Sep
30
Written by:
Instructional Technology
9/30/2009 9:37 AM
I hope all is going well. I’d like to say thanks to all of you for your partnership in Inspired Writing. In traveling about the schools, the early results have been nothing less than inspiring. I had the real privilege of working with 6th graders participating in an online discussion about themselves as writers. The facilitating teacher, Tammy Falcone, shared with me how many more voices she was able to “hear”, and how the act of writing responses clarified and extended the students’ thinking process.
Hello teachers!
I hope all is going well. I’d like to say thanks to all of you for your partnership in Inspired Writing. In traveling about the schools, the early results have been nothing less than inspiring. I had the real privilege of working with 6th graders participating in an online discussion about themselves as writers. The facilitating teacher, Tammy Falcone, shared with me how many more voices she was able to “hear”, and how the act of writing responses clarified and extended the students’ thinking process.
Likewise, Thomas Uhl at Littleton HS is using technology to differentiate instruction. He gives multi-media vocabulary quizzes to his 9th graders, but in delivering the assessment (which the students complete paper and pen), he found he was moving too slowly for some, and too quickly for others. The solution: Post the assessment and allow kids to download them individually and work at their own pace. In just a couple of weeks, he’s seen better completion rates and scores.
Speaking of vocabulary, this site might be a wonderful way to merge writing and vocabulary. Students have 60 seconds to write about, or include in their writing, the word of the day. Once submitted, students’ work is posted along with all other responses.
I’m sure that many of you are aware of the October 20th National Day of Writing, sponsored in part by the National Council of Teachers of English. To collect, exhibit, and archive the thousands of responses they are expecting, NCTE has built an online gallery to host submitted work. Note the growing number of galleries from Colorado. If we want our students to write for a variety of audiences, and I think we do, this could be a great way to grow a community of writers. To this end, our own Michelle Davis (AHS) was noted by NCTE for extending her writing community to include parents. Nicely done! And for aspiring journalists, don’t forget http://www.yourhub.com/ as a publishing possibility.
Thanks, teachers, for the work that you do for students. It is Inspired.
Mike