73: Writing Workshops

Chapter 8 in Daniels, Harvey, Steven Zemelman, and Nancy Steineke.  Content-area Writing: Every Teacher’s Guide.  Portmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2007.  Print.       Main components of writing workshops students write during workshops that occur during class teachers observe and give individual feedback teach writing skills in a step-by-step manner   Reasons to Run Writing Workshops ensures that students […]

80: Shorter Writing Projects (3 of 3)

Chapter 7 in Daniels, Harvey, Steven Zemelman, and Nancy Steineke.  Content-area Writing: Every Teacher’s Guide.  Portmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2007.  Print.       Newspaper Front Page: Team creates short list of interesting articles that leave audience wanting more Uses: summarize material practice different formats – news article, editorial, feature, advice column show how subjectivity plays into […]

79: Shorter Writing Projects (2 of 3)

Chapter 7 in Daniels, Harvey, Steven Zemelman, and Nancy Steineke.  Content-area Writing: Every Teacher’s Guide.  Portmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2007.  Print.       RAFT Papers What is RAFT? Role of writer Audience of writer Format of writing piece Topic Uses: See content from different perspectives. Creative representation of researched facts Play by Play: Topic search: Give […]

78: Shorter Writing Projects (1 of 3)

Chapter 7 in Daniels, Harvey, Steven Zemelman, and Nancy Steineke.  Content-area Writing: Every Teacher’s Guide.  Portmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2007.  Print.       People Research: Uses / purposes: Easier than research abstract topics Stepping stone for building research and writing skills that build up to attract topics Questionnaires & Surveys Play-by-play: Investigate sample surveys and extract […]

74 : Pre-Writing Activities

Chapter 8 in Daniels, Harvey, Steven Zemelman, and Nancy Steineke.  Content-area Writing: Every Teacher’s Guide.  Portmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2007.  Print.       These are examples of activities one can run to prepare students to create public writing pieces.  To see the difference between public writing pieces and write-to-learn pieces, go here. To see an overview […]

185: Pros & Cons of Various Assessments

Chapter 4 in Markham, John Larmer, and Jason Louis.  Ravitz.  Project Based Learning Handbook: A Guide to Standards-focused Project Base Learning for Middle and High School Teachers.  Novato, CA: Buck Institute for Education, 2003.  Print.       Presentations Assess content knowledge and skills Pros Authentic audiences can create authentic contexts for assessments Allows for integration of complex […]

184: Plan the Assessment

Chapter 4 in Markham, John Larmer, and Jason Louis.  Ravitz.  Project Based Learning Handbook: A Guide to Standards-focused Project Base Learning for Middle and High School Teachers.  Novato, CA: Buck Institute for Education, 2003.  Print.         Align Products with Outcomes Identify culminating products for a project that provide opportunities to apply skills and understandings from […]

164: Assessing Synthesis and Creative Thinking Skills (2 of 2)

Chapter 7 and Angelo, Thomas A., and K. Patricia Cross.  Classroom Assessment Techniques: A Handbook for College Teachers. Print.        Concept Maps Description Students create drawings or diagrams that show connections between major and minor concepts Purpose Observable assessment of student’s schemata – webs of associates they hold for various concepts Can compare teacher and student mental […]

160: After Reading Activities

Chapter 5 in Daniels, Harvey.  Subjects Matter: Exceeding Standards through Powerful Content-area Reading.  Print.       Where do you stand? Focus Taking and supporting a position Description Also called: Four Corners, Human Continuum, Living Likert Scale, Barometer, Human Bar graph, Peoplegraph Students represent their opinion by where they stand in the room Facilitate conversations […]

83: Learning Fairs

Chapter 8 in Daniels, Harvey, Steven Zemelman, and Nancy Steineke.  Content-area Writing: Every Teacher’s Guide.  Portmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2007.  Print.       Learning Fairs: Students present work to community in poster session like environment (think science fair) Uses: Students study topics in depth Students present to wide audience Student learn field research techniques Opportunity to […]