National Writing Project- Day 12

Sorry about all of these posts, but I’m trying to get caught up!!! This is the last one on the NWP until this upcoming week. Notice I didn’t say the last POST! I still need to do one for the IMWAYR meme AND Teachers Write which starts tomorrow. I’m SO sorry! I’ve been so behind! 🙂

For the daily journal Rachel made a CUTE little graphic novel using the Photo Comic App.

Rachel also had her teacher demonstration which was an Earth Science lesson titled “The Changing Earth-Layers, Plates, and Quakes”. She introduced it with a power point. She gave us starbursts (yes, adding food to ANY lesson will automatically increase the effectiveness of it!! :)). We stacked them on top of each other and used our hands (and the heat from our hands) to compress them just like the earth’s core is always shifting and changing. Of course, then we got to eat them. BONUS! 🙂

We watched a video on Kids Geo on plate movement. There’s a Seismo App that gives you information on earthquakes.

We worked in groups to make a foldable on the layers of the earth.

We had some reading, research, and writing time in the afternoon. I can’t wait to write a post about all of the AWESOME PD books I have been reading. Well, I can wait to write that post but you get my drift. 🙂

We met with our response groups to talk about our 4th piece of writing-one of the professional ones. I wrote about the Power of Twitter and our Notice and Note book chat!! 🙂

The Power of Twitter

Our round table discussion was on the effects of technology on writing. We had LOTS to discuss so here are the short hand notes I took!!

A pen IS technology.

Kids text all the time so when they write they don’t even know they have made mistakes. It looks correct to them. Abbreviations and punctuation and spelling.

Technology changes WHO can be a writer. Self-publishing.

Students need to understand the importance of writing for different audiences!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We speak differently, too, depending on who we are around. Husband’s favorite saying – I am not one of your students!

Writing differently even within one type of genre like blogging. Personal blogging vs. professional blogging. Have students write in many different modes.

Email addresses hot booty Hahahahahaha Rodney walked in!!

Formal/informal texts, emails, job applications

Technology has changed the way we interact or don’t with each other. Social skills. People eat together and don’t talk to each other.

Students are at least writing because of texting and blogging.

We as teachers MUST talk about audience even though this is a difficult aspect to teach. Have discussions about it. But if we ask them to pretend they are writing to…… But it never leaves the classroom what’s the point? They still see it as being false.

Letters of recommendation, students need to be careful of who they ask and how they acted/performed while being your student.

Social media- we need to teach kids about digital footprint and using it professionally with networking. Be careful of what you post out there. It stays forever. It follows you. Never to leave you.

The right kind of practice makes perfect, otherwise practice just makes permanent.

Study of musicians- best musicians do deliberate practice and then immediately work on one thing they need to improve. Focusing in be be thing. Same with basketball, etc. differentiated practice is what we need to do.

Give overview of things to work on, then students work on what they need to.

Form expert groups and have them teach a mini lesson on the concept/skill.

So there you have it. Sorry for the information overload, but just want EVERYONE else to feel what I’m feeling. Just kidding. Not really. 😉