Google Surprises

Every once in awhile I google my name along with Teaching the Story. I found some sites that I expected, and some surprises:

Not Surprised by:

My "interview" with Joyce Hostetter on her blog. Not only do Joyce and I teach together, but I also consider her to be my writing mentor. When she invited guest bloggers, I thought I'd include musings I have in my head about writing historical fiction. Here we are at NWRESA.



There were several references to our newsletter Talking Story.



I saw Elysabeth Elderling's, author of the Junior Geography Detective Squad series, postings on how she is skyping with a teacher in Utah and using my book. Very cool!

There was an announcement about my upcoming library event (listed under "If You're Bored..." I guess that's a good thing!)

I found a review that I had read before, one which was fairly recent, one that I hadn't seen, and one from Orton Gillingham.

Surprised by:

I read a great blog about how social media is here to stay in the classroom written by Steve Johnson. Steve wrote the technology lessons for my book and is now completing his own book for Maupin House. Here he is teaching some students in Rockingham, NC:



I found an internet bookshop advertising my book in Spanish (the ad, not my book!); an Italian website offering English language arts materials; and a listing in an Australian bookstore.

I found several sites that had uploaded handouts from the book. Here are some from creating a Genre Setting; handouts from Making the Red Pencil Your Best Friend; and one of my favorites, my Build-a-Plot.

I discovered an excerpt about using technology to teach revisions that was on Literacy Connections and a blog from a teacher who attended one of workshops at the SC Middle School conference.

These were other surprises: an article in Better Teaching on "Show, Don't Tell" writing. (p. 3); and an article just posted 7 hours ago which shows my video on teaching creative writing in the classroom!

I found out that my blog was on a list of 150 useful, educational, and inspirational blogs.

Finally, I discovered a website about wikis in the classroom which showed my video about wikis. Here it is:


It goes to show. You never know where a Google search might take you.

Technorati Tags:
oyce Hostetter, Talking Story: Fiction Writing in Grades 4-8, Steve Johnson, Elysabeth Elderling, classroom wikis, revision
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Wikis & Writing Across the Curriculum

What could be a more engaging way to reinforce science and social studies facts (and to simultaneously stretch under-used imaginations) then to teach students how to write short stories that incorporate either scientific, historic, or cultural data into fiction? Yesterday at NWRESA, I taught a group of North Carolina teachers how to create and use wikis as a tool to accomplish this goal.

These are the wikis which they collaborated on. As you look through them, realize that these are "works in progress" and that they were each created and assembled in under two hours. As we reviewed them at the end of the day, I was impressed with the way each group of teachers came up with unique historical characters and science-inspired settings. If a random assortment of teachers can generate these story starters, what could your students produce?

As you navigate through these wikis, click on the blue hyperlinks. These are links which the teachers embedded to websites or other pages within their wiki.

http://ashleytrivette.pbworks.com/

http://frazierscience.pbworks.com/

www.wikhump.pbworks.com

http://rountreeclass.pbworks.com/A-Trip-through-the-body

http://mv6eagles.pbworks.com/Social-Studies-Character

http://evasreadingclass.pbworks.com/A-Soldier's-Dream

http://birdlady11.pbworks.com/George-Cousins

http://mrsklutzmusic.pbworks.com/Rockin'-Rollin'-and-Readin'

Part of my pleasure in training teachers is to watch them get excited about new concepts to use in the classroom. These teachers used a feedback form in which they answered, "I came expecting...." and "I got....."

One teacher wrote, "I came expecting something that would not help me in the classroom;" and "I got a thoroughly developed higher order thinking activity that I will use extensively."

Another shared, "I came expecting nothing;" and "I got a useful way to encourage students to write."

A third said, "I came expecting to read stories and write about them in some way;" and I got a great tool that I can use in my self-contained EC room."

I was pleased that several teachers valued the hands-on experience of learning a new technology tool which they could use to develop writing skills across subject areas.

As you look through these wikis I hope you will find ideas for how to start a wiki of your own. Feel free to contact me at cbaldwin6@carolina.rr.com for information on a writing workshop using wikis in your school or district. Technorati Tags:
classroom wikis, NWRESA, Writing across the curriculum
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Wiki 101

For the last few weeks I have enjoyed the opportunity of teaching four home school students and have been using a wiki, a digital technology tool that is included in the second edition of Teaching the Story. If you're not familiar with a wiki, take a few minutes to watch this fun video. Or, check out this informative video that tells you about additional features. Very simply, a wiki is an editable website (think Wikipedia) which opens up worlds of possibilities for your classroom. (There are several free wiki hosts including www.pbwiki.com, www.wetpaint.com, and www.wikispaces.com. I have preferred the first for its ease of use and support services.)

Before our first class, I set up our class wiki and sent out an e-mail inviting the students to each create a page introducing themselves to one another. I encouraged them to upload a favorite picture so they could begin exploring the wiki's potential. Since I gave them all access to the wiki as writers, they theoretically could change someone else's work. As a result, it was important in our first class to discuss the responsibility and trust involved in using a wiki.

During the second week, I encouraged them to leave comments for one another about their descriptive paragraphs. I also created folders for each student for their weekly writing assignments which helped organize the wiki and helped us all to find a writer's work. In addition, I created my folder in which I leave their writing assignments. I use this folder to hold handouts which I upload from the Teaching the Story resource CD; they are responsible to print these out and bring them to class. This has been a great tool as it gives them responsibility to accumulate and organize their materials.

During the third class we played a writing and revising game, "Jazz it Up" and I showed them how to use editing tools such as the cross-out function and red font to edit and revise on the wiki. The process of critiquing each other's work strengthens them as writers as they must think: "What is wrong with this writing?", "How could I help make this writing better?" and "How can I avoid this mistake in the future?" Doing this with a spirit of co-operation also teaches students to respect one another and enhances collaborative work.

If you look in the girls' folders, you'll see that a lot of interaction goes on during non-class time. Since the class is small, I am encouraging them to each read, comment, and edit one another's work at least once a week. This amount of interaction would not be possible in a typical classroom and you would probably need to establish small groups of editing partners that were responsible to give each other feedback. Since the class will only meet eight times, the wiki allows me to instruct and provide input into the students' work while they are writing their stories, thus maximizing the entire learning experience.

Wikis are a way to help you cultivate the stories which your students write. As for myself, I would love to lead more home school and school workshops, so please contact me through this blog if you are interested in setting up a writing workshop for your students.

Write on!

Technorati Tags:Teaching the Story: Fiction Writing in Grades 4-8, classroom wikis, technology in the classroom
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