 Your new post is loading...
Your new post is loading...
|
Scooped by
Jim Lerman
September 1, 2017 9:53 AM
|
Yesterday afternoon I was listening to Fresh Air with Terry Gross, an episode featuring a replay of part of a 1988 interview with Otis Williams of the Temptations. Williams described in fascinating detail what it was like to work for — definitely for, not with — Berry Gordy, Jr., the brilliant and obsessively disciplined mastermind of Motown Records. Gordy developed an incredibly complex system for coaxing great pop songs from his stable of songwriters, matching those songs with the right artists, and then arranging and producing the performances in ways that would — in theory and usually in practice — produce hits.
One element of Williams’s story really stood out to me. He explained that Gordy would instruct his musicians to record songs in keys that made the singers uncomfortable — that made them sing right at the limit of their range. Gordy believed that this gave a special urgency to vocal performances. Williams remembered with particular vividness the day the Temptations recorded “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg,” because, he said, it was one miserable day for David Ruffin. Williams described Ruffin going through take after take, pouring with sweat, his famous glasses sliding down his nose. Eventually he had to have some time to rest between takes. But eventually, this is what that frustration produced. One of Ruffin’s best vocals — maybe his very best..." Jim Lerman's insight: The idea of "to the limit of their range" strikes me as analogous to Vygotsky's "Zone of Proximal Development, Csikszentmihalyi 's "Flow," and the idea of "Stretch Goals." This blog post occurred in a blog focused on writing, but it could really be almost any human activity.
|
|
Scooped by
Jim Lerman
August 30, 2017 12:01 AM
|
"This column describes possibilities for using digital literacies with tweens as a platform for investigating issues of social justice."
|
|
Scooped by
Jim Lerman
August 29, 2017 11:40 PM
|
"...what follows are six suggestions for providing secondary ELA students with effective feedback on their writing in ways that advance their learning; these strategies are recommended as a result of research conducted with secondary ELA teachers and students who shared what type of feedback is most helpful in moving students toward achieving mastery of writing skills and motivations. "These strategies, listed in hierarchical order, include the following: 1. Relate and react to the content/ideas in the piece. 2. Provide a balance of compliment and critique (Positivity Ratio—3:1). 3. Use minimal marginal notes and summative endnotes. 4. Keep it conversational and ask questions. 5. Ask students to write feedback response letters and highlight paper revisions. 6. Use emoticons (speak their digital language).
|
|
Scooped by
Jim Lerman
August 29, 2017 10:24 AM
|
I am no Anne Frank, but I can certainly relate to her sentiments. Writing is a way to find inspiration for yourself and others. Just like you don’t have to be a chef to cook for yourself, you don’t have to be a professional writer to get the benefits of writing.
"Allow me to share some of the things writing has done for me:
1. It cultivates your authentic self 2. It reaffirms your intentions 3. It inspires and influences others 4. It reduces your stress 5. It creates discipline"
|
|
Rescooped by
Jim Lerman
from Into the Driver's Seat
August 26, 2017 7:39 PM
|
Samantha Lile writes: "Long ago, storytellers were wise old men and women who conveyed tales of the ancients and lessons learned through the ages. Later, stories were told by authors, playwrights and directors. But thanks to technology, anyone can now become a storyteller, a reporter and a publisher. Visual storytelling, in particular, has emerged as an important trend in web and graphic design, as well as other forms of marketing in the digital era – and for good reason. The visual cortex is the largest section of the human brain. According to a 2008 study, the average person remembers about 10 percent of what they hear when tested 72 hours later. But when visuals are added into the mix, the figure increases to 65 percent."
Via Mary Reilley Clark, Jim Lerman
|
|
Rescooped by
Jim Lerman
from Into the Driver's Seat
August 25, 2017 2:22 PM
|
"This is an illustration that went with a recent Opinion piece in The New York Times.
"What do you think this image is saying? How does it relate to recent news events? What do you think the Op-Ed essay was about, since this image was used to illustrate it?
"Tell us in the comments, then read the related article to see if you were right. In what ways does your opinion match — or differ from — the Times Editorial Board’s?"
|
|
Scooped by
Jim Lerman
August 24, 2017 10:43 AM
|
"In this interactive, scaffolded, prewriting activity, teachers build the expectation that students will use evidence—not ego—to make strong and compelling justifications for their arguments. By turning "why" questions into a game, teachers help students become more confident and capable writers."
|
|
Rescooped by
Jim Lerman
from Into the Driver's Seat
August 24, 2017 10:25 AM
|
"Just like students write hypotheses in science class, they should be writing evidence-based thesis statements in early grades. These activities inject hands-on fun and a sense of play into what can be a daunting task."
|
|
Rescooped by
Jim Lerman
from A Writing Life
August 23, 2017 7:20 PM
|
|
|
Scooped by
Jim Lerman
August 22, 2017 8:19 PM
|
"...we sometimes dismiss writing because we did it, not realizing that others might respond to it in an entirely different way. Sometimes, we might not be the best judges of what works and doesn't work in our own writing. All the more reason to give writers an audience—to offer them our incomplete thoughts and allow others to finish them."
|
|
Rescooped by
Jim Lerman
from Learning & Technology News
August 22, 2017 1:42 PM
|
This is a great format for language learning as the texts are very similar to spoken conversations and the chunks are short and easy for students to read.
Via Nik Peachey
|
|
Rescooped by
Jim Lerman
from Into the Driver's Seat
August 18, 2017 8:14 PM
|
Susan Straight: We are prairie, brownstone, bayou, desert, asphalt; a nation shaped by slaves, pioneers, indigenous and immigrant. Not red or blue. We are home. To quote Flannery O’Connor, 'The best American fiction has always been regional.' Description below by The Scout Report: "Place plays an important role in literature; numerous American novels strongly evoke the cities, regions, and countrysides in which they are set. Earlier this year, novelist Susan Straight wrote an essay entitled "There are Riches Here" about "books, geography, and America." Straight also teamed up with the Ersi story map team to create this interactive map that places 737 novels across the United States. As visitors zoom in on each state or region, they can view a series of novels that are set there, accompanied by a short description. In addition to exploring this map, visitors can also check out Susan Straight's essay, accompanied by photographs and maps, via a link on the top of this webpage. This project provides a delightful way to discover (or rediscover) books closely tied to parts of the United States, from Maine to Alaska. "
|
|
Rescooped by
Jim Lerman
from Digital Delights for Learners
August 15, 2017 9:04 AM
|
|
|
|
Scooped by
Jim Lerman
September 1, 2017 9:31 AM
|
Write to think. Don’t try to know where you’re going before you start writing, but write to find out what you think, or find the story you need to tell. Never expect that a particular time-unit of writing will produce a given number of publishable words. You must learn to think of your writing time as a period of discovery, in which you find out what you think, or what images and rhythms tend to emerge from your mind, or where a story seems to want to go. If you focus on discovery, then something worth sharing with others will emerge, in its own way and on its own schedule. But that’s not the kind of thing that can be forced. Allow yourself the freedom to explore.
|
|
Scooped by
Jim Lerman
August 29, 2017 11:56 PM
|
The Early Childhood Education Assembly's Statement on Race and Early Childhood Education was posted in June, 2015. To support our suggestion that early childhood educators engage deliberately in focused anti-racist work, we promised resources. We have begun to collect resources at the links below. Our intent is to continue building and expanding this collection but we offer it now as a beginning, in support of educators working to (a) deepen understandings about institutional and interpersonal racism and its manifestations in early childhood settings, (b) understand the depth and breadth of histories often left out of or misrepresented in our teaching, and (c) apply new awareness to transforming practice and policy. We envision these resources as impetus for teachers, staff, families, and community conversations and professional development focused on awareness and action.Our next steps will be to consider ways to collaborate virtually among educators across the country.
|
|
Rescooped by
Jim Lerman
from Cultivating Creativity
August 29, 2017 10:33 PM
|
"Time 100 is an amazing feature from Time Magazine. It's a collection of 100 images that have had the power to change the world. The images are displayed on a time line and you can scroll through and click on each image ..."
Via Leona Ungerer, Jim Lerman
|
|
Rescooped by
Jim Lerman
from Into the Driver's Seat
August 28, 2017 4:18 PM
|
"If we expect our students to take risks and try new things, we as educators need to model the idea of risk-taking responsibly. This chapter provides practical ways to do so within schools and classrooms and shows how to encourage this mindset within families and communities. "According to the ISTE Standards for Educators, teachers should “continually improve their practice by learning from and with others and exploring proven and promising practices that leverage technology to improve student learning” (International Society for Technology in Education [ISTE], 2017). "For teachers to be global collaborators and leaders in using digital tools and resources, they need continual opportunities to engage in professional growth and learning. With this in mind, in this chapter we’ll share tools and ideas for creating professional and personal learning networks to help support an environment of risk-taking, innovation, and community building. "Chapter Overview This chapter will cover the following: -Supporting students as innovative designers -Encouraging risk-taking in teachers so they can model responsible risktaking for students -Creating a trauma-sensitive environment that supports healthy risk-taking -Techniques for supporting risk-taking in the classroom and beyond -Reflection questions specific to experimenting with new technologies and teaching methods" Jim Lerman's insight: This new book, by Laura McLaughlin Taddei and Stephanie Smith Budhai, looks marvelous. To read the full Chapter 2 and view the Table of Contents, click the headline or image above. The full book is available for purchase through the publisher, ISTE, and however you might normally purchase books (Amazon, etc.).
|
|
Scooped by
Jim Lerman
August 25, 2017 2:28 PM
|
Sometimes teachers send us ideas, and other times, we notice something a teacher is doing with The Times and ask him or her to tell us about it.
"That’s how this Reader Idea came to be: We saw that this teacher often responded to her students’ comments on our site, and we reached out and asked her why. That led not only to this post, but also to an invitation for her to be a guest on a webinar we’ll do this fall on teaching with New York Times visual journalism. Stay tuned for details: We’ll post them here when they are live.
"Meanwhile, if you teach with The New York Times, please tell us about it here. And if you’d like to see the other ideas from educators we’ve published over the years, visit this page. As part of our Reader Idea week, we’ll be publishing great ideas submitted to us by educators all this week."
|
|
Rescooped by
Jim Lerman
from Into the Driver's Seat
August 25, 2017 8:51 AM
|
"My previous post, Here Are The Ten Downloadable Graphic Organizers I Use With ELL Beginners To Write A Story, was very popular, so I thought readers would find it useful if I shared my entire seven-week unit on writing a story. I hope you can suggest ways I can make it better. "After a simple “Word Splash” (words that I pre-teach like “setting,” “theme,” “protagonist,” and “antagonist”), I use very modified versions of the WRITE Institute’s story unit as we read two books together: The Story Of Ferdinand and Teacher From The Black Lagoon. You can purchase a supplementary copy of that unit from the WRITE Institute for $20 here. We have copies of their full unit, but I only use a three of their graphic organizers (a protagonist/antagonist sheet, a sheet for listing words related to the five senses and a story map) – I’m sure you could create or find other versions (lots of story maps are here, a five senses sheet here, and protagonist/antagonist graphic organizers are here)."
|
|
Rescooped by
Jim Lerman
from Into the Driver's Seat
August 24, 2017 10:38 AM
|
"Our love of court case drama is not lost on television show producers who, in many crime shows, conclude each episode with a high-stakes contest of wills and reasoning before a jury. We tune in as viewers to engage in the process, think through our feelings on the subject, and anticipate the results. Three essential factors contribute to a defense or prosecution team's success: evidence, research, and organization. Any weakness in these areas can cost clients their whole trial. "Writing an argument, truly, is no different. "A well-argued paragraph is like a court case. In fact, if you ask students who enjoy courtroom drama to describe the order of a court case, their answers will reveal this structure:
Opening argument
Background information
Body of evidence
Closing argument
"Body paragraphs in an argument essay do the same thing! Every paragraph is a court case attempting to prove its point to the reader (the jury). The number of witnesses or exhibits necessary to win a case is how many paragraphs a writer should draft."
|
|
Rescooped by
Jim Lerman
from A Writing Life
August 23, 2017 7:20 PM
|
“ When writers apply visual thinking to their writing magic happens. This tutorial teaches you how to make your content clearer, vivid, and more persuasive.”
Via Penelope, Shannon Bolithoe
|
|
Rescooped by
Jim Lerman
from A Writing Life
August 23, 2017 7:20 PM
|
“bibisco is a novel writing software that helps writers to develop characters,design novel structure,organize chapters and scenes,analyze the novel.”
Via Shannon Bolithoe
|
|
Rescooped by
Jim Lerman
from Writing Rightly
August 22, 2017 1:45 PM
|
The best writers are masters at evoking an emotional response from their readers.
Via Penelope
|
|
Rescooped by
Jim Lerman
from Into the Driver's Seat
August 22, 2017 10:38 AM
|
Sometimes, when you need inspiration in your life--whether for love, success, or work--it helps to hear the motivational words that others have shared. So here are 101 of the best positive quotes guaranteed to change your attitude and make you feel happy.
Via John Evans, Jim Lerman
|
|
Scooped by
Jim Lerman
August 16, 2017 3:40 PM
|
Design Thinking Elevates Prewriting by Rooting Writers in Empathy
Young writers practice empathy when they begin new projects by considering questions like these:
Which stories need to be told right now? Who needs to hear them? How will you reach them?
Which arguments need to be made right now? Who needs to be called to action? How will you invite them?
What do people need to learn more about right now? How will build and share your expertise?
I’ve found that when the process is rooted in empathy, writers are far more likely to produce and share meaningful work with real audiences.
|
