Fun Writing

We spent the last week focusing exclusively on writing skills.

Our writing form of late has been personal narratives (based on a Life Event). Students completed a first sample in September, reworked that piece based on teacher feedback in October and now really get the chance to show their skills in a final version in December.

Skills we are working on include crafting interesting first sentences and titles, choosing better words over boring words, crafting more complex sentences, adding more specific details, more 5-sense description and more quotes and sound words to increase the drama!

As a fun way to practice these skills, I brought some awesome short films into the class.
PIXELS  video.
Order UP.
Plot Device.

We used these media narratives to assess effectiveness of titles and used them as a creative launch pad. Students were asked to write the narrative from different points of view, or to take a scene from the narrative and make it come alive, or to write what happens next, again, making it come alive by using the skills we have been talking about.

Students would then share and we would use student examples to examine effectiveness and ways to improve.

We also did some fun activities to better understand complex sentences and the importance of word choice.

For instance, students were asked to re-write these sentences.
1. The car went so slow. It was a red car. It was really small. It had a white stripe and could only fit two people.

We discovered that four sentences could easily be pared down to one or two. We also discovered that 'went' is a weak verb, and that even the word 'red' could be improved on: there's cherry red, fushia, fire engine red, flame red, burgundy...all different kinds of red that can be brought to the reader's mind for improved visualization!

Students were also asked to pick a scene, like a rock concern, a ski trip, a camping trip, the dentist, etc, and SHOW us how it feels to be there.

"A good writer can make ANY life event interesting, dramatic or funny! You do not need aliens, space ships or explosions (though, those can also be dramatic or funny in a fictional narrative) but you do NOT need them...and a bad writer could make an alien zombie invasion impossible or uninteresting to read!. Your life experiences (auto biographical, non fiction) all on their own are worth sharing and can be interesting to your reader if written well! The point is...to write EFFECTIVELY!" so says Mrs. J!

To prove this point, we watched Bill Cosby's classic A Trip to The Dentist from 1983. This is a performance piece rather than a written piece but proves that any ordinary experience can be turned into a rich narrative...he also uses some of the skills we have been discussing (sound words! quotes!).

This week, students will be given class time to focus on completing their final assignments (4x45 minutes). There will also be time for one to one conferencing with students about their writing. Students will be following the writing process to complete this assignment (brainstorm, first draft, edit, final copy) and a peer feedback session is built into this process as well. The final piece is due Monday, December 17.

Details for this assignment (which will grow to include a media and oral language task) are on my download page. Also, the checklist of criteria for this writing assignment can be found HERE.  Students have been given this checklist to self monitor their work.

PS. Due to the rescheduling of the dance to Thursday afternoon, we lost a 45 minute period of literacy this week. The due date has thus been extended to Tuesday, Dec. 18th. However, students are being asked to complete the first draft (if they have not already done so) so it is ready for peer review in Monday's class. Students are also welcome to submit their final draft early (on Monday) if they are so inclined.  Thank you, Mrs. J

Students, please remember:
-use the checklist of criteria provided while editing. This is also available online HERE. 
-your final copy is to be submitted on a loose, separate piece of paper tucked inside your writing assignments work book.

Using Media in the Curriculum

Today we used a variety of on line videos to discuss three different areas of the curriculum.

An algebra joke! 

First...algebra! We used Khan Academy videos to discover 'what is algebra' (via a video happily titled "The Beauty of Algebra") and then we explored an example of a linear growth pattern translated into an algerbraic equation. We only needed to watch the first few minutes of these videos (we stopped after the simplest examples so as not to overly confuse ourselves) to get the idea that algebra is used to make a "generalization" (we also looked up what that word meant). The analogy I gave is that the letter (like 'x') holds the place of a number. It is like the understudy in a theater production...they stand in for the actor/number. Sometimes it stands in for  the answer...sometimes it stands in for any number you want to use in your calculation. Using algebraic equations with patterns helps us make predictions about the patterns....as you can see if you watch the 2nd video!

By the way, Khan Academy is a great resource for review of math concepts. If there is ever an area of math that needs review at home, try searching for it at khanacademy.com.

Second...bullying (our health topic...in particular, the various roles in bullying and the impact of bullying on those individuals, plus strategies). Two days ago we studied a variety of PSA commercials about bullying and today we looked at two songs and their corresponding music videos to see what they had to say about bullying. The two songs were "Mean" by Taylor Swift and "Is Anybody Out There?" by K'Naan and Nelly Furtado. We looked at/listened to the lyrics and aimed to answer these questions:

What does each song say about bullying...in particular, what does it say about those who bully, those who are being bullied and about the bystanders? Is the message aimed at one in particular?  What is the impact on each role from the episode of bullying?

Third...media (in particular, interpreting media representations and judging their effectiveness). When looking at the music videos of "Mean" and "Is Anybody Out There?", we listed the various images that they used and determined the meaning behind them (ie: girl sitting alone in a park = sadness, loneliness). We evaulated how well those images conveyed the lyrics and discussed how effective or ineffective those images were. We also noticed the different portrayals between the two videos/songs: "Mean" has a positive outcome, presents a success story for the victim  and a resolved ending...while "Is Anybody Out There?" does not. Instead,  in that video, the character who is bullied remain alone...which emphasizes the importance of needing connection. We discovered that both videos had effective and ineffective aspects...and students did a great job arguing their point of view by using evidence from the text/media!

Gaming in Education

If you read my biography page, then you know I like to incorporate gaming into learning activities.

Two years ago I conducted a research project using Mario Kart in Gr. 2-5 literacy and numeracy tasks. I found that it increased engagement levels and also supported work outcomes, especially for boys. I documented both my results and my activities on a blog.

I also had the good fortune to be interviewed by CBC radio. Click here to hear my interview and more of my thoughts on game based learning.

Last year in Gr. 7/8 we used gaming as a foundation for writing persuasive essays. We will be doing the same in this class later in the year...

But in the meantime...we will be using games to collect data for our math lessons! Following in the footsteps of such teachers as Dawn Hallybone from the UK and Mark Cunningham from Scotland, we will be using games to collect data for lessons on Mean, Median and Mode.

Let the games begin!

PS. They have begun! Here we are, gathering our data...I swear, I never saw such enthusiasm for a math class before!

Writing Samples Sent Home...plus Remembrance Day & Writing as Personal Experience

As mentioned in a previous post, a copy of student writing has been sent home for review and signature. This was their 'base line' assessment from September. They have since received specific feedback from me on how to improve those writing pieces so that they are better organized, more specific, easier for the reader to visualize and better convey a sense of drama, etc.

A copy of this revised piece will be sent home this week and I know you will see improvement in their writing! Students should be proud of their achievement.

There will be a third and final writing assignment (Personal Narrative) where students can further improve their current piece OR can apply skills learned to a new topic.

On a related note, as a tie in to Remembrance Day we took a break from our usual literacy program to take a look at two poems/lyrics: Flanders Fields by John Mcrae and A Pittance of Time by Terry Kelly.

Interestingly, both of these pieces were written by people responding to a personal experience. They were just 'ordinary people' who were moved by a moment and wanted to convey the moment to others. Thus, they started scribbling away on a piece of paper...from that evolved one of the most famous poems of all time, and a song.

This is how most writing starts: with a need to share an idea or an experience.

You'll notice both pieces are strong in mood/emotion. Both have strong images which are easy for the reader to visualize.  With the above pieces, we read the poems/lyrics and then answered the following questions:

• What is the main idea/theme?
• Choose 5 images you would use to convey the main idea of Flanders Fields in video form.
• How effective was this video images in representing the song's lyrics?

The Raven...Fun STUFF!

If you take a look at the proceeding blog post, you'll get an idea of what we did today! We had some fun creatively exploring Edgar Allen Poe's spooky and sad poem THE RAVEN.

To get started, as a whole class, we did a writing activity where we each wrote from the raven's point of view. It can really broaden one's experience of a narrative to play with point of view, to see the story from different view points. Several students shared what they wrote. Generally speaking, the raven was mystified as to why this guy was yelling at him and getting so upset! Or the raven was a bit of a trickster, goading the man, and wanting to make him upset. Or the raven was a minion of a deeper, darker purpose...BWAHAHAHAHAHA!

Then students broke into pairs and chose from the activities listed in the previous blog. I very much enjoyed the variety of short plays, the movie posters, the alternative endings, and the song!

You know you understand a piece of writing if you can re-interpret it in your own words and with your own style.

I thought I would list the song lyric here, it is just so fabulous! It was presented as part song, part rap.

raven flew in my window one day out of the blue
in the bleak december and this I just barely remember
but it spoke to me ya he spoke to me through demon eyes

never more never more 
raven landed on my door
I really need my dear Lenore
I can't take it anymore

but some things aren't what they seems
and this isn't in my dreams
dear Lenore dear Lenore I really need my sweet Lenore

And I said nevermore 
need you Lenore

raven flew in and landed at my door
I can't take this anymore and I really
want you here tonight


by CO, EJ and SB

Having FUN with The Raven

While reading The Raven, several students asked if they could 'act it out'...and someone else wanted to play around with 'what if' possibilities...in other words, alternate endings. This made me realize that we needed to have some creative fun with this poem! I am thus devoting one class to 'creative adaptations'...students can choose an option from the following list...or create their own, subject to teacher approval.

-perform the Raven as a 1 minute play
-write an alternate ending
-write it as a rap or song lyric
-write it from the Raven's point of view
-create a movie poster...who will star in it?
-draw it as a 4 scene comic

And we will share our creations with each other.

BTW here is the Simpson's version of The Raven

The TELL TALE HEART by Edgar Allen Poe

We will soon be reading The Tell Tale Heart, a story referenced in the class book we are reading (Skeleton Creek).

It is on youtube as an awesome audio play.

These are the youtube Tell Tale Heart videos we will watch & compare to the original text.

Modern Adaptation

Lego-mation Version

Animation

In Less than 2 Minutes

I love the creativity the creators of these videos have brought to their retelling of this classic tale!

I wonder which one captured the essence of the story the best? WHY? Justify your answer!
We will use these as a media activity in terms of the media curriculum expectation: "evaulating effectiveness of the presentation of ideas".

Lastly, did you know the writers of Sponge Bob Squarepants created a version of this as a TV episode, Squeaky Boots? We will look at the script! 
PS I have taken some EAP books out of the school library...graphic novels of his short stories! Check out our class library if you are interested in reading these!

THE RAVEN-A SUMMARY-whole class creation

The whole class created this today in literacy. We edited and improved our original sentences, adding more detail and more complex sentences to come up with this final result!

THE RAVEN: A summary

First, the narrator, who is feeling sadly over the loss of Lenore, suddenly hears a tapping at his cold, chamber door. He thinks it is just some visitor but no one is there.

Next, he hears a tap at his window and, scared of what he might find, opens it to find a raven flying in.

Then the man, who is greiving over Lenore, pleads with the Raven while the Raven taunts and torments him with the word Nevermore.

Finally, he begins to think the bird is a demon sent to torture him for the rest of his life about the loss of Lenore and he goes completely crazy. The bird never leaves.

Spooky Poe for Reading & Media Study!

This time of year is inherently SPOOKY and it is thus a great time of year to read Edgar Allen Poe!

As mentioned in a previous blog, Poe is  referenced numerous times in the novel I am reading aloud to the class (Skeleton Creek by Patrick Carmen). It references both his poem The Raven and his short story The Tell Tale Heart, among others.

I was originally going to just brush through these Poe pieces and use them simply as a matter of comparison to Skeleton Creek...but I have instead decided to linger awhile. They are just such fabulous works, beautiful crafted. They have influenced other writers for over a hundred years and they still resonate in today's culture. They are well worth lingering over!

Thus, we are going to read through both The Raven and The Tell Tale Heart, translating the 'old fashioned language' into our own modern day language and adding a picture to help us visualize the scene.

Then we are going to work on writing summaries of each, determining the main idea/theme of each, plus use each as a way to determine characteristics of narratives (all three areas are often referred to on CASI reading comprehension assessments...the next of which is administered in December).

Then we will take a look at media representations of each work. There are some clever youtube adaptations! (Not to mention that both the writers of The Simpson's and Spongebob were influenced by these works, enough to do their own cartoon adaptations!).

This ties into the media curriculum...interpreting media images (by comparing media to media and media to text).

We have also been looking at book cover design as a form of media/advertising. Students will get to choose either The Raven or The Tell Tale Heart and craft a book cover design. I hope to post these in the hallway and will include a picture here when I do so!

More About Writing

"Writer's Voice" is one of those things, like inferencing, we understand best in context. We usually need an example to help us see what we mean by 'Writer's Voice'.

This week, I provide three samples of writing (written by me) to demonstrate Writer's Voice. In the interest of saving space, here are two:

Sample A

Iceland

In the summer, I went to Iceland. It was awesome! I took an airplane to the capital city. Then we took a bus to the hotel. Then we booked into our hotel. We had a view of the downtown area and the ocean. We took lots of day trips. On one trip, our car broke down in the middle of nowhere! I also saw a geyser explode into the air, strange extinct volcanoes, and lots of black lava rock.  We went to the Blue Lagoon, which is a famous hot mineral swimming pool. The food was really, really good! I really had a great trip. It was so awesome!

Sample C

Don’t Panic!

The wind was so strong that day on the west coast of Iceland . We could barely stand upright. We took our pictures of the stark lava rocks, the vast, stormy sky and the waves crashing to shore at the beach in the distance, and then hurried back to the car.

“Are we almost there?” asked my youngest son from the back seat. We were touring around the Snaeflellsjokell peninsula, a remote, rugged, mountainous area about two hours from the capital city of Reykajvik. He was getting bored and hungry.

“Just about!” I exclaimed.  The restaurant we hoped to stop at was about a ten minute drive down the highway. “I just want one more picture!”

I pulled over at the side of the road. My husband was the first to open his car door. WHAP! It happened in a flash. The wind pulled the door right out of his hand, tugged it back in the opposite direction, smashed into the side of the car—and then hung there, broken.

“Forget taking a picture,” I said. “Let’s get out of here!” I turned the key. Nothing. I turned the key again. Nothing. The car wouldn’t start!

“I don’t believe this!” I said. We were in a foreign country, stranded in the middle of nowhere, in a powerful wind storm.

Outside, cold rain started to pelt the side of the car.

Luckily, we had a cell phone and the emergency number for the car rental agency. We called and in an hour a man came to pick us up. He couldn’t fix the car but he did drive us to the nearest town so we could get a new one.

Both pieces discuss my trip to Iceland...but I'm sure you noticed in sample C:
-a more specific focus with increased detail
-vivid description
-inclusion of quotes and 'sound words' (WHAP!) (official term: onomatopoeia) to bring drama to the event
-more intriguing title which raises curiosity in the reader
-opening sentence raises questions in the readers mind (I didn't give it all away!)
-repetition builds suspense
-it is organized into paragraphs

In terms of Writer's Voice, I think its clear that Sample C has more 'sparkle' than A.

I like to sum up Writer's Voice as: personality and vividness.

Students have been reading novels or short fiction pieces in class. They have been experiencing 'Writer's Voice' and also the power of vivid description (reading comprehension strategy: visualizing a scene).

Now, as writers of a personal narrative ('Life Event'), they get to create that for other readers to experience.

Below are the curriculum areas this current task addresses, as posted in my classroom:

Students are currently revising their Life Events to include more vividness and 'writer's voice'.

I am looking forward to sharing their revised pieces with home! A copy of both versions will be eventually sent home so you can see their progress!

PS For more information on 'writer's voice', check out this great site!

Technical Difficulties...

Just to make you aware, we have been having internet access issues at the school, as have other schools in SCDSB.  The IT department is working hard to resolve this issue. It does mean that I can't  currently access my blog, media/tech and web links while in class! Hopefully this will resolve itself soon, but in the meantime, I may be asking students to puruse those links outside of class time.

Extension Material for Skeleton Creek! POE & THE RAVEN!

As mentioned in a previous post, we have been reading the novel Skeleton Creek.

In this novel, there are references to short stories by Edgar Allen Poe (House of Usher, The Raven...and there are more to come!)

Nearer to Halloween, we will be reading the famous story (and listening to the radio play retell) of Poe' The Tell Tale Heart and looking more closely at poem The Raven.

In the meantime, I'm asking students to extend their learning at home by:

a) reading about the author Edgar Allen Poe here on Wikipedia
b) watching this you tube video retell of his poem 'The Raven' (as read by Vincent Price) OR try this version (with text) as read by Christopher Walken
c) watch this youtube animated version of the poem (I love how this 'ordinary youtuber'  has been inspired to retell the poem visually)

Here is the full text version if you'd also like to read it.

Poe has inspired countless authors...and as become a part of our culture.  Even the writers of The Simpson's included The Raven in one of their Halloween episodes. 

Patrick Carmen, author of Skeleton Creek, has similarly been inspired. He is including Poe references VERY deliberately in his book. They are there for a purpose and I'd like us to go deeper into what that purpose might be.

The 'raven' seems to hold specific significance  It has been mentioned more than once and in fact, a future book in the series is called 'The Raven'.

We can't really discuss it properly without understanding Poe, who he is, his body of work...and his poem, The Raven.

Students, next week we will be shifting our literacy focus to writing for a few days....but we will return to reading by weeks end (hopefully, by Thursday)...so please review this material at home to support future in class discussion before that time!

Thank you!

Preparing for Math Quizes! Math Games!

Our current math focus is on decimals and fractions. We are comparing decimals to decimals and decimals to fractions...and also making sure our fraction answer is a 'simplified fraction'. We are also going to start looking at percents!

Next week there will likely be a decimal-fraction-percents quiz!

One way to study is to use the math links I provide. Here are some great online sites for practicing decimals/fractions/percents!

Comparing Decimals, Compare Decimals Game,  All About Decimals

 Fruit Shoot, Converting Fractions to Decimals,   Millionaire version    Jeopardy version

You might also want to watch this Khan Academy video on comparing decimals or  this Khan Academy video on converting decimals to fractions.

Another way to prepare yourself is to use the Frayer 'math dictionary' sheets like we use in class. Pick definitions related to the topic, such as 'decimal', 'comparing decimals', 'simplified fraction' and review your knowledge by filling out the sheet. You can always compare your answers to the math dictionary bulletin board in class, where all the Frayer math dictionary entries are posted!

Extra copies of the Frayer math dictionary sheet are available HERE on my download page for easy download and use at home.

A fourth way to prepare yourself is to look up previous math questions on my math page, such as the ones on Oct. 4 and Oct. 9 etc. and give those a try at home.

Remember to consider the four criteria when working on an answer to those questions:
Knowledge and Understanding
Thinking
Communication
Application

These are defined in a previous blog if you need to refresh your memory! But we will continue to look at samples in class to refine our understandings of how to use these four criteria to achieve 'better answers' in math.

PS Before we do the decimal/fractions/percents quiz, the previous quiz will be returned to students so they get feedback on what they have done thus far. This should also help them refine their understanding of how to best communicate their math ability. As usual, this will go home for parent signature and review.