For Tues, Nov 15–Writing Workshop #5 (Expository)

We're right where we need to be in our syllabus, but I'd like to switch the next two weeks. So, for Tues, Nov 15, rather than reading the vocabulary ch in Fisher & Frey, expect the following:

1. Recap our Student-Think-Center experience. Comment here if you have thoughts about the learning space.
2. Value time in class to thoughtfully give Dr. Erin Price and Ms. Bonnie Cooper feedback via evaluation sheets.
3. Celebration of narrative work
4. Writing Workshop #5–Exploring expository subgenres
• Mini-lesson
• Time to write (bring what you know best serves your writing needs–i.e., computer, headphones)
• Time to share our writing

*Note–For those working on multgenre, bring informational text(s) related to your topic. You can also use your computer and the lab for research purposes. For those beginning to work on Service-Learning reflections, we'll explore ways to creatively reflect on those experiences.  

Peace and blessings,
Dr. Bishop

Student-Think-Center visit

Hi all,

First let me compliment your participation today during our Student-Think-Center visit. Dr. Erin Price and Ms. Bonnie Cooper are innovative educators, constantly thinking of engaging ways to think and learn, and what a thought-provoking class in a space that raises questions in and of itself about how we learn. Your questions were equally thought-provoking, particularly how, as we continue to learn about our own thinking and learning preferences (which is knowledge that allows us not to be limited by them), we are soon to be put to the task of working with youth who are developing their own personal ways of thinking and learning. What a truly awesome endeavor. I had a few aha moments of my own today. Thank you.

Also want to acknowledge to you that not only did we have 100% attendance, we had 100% of the class meet our narrative writing deadline. I'm telling you not because these are above my expectations for you, but because I want you to know I take notice of these things; I'm proud of them. I'm also proud of John John and Herry counting to 20 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scu9zzC5U3g. Vivi will never count the same again.

I'd also like to say for the record that I'd like to build a classroom learning environment like the Student-Think-Center, so I'm requesting recommendations (BRAINSTORM WITH ME) for how I can transform our classroom spaces in SRS. Comment to this post if you're so inclined.

For some visual fodder, I took some snapshots, and I'll be the first to say I personally covet the moveable whiteboards and the round tables you can write on. And for the record, once you go beveled with your Expo writing, it's hard to go back.

November! Thinking back on Super C week through narrative writing

Hi all,

Happy Halloween! The little peacock has eaten her weight in candies I didn't even know existed. The variety of Skittles alone–Melon Madness?! Thank goodness for baby teeth. Our brushing habits aren't exactly stellar yet.

This week we'll value time in class to think, talk and write about our Super C week experience through the Writing Workshop Approach (1. mini-lesson 2. time to write 3. time to share). Please bring with you a hard copy of one of the lessons you prepared (math or social studies); we'll work with those to jump start our narratives.

Vivi at Mitchell Farms in Collins running (away from me) through the pumpkins.

Fall Break!

Hi all! Hope your break is peaceful and rejuvenating, maybe with a little adventure in the mix. 

Please note the following due next week

1. For Tues, read Fisher and Frey's Ch 5–"Why Ask? Questioning Strategies in the Classroom"
2. Blog posting due Thurs including the following
1. Shoot for three paras in length
2. One smart, genuine question that arises from your reading
3. At least one quote that strikes you as important or noteworthy

* Note–You may also choose to create a Prezi or Inspiration (or http://bubbl.us) mind map or any other method of representation of how you engaged with the text.

IMPORTANT–A list of our upcoming writing assignments are posted here (as well as in the syllabus)

http://cir411tthfall.blogspot.com/2011/10/upcoming-writing-assignments.html

And here's a pic of Viv as a Halloween Peacock (thx Brandi, we totally got one!)

Upcoming writing assignments

Fall Break!

We're gearing up for the second half of this course during which we'll be doing a lot of writing, much of it in class, some of it in places outside class you find most productive for your writing process. We all have different things that create optimum writing atmospheres--some like background music, some compose on the computer, some need total silence. As we write in class, keep thinking about your own personal process of writing and how that metaknowledge might translate into your teaching. How can we provide our students with different opportunities to write? 

As a quick reminder, this is your "writing intensive course" for our program, as designated by the General Education Council (GEC) at USM. Along with the blogs you've been writing, we have three more writing assignments due:

1. Narrative lesson plan (due Nov 10)–Once you've returned from the field, we'll spend some Writing Workshop time writing a lesson plan in narrative form. You can use any lesson you designed and/or taught in the field or while tutoring, but we'll have hindsight experience and can tweak decisions; meanwhile, the narrative form allows us to paint a vivid picture of what's happening in the classroom while your lesson is occurring. We'll start this assignment when you return from the field. 
2. Collection of writing artifacts (due Nov 29)–To be better teachers of writing, we must engage in the writing process ourselves, experience the joys and frustrations of the writing process. Through a very simple method–The Writing Workshop (mini-lesson, time to write, time to share)–we'll write, talking about writing, and talk about the teaching of writing. Due Nov. 29, you need to turn in four writing artifacts from our writing workshops together and/or from your writing outside class. You've already got some poetry you can include. You can submit this digitally (i.e., through blog posts, through a Prezi, any other form that fits your creativity) or as a hard copy paper document. This collection is worth 20 points and is evaluated solely using the checklist in our syllabus.
3. Multigenre project or Service-Learning project (due Dec 8)
• MG project–Choose a topic that's just for you and begin weaving together writing artifacts into an engaging multigenre piece. Consider time during our writing workshops to work on your multigenre piece; in other words, the sooner you decide on a topic, the sooner you can gather information to write about that topic. 
• SL project–Write a rich description of your experience at Hawkins or at Burger. What did you learn while tutoring about teaching, about learning, about yourself, youth, school culture, etc. This piece is open to the meaning-making that occurred for you while involved in the Service-Learning as volunteers at these schools. 
• Note–Dec 5 we'll have a "Walking Gallery" to share our work with each other. Prior to this sharing, make sure you've used the turnitin.com requirement to double-check for any unintended plagiarism.  This assignment is worth 25 points and we'll use the rubric from the syllabus.

For me, this is an exciting component of CIR411, the opportunity to write creatively, to receive professor and peer feedback, and to think about what these experiences mean for designing writing experiences in our future classrooms.

Happy Writing! And if you ever want an individual conference outside of class, email me for an appointment or find me during office hours.
Dr B

Writing Workshop #2 – Narratives

Quick Vivian update

 

Writing Workshop #2 (via Prezi)–exploring narrative writing as a genre

1. Mini-lesson (examples of first person experience)
2. Time to write (or research or conf w Dr B)
3. Time to share (everyone choose one word from there writing today)

See the following post for upcoming writing assignments

Chapter 7 "Getting it Down, Making and Taking Notes"

Greetings gang, thanks for engaging with "Concept Maps" in thoughtful, humorous, and intelligent ways. I laughed, learned more about The Dust Bowl (and about our understandings of Out of the Dust), was reminded of what has happened with Billie Jo and family. You also raised some good questions for me (i.e., what about these trees planted by FDR during the Dust Bowl?) Pics below for reminders--skip the slaughtered purple cow if you have a weak stomach. :)

Also, I won't assign a post on Tues due on Thurs, thanks for that reminder.

Also also--some pics of Vivian at the mini-petting zoo before the women's soccer game mixed in, just in case you want to see Tessie the alligator or Monty the Python. I let you guess on the third animal.  

Reminder assignments for next week:

1. Read Chapter 7 in our text BY TUES
2. Bring in a K12 Social Studies text (spend some time choosing plz) FOR TUES
3. Posting due TUES (see pic below, but disregard the "Mon," that's a mistake)

For Thurs posting

First! Thursday we'll meet at 1:30 instead of 2:25 in whichever room is open. I forget. 

Second, thanks for your quickly scripted performances of Readers Theater with Out of the Dust. I only wish all of you could have been sitting in my seat to see Chiatne drive the car. Just awesome.

My questions would be did that experience help your understanding of our read-aloud? Would you use this in your classroom and if so what would you do differently? What does Readers Theater and comprehension have to do with each other? Other thoughts about Readers Theater you have? Feel free to address these in your posts for Thurs, but it's optional.

Options for your post due Thurs on Fisher & Frey's Ch. 6:

1. Traditional written blog post to include one quote from the text and an elaboration on why you chose it, one question (don't skate by, give us something thought-provoking), and one personal connection you had while reading the text (this can be outside the box and doesn't have to be directly related to your educational experiences). 
2. An Inspiration mindmap for the chapter saved as a jpeg image and posted to your blog.  BTW, the computer lab has Inspiration.
3. A prezi presentation for the chapter. http://prezi.com Just post the link to your prezi and your done. 

Numbers 2 & 3 put you out into some new waters, but offer some creativity--you're free to detour from the written requirements.

See you Thurs!
Dr B

Weeks four and five, writing-to-learn and read-alouds

Hi all, 
It took some time, but I'm proud to say each and every one of you have personal feedback from me on your week four Writing-to-learn post. Take some time to read the feedback before you post for this week, I think you'll appreciate the commentary, and in some cases, it might inform the way you write for this next posting due Thurs. Feel free to return any dialogue.

If you're interested in our groupings this week, you can check out more about astrology for fun at Psychic Guide

Last but not least is the lasted on Vivian Lowery Bishop, Age 2, who went to a bday party at the zoo and refused to ride the train with group. So here we are on the Merry-Go-Round, by ourselves. And just a quick FYI, she's NOT a leopard here, she's a peacock. ?!

Service-Learning info

Hi all, if you're interested in starting your Service-Learning experiences at Hawkins, you can now email Ms. Sharon Miles (iamsmiles@gmail.com) and let her know to which time slot you'd like to commit. If at all possible, please try to set consistent times. This does wonders for minimizing the organization of the partnership, as you can imagine. Just as a reminder, the below is taken from our syllabus Service-Learning description 

1. Commit to visiting Hawkins at a set time each week (a minimum of 5 one-hour visits) between the hours of 8:00-11am. 
2. Commit to visiting Hawkins at a set time each week (a minimum of 5 visits) between the hours of 12:30-2:45pm  
3. Commit to visiting Hawkins at a set time each week during their afterschool program (minimum of 5 visits), which meets on T/TH from 3-5pm beginning Tues, Sept. 20.

Hawkins Contact Person
Sharon Miles
iamsmiles@gmail.com 


For Berger Middle School, Seth Thomas asked that you wait until October 1st to email him. I'll post his address then. He'll have all the logistics sorted out and will be able to provide us with options for an adolescence experience. If you haven't experienced middle school, I strongly encourage you to try it.

Week two--defining Content Area Literacy

Hi everyone,

Hope you're all having a peaceful Labor Day weekend. We're having menacing weather down here on the coast.

As with the daily agendas, I'll try to keep you informed about what we're doing (and what we've done) on this course blog. Note for next week, you should see your name listed to the right under our individual blog links; instead of our weekly blog post, I'm asking that you choose one or two peers (or more!) and respond to their week one blog posting by Thursday. Try to choose someone who hasn't received a response yet, then double up if you'd like. Make connections, share experiences, take a stab at their questions, and if you can, respectfully challenge their thinking and generate some dialogue through diverse perspectives.

Also, remember to bring your Moss article and a biography book. And one last gentle reminder to read the syllabus. I'm going to ask that you commit (or not) to the Service-Learning project by Tues, Sept 13. 

Below are some pics to enjoy (or ignore). If you can correctly identify the dragonfly or the beach bird (common name + genus and species please), you're exempt from the above blog response for this week (or I'll buy you a pack of Twizzlers from the hall machine, your choice). The third pic is Vivian, in her 2s, commonly known as Vivi, Homo sapien.

 

Week one--Content Area Literacy in Elem Grades

Hi everyone,

Nice to meet you all. If the animal quick-write is any indication, we have a wonderfully diverse group of personalities in this class. Since technically the bird category had the largest number, we get a bird background for our blog. Exciting, huh? Speaking of birds, there's some controversy about the eagle's reputation. If you're interested, see this and this.

About creating backgrounds, take some time and play around with Blogger's settings, you can personalize your blog throughout the semester. For example, change colors, adjust the width of your text, add "Gadgets." Don't be intimidated by the "Dashboard" or any of the tabs at the top, we'll get to know them along the way. Feel free to get creative.

Due Thurs: Read the Moss article and create your first blog posting

Once you have your blog created, send me the link and I'll add it to our blogroll on the right.
Dr. B