I'm going to try to keep this blog short, as I am in the process of cleaning up from my son's one year birthday party...
I continued my book, which provided more examples and ideas for WTL (writing to learn) activities. The chapter detailed 8, but in the quest to keep it short today, I'll list 4. As I said last time, if anyone would like more information on any of these, let me know, I'll be happy to fill you in. So here are the four:
1. Written Conversation - this is pretty much what the name implies, a conversation the students have, in writing. That means when students write, it should be done in silence, I know some would be skeptical of that, but the neat thing is, after the students have had their silent discussion on paper, a whole group, or small group discussion follows. I think this idea might actually be good for those who are reluctant to talk in large group conversations, because it would allow them to gather their thoughts, and get feedback on their ideas before speaking.
2. Write-Around - teacher gives students a rich, complex topic to write about. After a few minutes of writing, students then pass their writing around, and respond to the person who wrote before them, this is done again, and possibly a fourth time. Similar to the idea above, but now more kids are participating. At the end, groups can look at the threads and highlight important/interesting ideas to share with the whole class.
3. Carousel Brainstorming - Teacher prepares various prompts at different stations throughout the room. Groups rotate through the stations for a time period the teacher picks, and add to the brainstorms the previous groups completed. At the end, lists are revisited by groups or whole class.
4. Nonstop Write - Timed writing, short, about 3 to 5 minutes, during which students respond to a prompt. The important thing is to make sure students know you are concerned with content, not necessarily spelling, punctuation, etc., so they don't get bogged down with the tedious details. Remember, they are writing to remember and synthesize information, this is not published writing, which will come next chapter.
So there they are in a nutshell...okay a little longer, sorry I'm a wordy person.
I like what you have to say, the font is small though and hard to read...I have done many of the techniques you write about as a college composition teacher...some of those things apply everywhere!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks for letting me know about the font, I'll try to change that. I do many of the suggested activities too, but I realize I hadn't been doing enough follow through, something I'll work to improve next year.
ReplyDeleteI really like the first two you listed. I think getting students to think about what they want to say before they say it is a great idea. I would probably help them to clarify what they are trying to articulate. As you said this could be a good way to get some of the quiet students that don't normally speak out to have their voice heard in class. The second idea is like our asynchronized discussions. I like the idea of having the students build on each others ideas and then looking at what they came up with in small groups.
ReplyDeleteI love this idea of Carousel Brainstorming. I'm not too sure how well it would work in a high school classroom, but I think it's fantastic for a younger class. The revisiting at the end is so great too, because you get to see how others built off of your own ideas. Also, the truth is we might be in large classrooms, so this is a great way to engage students as a group with the worry of them having to yell over each other.
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