September 26, 1015
We returned to Bailey Hall for a day of presentations and a book discussion. Here is the link to the video from S7 Airlines that I used on my opening moment on imagination and naivete.
Mary Lou started off the day with her presentation on Our Youngest Writers-Where Do We Start?
She walked us through the process of how she helps guide kindergarteners through the writing process by generating their very own book. First she helped us get into the mindset of our youngest writers by providing us with props that helped us to understand the constraints, both cognitive and physical, of these very young writers. With or without our props (Coke-bottle glasses, gloves of varying thickness, mittens and a giant pencil,) we were assigned the task of copying the sentence, "I love my dad," writing with our non-dominant hand and with the wrong end of our crayons, reproducing the sentence using the opposite end of the alphabet. We struggled, complained, discussed strategies and downright shut down, just as might happen to kindergarteners in the classroom. She then walked us through the process of writing a book. She focused on 8 Kindergarten Mini-Lessons (see below Mary Lou's post) and by the end of her presentation we learned a lot more about our youngest learners and their challenges with a hands-on illustration of many of her mini-lessons and analysis of sample books. Thank you, Mary Lou for a thought-provoking and fun presentation. I understand you had been sick all week with bronchitis and this took some cognitive and physical effort on your part to present on this Saturday.
Ben followed with his presentation entitled, Wanna Argue About It? Ben's presentation was on his instruction of rhetoric with multimedia in his high school classroom. He began by helping us to understand our everyday use of arguments and why it is so important that all students-AP and otherwise, understand rhetoric. He showed us Joliffe's Rhetorical Analysis Framework Design, as the basis for his instruction and how his students come to understand and recognize each component as they analyze rhetorical writing. He underscored and illustrated the meaning of syntax with his "I NEVER SAID HE HE HIT HIS WIFE, demo. He then showed us Mary Ewald's letter and how his students learn that rhetorical writing can mean life and death. We then were presented with various print media ads and in small groups, analyzed them for ethos, logos, etc. Both print ads and video ads were shown and discussed and we were given a great basis of rhetoric and examples of projects on balanced letters, photo analysis (Ben's FaceBook page), the creation of PSA ad which the students produce before they ever write their first rhetorical analysis essay. Thank you Ben for showing us the importance of rhetorical writing and your innovative and engaging multi-media approach.
Sue Van Wyck
Sept 26 Host
We began our afternoon discussion with a lively presentation by Justin on Nursery Rhymes. His focus of presentation was on storytelling: how to draw out of our students with the wonderful details that are hidden inside a rhyme. His slides and handouts pointed to the importance of process: taking time to allow students to write, discover their ideas through multiple opportunities. Justin stressed the significance of word choice, descriptors, and action that evolves through this writing process. It was informative to write ourselves on the St. Ives rhyme, sharing our process of opening the story, and finding our own stories to tell. With our thoughts filled with wonderful images, we proceeded to enter Alex's world if literature as the thread that binds our students to their own experience. This was a welcome workshop that reminded us that classic novels are alive, if we take the time to provide the weave to contemporary issues. The you tube videos were important in showing us how to make these connections. The activity of moving around the room, posting on each other's book choices, and writing suggestions was very helpful. No matter what the age level we are teaching, this sharing of information, successes, and opinions is so inspiring.
ReplyDeleteThe afternoon concluded with a sharing of ideas from the text The Neglected R. The room was abuzz with passionate references to annotations that apply to our classrooms. I heard good questions being asked, and respectful listening occur. Lorry ended with an invocation from Jerzy Kosinski to pause and:
“You must touch the reader because the reader will not be touched by history on its own. In your stories, you must re-create the state of oppression that is present in the stories you tell. And remember, you will not be able to use gestures, nobody will hear your accent; they will not see your eyes or the agony you express with your body language; everything must be contained in the verbs, adjectives, nouns, and adverbs.”
Jerzy Kosinski Passing By