Today's lesson in the sixth grade class went along the lines of Ways to Be a Good Researcher. I taught: Complete your source sheet only when you know you'll be taking notes from the source. Determine if your subtopics are worthy. Will they offer you the chance to collect several bits of information? Are… Continue reading reading research.
Category: expository
research mania.
Let's be honest. How many of you out there about lose your mind during the research phase of expository writing? Here in Indiana, it is expected that beginning in 3rd grade, students use the Internet to find facts for their expository writing. Now I'm all for technology . . . and learning to integrate it… Continue reading research mania.
Share this:
Share this:
interviews + personal essays.
Dave Eldridge & I have been working on a personal essay unit in his sixth grade class. As the week went on, I've gotten more & more excited about this unit of study. Dave wanted to included the opportunity for students to interview their family members from another generation. At first I wasn't sure how… Continue reading interviews + personal essays.
Share this:
Share this:
What if…?
Ruth's post from Thursday got me thinking about how to improve the practice that surrounds the teaching of non-fiction writing. Just how can it get better? What if teachers from across age levels got to together and talked about the expectations across grade levels for what kinds of things kids should know by such-and-such grade?… Continue reading What if…?
Share this:
Share this:
a little unit planning
Tomorrow is our last day before a two week break. Upon returning, I'll be working in 3 classrooms, all focusing on nonfiction writing (2 on research & 1 on persuasion). I love this shift in focus in many writing workshops that happens after break. What's on my mind, though, is vertical alignment. I've now worked at… Continue reading a little unit planning
Share this:
Share this:
Creating Folders for “Patches of Thought”
During my first year of teaching I attended a Calendar Day hosted by the TCRWP where I got the idea for creating portable folders for my students to use in Writing Workshop to assist them with collecting "patches of thought" for each of their subordinate ideas during the personal essay unit of study. Though Lucy… Continue reading Creating Folders for “Patches of Thought”
Share this:
Share this:
Writer’s Prompts
I received a supplement with my students' Time for Kids Magazines today. It was called "Writer's Prompts: 36 Great Writing Ideas! Great writing starts with a great idea." I've chosen to upload and share the best three of the thirty-six prompts that I found in this supplement. That being said, I'm wondering how many teachers… Continue reading Writer’s Prompts
