Friday, June 18, 2010

Week Two

Week two got off to a great start as Debbie Jones presented the first demonstration. The topic of her demonstration was Using Writers' Notebooks and Writing Groups. Debbie emphasized the importance of sharing writing, and she showed us video clips of her students reading their own writing. To show us how it works, Debbie asked us to make a list of people--not relatives or friends--whom we would like to write. We shared our lists. Debbie then gave us some time to write our letters, and we later shared our letters.

Kamilah Whitley, a sixth, seventh, and eighth grade teacher at Craigmont Middle School, presented us with a demonstration that showed us the possibilities of writing. She started her demo by handing out keys and asking us to describe them. Afterwards, we shared. She then handed out photographs and asked us to write about them. Kamilah taught us that good writers put their F.A.C.E in their writing. F.A.C.E. stands for Figurative language, Appropriate transitions, Compound and Complex sentences, and Elaboration and Examples. Kamilah also read the first chapter of the book The Shakespeare Stealer and asked us to create four-square charts that required us to list important quotations and illustrate the events of the text.  Kamilah says she likes to give her students opportunities to be published, and several of her students have placed in the annual Wordsmith Writing Competition.

During her Tech Ten lesson, Jenny Brandon reminded us of the West Tennessee Writing Project website, which can be accessed by clicking this link:
http://www.westtennesseewritingproject.org/


Pat Evans of Jackson presented Tuesday. Pat read the book Frederick to us and asked us to draw a picture of an image from the book. Afterward, she asked us to write our own stories based on our pictures. This was a fun activity that fostered creativity and solid writing practice.


David Carithers set us to thinking about our teaching stories Tuesday as he led us in answering questions about our classrooms. David asked us to remember something about the last year of teaching that wasn't successful or that taught us something about teaching. After about an hour of writing, we were off to a good start on our teaching stories.






CI=Classroom Inquiry
David has been leading us into thinking about Classroom Inquiry. What questions do we have about education? What questions do we have about our classrooms? Throughout the coming school year, all WTWP Summer Institute participants will become investigators who will work to find the answers to their various questions.




On Wednesday morning, Jenny Brandon had a lot of great things to show us. The group watched as Jenny taught us more about Prezi, an amazing free presentation tool that is online. Jenny also talked to us about blogging and voicethread, and their uses in the classroom. She taught us about Bud Hunt's blog, "Bud the Teacher," and about http://www.thepioneerwoman.com/, a terrific blog by a real pioneer woman who can really cook. Our mouths were watering!


We later visited the UTM Writing Center, where we met Anna Clark and Jenna Wright, UTM English professors and Writing Center coordinators. Jenna and Anna explained the daily workings of the Writing Center. Anna shared some creative ideas for teaching writing, including the haiku maze, wrapping the school in poetry, and letting the students write on a poetry chair. Jenna and Anna were very gracious, as they served us delicious breads and offered us a table of free materials in addition to opening their doors and sharing their time despite their busy schedules. We thoroughly enjoyed our visit!

On Thursday, visitors came and we all ventured out for a Writing Marathon! Participants in a writing marathon must set out with the intention to write. After everyone writes for a timed period, individuals share their writing with the group. No responses are allowed. If anyone in the area asks what the group is doing, the only answer allowed is, "We are writers!" We divided into four groups and teacher consultants found themselves all over the beautiful Martin campus. One group drew quite a crowd in the library.


Read-Aloud was once again fabulous on Thursday afternoon. Among other stories, Tiana shared her childhood experiences with her beloved sister, Debbie shared her true feelings for John Denver, Jill shared her philosophy of life, and Doug read about the good ol' days riding to school on the school bus. It was obvious Thursday that everyone in the group has mastered the art of description, especially Doug.  










No comments:

Post a Comment