7VWP

Effectively teaching reading skills

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 14:28:56 -0400

Great recent blog post from Grant Wiggins who (again) argues against using formulaic “strategies” for teaching reading. He argues that the very word “strategy” is used in a sloppy way too often. We’d get better results from teaching the student to choose whatever techniques, strategies, tactics or skills would dissect the reading most effectively. Read more for the details here.

Teaching Struggling Writers

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 14:10:00 -0400

http://www.heinemann.com/shared/onlineresources/E00765/Dudley00765Sample.pdf

Five Things I Learned in Creative Writing Class

Sat, 23 Mar 2013 14:47:04 -0400

http://www.writingforward.com/creative-writing/things-i-learned-in-creative-writing-class

Loved this article!

Reading Blog!: The Winds of Change: Thomas Kuhn and the Revolution in the Teaching of Writing by Maxine Hairston

Sat, 02 Mar 2013 21:53:06 -0500

Reading Blog!: The Winds of Change: Thomas Kuhn and the Revolution in the Teaching of Writing by Maxine Hairston:

readeralert:

“The traditional paradigm. First, its adherents believe that competent writers know what they are going to say before they begin to write; thus their most important task when they are preparing to write is finding a form into which to organize their content. They also believe that the composing is…”

Conference Takes New Approach to Writing - SUNY Cortland

Sat, 23 Feb 2013 09:26:23 -0500

Conference Takes New Approach to Writing - SUNY Cortland:

Writing Conference applies directly to writing in all classes, K-16, applies Common Core writing mandates, and emphasizes writing to learn in all content areas.

Are you registered for the Writing Matters conference? There's still time!

Fri, 22 Feb 2013 14:40:00 -0500

Hello everyone!

The Writing Matters conference is fast approaching! A conference sponsored by Seven Valleys Writing Project, this conference will have workshops, seminars and other presentations to assist CNY teachers learn about teaching writing in their classrooms.

We’ll have merchandise for sale as well as an assortment of teaching writing books for sale!

We are still looking for presentors and attendees. But hurry, because registration will close tomorrow!

So, hurry and sign up now for the Writing Matters conference, March 8th, at SUNY Cortland!

http://writingmattersconference.com

Reading Blog!: Write Beside Them by Penny Kittle

Mon, 18 Feb 2013 15:30:51 -0500

Reading Blog!: Write Beside Them by Penny Kittle:

readeralert:

“For 10 minues out of each 90 minute class, we read a book. Any book. A comic book, magazine, anything […] And when we wrote, it was about what we wanted to write about […] Mrs. Kittle emphasized embracing your own literacy; owning what you write, reading what you want.” pg 4

I really liked this…

Found this by a student reflecting on what it’s like to write in class. Thoughts?

Creative Writing Prompts For Your Classroom

Sat, 09 Feb 2013 20:20:00 -0500

Hello everyone!

I’m Allison Best, 7VWP’s intern for the semester! Dr. Franke asked me to post for this blog daily, so in my first post, I’m going to talk a little bit about what got me inspired and interested in writing and link to a site with some of my favorite writing exercises!

Here’s the website: http://www.warren-wilson.edu/~creativewriting/Prompts.php

What I love about this collection of writing prompts is it’s a combination of all of my favorite ones from throughout my educational career. The one thing that I always dreaded, especially in High School, was when we’d begin class with a free-write. Sometimes it was for a grade; sometimes it was just to warm us up before class started. It was overwhelming to write about anything I wanted. I’d psych myself out — is this worth writing about? Is this even interesting? Should I talk about my morning? What’s the point? Unless I was feeling particularly inspired that morning, I would slack off and either write nothing or nothing that I cared about.

My teachers would say that to have a free-write was to remove the stress, the pressure, to just get the feel for writing down. The thing that got me inspired as a young writer, however, wasn’t the freedom to write; it was the interesting, quirky, and sometimes restrictive writing exercises. Like writing a story with only monosyllabic words; writing about a given person, an item, and an activity (my favorite story was about a man waiting in line with a single pearl earring in his pocket). Using details to describe people – “what’s the name of an old lady who volunteers at an animal shelter, who wins a million dollars on a scratch off?”; “what’s the desk look like of a person six months sober?”.

These things inspired me. And talking about the writing exercises pushed me to look at the world, my environment, my books, my life for all the little subtleties and nuances that make writing so profound and exciting and fresh. My teachers let me write about how chores suck, about my boyfriend of one month (and soon after, my new ex-boyfriend), about my rollercoaster relationship with my sister, about friends using drugs and having sex. They let me write what was pertinent to me, but they made me do it differently. They pushed and prodded and didn’t accept average.

Not even with my writing exercises.

I hope you enjoy the list!

Oh, and something else that’s cool? A link that shows you how to make your own quill pen! This is pretty awesome too!

Grant Wiggins on Stupification

Thu, 17 Jan 2013 14:37:08 -0500

How can institutions think creatively and generously?

http://grantwiggins.wordpress.com/2013/01/14/avoiding-stupidification/

Memoir Writing Workshop

Tue, 18 Dec 2012 15:11:00 -0500

Finding Our Way into Memoir

Presented by Sarah Marcham and Jacqueline Franke

“Anyone who survived childhood has enough material to write for the rest of his or her life.” – Flannery O’Connor

Join us on Saturday, January 5th as two local teacher-writers, students of both the Seven Valleys Writing Project’s “Summer Institute” and Marge Piercy’s Memoir Lab, share a series of writing activities designed to tap into your life experience and start you on that memoir you’ve always been meaning to write. We will explore the power of writing seductive openings that invite readers in and also create focus and direction for the writer.

There is no cost associated with this workshop. Coffee and light breakfast starts at 8:30. Held January 5 from 9-12 in the Beard Building (9 Main Street, Cortland, NY). Pre-register at BT BOCES MyLearningPlan.

"Because I have known the torment of thirst I would dig a well where others may drink."

Tue, 18 Dec 2012 14:48:00 -0500

“Because I have known the torment of thirst I would
dig a well where others may drink.”

Creating a Character Who Surprises Even YOU

Sat, 01 Dec 2012 07:57:03 -0500

Come create a real fictional character! Beard Building 9-11; “compass meeting” after.

Music for Writing

Fri, 30 Nov 2012 07:18:51 -0500

The Bakerton Group and Underground Orchestra are new favorite groups: driving blues jazz, no vocals. Music for an interior landscape. Good writing music. Have other nominations? (My question is part of my unconfirmed belief that if I only find the right music, writing will be easy). My hero Michael Pollan says in Botany of Desire that he’s listening to the Red Hot Chili Peppers. I should try that.

Bakerton Group: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zGvq-ajQpo

Saturday Seven Valleys Writing Event for Educators

Thu, 29 Nov 2012 18:33:00 -0500

Time to Write for Busy People

The Seven Valleys Writing Project invites you join other educators for a morning of writing this Saturday (December 1) at the Beard Building in Cortland from 9:00-11. Coffee and bagels start at 8:30.

Dr. David Franke, writing and English professor at SUNY Cortland, will lead an exercise for building a fictional character. Writers hot on the trail of a project may skip the exercise. There will be time for writing, drafting, reflection and a read-out at the end.

The Seven Valleys Writing Project will provide coffee and light breakfast foods. Bring a notepad or computer to reignite your writing project.

There is no charge for this event, but we ask that you pre-register at the MyLearningPlan link found here.

The real civics lesson

Thu, 08 Nov 2012 19:40:23 -0500

John Brinckerhoff Jackson. From A Sense of Place, a Sense of Time, Chapter 12, “Looking into Automobiles”:

“If you love and respect your automobile…and if you depend on it for your livelihood, the automobile will reciprocate, as it were, and teach you many useful things: it can teach you to be accurate, teach you to use the right tools, teacher you to make decisions. It cannot teach you the difference between good and evil, but within a somewhat restricted realm it can teach you the difference between right and wrong: between correctness and sloppy, dishonest work. In a word, learning to be a good auto mechanic is learning to be civilized.” John Brinckerhoff Jackson, from A Sense of Place, a Sense of Time, “Looking into Automobiles,” 169.

Empty the schools and meet online

Sun, 28 Oct 2012 11:40:00 -0400

So I just returned from Philadelphia where my eldest was investigating a college. At a rest area that sold everything American, I found a lonely kiosk that held brochures (“See the Dry Underground Lake” and “Wine Country Catfish Boil and Quilting Bee”). One quiet slot held a brochure for “A Tuition-Free K-12 Cyber School.” That’s right, this is a charter school where you can do the whole school thing from home. Normal schools have a number of disadvantages, I learned. They include:

• Expense/Scores Disconnect
• Ideological Curricula (?)
• Safety/Bullying Concerns
• Highly Politicized/Polarized
• School Districts (?)
• Lack of Parental Control
• Lack of Parental Involvement (?)
• One-Size-Fits All Mindset

Now, this raises some interesting questions. Apparently the “Cyber School” is cheaper (avoiding the “Expense/Scores Disconnect”) and allows you to avoid things: ideology, bullies, politics, school districts, other students, parents, and standardization. People of different races, with accents, and those ideas you find frightful — all gone. ”Turns out / You can make the earth absolutely clean” writes James Wright in his poem “Redwings.” I think he was being ironic about how cool that is.

I never thought of “school districts” as a problem. And it seems strange to avoid “uninvolved parents” by eliminating parents altogether. But we know which non-present parents we don’t have to non-suffer from any longer.

This is of course the natural progression of things. This PA system has actual teachers on computers at the other end, each of which has an unspecified number of classes. This is indeed cheaper. Imagine 200 students per teacher, essays scored by machine, and multiple choice readings. You could “learn” a lot this way. In some cases, it would probably be more effective than actually attending classes with other kids and real-time teachers. But by eliminating all the risks, you end up with a kid who has no idea engage with other people — and people are risky. I suppose you could have a unit on “working with people,” but something tells me it wouldn’t be the same.

Learn at your own pace: no mentors to inspire you, no models, no peers slowing you down (or rushing you to finish). Think of the taxes we could cut!

And it’s not a joke. It’s actually here.

www.padstance.org

Eric Raymond: Good Citizenry in Writing Workshops

Mon, 22 Oct 2012 06:53:13 -0400

Eric Raymond: Good Citizenry in Writing Workshops:

ericraymondsf:

Soon I’ll be in Portland for a writing conference and workshop. I’ve not been interested in workshops since graduate school. I’ve been actively disinterested. But maybe my aversion is a symptom of my own flawed perspective, distorted by a lens which tends to magnify the negative and minimize the…

What makes a "real" writer?

Mon, 22 Oct 2012 06:52:11 -0400

What makes a "real" writer?:

zephyrean:

III.

“I think the single most defining characteristic of a writer” – I found myself saying to a friend the other day, when she asked my thoughts on the teaching of writing – “’I mean the difference between a writer and someone who ‘wants to be a writer,’ is a high tolerance for uncertainty.”

…

backwoods, baby...: this afternoon, i got all gussied up and headed over to Olive Hill, to...

Sun, 21 Oct 2012 19:31:16 -0400

backwoods, baby...: this afternoon, i got all gussied up and headed over to Olive Hill, to...:

barefootedbackwoodsbaby:

this afternoon, i got all gussied up and headed over to Olive Hill, to West Carter, for my very first solo writing workshop. i was a little nervous, as it’s been quite awhile since i wandered the halls of a high school and spent any quality time with teenagers. sometimes i feel disconnected. i…

Grant Wiggins’ blog He is excellent, check him...

Sun, 21 Oct 2012 18:44:00 -0400

Grant Wiggins’ blog

He is excellent, check him out!!