One of my students, who graduated this year, asked me to come up with a summer reading list for her. Keep in mind that this list is for a student whom I know well, (and I know her family well also), and who is heading off to college next year. This list probably wouldn’t work for every student. There’s some pretty edgy titles here, but I thought I would share, in case you’re looking for that sort of list. Click on the link to travel to the SMORE where I’m housing this list.
learn
(Vine + Vimeo) X (Macbeth + Make-believe) X (Costumes + Cadence) = Engaging Excercise
Shakespeare’s work is a tricky thing to teach to high school students. The main barrier is the difficult language. If you can get them past that, or used to that, or to understand that, or to accept that–you’ve made quite an accomplishment.
When I was in high school, Shakespeare really wasn’t even on my radar (for the aforementioned reasons paired with my inherently distracted nature). In college, I TRIED to understand Shakespeare and had moments of clarity, but still … not much sank in for me. In my younger years of teaching *I* didn’t even *LIKE* Shakespeare’s work, which made it really hard to teach effectively. After nearly a decade and a half of teaching Shakespeare’s plays (Caesar, Romeo and Juliet, Othello, Hamlet, and Macbeth) I have grown to LOVE his work — FOR the LANGUAGE, no less (!!!), for the genius characterization, for the uncanny (and timeless) portrayal of human nature and universal themes, and for its amazing relevance TODAY. Right here. Right now.
But the language …
*whiny voice*
… it’s sooooooo harrrrrd.
We make baby steps. If you can get the kids to playyyy with the language, they begin to build confidence in it. If you can show them that it–STILL, to this very day, after 14 years of teaching, two college degrees and the purchase of your very own bust of Shakespeare, YOU have trouble with it sometimes, YOU have to look up the meaning of a word or stare blankly into the abyss sometimes, or ponder the word order of a sentence sometimes–they feel less fear towards it. If you give them access to silly wigs and costumes and beg them to use zany accents (relevant OR irrelevant OR reverent OR irreverent to the original play itself) they can have fun (even just a little … they MIGHT even admit to said fun–GASP!) with the universality of it all.
Very recently, I was turned on to an app called Vine, which is a simple iPhone video capturing service (which links and embeds nicely with Twitter) that also is compatible with the iPad. It features a “hold and shoot” style video camera that maxes out at seven seconds, which (obviously) limits what you can fit into a clip. When you are trying to build students’ confidence in Shakespeare, this is a welcome limitation. If you ask a student who is hesitant to read Shakespeare to make a five-minute video portraying an scene, that might overwhelm him or her. Methinks pretty much anyone can handle 7 seconds of Shakespeare. The “hold and shoot” feature also allows for easy “special effects”. It’s hard to explain, but you will see what I mean when I show you a handful of example videos.
The assignment was as follows.
MACBETH VINE
1. Pick your favorite character from Macbeth thus far. (We had read through Act III at the time of the assignment.)
2. Pick your favorite line that character has delivered thus far.
3. Think of how that character would deliver that line.
4. Try to “become” that character. (Costumes were available in the classroom. I am the drama teacher, after all.)
5. Using Vine, have a classmate capture you delivering that line.
6. Tweet me your vine, including my Twitter handle (@morgetron), the class hashtag (#phsWORlit), the character you chose, and let everyone know it’s from Macbeth. If you don’t tweet, send me the video via email and I will tweet it on your behalf. If you don’t want your video posted on the web, say so in your email. (I HAVE to respect my students’ desires to stay off the web and some parents are not crazy about their kids online either, which is understandable.)
Now those were the instructions I gave, but, as most plans do, these plans changed, particularly when we got to numbers 5 and 6. Number 5 became an issue for students who either didn’t want to or couldn’t download another app on their machine for whatever reason or students. Vine crashed on 2 of the 23 students involved during the process. This issue was easily solved by reverting to the built-in iPad camera and then students just emailed me their videos. The only challenge with that was that the students had to make sure that they remained under 7 seconds.
Once students realized that in order to tweet me their vine link, their video would be showing up in their own Twitter feeds, some were reluctant to tweet. This is where we hit the first snag with number 6. One student even said, “If I send this to you, YOU can post it, but I don’t want to post it to my followers.” In response, I offered the email option to ALL students, even Vine users. (If you allow Vine access to your photos, it will store all of your Vine videos in your iPad’s camera roll.) A secondary snag for number 6 came into play when I realized I could no longer embed the students’ videos into a tweet as a vine, so I had to upload the emailed vines to another video sharing service. (It would be nice if Vine added an email option.) I chose Vimeo.
Once the videos processed, I tweeted the links to them, tagging each tweet with our classroom hashtag. (This makes it easier when I send information to parents who want to see what’s going on in class.) The problem with this, I found out after I had posted a handful of tweets with Vimeo links is that even though they appear to embed within the tweet, unless you are a paid Vimeo Plus member, they do not embed. This is annoying because, as I previously mentioned, they APPEARED to embed and they showed up on my profile with a thumbnail view of each video, but when one clicks on the tweet itself, a message appears stating, “Sorry. The creator of this video has not given you permission to embed it on this domain. This is a Vimeo Plus feature.” If I had known this prior to going through the process of uploading a slew of videos to Vimeo, I would’ve gone the Youtube route. LESSON LEARNED. This was only a minor annoyance though. People who find themselves staring at my tweets promoting my students’ work can still click on the link itself and will be redirected to the Vimeo site where they can watch the video hassle-free. No bigs.
Since Vine was a new app to most of the students, some of our time was spent exploring Vine’s offerings, which includes looking through the videos housed in Vine’s collection. (It is a video sharing service, so there are countless videos available for perusal. Some redirecting was necessary. The “hold and shoot” feature is different than the usual “click and record” function of the iPad camera, so this took some getting used to as well. To some, this might feel like time wasted, but I view it as “frontloading”. What I mean by that is, it’s time spent wearing the newness off the app in addition to learning how to use it. In the long run, it’ll actually save us time because I won’t have to deal with (as much) covert video-watching, or (as much) explanation of the app’s features.
The resulting videos were overall fun and demonstrated a playful attitude towards Shakespeare’s difficult language. What follows are a couple of examples.
This one is posted on Vine, while the other ones are posted on Vimeo.
Kyle as Multiple Witches from Jodie Morgenson on Vimeo.
Michelle as a Weird Sister from Macbeth from Jodie Morgenson on Vimeo.
Payton as Macduff AND Lady Macbeth from Jodie Morgenson on Vimeo.
Emily as Lady Macbeth from Jodie Morgenson on Vimeo.
iCrave balance
For as much as I believe in technology integration, changing with the times, and embracing new ideas, I still love doing things the old-fashioned way.
This post was mainly inspired by this:
This is the library of a college near my home. I took some students to a workshop there last week and one of the students took us on a tour of the campus. It was a lovely workshop for the most part, and the campus was delightful overall, but walking past a library without a (traditional) book in sight (I’m certain there were e-readers present) stirred a sadness in me.
One of my students even said, “This is a total turnoff. I will not consider this college nor any college that has a library with no books.” Of the students who gave me (unsolicited) feedback, none of them were happy about the bookless library. Three of them said it made them sad. One seemed more angry than anything … maybe even outraged.
I am guilty of getting overly wrapped up in technology. I have become concerned that I’m more interested in documenting my life and my children’s lives that I’m not living it as fully as I could be if I (more frequently) were to set the iPad down or unplug from my (slow and cumbersome at-home) wifi connection and go outside. It’s not that I never set foot outside or spend time with my children. I just have realized how much of my time is involved in social media, reading the latest articles, networking with peers outside of my school, and … yes … I must admit … dinking a round on games and mindless surfing. (Do people still “surf the web”? I just realized I haven’t used that phrase for ages. Hmmm.) But there are still things that I like to kick old style. Reading a book is one of them.
Other things I still like to do the old-fashioned way:
- write letters (but I love personal emails too)
- visit places in person (though if I never make it to Paris, some of the cyber tours I’ve taken are pretty slick)
- look at pictures (I realized this when I was going through the scads of photos I have of my youngest daughter as I was putting together a slideshow for her graduation party, which we are in the throws of planning as I type. *sighhhh*)
- hang out with friends (though hanging out with distant friends/loved ones via Skype or Google Hangout is a decent substitute)
It has been assumed by some that because I am a tweetaholic, or because I work in a 1:1 iPad school, or because I sign up for PD at every turn that I’m ONLY into technology, but that’s not true.
I love the simple things in life–a good book, a cup of tea, receiving a letter from an old friend, taking a walk with my daughters and husband, petting my dogs. However, I also love social media, streaming entire television series on my computer, and iMessage AND what technology has done for the classroom.
I suppose it’s a balance between modern and “old” that I crave.
Good learning is good learning.
This blog was originally concocted in an effort to document my experience as a teacher in the first year of a 1:1 iPad school. I certainly haven’t blogged as often as I originally intended, but I’ve noticed that most of my posts are not centered around iPads at all. My first post set that up though –> I wasn’t expecting our iPads to transform our school into some sort of megaplex of learning (anymore than it already is), but I was hopeful at the chance for all of my students to have equal access (or closer to equal access) to resources that were, at best spotty, in previous years. Closing that gap between HAVE and HAVE NOTS was what I appreciated most about the prospect of going 1:1. I believe our 1:1 initiative has done just that.
However, what this blog turned out to be more than anything was a place to share things that work for me (so that others may benefit) and to promote my students’ work and experience. Some of these things, work, and experiences involve iPads as a “star,” but most do not. In other words, though having iPads at our fingertips has been (mostly) wonderful, it hasn’t changed what I do in the classroom very much. It’s given me different ways to do it, but I’m still striving for the same outcomes, rolling with the same punches, and having similar successes and failures that I’ve had in years past.
When it comes down to it, most teachers I know have a knack for finding what works for their individual students regardless of the resources provided to them. I am grateful that my job and my students lives are easier because of the incredible educational instruments we as a school community have close at hand every day, but bottom line –> good teaching is good teaching AND, more importantly good learning is good learning. Both can transcend the devices we have at our disposal.
Want to make a kid’s day? Comment on his or her blog post. #comments4kids
A while back, William Chamberlain, a teacher from Noel, MO started the #comments4kids backchannel, which was devised for students and their teachers to promote their blog posts and garner eyeballs! (He wrote a blog post about it back in 2009 when he first planted the seed.) We’ve been using that hashtag for a couple of weeks now and it’s working! I’m glad I asked William about this concept because he pointed me in the direction of the aforementioned blog post and he told me about this resource –> COMMENTS4KIDS, which has many other resources for teachers/students seeking comments for student blogs. Also, I didn’t know that WEDNESDAY is the official #comments4kids day on Twitter, until I read his post. I’ve been using it indiscriminately … on all sorts of days of the week … and probably will continue to do so, because it seems that folks do check that backchannel on other days too because … like I said: It’s been working! (My Twitter followers have been helping too. THANKS DOOOoooOOooOods!)
Want to make a kid’s day? Comment on his or her blog post. If you have the time AND the *positive* energy to share, please consider visiting one of the following blogs to post some constructive comments of either encouragement or dialogue extension for my students.
Keaton D. * The love of my life, softball *http://conlitkd.edublogs.org/
“You’ve been gripping the ball this whole time.. To find out it was the other way around.”
Danny C. * contemporary literature blog * http://conlitdc.edublogs.org/
“Sponsored by Crosgrove Industries… Do NOT look us up”
Xiola K. * Passion Fashion Blog * http://phsapengxk.edublogs.org/
“fashion you can use”
Destiney H. * Tattoo Blog * http://phsapengdh.edublogs.org/
“all about tattoos”
Shelby T. * Seeing Red * http://phsapengst.edublogs.org/
“A young redheaded woman’s view on heated topics and government”
Kody S. * Kody’s Food Blog* http://kodysfoodblog.edublogs.org/
“food, food, and more food”
Truman S. * Aliens * http://conlitts.edublogs.org/
“What? Who? Where? Why?: Aliens”
Camden P. * Basketball Blog * http://conlitcp.edublogs.org/
“blog about all levels of basketball”
Nicole C. * Don’t worry. Be happy. * http://phsapengnc.edublogs.org/
“everything that makes me happy”
Jessica B. * Bitter Blonde * http://phsapengjb.edublogs.org/
“my pet peeves”
Megan I. * Pinterest Tutorials * http://phsapengmi.edublogs.org/
“seeing which/how Pinterest tutorials work”
Kylie M. * Important Problems * http://phsapengkm.edublogs.org/
“anything that I feel is important to discuss”
James E. * Farming * http://conlitje.edublogs.org/
“the farming life”
iFixate (a post of gratitude)
When I find something that works, I tend to fixate on it. Right now I am fixating on my students’ blogs. I have a few “greatest hits” as far as things that I’ve tried that have gone over well in my career and I’m officially adding blogging to the top of that list. I’ve tried blogging or some form of it in the past and nothing has worked as well as this year’s blogs. One year I had students “discuss” novels in the comments of a blog I posted. Another year I had students respond to literature in their own personal blogs. In the grad class I teach in the summer, I’ve tried group blogging and I’ve tried individual blogging, and grad students will do pretty much whatever their instructor asks, but that doesn’t mean that they will do it passionately. (It doesn’t mean they WON’T either, but it is the exception and not the rule.) One thing that I did differently this time is I asked the students to generate their own topic based on their personal passions. This seems to have done the trick for most of my students.
PASSION was the missing ingredient.
How silly of me to have overlooked this precious commodity. I mean, I have meant well over the years. I’ve made attempts to INSTILL passion in students, but when you get down to it, passion is innate, it is familial, it is written in the unique code of our DNA. It CAN be contagious, but there must be a seed of interest there in order for it to grow. YES, I am passionate about reading and writing, and so are SOME of my students, but for those who have other interests (which would include nearly every single student I encounter), blogging provides an opportunity to dig into their interests whilst practicing invaluable skills! It’s a win-win and it’s going to help us meet and exceed some standards along the way too.
I don’t want to give off the impression that this has gone off without some hitches … In fact, NOTHING! … *REPEAT* –> NOTHING! I do ever turns out PERFECTLY … I’m convinced there is no such thing as “perfect” in education, and I do think we do not SHARE our failures and imperfections enough! I could blog exclusively on my daily fails, but it’s more fun to promote what goes well!
Some students are still experiencing a bit of writer’s block and some suffer from apathy or Senioritis, but for the most part, this whole blog thing has proven to be an effective way for students to practice their writing and in many cases, their research and to stretch their thinking and creativity. And frankly, this is more interesting for me as a teacher than reading 80+ canned responses on a piece of literature half the students weren’t interested in anyway. It’s pretty painful to read through so many similar pieces of writing only to discover they are nothing more than regurgitations of what I said in class or — worse yet — responses designed to appear as if they are regurgitated forms of MY thought, but it’s clear that the writer is just “faking” it because he or she DIDN’T read the text AND/OR DIDN’T listen in class. That’s REALLY painful.
These blog entries are a delight AND I’m learning things about the topics the students have chosen and more importantly about the students themselves.
So, I’ve been fixating on these blogs and my TEACHER dashboard lately. I’ve been tweeting out my students’ links like crazy! I’m just as excited as the kids when they receive a comment from outside of our classroom and I’m off-the-charts, over-the-moon excited when I see someone has made another post, on their own time, just because they WANT to do it. I stumbled into a Twitter chat last night on “visible learning.” Talk about visible learning! This is why I teach! This is why I’m still learning! My students’ PASSION BLOGS have reignited my passion for teaching writing and for someone who’s been in “the biz” for nearly 14 years, that is so valuable. My students have given me this gift and I am so very full of gratitude.
My Students Have Passion!
NOTE: If you just want to get to my students’ blogs, scroll down. The links follow my rambling!
My students have been blogging now for a couple of weeks and I’m happy to say, I have a PASSIONATE bunch! We’ve been calling our blogs “passion blogs” because they are fueled by the students’ direct interests. In other words, THEY chose their topics–rather than the usual–*teacher gives writing prompt/topic + students regurgitate what they think I want to hear* formula. By the end of the school year (which is coming up quickly for ALL of us, but ESPECIALLY for SENIORS!) they should all have a minimum of 10 entries.
So far, of those posts I’ve read, I have been blown away by the variety of interests AND the depth of passion being displayed. Below I will post links to most of the students’ blogs. Some of the students have opted to leave theirs off the list. Our students are hungry for feedback, so the more eyes I can provide them, the better! If you have time to comment on some or all of these blogs, I invite you to do so.
These blogs do a few things for the students. Blogs give students 1. vital, low-pressure writing practice (Blogs don’t have to be perfect, though I do encourage them to return to edit and revise each post.) 2. a place to establish a POSITIVE online identity. 3. a place to showcase their immense knowledge about a topic (or topics) about which they care! 4. a REAL LIVE audience. (In a traditional English class, the paper comes in to the teacher and she’s the only person who sees it. A blog is open to a larger audience.)
What follows are the links to all of the student blogs AND a brief description of what each one is about (as per the students’ own words). Again, I invited and encourage you to post some comments. They will appreciate the feedback and you will help them to realize the power of having an audience.
Nicole C. * Don’t worry. Be happy. * http://phsapengnc.edublogs.org/
“everything that makes me happy”
Destiney H. * Tattoo Blog * http://phsapengdh.edublogs.org/
“all about tattoos”
Megan I. * Pinterest Tutorials * http://phsapengmi.edublogs.org/
“seeing which/how Pinterest tutorials work”
Xiola K. * Passion Fashion Blog * http://phsapengxk.edublogs.org/
“fashion you can use”
Shelby T. * Seeing Red * http://phsapengst.edublogs.org/
“A young redheaded woman’s view on heated topics and government”
Kylie M. * Important Problems * http://phsapengkm.edublogs.org/
“anything that I feel is important to discuss”
Jessica B. * Bitter Blonde * http://phsapengjb.edublogs.org/
“my pet peeves”
Truman S. * Aliens * http://conlitts.edublogs.org/
“What? Who? Where? Why?: Aliens”
Camden P. * Basketball Blog * http://conlitcp.edublogs.org/
“blog about all levels of basketball”
James E. * Farming * http://conlitje.edublogs.org/
“the farming life”
Keaton D. * The love of my life, softball *http://conlitkd.edublogs.org/
“You’ve been gripping the ball this whole time.. To find out it was the other way around.”
#nebedchat
Tonight I’ll be moderating #nebedchat on Twitter. Our topic is classroom culture. If you’d like to join us here’s some info.
iTeach AP English and Literature: Timed Essay Taking Tips
Dearest AP English Students,
I am so proud of your analyses of Hamlet! Now I have some advice that I hope you can apply to the next timed essay exam to which you are subject. I know that the time-element of the exam adds an unavoidable element of nerve-wracking stress. My hope is that this practice paired with your practice runs will mitigate some of your tension regarding this exam. You all have the tools and talent to pull this off. I have no doubt about that. I can’t wait to see your results in July.
Remember this: I am already proud of you.
Read on.
RESPONDING to the PROMPT
1. Read the prompt once just to get the ideas pumping in your brain.
TIP: For the poetry and prose prompts, you will be responding to a passage they provide and there may be a chance that it will be a “cold read,” meaning it may be a text you have never read before, OR it may be one you have read. It’s a literary lottery! No matter what it will be a work of literary merit (a work that has withstood the test of time and is accepted by the academic community as a worthwhile literary text).
2. Read the prompt again, focusing in on what it is asking you to do. Identify key words such as analyze, synthesize, compare, evaluate, symbol, or theme.
TIP: For the free response (like the one you did in class) you will be asked to select a piece (or more than one piece) of literature to analyze in essay format. However, you will be free to choose the work you want to choose. You won’t have a teacher standing over your shoulder saying, “Please choose Hamlet” and you won’t get to choose among several options.
3. Formulate a thesis.
TIP: Some students will prefer to read the passage first, then the question, while others will prefer just the opposite. You have to decide what works best for you.
4. Develop evidence to support your thesis.
5. Of course, you should try to write a HOOK in your intro, and a nice tidy concluding statement in your conclusion, smooth transitions between paragraphs, but in a timed essay setting, don’t allow any one of those items trip you up or stop you from delivering content. CONTENT is king.
6. Don’t forget what DiYanni taught us in the first few weeks of school. The three methods of attack are through experience, interpretation, and evaluation. These three lenses will give you an entry point into whatever analysis-level question they throw at you.
7. Once you have written your essay, you MUST go back and EDIT for grammar and spelling and REVISE for style and content. It’s okay to correct errors right there in your initial draft because THIS IS IT! You don’t get the luxury of setting it down and walking away, or handing it to a trusted friend or teacher for feedback. The AP readers will be used to seeing corrections in the final copy and would rather see corrections than errors.
TIP: You must budget your time wisely. The College Board will provide you with suggested time frames for each section, but it is up to you to determine the time-range that works best for you. I suggest taking advantage of the time given. Do not rush.
GRAMMAR CONCERNS
After reading your initial attempt at a timed essay, I wanted to address some issues that I saw over and over in multiple essays.
POV –> It’s okay to use first-person perspective (but you don’t have to as third-person is also acceptable). However, avoid second person (you).
Contractions –> Avoid them. Favor the formal for this essay.
Apostrophes –> Know the difference between plural, (more than one) possessive,(belonging to one person/thing) and plural-possessive (belonging to more than one person/thing).
EXAMPLES
Plural: Both the elder and the younger Hamlets loved to to drink ale and listen to the court jester’s hilarious jokes.
Possessive: Hamlet’s treatment of Ophelia was out-and-out abusive.
Plural-Possessive: Both the elder and younger Hamlets’ love for fancy clothing, neatly coiffed hair, and well-manicured hands made them favorites with the ladies.
Paragraphing –-> new idea = new paragraph
Comma Splices –> They are NOT our friend. Avoid them! Seriously! If you have trouble with these, you should be practicing avoiding them. CHOMPCHOMP.COM is a good place to practice this. I strongly urge you to go there, if you are regularly being called out on using comma splices.
UM … THIS –> Use could have, should have, would have–NOT could of, should of, would of. Like it or not, breaking this rule will make you look sorely unskilled in grammar, despite how simple an error it is. It is a huge pet peeve of many a grammar curmudgeon.
Guess who “reads” for AP? Mostly grammar curmudgeons, or at the very least people who can become riled by simple errors. (This make sense. They want people with low thresholds for grammar errors because they want the standards to be high!)
Did you already say something? Let it stand. Avoid redundancy. You don’t have very much time to get things done, so make sure every word counts and every word is there for a purpose. Favor brevity in timed essay writing.
Pronouns –> If you use a pronoun make sure it is clear to whom or what the pronoun refers. For example, if you write a sentence about two men–let’s say Hamlet and Claudius–if later in the sentence you refer to him or his make sure that it is easy to distinguish if you are referring to Hamlet or Claudius.
EXAMPLE of CONFUSING USE OF A PRONOUN
All of these shenanigans furthered Claudius’s betrayal of Hamlet, Gertrude, and the Nation of Denmark, but now it even extended to his friends.
“It” clearly references Claudius’s betrayal, but why is the use of “his” confusing here? It’s because “his” could refer to Claudius OR Hamlet. Because we know the context of this sentence is most likely referring to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, we could reasonably decipher that “his” is most like referring to Hamlet, but when an AP reader is reading many essays, he/she will not want to spend too much time deciphering what you meant, so clarity of language is paramount. Remove all doubt, by making plain what you mean, by rearranging your sentence, OR replacing said pronoun with a repeat of the person or thing’s name.
REVISED EXAMPLE
All of these shenanigans furthered Claudius’s betrayal of Hamlet, Gertrude, and the Nation of Denmark, but now it even extended to Hamlet’s friends.
Pronouns (continued) —> Also, an antecedent is the word the pronoun replaces, which means that the antecedent and pronoun must “agree”. Therefore, if the antecedent is plural, so must be the pronoun you choose to replace it. Check out this resource for further explanation: Pronoun Antecedent Agreement.
Abbreviations –> Do not use them–no make-shift ampersands (&) or shortening of especially to esp. Save that for Twitter!
These are just some of the “greatest hits” I noticed. I, of course, made some individual notes on your essays, so pay attention to those too, please. If you have questions about this, hopefully, I have answers, so ask!
Sincerely,
Mrs. M.
The Passionate (Student) Blogger
UPDATE: Here is a link to a “mock” blog I set up with instructions for my students: MRS. MORGENSON’S MOCKUP.
As an English Language Arts (ELA) teacher, I want my students to achieve at the highest level possible on district and state level goals, but ultimately, my goal is to help my students be the most effective and successful (however they personally define success) people they can be AND to help ignite a passion for reading and writing. My belief is strong: If you are an effective writer, reader, speaker and critical thinker, you can go anywhere and do anything. However, I realize that not every student I encounter is going to find passion in writing (or reading, speaking, or critical thinking), but even if they walk out of my room liking writing and/or reading MORE than they did before they met me, I am happy. (Even if they don’t LOVE it, I’m okay with that as long as they’ve moved over on the scale of LIKE.)
One way I’m trying to sneak in some extra writing this year is through a PASSION BLOG, as inspired by my Tweep Beth Still and her students. My philosophy behind this idea is that the writing will be driven by passion, thus the writing will be more palatable–even to reluctant writers.
I want my students to take ownership in this to the max, so I sent them a survey today to gauge what they found to be a reasonable expectation for these next 10ish (intense final) weeks (of their high school careers). The requirements listed below are reflective of the collective response to that survey. I was most impressed by the overwhelming majority’s desire to REQUIRE impeccable grammar. (My cup runneth over!)
—————
PASSION BLOGS
Minimum Requirements
- 1 entry per week for 10 weeks for a total of 10 entries
- (Feel free to post MORE than 10 entries, of course!)
Each entry should
- be an average of three solid paragraphs (five to six sentences each) (This means that some of your entries might be shorter than three sentences and some might be longer. Sometimes you’ll have more to say; sometimes you’ll have less.)
- be grammatically sound
- be FULL of YOUR voice, your style and interesting word choices
- be interesting to you and your readers (prove your content’s relevance)
Your entries might need to
- cite sources (if applicable)
- include links, graphics, or video (if applicable)
If you need your edublog sign-in info, please see me ASAP.
FEEL FREE TO EXCEED THE MINIMUM. ALLOW YOUR PASSION TO DRIVE THIS PROJECT!
—————–
Once we get the blogs up and running, I will post links to all of them in a post right here — on MY passion blog.