Group items tagged

IRA research guide for writing; includes a variety of activities

Tips for writing conclusions from TFK writers.

Student writing samples K-12. Recommended by Keys to Literacy.

"We want a team to think about action research as a collaborative endeavor, where principals and teachers work together to improve something over time. It's not just about gathering data, it's about working hard to improve something. Maybe you see a need to improve writing in the building, and you're going to figure out whether there's a way to take a techno-constructivist approach to strengthening students' writing skills. Maybe you feel the culture of your school is very mired in antiquated approaches to teaching and learning, and you want to build a new culture of innovation and collaboration, so you're going to develop your project around that goal."

Children not only learn to read more quickly when they first learn to write by hand, but they also remain better able to generate ideas and retain information. In other words, it's not just what we write that matters - but how.

List of words that Shakespeare invented. Includes links to the plays in which they first appeared. Idea: Connect to writing instruction about RIP words. Emphasize Shakespeare's inventiveness with language

List of words that Shakespeare invented. Includes links to the plays in which they first appeared. Idea: Connect to writing instruction about RIP words. Emphasize Shakespeare's inventiveness with language

Student writing samples 1-12. Recommended by Keys to Literacy.

Interview with James G. Basker on the history of antislavery writings in American history

Examples and rubrics based on Calkins' 

In addition, dialogue can be a wonderful way to elegantly reveal back-story or exposition.  Too often, however, dialogue is under-nourished and ignored.

" Writing Playfic games may look like English, but it can be confusing.Interactive fiction (aka "text adventures") is a genre of game that uses no graphics or sound, but instead, uses text to tell a story in an interactive world. Cooper made an interactive tutorial for playing games on Playfic for newcomers to interactive fiction. If you write a better tutorial, let us know! " I played the interactive tutorial. Not my style, but maybe exciting to some students...

K-12 writing samples from the Common Core website. Recommended by Keys to Literacy.

"Our brain uses two different types of cognitive processing when doing these two operations: typing and writing. As tested on a group of undergrads, the research proved that laptop users type almost everything they hear without processing the meaning or devoting much thought to what it is they're taking notes on. Basically, when you type, all you're doing is mindlessly transcribing, and that does not require much cognitive activity."

Ritchhart will explore why and how integrating art in the classroom fosters powerful learning opportunities and promotes creative teaching. Ritchhart is a Senior Research Associate at Project Zero where his work focuses on such issues as teaching for understanding, the development of intellectual character, creative teaching, making students' thinking visible, and the development of school and classroom culture. His research and writings have informed the work of schools, school systems, and museums throughout the world.

"Helping writers tell interactive tales with the minimum of fuss. inklewriter keeps your branching story organised, so you can concentrate on what's important - the writing." Haven't explored it much, but sounds intriguing.

Image of emergent writers rubric

Advice, evaluation, grades-none of these provide the descriptive information that students need to reach their goals. What is true feedback-and how can it improve learning? Who would dispute the idea that feedback is a good thing? Both common sense and research make it clear: Formative assessment, consisting of lots of feedback and opportunities to use that feedback, enhances performance and achievement. Yet even John Hattie (2008), whose decades of research revealed that feedback was among the most powerful influences on achievement, acknowledges that he has "struggled to understand the concept" (p. 173). And many writings on the subject don't even attempt to define the term. To improve formative assessment practices among both teachers and assessment designers, we need to look more closely at just what feedback is-and isn't.