Here’s all the update that’s fit to print:
Writing Assessment Task
Today was the due date for the In-Class Writing Sample Assessment Task. Please see previous posts for more details.
Unit Planning Conference Schedule
LLED class on Tuesday, 9 February 2010 is cancelled and, in its place, are 15-minute unit plan conferences on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday of this week. Here’s a copy of the schedule. If you have yet to set up a time, please see or email me to do so:
LLED 320 Unit Plan Conference Schedule
For this conference, please have a general idea of the Desired Results piece – PLOs, Understandings, Essential Questions, Knowledge and Skills – for your unit. Remember, this is an integrated unit – a unit that will incorporate some aspect of Language Arts into at least one of its lessons – and can focus on a topic in ANY subject. Furthermore, if you wish, you can co-plan this unit with another TC who’s interested in planning a unit on the same topic as you.
The Writing Process… Continued
We forged ahead with our work on writing process today.
Guiding Principles for Writing in the Classroom
To put our work with writing in context, I shared a few key principles for writing instruction as found in the Student Diversity text. Here’s the PDF:
Guiding Principles for Writing
Haiku Revision Using Author’s Club
Before we launch in to today’s writing revision activities, here’s a quick refresher on haiku and how to write it courtesy of Mr. U. Tube:
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnuBaaw_EZk[/youtube]
At a workshop I took from Diana Cruchley a few years back – Braveheart Writing: 10 secrets of writing success – I picked up a compelling approach to revising written work called Authors’ Club. I thought this format would work well to examine the haiku drafts each class member had brought to this class. Here’s what we did:
- Reviewed the criteria for effective haiku
- Each person chose their own favourite haiku
- I created groups of 4 (using the RROT cards) and each group had to choose the “best of the best”, the single most powerful haiku in their group.
- I delivered a mini-lesson on line breaks and punctuation in haiku.
- Groups switched their best haiku with another group’s best haiku
- Each group read over the haiku they received from another group and:
- Highlighted at least 2 things they liked in the poem
- Made a specifi number of suggested rewrites
- The authors join the groups and listen to the feedback. NOTE: The authors do not need to use the suggestions in their re-write.
- All authors re-write as though they had received feedback.
I asked for each author to improve 1 or 2 of their haikus and send a final copy to me via email by Thursday, 11 Feb 2010. We can talk in an future class about publishing options.
Here’s the information on the Authors’ Club process, in addition to the haiku criteria we developed and a few other bits and pieces:
Cruchley’s Authors’ Club
Here’s the Haiku Line Breaks and Punctuation PPT I created: Haiku Line Breaks and Punctuation PPT
Designing Integrated Units
After the break, we rearranged the classroom into a circle to facilitate our next activity, Medieval Drama. Before then, however, I touched on the WHERETO acronym as it relates to your unit planning. Here is an image that outlines each element:
Here’s a PPT that gives a little more detail. It’s from the site Slideshare.net, an excellent source of presentations and slideshows on a wide variety of topics. This slideshow cannot be downloaded and posted so you need to go to the site to view it. The WHERETO section I showed in class starts on slide 188.
Here’s a resource package with detailed information on what each letter of WHERETO might look like in an unit plan:
WHERETO Resource Package
Medieval Drama
There are a myriad of ways to integrate LA into a unit plan. Most commonly, planners think of reading / viewing and writing / representing activities. Please also consider working speaking and listening into your unit plans, as strategies that touch on these domains can provide a fun and engaging break from the ordinary. I wanted to model that today by playing with some drama activities that would fit wonderfully in an introduction to the Middle Ages.
You remember the Middle Ages, don’t you. A time of giant rabbits, flying cows, and knightly flatulence:
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxoLXV3qivk[/youtube]
The drama activities we engaged in are outlined in this handout:
Medieval Drama in the Classroom
The required supplies are:
- Picture books on the Middle Ages (one for each group of 3-4 students)
- A deck of playing cards
These activities could be adapted to fit many other subjects across the curriculum. They do a wonderful job of meeting the following goals:
- providing a low-risk physical warm up
- introducing a content area
- promoting social interaction
- developing listening and speaking skills
- honing skills of description
- promoting imaginative play
- accessing prior knowledge
- introducing role playing and improvisation
One activity we didn’t get a chance to do on account of a shortage of time was Power Writing related to Extreme Environments, a topic of study in Grade 6 Science. I had planned to have you write a piece on Climbing to the Summit of Mt. Everest using the guidelines put forth by Julie Ferguson in her Writing With Power!! book. This handout outlines the process I was more or less going to follow:
Power Writing Across the Curriculum
You could, of course, use this process with all sorts of content.
OH! I almost forgot that I had a closure piece… an exit slip. Thanks for the feedback.
That’s all, folks. Enjoy your weekend.
– Lawrence
