Workshop on Writing

Reference MaterialsWhen the Writing Workshop isn’t Working,

by. Mark Overmeyer

11stst Day of School Activity Day of School Activity

Read Owl Moon by Jane YalenDiscuss with students about writing about

a moment in their lives…Model creating a list of territories.Model creating territories by writing about

a moment(s) in your life or an important day in your life…

Using Territories List

After creating a list of important moments and/or events in your life…

Have student(s) pick 1 to write about…REMEMBER…

Remind students to utilize all sensory details that will help define the moment.

Allow students to act it out, if time permits…

Example

The perfect storm…Rain poured down from heaven. The skies were filled with dread and despair as strikes of lightening hit the earth like African drums during an Egyptian rain dance.

The ritual progressed all night long, as fear trumpeted in my soul. Tomorrow was the day. A day that had been planned so carefully,and now it appeared to be ruined. Questions of homage led to a greater fear.

How can we make…

Sharing

After allowing students to write.Give student(s) a moment to share what

they have written.Provide student(s) a colored pencil and

allow them to add to and/or take away from the

Snapshot Prompts

Pick a particular moment and have your students describe the moment as it happens to them…

Examples of Descriptive Writing…by Barry Lanehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z

xdrOWUCu48 or

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBx3cRn38yc&feature=related

Video ClipsShow a short video clip…

Ex. Monsters, Inc., video of new car scene…

Allow students to review clip, thenGive students a writing prompt that goes

along with the clip and have them write…Finish the clip and/orGive students a prompt…

Ex. Monsters, Inc., prompt may be…Pick a day that you received something new that

you thought would be wonderful that turned out to be aweful…

Crazy Report Cards

A way to communicate important and silly information about a particular topic…

PurposeYou have to know something about a topic

to create a report card…Determine different categories..Research Categories to determine what to

put in report card.

Report CardSlither High School 1st Quarter

Subject Blk

Teacher Grade

Comments

Composure 1 N. Edicate

93/A Cold Blooded. Can survive in most situations.

Rodent Control 2 N. Power 93/A There are many poisonous snakes that help keep down the rodent population that carry disease.

Outward Show 3 C. Outer 68/F Rough Scales. Lack of body parts. Sheds its skin and leaves it lying around the room. Multiple vertebrate and colors.

Healthful Living 4 S. Vigor 77/C Gulps food, swallows food whole. Sticks tongue out at others. Eats others when necessary.

Sensibility 5 D. Wits 75/D Excellent sense of smell, feels vibrations. Cannot see color and shapes well.

Absences 75 out of 80

Grade Point Average 2.03

Movie Preview 30 Second trailer spots… Makes us want to see a film or

research a particular subject. Give enough about the “possible

movie” without giving the ending...

The go back and add scene directions and dialogue that describes what would

happen in your actual preview…

Example…ZOOM In

Pick your topic…Comedy, Drama, Romance… Pick your film Title…’Zoom In’ Hook…Big Brother’s Watching… Staring Land Stare and MRI… Silence invades the privacy and comforts of home,

as star crossed lovers find each other through eons of space and time…Sitting alone in your home, imagine Big Brother’s watching, but how long can he watch destruction unfold as she embarks upon a new adventure. Coming to a computer relay station near you…Watch as Land Stare and MRI…Zoom In!

Rated LCB (Love beneath Lite’s and Circuit Boards)

Poetry

Inspires Appeals Encourages Helps students stay focused Accommodates Focuses on oral expressive language Blends with reading Offers immediate affirmation Challenges gifted children Is open-minded Is non-competitive Prevents an alternative way to share knowledge in the content

areas.

6 Room Poetry

Georgia Heard, Awakening the Heart Includes several activities for incorporating

poetry into the class.

6 Room Poetry

Students bring a photograph of their favorite outdoor place…

Have them imagine it then…1. Being in that place…and describe what they see.2. What is the light like? Describe it’s quality.3. Focus on sounds…What do you hear as you look at your

photograph?4. What the student’s wonder about when they look at the

photography?5. What does this place make your student feel like when they

see it?6. Repeat their favorite phrase and words, already written.

-2005 When Writing Workshop Isn’t Working by Mark Overmeyer

List 5 or more characteristics that describe your best friend and/or someone important to your life…

Use this description to write a paragraph and/or poem about that person… Immoveable faithStrength beyond years

My Precious Box - Poetry

Start with writing a Territory list…Things that are tangible in your life,

moments of importance, family, etc.,Pick one and write a poem starting with’

Into my precious box, I will put…and write list…

Into my precious box..

Into my precious box, I will put the joys of my lifeThe love and tearsI will put a life of happiness filled with the pain of loss memoriesGood and bad times filled with laughter and rageI will gather all the precious people who have shaped me into the

woman that I am Place upon their heads a crown of thanks andEngrave upon their hearts unconditional love Remove all the fear of not being accepted and replace it with youthFilled with memories of running through fields of wheat on dirt filled

plains, which turn into mud as it begins to rain…My precious box shall rest safely in the palm of my handAnd with each new day that I forget how blessed I am I will open it to see…who and what made me who I am…

Making your Caseby. Bill Brunwin and Mike Smith

Stage I Make a list of topic student(s) have a strong interest in… Example…

New Media (internet, Ipods, etc.,) Politics Sports Religion Teaching Family Personal Development Psychology Educational Philosophy Artistic Expression Sarcasm Self-Efficacy

Move through group adding to list… Example

Financial, Stewardship, Music, Boating, Hunting, Angry Youth, etc., Select a topic…

Research….

New methods of completing research projects…

Stage IICreate list of pros and cons…

Ex. Topic is Sports…

Pros Promotes

sportmanship Tailgating Team building Can make $

Cons Dangerous Too competitive $ Time consuming Rejection Favoritism Fan behavior

Stage III –

The P’s and G’s About it…

Go through list of pros and cons…Identify if these items are:

G =>+/- on most people’s list P => personal perspective…most people

would not have this on their listThis allows you to pick a topic that

people have experience about…

Stage IV-IX

Leave the next couple of stages up to the student to decide to use or not to use.

Stage IV – Personal Experience Help students identify a personal experience w/their

topic to start as an anedote to the research project. Input factual data here…Remember the 5 W’s and

How? Stage V - Examples

Give more than one example to offer external validity for the public.

Ask other students if they have an incident hat you can use to support their case…

Document the incident down.

Stage IV-IX (Cont’d)

Stage VI – Preference Identify the two negative points that people would give to deplete

your topic… Make sure to use ‘relative contrast’ to show that you are

expressing the lesser of the two negatives. Have students identify a list of relative contrasts and discuss

with a partner… Document relative contrasts for later use.

State VII – Opposition Address opposing viewpoints and counter them with relevant

material used to invalidate the point of view. Share your counter arguments with a partner to see if they can

provide you with information that will state a contrary position. Explain reasons behind your position and conclude by

negativing them. Document as many down as possible…

Stage IV-IX (Cont’d)

Stage VIII – Statistical Evidence Generate categories of community members that you can

survey. Try to interview at least 6 different types of individuals. Asking

them for personal experience and media reports to rely on. Ex.

Classmates, retired people, homemakers, service workers, etc., Document positive statements in some form of numerical data

(%, 1 in 5, etc.,). State IX – Appeal to Authority

Search for other published documents to extract quotes that support your opinion.

Make sure to look for accredited, well-established sources of information.

Stage X – Organizational Change State XI – Publication/Presentation

Stage X – Organizational ChangeStudents should determine the order and form

in which to present their data.Should they…

Create a MP3 File, Powerpoint, Oral Presentation, Written Essay, etc.,

Stage XI – Publication/PresentationStudents present their case to the class.Each case should have…

A case maker who narrates the case from beginning to end.

Book List

I wanna Iguana by Karen Kaufman Orloff Dear Ms. Larue, by Mark Teaque The Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Fun Brain.Com Month by Month of Phonics-Pat Cunningham (upper grades), makes words, has sight words activities Reading Magic-“Why Reading aloud to our Children Will Change Their Lives Forever.” (Mem Fox) If parents understood the huge educational benefits and intense happiness brought about

by reading aloud to their children, and if every parent-and every adult caring for a child-read aloud a minimum of three stories a day to the children in their lives, we could probably wipe out illiteracy within one generation.”

The Butterfly Book (Brian Cassie and Jerry Pallotta)-Used in 8th grade inclusion (Pam) and students use it to create their own book, great science book A is for America-good for a clump and dump, great for symbolism (Scillian) The Flower Alphabet Book (Jerry Pallotta) - Used in science to teach the parts of the plant, probability, cross pollination, Art-give them the seeds to plant and decorate the pot, diversity

(lower kids, build on it.), book marks- press petals to make book marks, write on bookmarks, social studies-where these plants would these plants grow, connect to the community-rest home, beautification project-grow plants and use on school grounds

The Underwater Alphabet Book (Jerry Pallotta) Useful in science, lots of info about pollution, biomes, sea creatures The Yucky Reptile Book (Jerry Pallota) Useful in 8th grade writing activities or in a science class. *Idea-Animal Care Club-Put up a display in the library and encourage students to read to their pet. Quest- Cover pages have lots of words but there are no words on the inside pages, all the items on a particular page starts with that particular letter (B-bear, bees, etc.), good for one on

one, use as a writing prompt. Ocean Alphabet Book-great in science-covers ocean, properties of ocean water. A is for Zebra(Mark Shulman)-Cute title! H is for itch. Each phrase ends with the particular letter of the alphabet. “A happy ending on every page. Lots of rhyming, personification, would

be a fun project to get kids to create their own book A is Aardvark “Double the letters! Double the Fun. (Mark Shyulman)….doubling vowels and cons…H is Hawaii. Take the word that they are using as the example. Type up a list of the

words and give them to the kids to find patterns. W is for Wind(Pat Michaels)- 7th grade science, “P is for precipitation” Every word has a scientific paragraph about each vocabulary word. 8th grade science-oceans, great as a center

book The Icky Bug Alphabet Book (Jerry Pallotta)-Categorizing, content frame, sorting-“what is alike and what is different” Bread and Jam for Frances-(Russell Hoban) Good for 6th grade-how the character changes and develops. Wonderful way to do a sort. She creates poems to go along with feelings,

anything with a beat works well with the lower level children. Jamberry (Bruce Degen)-nice follow- up to Bread and Jam. Older kids like to write rhymes similar to the ones found in this book. Is Your Mamma a Llama- (Deborah Guarino) great book for repetitions, rhyming, interjections, and using quotation marks as the speaker changes constantly. “Is your momma?” “No,

she isn’t.” Upper grades like to create their own version of this book. Bears Snore On-good for onomatopoeia *Idea: Nursery Rhyme Card Activity-Each card has a line. Find your partner and create a rap to go with your nursery rhynme. *Idea-Animal Care Club-Put up a display in the library and encourage students to read to their pet. Zoom and Rezoom by Istvan Banyai Literacy Strategies for Improving Mathematics Instruction ISBN is 1-4166-0230-5.

Would You Salute by Kelley Steele.

http://www.yourteacher.com/lesson_detail.php?id=4093#

Websites http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=0013367f24e0b1fa7594 http://etc.usf.edu/lit2go/ Research planner - http://wwwlow.bham.wednet.edu/project.htm Graphic organizers - http://www.teach-nology.com/ Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/grammar/index.html ReadWriteThink Lesson Plan Supporting Vocabulary Development with EASE.htm http://www.lefbooks.org/matching_book_grants/  Classroom Instruction that Works Non-Linguistic Representation

http://manila.esu6.org/instructionalstrategies/http://manila.esu6.org/instructionalstrategies/stories/storyReader$13http://manila.esu6.org/instructionalstrategies/stories/storyReader$11

Science - http://www.ncsu.edu/kenanfellows/2003/tvoreis/main.html Poetry - http://teacherslounge.editme.com/mspoetry http://www.abcteach.com/directory/seasonalmonths/2_february/black_history_month/ Numerous Math Cartoons - http://math.about.com/od/mathcartoons/Math_Cartoons.htm Great transparencies for teaching math concepts,

http://lrt.ednet.ns.ca/PD/BLM/table_of_contents.htm recovering algebra-phobic - http://www.regentsprep.org/Regents/math/ALGEBRA/math-ALGEBRA.htm technology in the math classroom - http://jc-schools.net/tutorials/ms/math.htm Reproducible graphic organizers - http://www.greece.k12.ny.us/instruction/ela/6-12/Tools/Index.htm Social Studies - http://www.yourchildlearns.com/geography.htm or http:// www.americaslibrary.gov Sites with video clips – http://www.unitedsreaming.com and http://www.thefutureschannel.com Vocabulary Strategies - http://www.literacymatters.org/content/readandwrite/vocab.htm#tools You ought to be in picture - www.picturehistory.com Online vocabulary game - http://www.freerice.com

Websites

Grade 8 - Science: Science Review from 2005 VDOE Released Items Science Review from 2004 VDOE Released Items

Science Review from 2003 VDOE Released Items Science Review from 2002 VDOE Released Items Work and Machines Periodic Table Grade 3Grade 4Grade 5Grade 6Grade 7Grade 8EOC

End of Course - Science: Biology Review from 2006 VDOE Released Items Biology Review from 2005 VDOE Released Items

Chemistry Review from 2005 VDOE Released Items Earth Science Review from 2005 VDOE Released Items     Chemistry: Acids, Bases, and Salts       Chemistry: Chemical Formulas - Application     Chemistry: Building Blocks of Matter     Chemistry: Building Blocks of Matter Cloze Activity     Chemistry: Calculations and Measurements     Chemistry: Chemical Bonding 1     Chemistry: Chemical Bonding 1 Cloze Activity     Chemistry: Chemical Bonding 2     Chemistry: Chemical Bonding 2 Cloze Activity     Chemistry: Chemical Equations and Reactions     Chemistry: Arrangement of Electrons     Chemistry: Gas Laws     Chemistry: Kinetic Molecular Theory of Matter     Chemistry: Liquids and Solids     Chemistry: Matter Quiz     Chemistry: Matter Cloze Activity     Chemistry: Scientific Method, Measurement & Calculation     Chemistry: Molecular Composition of Gases     Chemistry: Periodic Law Matching Activity     Chemistry: Periodic Table of Elements     Chemistry: Stoichemetry     Chemistry: Solutions     Chemistry: Solutions Matching Activity Chemistry: Common Ions Biology Review from 2004 VDOE Released Items Biology Review from 2003 VDOE Released Items Biology Review from 2002 VDOE Released Items Biology Released Items from Texas Education Agency - Interactive Test Chemistry Review from 2004 VDOE Released Items Chemistry Review from 2003 VDOE Released Items Chemistry Review from 2002 VDOE Released Items Earth Science Review from 2004 VDOE Released Items Earth Science Review from 2003 VDOE Released Items Earth Science Review from 2002 VDOE Released Items Comprehensive Science Review - Random questions from Grade 8 Science, EOC Biology, EOC Chemistry & EOC Earth Science - Each time you do an activity 25 questions come randomly from a bank of 200 questions.

Social Studies http://www.readingquest.org/ QAR sites are

http://www.readwritethink.org/lesson_images/lesson980/qar.pdf   http://www.tantasqua.org/Superintendent/Profdevelopment/etqar.html

QAR questions in various content areashttp://www.learningpt.org/literacy/adolescent/strategies/qar.phphttp://www.tantasqua.org/Superintedent/Profdevelopment/etqar.htmlhttp://www.learningpt.org/literacy/adolescent/strategies/qua.php http://facultyfp.salisbury.edu/rdroyer/thunt/protist.htm

Illustrations http://www.shorpy.com Comic Books http://www.freecomicbookday.com Poetry http://www.favoritepoem.org/videos.html Character Education

http://community-2.webtv.net/GUIDEDREADING/ABOUTTHEAUTHOR/ 200 power points! http://www.pptpalooza.net/