Friday, October 8, 2010
Spelling
Lynne and I are working on spelling (aka "Grappling with Spelling Instruction") for our MGRP. We're still grappling. So far, it's been pretty interesting, but it's a little frustrating that there aren't any answers. If anyone's got data on what spelling methods are best, we haven't found it. We have found some interesting and useful tidbits, though. I'm going to keep them secret so you can't sleep when we share with the class after the papers all get turned in. Because you all care about spelling, don't you? I thought so!
Monday, October 4, 2010
How to Save Your Blog for Printing
I found a great tip for printing! You can, of course, print straight from the screen, but if you're printing at home you'll waste a lot of ink and paper. Try this:
1. Go to your blog, but use the following as the URL: http://blogname.blogspot.com/
(tip: change "blogname" to be the first part of the URL for your blog).
2. In your browser, save the web page. If there's a "complete" option, choose that because it'll get all the graphics you've put in your posts. I'd tell you where save is, but since I don't know where it is on every browser I'm not sure. Look for a Tools menu. In Chrome it's under the wrench icon at the upper right part of the screen.
3. Open up the file in Word. You will, most likely, want to get rid of the background so you don't waste ink. That's under Page Layout-->Page Color-->No Color.
Blogger does have an export feature, but it dumps xml. I couldn't find an easy way to translate that into a file for humans to read (though if you like xml you'll like the dump, it's detailed). If you wanted to back up your blog, you'd want to use that export feature because you can directly import it back.
1. Go to your blog, but use the following as the URL: http://blogname.blogspot.com/
(tip: change "blogname" to be the first part of the URL for your blog).
2. In your browser, save the web page. If there's a "complete" option, choose that because it'll get all the graphics you've put in your posts. I'd tell you where save is, but since I don't know where it is on every browser I'm not sure. Look for a Tools menu. In Chrome it's under the wrench icon at the upper right part of the screen.
3. Open up the file in Word. You will, most likely, want to get rid of the background so you don't waste ink. That's under Page Layout-->Page Color-->No Color.
Blogger does have an export feature, but it dumps xml. I couldn't find an easy way to translate that into a file for humans to read (though if you like xml you'll like the dump, it's detailed). If you wanted to back up your blog, you'd want to use that export feature because you can directly import it back.
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Readings for 10/4
By the time I'm writing this about a third of the cohort has already posted, so I think we've covered the Hale chapters pretty well. I got as much out of these chapters as I did the previous three. This book makes me want to try everything.
I'd like to focus on Karen's article. As someone who feels connected to multiple ways of looking at young children's writing, I felt a bit angry at how the teacher felt forced to do things against her personal philosophy because that's what the people above wanted. I am reminded of the Teacher Town Hall on MSNBC last weekend when several teachers were grateful that teachers had even been asked to join the conversation. It seems to me that while it may be up to governments and administrators to determine what gets taught, teachers need to have some input on the how and when based on what researches have found out.
Karen's article surprised me in my own response a bit. For example, I didn't realize how strongly I felt about teaching children when they are mentally and physically ready to learn until I read about Ashley. There are still some countries that test children for school readiness by having them copy an adult do a specific motion that crosses the midline. The motion varies slightly depending on the culture, but children who cannot do it wait until they can do it and children who can go to school. I can demonstrate for anyone who's curious the next time we're together. It's very interesting, and studies seem to indicate that this simple test is a pretty good indicator of readiness for school for a variety of reasons. I don't want anyone to take this to mean that kids who aren't ready in those ways aren't teachable. What I think is that it means they need more exposure and time to play with literacy in a less formal way than what many schools in this country provide.
But I think I'm a bit of a mishmash when it comes to the various discourses. Following the chart on page 342, I'm probably least in line with the "Skills and Mastery" discourse, at least for young children. Giving kids lots of exposure to lots of different kinds of literacy when they are very young is still, I'm convinced, the way to go. I may have posted this before, but for anyone interested in a parent-friendly discussion on getting children ready to read, I highly recommend Mem Fox's Reading Magic. Sadly, the book's been overhyped in a bad way and Mem herself would be the first to tell you she doesn't like some of the "magical" claims that have been made about her book. But it's a quick read and worth it.
I'd like to focus on Karen's article. As someone who feels connected to multiple ways of looking at young children's writing, I felt a bit angry at how the teacher felt forced to do things against her personal philosophy because that's what the people above wanted. I am reminded of the Teacher Town Hall on MSNBC last weekend when several teachers were grateful that teachers had even been asked to join the conversation. It seems to me that while it may be up to governments and administrators to determine what gets taught, teachers need to have some input on the how and when based on what researches have found out.
Karen's article surprised me in my own response a bit. For example, I didn't realize how strongly I felt about teaching children when they are mentally and physically ready to learn until I read about Ashley. There are still some countries that test children for school readiness by having them copy an adult do a specific motion that crosses the midline. The motion varies slightly depending on the culture, but children who cannot do it wait until they can do it and children who can go to school. I can demonstrate for anyone who's curious the next time we're together. It's very interesting, and studies seem to indicate that this simple test is a pretty good indicator of readiness for school for a variety of reasons. I don't want anyone to take this to mean that kids who aren't ready in those ways aren't teachable. What I think is that it means they need more exposure and time to play with literacy in a less formal way than what many schools in this country provide.
But I think I'm a bit of a mishmash when it comes to the various discourses. Following the chart on page 342, I'm probably least in line with the "Skills and Mastery" discourse, at least for young children. Giving kids lots of exposure to lots of different kinds of literacy when they are very young is still, I'm convinced, the way to go. I may have posted this before, but for anyone interested in a parent-friendly discussion on getting children ready to read, I highly recommend Mem Fox's Reading Magic. Sadly, the book's been overhyped in a bad way and Mem herself would be the first to tell you she doesn't like some of the "magical" claims that have been made about her book. But it's a quick read and worth it.
Friday, October 1, 2010
My Pen
Several of you have asked about my pen. As I write on special paper, it records what's going on in the room. I can, at any point, tap on where I've written and the audio will play back. It's like a tape recorder with bookmarks. I can put my notes on the computer so they're searchable. You can also buy software that transcribes your notes so you can use them with word processing software, but I'm too cheap to do that. You can share the notes as .pdfs or as a pencast where the audio is also available. You can do this in a secure way by requiring that everyone who will access your pencast create an account with Livescribe, the company that makes the pen. There is also translation software and some cute apps. I can show you the piano app sometime if we're all bored.
I know that a newer version is out now, so I did a little research. My pen, which is functionally identical to the new one of the same storage size (4GB), is now a lot cheaper. It's called the Pulse pen and that link goes to the cheapest price I found. The new version is called the Echo. As I mentioned, it's functionally the same, but it's black and has more standard connectors (standard headphone jack and mini USB, to be precise). There is also a bigger storage size pen available that also has removable storage. It's also an Echo, just 8GB instead of 4. You get 100 hours of recording for every gigabyte of storage, so the smaller pens will most definitely get you through a semester.
You do have to buy special paper. Along with the Echo pens, it's available at Target and Best Buy. There's no benefit to buying the paper at Amazon because it's the same price and you have to pay shipping if you're not a Prime member. Don't forget, you're supposed to list online purchases in your taxes now, so you're not even really getting away with sales tax. I could not find the Pulse pen the last time I went to Target, so I'm sure they're phasing those out.
Let me know if you have questions!
I know that a newer version is out now, so I did a little research. My pen, which is functionally identical to the new one of the same storage size (4GB), is now a lot cheaper. It's called the Pulse pen and that link goes to the cheapest price I found. The new version is called the Echo. As I mentioned, it's functionally the same, but it's black and has more standard connectors (standard headphone jack and mini USB, to be precise). There is also a bigger storage size pen available that also has removable storage. It's also an Echo, just 8GB instead of 4. You get 100 hours of recording for every gigabyte of storage, so the smaller pens will most definitely get you through a semester.
You do have to buy special paper. Along with the Echo pens, it's available at Target and Best Buy. There's no benefit to buying the paper at Amazon because it's the same price and you have to pay shipping if you're not a Prime member. Don't forget, you're supposed to list online purchases in your taxes now, so you're not even really getting away with sales tax. I could not find the Pulse pen the last time I went to Target, so I'm sure they're phasing those out.
Let me know if you have questions!
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Readings for 9/27
Wow, what a practical bunch of chapters! So many of my questions were answered. The try-its seemed very powerful (and a familiar concept to anyone with a Brownie Girl Scout in their lives). Hale has mentioned avoiding practicing crafts in isolation, and I think the try-it concept is a good way to focus on the craft with a safe space to muck around with it a bit while avoiding too many boring examples of the same thing. Having a small library of crafts for students to refer back to when they need a little inspiration can only be a good thing.
The "research" thing was a bit difficult for me to grasp at first, and I think it was simply terminology. When I think of "research" I think of something that's long and arduous. While I recognize that I have to pay attention to students' writing development at all points, it took me some time to understand that a portion of the research was on-the-spot during the conference. I'm not sure what word I would have used to describe that part of the process other than "research," so I can't even claim to have a better idea.
Chapters 7-9 were just what I needed to clarify much of what I had been wondering about.
The "research" thing was a bit difficult for me to grasp at first, and I think it was simply terminology. When I think of "research" I think of something that's long and arduous. While I recognize that I have to pay attention to students' writing development at all points, it took me some time to understand that a portion of the research was on-the-spot during the conference. I'm not sure what word I would have used to describe that part of the process other than "research," so I can't even claim to have a better idea.
Chapters 7-9 were just what I needed to clarify much of what I had been wondering about.
Friday, September 24, 2010
Spelling
I am struggling with the whole spelling thing. From my own personal experience I can see that traditional spelling tests are not helpful to all students. Unless a teacher is paying attention and willing to work individually with students who don't transfer their knowledge of spelling into the wider world, it's wasted time for those kids. All the other kids usually already know how to spell the words on the list anyway.
On the other hand, I subbed in a 5th grade classroom today where very few words at all were spelled correctly. Some of the kids could not even correctly copy words that the student teacher put on the projector for everyone to write down. We're not talking about big, challenging words. We're talking about words like, "social," "studies," "bored," "lunch," and, my personal favorite of the day, "fart." Yes, bodily functions were misspelled right and left in addition to more socially acceptable words.
So what to do? When you get a whole class of children who are so clearly behind in their ability to spell, what's the right course of action? They were all able to write sentences and even some decent-sized paragraphs, so it's not as though they were completely behind in all language arts areas. At what point should their poor spelling be corrected? And what's the best way to do that without stifling creativity? Am I back to traditional spelling tests? Word pattern study? What? I'm not sure I'd feel right as a teacher if I didn't at least help students improve their spelling somewhat.
Any ideas?
On the other hand, I subbed in a 5th grade classroom today where very few words at all were spelled correctly. Some of the kids could not even correctly copy words that the student teacher put on the projector for everyone to write down. We're not talking about big, challenging words. We're talking about words like, "social," "studies," "bored," "lunch," and, my personal favorite of the day, "fart." Yes, bodily functions were misspelled right and left in addition to more socially acceptable words.
So what to do? When you get a whole class of children who are so clearly behind in their ability to spell, what's the right course of action? They were all able to write sentences and even some decent-sized paragraphs, so it's not as though they were completely behind in all language arts areas. At what point should their poor spelling be corrected? And what's the best way to do that without stifling creativity? Am I back to traditional spelling tests? Word pattern study? What? I'm not sure I'd feel right as a teacher if I didn't at least help students improve their spelling somewhat.
Any ideas?
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Readings for 9/20
Initial Thoughts
The first chapter in Crafting Writers scared me a bit. I don't journal, and now I'm supposed to write on my own in order to improve my writing instruction? I'm supposed to keep a writer's notebook? Yikes! The most writing I ever do these days is e-mail and grocery lists. Clearly, I have a lot to learn.
The Important Things
The most important thing I got out of the first six chapters is that we need to teach children to craft while they are writing instead of editing after the fact. I know that most of what I learned about writing had to do with editing, so it's completely out of my comfort zone. But I felt Hale had many concrete ideas to offer me in support.
The idea of specific craft was a tad foreign to me, I must admit. But once I learned that my students and I could name these bits of writing anything we wanted (assuming some smarty-pants hadn't beaten us to it and put it on standardized tests), I felt some relief. I have no clue why I felt this way, since I like things well-defined and I'm a rule-follower. Perhaps the idea of hunting down runaway crafts and naming them to make them ours made it sound more fun than memorizing a bunch of rules for how to make writing better.
What also calmed me down a bit was the notion that it's not about using all the "right" bits of craft but about playing with them to get the affect that you want. Variety seems to be key, rather than there being a perfect method, at least with young writers who are still learning the basics. What a relief!
Personally, I really appreciated the chapter on primary writers. As someone with experience working with young children, it's nice to see them given some props. They are so proud of their work and so fearless in their attempts it's good to know that we're supposed to encourage all those visual explorations. I wish there had been a short discussion on play. There have been several studies that show that the more imaginative a child's play when using the simplest of props the better writer that child will be as they get older. Supporting that inner narrative would seem to be an important step toward developing skill in writing. Has anyone named "Once Upon a Time" as a specific craft yet? I'd like first dibs.
Unanswered Questions
Despite feeling a little better about this whole writing thing, I still have questions. These may seem stupid to some of you, but I'm a details person and these things still seem nebulous to me.
What exactly is a writer's notebook? Is it just stuff I've written? Do I put whatever I want in there, like collections of things? I sort of think yes, but I'm really not sure. What am I supposed to write?
Is writer's workshop a predefined sort of program? A philosophy? Or is it just a collection of activities we call "writer's workshop?" Are there mandatory parts? Do they go in a certain order? If I walked into a classroom, would I be able to tell after a day or so if they did writer's workshop if they didn't use that name?
The first chapter in Crafting Writers scared me a bit. I don't journal, and now I'm supposed to write on my own in order to improve my writing instruction? I'm supposed to keep a writer's notebook? Yikes! The most writing I ever do these days is e-mail and grocery lists. Clearly, I have a lot to learn.
The Important Things
The most important thing I got out of the first six chapters is that we need to teach children to craft while they are writing instead of editing after the fact. I know that most of what I learned about writing had to do with editing, so it's completely out of my comfort zone. But I felt Hale had many concrete ideas to offer me in support.
The idea of specific craft was a tad foreign to me, I must admit. But once I learned that my students and I could name these bits of writing anything we wanted (assuming some smarty-pants hadn't beaten us to it and put it on standardized tests), I felt some relief. I have no clue why I felt this way, since I like things well-defined and I'm a rule-follower. Perhaps the idea of hunting down runaway crafts and naming them to make them ours made it sound more fun than memorizing a bunch of rules for how to make writing better.
What also calmed me down a bit was the notion that it's not about using all the "right" bits of craft but about playing with them to get the affect that you want. Variety seems to be key, rather than there being a perfect method, at least with young writers who are still learning the basics. What a relief!
Personally, I really appreciated the chapter on primary writers. As someone with experience working with young children, it's nice to see them given some props. They are so proud of their work and so fearless in their attempts it's good to know that we're supposed to encourage all those visual explorations. I wish there had been a short discussion on play. There have been several studies that show that the more imaginative a child's play when using the simplest of props the better writer that child will be as they get older. Supporting that inner narrative would seem to be an important step toward developing skill in writing. Has anyone named "Once Upon a Time" as a specific craft yet? I'd like first dibs.
Unanswered Questions
Despite feeling a little better about this whole writing thing, I still have questions. These may seem stupid to some of you, but I'm a details person and these things still seem nebulous to me.
What exactly is a writer's notebook? Is it just stuff I've written? Do I put whatever I want in there, like collections of things? I sort of think yes, but I'm really not sure. What am I supposed to write?
Is writer's workshop a predefined sort of program? A philosophy? Or is it just a collection of activities we call "writer's workshop?" Are there mandatory parts? Do they go in a certain order? If I walked into a classroom, would I be able to tell after a day or so if they did writer's workshop if they didn't use that name?
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