Thursday, August 19, 2010
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Please Don’t Ask Me To Draw or Write What I Did in the Holidays!
Using Online Resources for Inspiring Writers
We’ve all done it. Even the most innovative and creative educators have asked their students to write a recount of their holidays. There are a plethora of reasons behind the poor pedagogical decision to ask students do such a task. Nevertheless, the ‘holidays recount’ activity is, quite simply, unacceptable for one encompassing reason; purpose. There is simply no purpose behind such a writing activity. It’s no wonder we have reluctant writers if a ‘holiday recount’ is the best inspiration we educators can come up with… especially with vast resources, such as the internet, at our fingertips.
Utilising online resources has proved to be very successful with reluctant writers. Results from recent studies have indicated that the use of online resources have enabled reluctant writers to think differently about their writing. Participants wrote more content and were more willing to publish their thoughts. It is also important to note that the participants carried over their experiences of online writing into their bookwork (Yackanicz, 2000; Watson, 2000). NB. This article will focus on the use of online learning tools for inspiration, planning and publishing yet acknowledges the importance of the other phases of the writing process.
Prior to any writing, writers require a purpose behind publishing their thoughts. Educators must ask prior to and during any writing activity, what is the purpose behind this writing task? Who will be the audience? These questions (and more) should be open for discussion with students who, after all, need to take ownership over their own writing.
"Good writing is supposed to evoke sensation in the reader—not the fact that it is raining, but the feeling of being rained upon."E.L. Doctorow
Educators and students need to know that it’s acceptable for the author and the audience to be the same person. A prime example of this is a personal journal or blog. Explore www.blogger.com for an example of an easy-to-set-up blog. Taking the pressure off students who are concerned their writing is “not good enough” can unleash some amazing writing and build confidence. Reading the blogs or journals of other authors can provoke thought and the desire for discussion amongst students (Babauta, 2008).
Many educators have experienced a student who sits at his/desk through a writing activity inanimate and seemingly void of any muse. How, then, can educators ignite students’ desire to write? Especially when one of the most common responses from reluctant writers is, ‘I can’t think of any ideas?’ Any artist will tell you that inspiration comes from a spark of genius and magic. It may be through an image, a smell, an experience or the thought of something new. Educators need to allow students the time to gather resources to inspire.
"The task of a writer consists of being able to make something out of an idea."Thomas Mann
Visual images can assist students to ask questions about implicit stories within images or even stories that exist in time through images. Apart from good-old Google, students can browse through websites such as; http://www.flickr.com/explore/ for some wonderful stimulation. Using Microsoft Photostory to map out a story skeleton is a remarkable tool for students. Music and verbal narration can be added to a writing skeleton to enhance the product. In addition, students can write about first-hand visual experiences through mediums such as; http://secondlife.com/ .
Furthermore, as well as purpose and inspiration, writers need opportunities to plan and map out their thoughts. A writing plan helps students to think more deeply about the topic and save time in editing. Effective planning helps writers to write efficiently, with less editing to do later on (Buis, 2007).Through the Futurelab Project, educators can access a smorgasbord of thought planners including; http://www.bubbl.us/ and http://www.exploratree.org.uk/.
Publishing is another incentive to write – writers enjoy seeing their work published (Anderson, 2001). Once students have had many opportunities to plan and draft their writing. Assuming their writing is for an audience, there are a range of online tools to excite students about publishing their work. http://www.toondoo.com/createBook.do is one such website.
Irrevocably, with such a plethora of tools and resources so readily accessible at our fingertips, no educator has the excuse of torturing their students with the hideous ‘holiday recount’ task anymore. Happy writing!
Resources
Websites
http://amberdine.googlepages.com/beginning
http://writetodone.com/2008/03/03/31-ways-to-find-inspiration-for-your-writing/
http://www.flickr.com/explore/
http://www.futurelab.org.uk/
http://www.teachers.ash.org.au/hippohelper/pdfs/photostory%20tutorial.pdf
Articles/Books
Anderson, Karen (2001). Motivating the reluctant writer: a rescue mission for years 3 and beyond. Vic: Curriculum Corp.
Buis, Kellie (2007). Reclaiming Reluctant Writers: How to Encourage Students to Face Their Fears and Master the Essential Traits of Good Writers. ON: Pembroke
Watson, Cindy (2008). Encouraging reluctant writers through the use of multimodal format. Literacy Learning: The Middle Years.
Yackanicz, Linda (2000). Reluctant Writers & Writing-Prompt Software. Chestnut
We’ve all done it. Even the most innovative and creative educators have asked their students to write a recount of their holidays. There are a plethora of reasons behind the poor pedagogical decision to ask students do such a task. Nevertheless, the ‘holidays recount’ activity is, quite simply, unacceptable for one encompassing reason; purpose. There is simply no purpose behind such a writing activity. It’s no wonder we have reluctant writers if a ‘holiday recount’ is the best inspiration we educators can come up with… especially with vast resources, such as the internet, at our fingertips.
Utilising online resources has proved to be very successful with reluctant writers. Results from recent studies have indicated that the use of online resources have enabled reluctant writers to think differently about their writing. Participants wrote more content and were more willing to publish their thoughts. It is also important to note that the participants carried over their experiences of online writing into their bookwork (Yackanicz, 2000; Watson, 2000). NB. This article will focus on the use of online learning tools for inspiration, planning and publishing yet acknowledges the importance of the other phases of the writing process.
Prior to any writing, writers require a purpose behind publishing their thoughts. Educators must ask prior to and during any writing activity, what is the purpose behind this writing task? Who will be the audience? These questions (and more) should be open for discussion with students who, after all, need to take ownership over their own writing.
"Good writing is supposed to evoke sensation in the reader—not the fact that it is raining, but the feeling of being rained upon."E.L. Doctorow
Educators and students need to know that it’s acceptable for the author and the audience to be the same person. A prime example of this is a personal journal or blog. Explore www.blogger.com for an example of an easy-to-set-up blog. Taking the pressure off students who are concerned their writing is “not good enough” can unleash some amazing writing and build confidence. Reading the blogs or journals of other authors can provoke thought and the desire for discussion amongst students (Babauta, 2008).
Many educators have experienced a student who sits at his/desk through a writing activity inanimate and seemingly void of any muse. How, then, can educators ignite students’ desire to write? Especially when one of the most common responses from reluctant writers is, ‘I can’t think of any ideas?’ Any artist will tell you that inspiration comes from a spark of genius and magic. It may be through an image, a smell, an experience or the thought of something new. Educators need to allow students the time to gather resources to inspire.
"The task of a writer consists of being able to make something out of an idea."Thomas Mann
Visual images can assist students to ask questions about implicit stories within images or even stories that exist in time through images. Apart from good-old Google, students can browse through websites such as; http://www.flickr.com/explore/ for some wonderful stimulation. Using Microsoft Photostory to map out a story skeleton is a remarkable tool for students. Music and verbal narration can be added to a writing skeleton to enhance the product. In addition, students can write about first-hand visual experiences through mediums such as; http://secondlife.com/ .
Furthermore, as well as purpose and inspiration, writers need opportunities to plan and map out their thoughts. A writing plan helps students to think more deeply about the topic and save time in editing. Effective planning helps writers to write efficiently, with less editing to do later on (Buis, 2007).Through the Futurelab Project, educators can access a smorgasbord of thought planners including; http://www.bubbl.us/ and http://www.exploratree.org.uk/.
Publishing is another incentive to write – writers enjoy seeing their work published (Anderson, 2001). Once students have had many opportunities to plan and draft their writing. Assuming their writing is for an audience, there are a range of online tools to excite students about publishing their work. http://www.toondoo.com/createBook.do is one such website.
Irrevocably, with such a plethora of tools and resources so readily accessible at our fingertips, no educator has the excuse of torturing their students with the hideous ‘holiday recount’ task anymore. Happy writing!
Resources
Websites
http://amberdine.googlepages.com/beginning
http://writetodone.com/2008/03/03/31-ways-to-find-inspiration-for-your-writing/
http://www.flickr.com/explore/
http://www.futurelab.org.uk/
http://www.teachers.ash.org.au/hippohelper/pdfs/photostory%20tutorial.pdf
Articles/Books
Anderson, Karen (2001). Motivating the reluctant writer: a rescue mission for years 3 and beyond. Vic: Curriculum Corp.
Buis, Kellie (2007). Reclaiming Reluctant Writers: How to Encourage Students to Face Their Fears and Master the Essential Traits of Good Writers. ON: Pembroke
Watson, Cindy (2008). Encouraging reluctant writers through the use of multimodal format. Literacy Learning: The Middle Years.
Yackanicz, Linda (2000). Reluctant Writers & Writing-Prompt Software. Chestnut
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
What is Christian Education?
Recently, our staff discussed 'What is Christian Education?'. One of the interesting angles on this was how we help students to make a decision to live their lives for Christ... or even if we want to do that.
Assuming that we do want to guide students towards following Jesus for life (which, if that's not the case, why are we teaching in a Christian school?), then how is it that so many students who attend Christian schools are not making this decision, and if they are, they are often not sticking to it?
In my experience, 80% of the people I know who attended Christian schools have not continued to walk as a Christian.
Interestingly, one staff member added that "...students may not choose Christianity, but we at least want them to know the options...". I agreed.
However, as we teach certain methods in other areas of education, believing those procedures to be the most effective choice; we usually find students choosing to utilise the methods we teach them.
How and why should that be different to christian education?
Surely, if we are teaching Christian Education effectively, students will continue to make 'Christian' choices.
The remaining question becomes... how do we effectively teach Christianity?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
