Group items tagged

Here are seven skills I can easily list for the organization trait. Organization is: 1) using a strong lead or hook, 2) using a variety of transition words correctly, 3) paragraphing correctly, 4) pacing the writing, 5) sequencing events/ideas logically, 6) concluding the writing in a satisfying way, 7) titling the writing interestingly and so that the title stands for the whole idea. Over the years, I have developed or found and adapted mini-lessons that have students practice these skills during my "Organization Month."

Now, let's talk differentiation:

The problem with focusing students on a product--instead of the writing process--is that the majority of the instructional time is spent teaching students to adhere to a formula.

re-order

order in which the four modules may be used is not critical

ocus and emphasis on the types of texts

What changes

is the

analytic reading

examining its meaning

read and reread deliberately.

understand the central ideas

supporting details

entails the careful gathering of observations

overall understanding and judgment

omparison and synthesis of ideas

drawing on relevant prior knowledge

suggests that educators select a minimum number of grade-level-appropriate short texts

as well as one extended text

in lower grades, chosen texts should include content from across the disciplines.

upper grades, content-area teachers are encouraged to consider how best to implement informational reading across the disciplines

present their analyses in writing and speaking

all students need access to a wide range of materials on a variety of topics and genres

students improve both their reading comprehension and their writing skills when writing in response to texts.

notes, summaries, learning logs, writing to learn tasks, or even a response to a short text selection or an open-ended question.[9]

hese responses can vary in length based on the questions asked and tasks performed, from answering brief questions to crafting multiparagraph responses in upper grades.

narrative story and narrative description

creative fiction, as well as memoirs, anecdotes, biographies, and autobiographies

include writing under time constraints

writing over multiple drafts

generate writing pieces in response to teacher-provided prompts and to their own prompts

For reading and writing in each module

Understand and apply grammar:

Cite evidence and analyze content

Understand and apply vocabulary

Conduct discussions and report findings:

grades 3-5

two standards progression charts for each grade level

Writing

peaking and Listening

Graham, S., and M. A. Hebert. 2010. Writing to Read: Evidence for How Writing Can Improve Reading. A Carnegie Corporation Time to Act Report. Washington, D.C.: Alliance for Excellent Education.

suggests both the number and types

Students

offer one way of organizing the standards

quarterly modules

reflects the integrated nature

four sections

to express an opinion/make an argument or to inform/explain

write

citing evidence

analyzing

grammar

vocabulary

discussions

reporting

They expect to see that you've thought about limits and objections to your claim.

We also know that whatever it is we think, it is never the entire truth. Our conclusions are partial, incomplete, and always subject to challenge. So we write in a way that allows others to test our reasoning: we present our best thinking as a series of claims, reasons, and responses to imagined challenges, so that readers can see not only what we think, but whether they ought to agree.

So your first step in writing an assigned paper occurs well before you begin writing: You must know what your instructor expects.

Start by looking carefully at the words of the assignment.

When most of your instructors ask what the point of your paper is, they have in mind something different. By "point" or "claim" (the words are virtually synonymous with thesis), they will more often mean the most important sentence that you wrote in your essay, a sentence that appears on the page, in black in white; words that you can point to, underline, send on a postcard; a sentence that sums up the most important thing you want to say as a result of your reading, thinking, research, and writing. In that sense, you might state the point of your paper as "Well, I want to show/prove/claim/argue/demonstrate (any of those words will serve to introduce the point) that "Though Falstaff seems to play the role of Hal's father, he is, in fact, acting more like a younger brother who . . . ."" If you include in your paper what appears after I want to prove that, then that's the point of your paper, its main claim that the rest of your paper supports.

These digital activities should not be the sole measure of tenure, but they should be counted in the tenure formula. The irony today is that if the open activity is analog (e.g., participation on a committee), it likely counts toward tenure, but if the open activity is digital (e.g., writing an academic blog), it probably does not.

They will push at (and leak out of) the boundaries of whatever learning management system (or other enterprise systems) the institution wants them to use. This is not because they are uncooperative; it's simply that these enterprise systems tend to be locked down, allowing only employees and students to share within these environments

For me, an interesting side effect of sharing on the open web is that I've learned to be more careful about what I say and write.

Looking for indicators of open digital faculty is easier than coming up with a strict definition. The presence of several of the following characteristics should be taken as an indication of open digital faculty: Writing a public blog or maintaining a public wiki to share academic interests Freely sharing what might otherwise be guarded intellectual property (e.g., textbooks, research-in-progress, computer programs, course materials, artwork) Participating in a learning community in a social networking platform (e.g., Twitter or LinkedIn discussion groups) Participating in a social network that includes students, both current and past (e.g., Facebook) Encouraging students to participate in class-related projects that employ web-based media (e.g., student blogs, group wikis) Creating or participating in open courses Sharing video or audio content created for a course (e.g., podcasts) Sharing information and ideas from conference talks on the web (e.g., recordings, tweets, presentation links)