Writing Hooks

I've started a short story unit with my grade 9 English classes and am starting with the first line of a story: the hook.
As a class we've gone to the library and browsed through many books finding first lines we like and dislike. We've discussed our lines with each other and come up personal definitions of what makes a good hook. We've looked at different types of hooks and have now tried our hand at writing our own.
Our hooks are based on this idea for a story: You've inherited a mysterious object from a relative you didn't even know you had. Each of us wrote 5 hooks and chose 1 that we thought was our best. I've compiled each class' best hooks into the following forms.
We would appreciate if you could take a few minutes and give us feedback on our writing.

Class 1


Class 2


Class 3

Tournament of Words: September

Today I held my first Tournament of Words in my three grade nine English classes. I wasn't sure exactly how it would go, since it is the first of my "out there" ideas that I'm using in my class.
In reading we always come across new words. The project is to take at least one of those words, whether encountered in English class, other classes or outside school, with its context and definition, and submit it for the tournament. Students get to vote on which words they like best and each month a winner is crowned. This way when one person learns a word the whole class gets an opportunity to learn it.

I introduced this at the start of the month as a year-long activity. Since it wasn't of immediate concern a fair bunch of students promptly forgot about it. I had two words submitted by the end of last week. This Monday, I reminded them of the upcoming tournament  (AND the expectations) and have had many more submissions as the week progressed. I made a few concessions this month, since students are still learning about how this project works: scouring the dictionary was accepted and I gave some time at the start of class today.

I used random.org/lists to  fill the brackets and better bracket maker to conduct each tournament.

First Period

Winner: Stadstimmertuinen - found in Anne Frank's Diary.
I'm pretty sure they voted for it just because they wanted to keep hearing me struggle to pronounce it.
I was happy to see pulchritudinous get so far.
For the final vote I had everyone close their eyes and vote for the winner and then did a mystery reveal.

Fourth Period

Winner: lapping - found in Killing Mr. Griffin.
This class is pretty small, so students find two words each during the month. I added the word of the day from both Merriam Webster and Dictionary.com to round out the tournament to 24 teams. It feels like a nicer number somehow.
One vote ended in a tie, so the contributors of Alzheimer's and xenophobia played rock-paper-scissors to determine which word advanced.

Fifth Period

Winner: wryly - found in Killing Mr. Griffin.
I thought it interested that both vehement and ardent were submitted, as the definition for each word contained the other!
There were definite favourite words in this class. All the quarter-final votes were landslides or shut outs.

Main Difficulty: None of my classes are powers of 2. For the first class I limited entries to the first 16 words submitted. In the following classes the list randomizer determined which words got byes.
I'm thinking of giving prizes to the people who contributed the winning words in hopes of getting students to submit extra entries. The more words they discover the more chances to win. After all the required entries are in, the remaining spots are first come first served until 32 words have been submitted.

Web-Based Courses

Last week Donald Girouard & Sophia Palahicky gave my Internet for Educators course an overview of Web Based Courses.

Check out Manitoba Education's webpage for information, since this post will be primarily be reflection.

In high school I took Grade 11 Pre-Calculus online. I must have been on the cutting edge of change, considering I graduated 10 years ago. There were modules to read through, weekly assignments to complete, online, timed tests and a final exam. Thinking back I think the assignments and tests were based on web forms: I could click the appropriate bubble in a multiple choice or fill in text box. I don't think it was the best option for me. Not having a living person to be accountable to, and remind me of when things were do, I did a large percentage of the reading and work last minute. Compounding this was the fact that homework assignments were out of five, so a small error on one of the questions could cost you 20% on the assignment. I don't remember communicating with the instructor or fellow students very much, if I did at all. The final exam was in person, in my school division office no less! I got a final grade of 72% in this course and am still sketchy on some aspects of the geometry of circles. I feel I would have achieved better if I had been in  the face-to-face option of this class, though I think it conflicted with another course I was taking, considering I got 99% next year in Grade 12 Pre-Calculus.

However, web based courses are much different now! Here's a run down on the types of courses offered in Manitoba on an interactivity scale.

There is much more technology available to bring teacher and peer interaction into online courses. IITV utilizes audio/video conferencing. Skype and Google Hangouts enable students to connect with each other outside of school. I could go on and on.

Some key points from the presentation that highlight the changes in WBCs since my day:

• New WBCs are designed for interaction.
• Journalling, discussions, blogs, wikis, chat,...
• Written for students.
• Predominately asynchronous, but can be synchronous, say using a tutoring session.
• Teachers have designer access to the courses.

I'm excited about the ability to modify and/or add to the courses. Knowing that all students, and therefore all classrooms, are unique, having the ability to tweak a course to fit your students' needs is very beneficial.

Web based and distance learning courses are used for many reasons. We brainstormed some as a class during the presentation:

• Small schools can combine to offer courses they would not 
• Help for students with extended absences.
• When f2f courses are in the same slot.
• University entrance course that may not be offered f2f.
• Credit Recovery.

Take Aways

• An asynchronous course must have an accompanying f2f time slot. You cannot be given a full teaching schedule, plus a WBC.
• WBC will NOT replace teachers. (I was unable to take German in high school, because of low enrollment. Therefore no teacher was payed to teach it. If interested students could take it via the web, it would be a job created for a teacher!)
• Have to update the courses as internet standards are updated: HTML5, Mobile,...
• We can have access to WBCs as a resource to use in our f2f classes!
• Communication is key. Call students. Visit their school. Use available web 2.0 tools.

Classroom Video

I'm going to start by letting everyone know that I'm incredibly biased when it comes to video. I've lead two video making/editing projects with grade 7s and a professional development session at BU on making video in class. Making videos also makes up a significant portion of my spare time. If you click here you can see my previous thoughts on video use in the classroom.

I AM going to use videos in my classroom:

- "Educational" videos, like the Perimeter Institute's Challenge of Quantum Reality.

- YouTube videos, like

To provide students with another way of looking at the course material. 

Video can often be a great activator, too. I used this playlist

when going through Macbeth in my second placement. When we finished an Act students got time to work on their ongoing Macbeth project, a facebook profile for a main character. So, before we started reading the next act I played a brief summary of the previous act from this playlist. This got them back into the story and also showed them how other students around the world have interpreted the play.

- My videos, like

- And most importantly, I'm going to get students to make their own videos together. Video making incorporates teamwork, storytelling, critical thinking, ICT and fun.

My dream ELA project is this:

Thanks to Lisa for hashing this out with me last year.

We would study a novel and create a collector's/special edition box set of a video adaptation. It's all the language arts in one project! It would be filled with varied writing tasks: A summary and blurbs promoting the film on the back jacket, critical responses to the novel, film-maker's diary, the script. There would be representation tasks to: cover art, concept art, storyboards, back jacket thumbnails. And then the videos! There would be the feature, a making-of featurette, cast and crew interviews, bloopers (you HAVE to have bloopers, but including them on a separate DVD means half the feature doesn't get taken up with bloopers), deleted scenes, perhaps even a few versions of theatrical trailers and promos.

I feel like using video this way would get students excited to create and maybe even excited to write an essay if it would be part of their very own special edition DVD! Also, to make a video adaptation of a novel requires a thorough understanding of the novel itself: themes, imagery, character, plot.

So I say yes to using videos in class, especially if you can use video to complement other modes of representing.

Even From Here

Clarence Fisher { @glassbeed | http://www.evenfromhere.org/ } who teaches in Snow Lake, Manitoba shared with my class over skype.

A chat with Clarence Fisher from Tyler_JL

More on Movies

My cooperating teacher at my most recent student teaching placement has a huge collection of video resources he uses in his classroom: from lectures to concepts in action. They are a very effective way to differentiate and engage.
However, physics is a real-world course. It attempts to explain the patterns and relationships observed in nature. Watching videos or simulations can abstract the concept and make it harder for students to see the real-world connections. Live demonstrations are great for showing concepts, but my CT strongly encouraged students to be more than just consumers, but to extend themselves and become producers. Why just watch the demonstration, when you can do the demonstration? Why just watch Youtube videos in class, when you can make the Youtube videos?
Every year, for every unit he encourages students to figure out how to apply concepts in their life and film their demonstrations. A large percentage of his video collection is past student-made video demonstrations. There are videos on the Doppler Effect, conservation of momentum, circular motion and many more. Making video demonstrations require higher order brain functions and forges a stronger connection to the concept than simply memorizing a formula and diagram.
I plan on implementing this strategy in my teaching and will model production over consumption by making videos (both for fun and for class-use) and sharing them with my students.
Here is a sample of some of my recent production:

I'm participating in the Star Wars Uncut project. Check it out!

Scope & Sequence

I just handed in my first attempt at a year plan or scope and sequence. I worked with a good friend and we focused on Grade 7 ELA. The year plan is by nature generic, but we came up with a lot of ideas I am excited to bring to the classroom.

Here's the link to it https://skydrive.live.com/redir.aspx?cid=80018fb28502a939&resid=80018FB28502A939!337&parid=undefined

Feel free to take and modify ideas at your leisure.

In our course we are going to continue to focus the year plan by developing a unit and then lessons from that unit. Once we finish them, I'll share them too.

Cruel and Unusual

Cruel and Unusual Punishment

Student/Teacher

I learned a great deal while student teaching from my cooperating teacher through observation, feedback and conversation. I also learned a lot from first-hand experience leading lessons and reflecting on them. In this regard I was a student.
I was prepared to try my best to be a teacher in my interactions with students. I feel I increased in proficiency and skill in this regard as my placement went along. What I didn't expect was how much I would end up teaching my cooperating teacher in regards to ICT. She was not very confident on computers or the internet. When I lead introductory lessons on new programs she would follow along with the students doing the activity and taking notes as well. We downloaded blurb booksmart on the students' profiles for a bookmaking project. In case she wanted to download it for more students in the future, we went through the process together and I  made sure I left her detailed instructions as well.
I truly felt like a student/teacher and was happy to give some information back to a person how shared so much with me.

fakebook character study

I created this on Microsoft Publisher as a template for a character study of Shakespeare's Macbeth. Students picked a main character after completing an activation on the play. After reading each Act students would update this profile. I called it fakebook, but it's pretty obvious what this is based on. Creating a profile requires students to have a strong grasp of the character and her/his various relationships.
I used it for Macbeth, but I feel it would be useful for any character study.

Literacy with ICT

Literacy with ICT is a developmental continuum for integrating ICT into classrooms throughout the public education system. It also focuses on teaching responsible digital citizenship, whereas past ICT programs have focused on technical skills.

The outcomes of the continuum are split into two domains: cognitive and affective. The cognitive domain focuses increasing analytical and creative thought while using ICT, while the affective domain focuses on responsible, moral ICT use.

As this is an important initiative for teachers of all subjects, at all levels, I started implementing it in my student teaching. Any lesson I did integrating ICT I instructed students as to how to approach the task responsibly. For collages or any other project that required pictures I had students follow along with these steps to practice responsible image searching:

• go to images.google.ca
• click on advanced image search.
• scroll down and click on “Only images labeled for reuse.”
• fill in your search term (e.g. snowflake) and scroll down and click “Search images”.
• double check the licencing of the specific image you want. Follow all restrictions.

With technology fully integrated into our lives outside of the school it only makes sense that we teach our students how to navigate this digital age responsibly and creatively.