BLC2011 - Pre-conference
This space is for participants in the YWP pre-conference workshop, Publishing & Empowering in the Digital Classroom, and for anyone else interested in or participating in the other two YWP presentations.
Welcome BLC2011!
BLC2011 Conference participants,
I so enjoyed working with all of you during this BLC2011 conference. I would love to continue the conversation and, more importantly, have you continue the conversations between each other. Would you be interested in doing that?
If so, please return to this site. I will maintain the playground and pre-conference spaces, will add some questions or "prompts" and will be commenting on your work, your posts and your questions. It would be great if you did the same and if you created community on this space. Write about your fears, your successes; seek advice; seek help.
- ggevalt's blog
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Workshop Schedule
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- ggevalt's blog
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- Read more
Creating a Community of Digital Writers -- The Wiki
This is a wiki. If you have ideas to add, please do so, but try not to edit out any of the good ideas already here!
As teachers we endeavor to do two things: engage our students -- help them get fired up about something -- and help them learn how to do things better. Many teachers are successful at creating community within their physical classrooms and the principals they use to achieve success are the same in the digital classroom. Here is a quick run down of attributes and strategies:
Photo Prompt
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Florence Owens Thompson speaks
Choose a photo that tickles your imagination. Think about it. Then write. You have seven minutes. The aim is to get out as much as possible. Don't revise, don't worry, just write.
To incorporate the thumbnail of your photo into your blog, do either of the following:
Download:
- Go to Web File Manager link on left
- Choose BLC2011 folder
- Find the photo you've chosen RIGHT click (or control click) and click "Download as File" to your computer
- In your blog entry form upload in the Images box the photo you just downloaded
Transfer thumbnail
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Creating a Photo Story
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First, the story...
Photograph by Phyllis Graber Jensen
This is my uncle Frank, Frank Glazer. Frank is 95 years old. Frank still plays concert piano; he still teaches at Bates College. This year's project was to play all 32 of Beethoven's Piano Sonatas. He started in September and just finished up last weekend, the second weekend in April. Playing in the background is Frank's 1968 recording of Erik Satie; the New York Times called it the Classical Album of the Year. Frank has played with symphonies all over the world. He premiered several of Aaron Copland's pieces. He studied under Schoenberg and Schnabel. He began playing professionally in a vaudeville show at the age of 13. Music, Frank says, keeps him alive.
-- Geoffrey Gevalt, YWP Director
Worth watching -- The Broad View
This is an interesting speech ... and presentation about public school issues.
The first sentence
UPDATE: I have used this exercise in a dozen classes now ranging from elementary school to high school and it really works well. Students find it fun. It helps them understand the concept of hooking readers into a story. It shows them how they need to have a thesis -- or point or story -- as well as a them or tone or voice. Try it out. -- geoff gevalt
One of the best writers I worked with as a journalist was Bill O'Connor, then a columnist at the Akron Beacon Journal. Bill wrote about everyday people with unique, funny perspectives and stories. Bills skills were these:
On Writing
Good writing skills are essential for learning, expression and success. Good writing skills are valued in the workplace -- executives in national corporations say that applicants or employees with strong writing skills are far more apt to be hired and/or promoted. Good writing skills are needed more in the 21st century than ever before.
Yet less than half of Vermont students can write at a proficient level. And about 25 percent of students who qualify for school lunch subsidies can write at a proficient level. Nationally, the numbers are far worse. And what makes this more disturbing is that the least proficient are students from the most challenging economic backgrounds; in one Vermont school, only 11 percent of the 10th grade boys were proficient in writing.
What these numbers mean is that the majority of our students cannot adequately express themselves and cannot fully participate in all learning experiences and therefore are being poorly prepared for the 21st century workforce.
Where would be if Lincoln could not write well? If Ghandi could not write well? If Martin Luther King Jr. could not write well? Attached is a fascinating -- and frightening -- report from the National Commission on Writing. Take a look.
Beyond the studies, though are these facts: For many students, writing is a frightening, onerous process. They:
- think it's boring;
- don't think they're any good at it;
- don't think there is any point to it;
- don't know why they should learn to get better at it.
Civil digital spaces where students can create community, give each other feedback and engage in topics they are most interested in allow them to see that:
- writing is interesting;
- good writing is achievable;
- writing well is important;
- writing has value to clarify their thinking and explain their points of view; and
- writing has a purpose -- and audience.
Have them play this, for fun:
Writing Process from SINLOGO on Vimeo.
