Just got done listening to Will Richardson speaking on Web 2.0 and how it is affecting reading and writing. My beef with the people I’ve been to see so far is that they weren’t saying anything that was totally new to me. There were no new ideas. There was some tweekage, but there were no band-spankin’-new ideas.
Then there was Will.
Again, Will didn’t say anything that was totally new, but he said things that got me thinking. He also seemed to want to have a conversation with us; though, he didn’t really ask us to speak until the end of things.
His point was that there are new ways of reading and writing.
I remember one of the first courses I took at ISU spoke of teaching students and living in a hypertextual society. Only seven years ago and it now looks like such a simplistic statement. The point the original statement was meant to make was that teens, and the tail-end of my generation have grown up surrounded by information input and are equipped with natural filters. While I still believe this to be true, I’m also brought to the realization that the filters can operate in reverse. Many of my students filter out the thoughts that occur naturally in many adult minds and, instead, allow in the barrage of images and information without questioning validity or perspective.
The danger is obvious.
I felt a bit weird asking Will why he wrote a book when one of his comments was that “as soon as textbooks are written, they are out of date.” The same must be true for any work of non-fiction. His answer was one that garnered my respect. He’d considered this, and said there was no real reason other than his book had aggregated the information it contained in a linear context with which the standard reader is already familiar. I also appreciated the fact he had brought up the idea of publishing the book for free on the Internet. I can only imagine the publisher’s response.
One piece I would like to see highlighted in more detail during the conference is the accessibility the Internet affords. Alan touched on it briefly when he came to speak in Sarasota, cautioning us that we weren’t really doing anything new with the resources we have, just differently. It’s a good point. That, I suppose, will have to be the challenge of the year to come.
I’m sure taking my classroom paperless will be a built-in driver. Part of me wonders why I would want to create what promises to be a bit of a headache. Still, this has to be the way education is heading. It’s the responsible way. I need more models though.
Nice to have a session that makes me think. I sadistically wouldn’t mind someone I didn’t agree with. Now that the brain’s moving, I’m in a bit of a mood for an academic argument.
Category: Uncategorized
27 June 06 Prof. Development Meeting
What we garner/infer from a brief examination of the data from the past two years:
- Proud of learning gains
- Concern about not moving 2s to 3s.
- Proud of writing scores
- Concern on increasing expectation to include grammar and spelling.
- Need science scores to focus on learning gains. (district-wide concern)
- Percent meeting high standards in writing – ok.
- Need to focus on reading and writing proficiency.
- Proficient expectations are not as realistic as increasing learning gains.
- Higher expectations on learning gains.
05-06 High-Impact Strategies That Worked:
- Small group instructionWebQuests
- Frequent Assessments
- Cooperative Learning
- AIP Chats
- Instruction Focus Lessons
- Team/Teach Collaboration
- Beginning of Interdisciplinary Units
- Field Studies
- Regular Grade-Level Meetings
- Instructional Focus Calendars
- SRI Progress Meetings
- Differentiated Instruction
- Building Relationships
- Un-official schoolwide recognition of student/class/teacher success
- DAR Testing
- Literacy Center
- Sequencing Objectives (not textbook pages)
- Home/School Relationships
Possible 06-07 Strategies:
- Educational Technology Training
- Blogging
- Podcasts
- Teacher Websites
- Blackboard
- Instanet
- Reading Across the Content Areas
- Vocabulary – Academics/Social
- Structured Re-teaching
- Lesson Plan Protocol
- Student Work Protocol
- Collaboration (in-school and with neighboring schools)
- School-wide rubric for specific skills
- TRAINING IN WHAT A REAL PLC LOOKS LIKE
- Ruby Payne
- Peer Observations (In and Out of school)
- Building Home/School Relationships
- Post-FCAT Instructional Objectives
Top 5 High-Impact Strategies for 06-07:
- Technology
- Reading Across Content Areas
- Structured Reteaching
- PLC Training
- Lesson Plan/Student Work Protocols
What does the opening day training look like?
8:30-9 Breakfast
9-10 Coop Learning/McREL
10-11 Lesson Plan Protocol
11-11:15 Break
11:15-12 Blackboard
12-1 Lunch
1-2:15 Content Area Reading Overview – Vocab
2:15-2:30 Break
2:30-3:15 Lesson Plan Developed by Content Area
3:15-4 Lesson Plan Protocol
Go Home
Semester II Final
8th Grade Language Arts Semester II Final
Expository Essay
Instructions: Using the skills you have learned throughout this semester, plan, write and proofread and expository essay in response to the prompt below.
Prompt:
Writing Situation: Over the course of the past school year, everyone in this school has changed some way or another. Change, it has been said, is the only constant.
Directions for Writing: Think of how you have changed physically, mentally, and socially over this past school year. Consider things like your studies, your relationships, your life. Using these details, write to explain to Mr. Chase what the biggest changes have been and how they will affect your path in life.
To Receive Full Credit You Must:
- Complete a planning sheet for this essay.
- Properly formatted, edited essay.*
*If you have forgotten how to properly format a typed essay, you can find the guidelines saved under Teacherdrop, Chase, Your Class Period in the file names “Essay Formatting Guidelines.”
When you have finished, save your essay as follows. Also, print a copy of your essay to the printer in Rm. 115.
To save, name your essay with your last name and the words “Final Essay.” For example, my essay would be saved as “Chase Final Essay.”
Save the file as Teacherdrop, Chase, Your Class Period, Final Essay
Bayou Letter Addresses
Pick one of the agencies below to write your letter to. Click on the name of the organization so you can find their address.
Environmental Protection Agency
Formal Letters
Welcome! Here are the notes for today. They are due by the end of class period today.
What to Say:
- Be formal and courteous.
- Make your point briefly and clearly.
- Include all the information the person will need.
Correct Form:
- Heading: Contains your address and the date. Pay careful attention to capitalization and punctuation.
- Inside Address: This address is the same address that you will use on the envelope. It appears at the left-hand margin. Include the name and title, if you know it, of the person to whom you are writing. Follow the same punctuation and capitalization rules that you use for the heading. You may use standard abbreviations.
- Greeting: Skip a line or leave space between the inside address and the greeting. Use a colon (:) after the greeting. If you do not know the name of a person to write to, use Dear Sir or Madam:, or use the company’s name after Dear.
- Body: Write your message. Indent each paragraph unless you are using block style.
- Closing: Skip a line or leave space before the closing and line it up with the heading. Use a formal closing such as Yours truly, or Sincerely yours. Capitalize only the first word of the closing.
- Signature: Write your full name under the closing. Then print or type it under the signature.
Run-Ons and Sentence Fragments
Glad you could make it. Find your Guided Practice and Homework assignment below.
Guided Practice: On a separate sheet of paper, rewrite the passage, correcting all fragments and run-ons.
Canoeing can be challenging. When the water flows fast. Many of the rivers in Canada near Hudson Bay are excellent for canoeing, there are also certain rivers. Where the sport would be quite dangerous. For the rapids are long and swift. For example, a small river with rapids. Feeds into the Moose River, people fear them because the water moves so swiftly. Most people avoid them.
Homework: Write five related sentences about a real or imagined vacation. Check carefully to be sure that you have not written any fragments or run-ons.
Discovering the Jim Crow South
In your groups of two:
- Go to the site below.
- Select a “story category” you and your partner will research and present to the class.
- Read three stories from the category you selected.
- Create a 2-3 sentence summary of each story (spelling, punctuation and grammar all count).
- Present your findings to the class.
- Click here to go to http://americanradioworks.publicradio.org/features/remembering/read.html.
4-4-06
After the Test
Well, you’ve finished your testing for the day. It’s time to get to the real work. Click on the link below to begin a gigantic adventure.
Class for 1-26-06
Welcome Back!
- Please use the map at the front of the room to find your way to your new seat.
- Once you are at your seat, please take out your homework from last night and have it ready to be picked up.
- Please write the following in your agenda: Enjoy the evening.
- Please leave your agenda and your homework out.
Today, we will be writing based on the prompt below. I have included some guiding questions to help you add elaborations and details to your writing.
Writing Situation: Language is all around us and shapes the way we feel, understand and communicate.
Directions for Writing: Keeping in mind the effects of language, write to explain your feelings on cursing. Describe it, why people do it and your feelings on whether or not they should.
Guiding Questions:
- Why do people curse?
- What constitutes cursing?
- What role do entertainment and the media play in whether or not someone curses?
- Is there a certain age where it is appropriate?
- How do you think society views cursing now vs. in the past?
- How might society’s views on cursing change in the future?
To Get Out
•Save your file with your last name in the file named 1-26-06 in your class’ folder.
•Log off of your computer.
•Clean up your area.
–Floor
–Table
•Wait for Mr. Chase to dismiss you.