This is a terrific mini lesson from Barry Lane. He shows (not tells) how to explode a moment into a full page of rich writing. The visuals in this video will catch any student's attention.
This site contains hundreds of visual aids (illustrations) that can be used to support instructional tasks such as describing objects and people (i.e., teaching vocabulary) or describing entire events and situations (i.e., teaching grammar).
Illustrations pour l'enseignement des langues étrangères"Ce site contient des centaines de supports visuels (illustrations) qui peuvent être utilisés pour supporter les tâches pédagogiques tels que des objets qui décrivent et des personnes (c.-à-enseignement du vocabulaire) ou décrivant des événements et des situations entières (c.-à-enseignement de la grammaire)."Plus de 400 dessins au trait, consultables et consultable, libres d'utiliser à des fins éducatives, repéré par Larry Ferlazzo.
The illustrations were created as part of the Visuals for Developing Communication Skills in Foreign Language Classes project, initated by Paul Toth, former Director of the Less-Commonly-Taught Languages Center.
Native American languages impose on their speakers a picture of reality that is totally different from ours, so their speakers would simply not be able to understand some of our most basic concepts, like the flow of time or the distinction between objects
rash-landed on hard facts and solid common sense, when it transpired that there had never actually been any evidence to support his fantastic claims
new research has revealed that when we learn our mother tongue, we do after all acquire certain habits of thought that shape our experience in significant and often surprising ways.
if different languages influence our minds in different ways, this is not because of what our language allows us to think but rather because of what it habitually obliges us to think about
You may well wonder whether my companion was male or female, but I have the right to tell you politely that it’s none of your business. But if we were speaking French or German, I wouldn’t have the privilege to equivocate in this way
but I do have to tell you something about the timing of the event: I have to decide whether we dined, have been dining, are dining, will be dining and so on. Chinese, on the other hand, does not oblige its speakers to specify the exact time of the action in this way, because the same verb form can be used for past, present or future actions.
When speakers were asked to grade various objects on a range of characteristics, Spanish speakers deemed bridges, clocks and violins to have more “manly properties” like strength, but Germans tended to think of them as more slender or elegant.
gendered languages” imprint gender traits for objects so strongly in the mind that these associations obstruct speakers’ ability to commit information to memory
When French speakers saw a picture of a fork (la fourchette), most of them wanted it to speak in a woman’s voice, but Spanish speakers, for whom el tenedor is masculine, preferred a gravelly male voice for it.
Nonetheless, once gender connotations have been imposed on impressionable young minds, they lead those with a gendered mother tongue to see the inanimate world through lenses tinted with associations and emotional responses that English speakers — stuck in their monochrome desert of “its” — are entirely oblivious to.
Burdened by expanding curriculum and multiplying high-stakes assessment requirements, some of my respected colleagues might be forgiven for not integrating student journals into their courses. The most common objection: "Who has time?"
This is a great book for any writing teacher. I bought my copy in 86 when it first came out. Here it is on Google books. Support Natalie Goldberg's work. Buy a copy!
Taking writing courses can help writing teachers become better writers, mentors, and readers. There are several free university level writing courses that can be taken online. Credit is not available for any of the courses and degrees are not awarded, but the opportunity to build new skills is undeniable. Here are 10 self-paced writing courses to explore in your spare time.
Taking writing courses can help writing teachers become better writers, mentors, and readers. There are several free university level writing courses that can be taken online. Credit is not available for any of the courses and degrees are not awarded, but the opportunity to build new skills is undeniable. Here are 10 self-paced writing courses to explore in your spare time.
"Taking writing courses can help writing teachers become better writers, mentors, and readers. There are several free university level writing courses that can be taken online. Credit is not available for any of the courses and degrees are not awarded, but the opportunity to build new skills is undeniable. Here are 10 self-paced writing courses to explore in your spare time."
Teaching digital literacy, information literacy, citizenship literacy via journalism lessons and resources for 7-12 grade students. I like the combination of writing journalism with the deep thinking skills needed for information fluency.
New York, June 10, 2010 – "If school is supposed to help us in the rest of the world, shouldn't school look like what's going on in the rest of the world?" asks 10th-grade teacher Paige Cole, one of nine classroom teachers profiled in Writing, Learning and Leading in the Digital Age (PDF), a College Board–National Writing Project (NWP)–Phi Delta Kappa International (PDKI) report released today on the state of technology resources in the classroom.
ONe of the reasons I enjoy social bookmarking is the chance to look over the shoulder of folks with active & interesting minds. This way I can discover a bit of what they are discovering and sharing. Here's a nugget mined with the tag 'writing' from Miquel Guhlin's Blog Around the corner.\n\nMiguel Guhlin: I'm trying to justify the expense of technology to impact writing. I'm looking less for anecdotes than I am "hard research," whatever that is. However, stories are powerful, so I'm asking that if you have either to share, to add them below in the appropriate section. Using the information here, I intend to justify technology advocacy in my district and other places.
Summary: Reva Potter, a teacher-consultant with the Dakota Writing Project, and colleague Dorothy Fuller report on an action research project which concludes that Grammar Check instruction combined with direct instruction from the teacher can result in significant improvement in student understanding of key grammar concepts.
Mentor texts are published works that can be used to inspire or guide writers during well-crafted writing lessons. When introduced thoughtfully during instruction, a mentor text motivates students to want to write something like a published writer.
Summary: Responding to another's writing is always a challenging task. As a member of the E-Team behind NWP's E-Anthology, Brian Slusher discovered an effective response strategy: Praise, Question, and Wish.