Scriptwriting: A New Literacy. Washington Post. A new debate about whether computers can really edit essay tests is really about how writing can best be graded. Here to delve into that issue is Doug Hesse, professor and executive director of writing at The University of Denver. He is co-author (with Lynn Troyka) of “The Simon and Schuster Handbook for Writers” and of “Creating Nonfiction” (with Becky Bradway). He is also a past chair of the Conference on College Composition and Communication and a past president of the Council of Writing Program Administrators. By Doug Hesse Here’s a modest multiple-choice quiz: 1. A. 2. A. 3. A. I’ll explain the “right” answers below, though I hope you see what makes the quiz tricky, as it enacts complexities that writing teachers face daily.
But what goes into professional writing teachers’ responses to student writing? Any piece of writing is good or bad within at least five dimensions: These dimensions intersect, and teachers have to solve a cat’s cradle of their interactions to discern quality. Nazi Concentration Camps (1945) WARNING : Very graphic. Brochure Common Core State Standards. The Official Site of Coach John Wooden | Sponsored by McDonalds | Powered by UnCommon Thinking. Should We Teach the Five-Paragraph Essay? - Teacher in a Strange Land. Headline: As Children's Freedom Has Declined, So Has Their Creativity. Biggest decline? Creative elaboration--expanding on ideas in novel and creative ways. Have we done this to children, with "eminently gradable" assignments?
Josh Boldt, who teaches writing at the University of Georgia in Athens, shares his thoughts: College writing teachers hate the five-paragraph essay. According to Writing Analytically, the writing guide used by my first year composition department, a faculty survey conducted prior to publication indicated a consensus among college writing professors that "students are coming [to college] prepared to do five-paragraph themes and arguments but [are] radically unprepared in thinking analytically.
" The writing guide takes a sharp stance against the five-paragraph essay, claiming that its "rigid, arbitrary, and mechanical organizational scheme values structure over just about everything else, especially in-depth thinking" (7). The five-paragraph essay isn't all bad. Encourage Authentic Writing With #WhatIWrite and #NaNoWriMo. Jennifer AnsbachFinished novels written by students in Jennifer Ansbach’s class during National Novel Writing Month. Updated | Oct. 18, 2012 #WhatIWrite If you’ve been reading this blog for a while now, you may remember that last year at this time we were enthusiastic participants in a collaborative push to get as many people as possible to take to Twitter on Oct. 20, the annual National Day on Writing, and post messages with the hashtag #WhyIWrite.
Thousands did, and it was a thrilling and memorable day for us, as students, teachers, novelists, poets, historians, journalists, comedians and ordinary citizens of all kinds posted thoughts to a vigorous stream. So, of course, we’re doing it again, except this time our wise collaborator, The National Writing Project, suggested that the hashtag be #WhatIWrite, and that, because Oct. 20 is a Saturday, the day to post to Twitter be Friday, Oct. 19. Post what, you ask? Well, could be… Update: Oct. 12: Some new collaborators have joined in: #NaNoWriMo. Stories from Treblinka: Last two living survivors speak of horrors and haunting memories from Nazi death camp. By Matt Roper Published: 16:08 GMT, 11 August 2012 | Updated: 17:48 GMT, 11 April 2013 Never forget: Samuel Willenberg is haunted by his memories of Treblinka The last living survivors of Nazi death camp Treblinka have spoken about the excruciating torment they suffered during World War II.
Kalman Tagiman and Samuel Willenberg were both 19 years old when they arrived at the camp, where they were forced to assist in the mass murder of men, women and children. For Samuel, now 89, it is one particular memory which haunts him to this day, 70 years later. Samuel was sifting through the belongings of another trainload of doomed innocents, this time coming from his home town, when he made a discovery so horrific he fell to the floor. A young girl’s coat, and a pleated blue skirt, lying on top of a pile of clothes, just before the entrance to the gas chambers.
It is estimated that between 800.000 and 1.2million prisoners were taken to Treblinka. 'One morning a transport arrived. 30 Ideas for Teaching Writing. Summary: Few sources available today offer writing teachers such succinct, practice-based help—which is one reason why 30 Ideas for Teaching Writing was the winner of the Association of Education Publishers 2005 Distinguished Achievement Award for Instructional Materials.
The National Writing Project's 30 Ideas for Teaching Writing offers successful strategies contributed by experienced Writing Project teachers. Since NWP does not promote a single approach to teaching writing, readers will benefit from a variety of eclectic, classroom-tested techniques. These ideas originated as full-length articles in NWP publications (a link to the full article accompanies each idea below). Table of Contents: 30 Ideas for Teaching Writing 1. Use the shared events of students' lives to inspire writing. When a child comes to school with a fresh haircut or a tattered book bag, these events can inspire a poem.
ROTKOW, DEBBIE. 2003. Back to top 2. MURAR, KAREN, and ELAINE WARE. 1998. 3. WAFF, DIANE. 1995. 4. Teaching Grammar. Choosing a Topic for our Ted.com Speeches. I’m currently prepping my classes for another research unit, this one a blend of Memoir, Advocacy, and Speech Writing. After all, never in real life are genres categorized. They blend together; and the Common Core assessments to come recognize the desegregation of writing genres and the need for performance based assessments. I’m basing this blended unit on TED.com, and the plan is to host a middle school TED-esque conference, combining it with a book drive for our media center. So, in a series of posts, I am going to describe some key steps I’m using with my 8th graders in order to scaffold our way towards our TED conference. On this site, you can learn about how students chose topics and you can download the worksheet that I used to guide them towards their choice.
We started by watching some key videos throughout the first quarter on “TedTuesday,” and I’ve been asking simple questions like: “What’s the theme?” We needed a problem statement. 1. 2. 3. 4. Tweet This Post. Mentor Texts in the Digital Writing Workshop: Writer as Decision-Maker. "This is no recipe book: I have tried not to be formulaic. Rather, I want to suggest the richness of the options, the myriad of possibilities open to the writer at any given moment. " Ralph Fletcher, What a Writer Needs, 1995, p. 2 When I think about how the possibilities for writing has expanded for our students, these are the two video clips I keep going back to.
I discovered this "Saved by the Bell" Public Service Announcement years ago and have watched it numerous times. Don't do drugs - saved by the bell from Matthew Stockmeyer on Vimeo. It seems somewhat obvious that this was a clip scripted and produced by adults--adults who worked at a television studio. Compare that to this Public Service Announcement done a few years ago by Noah Gray, a high school student: I found this clip almost 3 years ago and I have watched it over and over again.
In my thinking about mentor texts, we have to keep in mind that writing has to be real and it has to have a real audience. Voices from the Middle - Individual Issues. Nightmares on canvas: Children's disturbing doodles of monsters are brought to life by comic artist. By Jessica Satherley Updated: 10:46 GMT, 12 December 2011 At first glance these children’s sketches might not frighten or scare, but when a former comic illustrator brought them to life with his artistic licence, they suddenly transformed into creatures of nightmares.
Artist Dave DeVries, who once painted monsters for Universal Studios, was inspired to take youngsters’ drawings and transform them in realistic illustrations. The US-based 45-year-old was inspired by his niece’s doodles and soon started bringing them to life onto canvas. Brought to life: The Monster Engine is an eight year art project by US comic illustrator Dave DeVries, which has grown into an internet phenomenon DeVries’ niece Jessica would continuously leave sketches in his workbook, which kick-started the idea behind the artist’s venture. He then commenced his project in 2005, titled the Monster Engine, which has now turned into a 48-page book and an internet sensation. Mr Potato Head? The MY HERO Project.
Robot hysteria in the 1930s (slide show) In the autumn of 1932, a British inventor named Harry May invited some friends over to see a demonstration of his latest invention, a robot called Alpha that could fire a gun at a target. Operated by wireless control, the robot sat lifeless in a chair on one side of the room. May placed a firearm in the robot’s hand and made his way to the other side of the room to set up a target. With the inventor’s back turned, the two-ton Alpha slowly rose to his feet and pointed the gun with his metallic arm.
The men shouted warnings while the women screamed in terror. At the last possible moment, the inventor put his hand in front of his face to defend himself. None of this, of course, actually happened. But why were people so willing to believe that a robot had blinked alive and decided to turn on its master? The Great Depression, like today, was quite obviously a dark time for the American worker. And Frankenstein was the best way to illustrate this fear. And then there were the technocrats. Write or Die by Dr Wicked | Putting the 'Prod' in Productivity. New Write or Die iOS App! Now you can Write or Die wherever you are! Works for both iPad and iPhone. Android version coming soon. New online Leaderboard for Write or Die! Over 1.5 million words written so far! VLC Control, custom playlist that works You can now use VLC in Stimulus Mode! 2.1.6 Updates Replaced countdown with more robust countdown clock.Countdown clock now animated, I will add an option to revert to a basic countdown clockMac version now has menu bar for Copying, Pasting and navigating between app windows.Added progress bar indicator for milestones in reward mode To update, revisit the original download link you received in your email and get the latest version. 2.1.3 Fixes Fixed a pernicious issue with time adjustment and wpm locking.Window positioning fixes. 2.1.2 Updates 2.1.1 Fixes Fixed autosave issuesFixed some leaderboard mathCustom background color now works, oops.Buy NowClick the question mark in the bottom right to let me know if you have any issues.
Write or Die 2 To-Do.