WRITING ACROSS THE CURRICULUM
“And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.” ― Sylvia Plath
Our classroom writes often. We believe that social media will make younger generations better readers and writers than ever! We use social media in class to read and write. In addition to the many course discussion forums done online using edmodo, Moodle, Twitter and other electronic discussion methods, students are required to Journal Blog on a regular basis and write for continuous Project Based Learning. Blogging is an amazing way to write and gives students a voice to the entire world! In addition to Word documents such as career goal papers, facebook history projects and more, students in our courses also collaborate on Google Docs, Google Presentations and write material in Multimedia shows. Students also participate in activities such as sending Upper Peninsula Quiz Questions to the TV6 news! They are required to communicate via email to professionals in careers and for other Project Based Learning projects. Quizlet sets are also required to be written and turned in to the Quizlet class. They also produce the Knightly News! Students who use Twitter can communicate with Mrs. Leiker in and out of the classroom through a back channel and the challenge of writing excellent thoughts in 140 characters or less is one of the positive ways that Twitter teaches students to write even better! In addition, they write for feedback to the teaching using methods such as Google Forms and edmodo discussions. See below to see examples of the writing done in our classrooms.
The Knightly News
Students in Multimedia class began the first ever Knightly News publication. The Knightly News brings information to students, parents, teachers, administration, staff and community members about the school. Students use the program MailChimp to create the newsletters. Not only are the students required to do true Project Based Learning (PBL) and plenty of writing, they are required to publish their work to the world!
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Weekly Journal Blog Entries
Our classroom feels writing across the curriculum is an important step in preparing our students for a future. Just about every week, students write in a journal blog. Click the title link above to see examples of journal blog entry topics written this year in our classroom.
Classroom Participation, Discussion Forums & Wikis
Journals, edmodo forum Participation and Class Involvement (i.e. choosing class work over 'entertainment' and/or other forms of distraction) are used as a portion of student grades. Collaborative discussion forums & wikis show student understanding and growth through writing. Instruction is changed to include re-teaching when forums and wikis show a lack of understanding. See the charts at the bottom (Category Summaries) to see the percentage of course work dedicated to these (CRP, Journal & Forum Grades).
Student Writing Clips from Project Based Learning (PBL)
"The Word Review" Paper & "What I Have Learned" as well as "The Time Capsule" papers are used to allow students to freely write examples of student growth. Students in our classrooms also write essays such as those below for "The Hard Habit to Break". These reactions are read and used to consider future curriculum guidelines. Included below are some samples of student writing clips.
The Hard Habit to Break Written EssayIn this project, students were asked to read the article on How Much do Bad Habits Cost?. They were then instructed to pick a habit they find hard to break that costs money (other reading articles relating to this including those which help them determine bad habits costing them money were provided). Using a calculator app on the iPad, students were led to calculate what this habit cost per day, per week & per year as well as using the calculator to determine the cost of the habit over their lifetime with interest added. An written essay about this habit and it's costs was then required with questions posed. Two student samples have been included.
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"Today I know much more about computers than I did on the first day of school. Now I know about different Microsoft programs, different parts of the computer, and different computer fields. Looking at this paper I realized how much I learned in this class. It says in my paper that I wasn’t surprised where computers were, but now I am. I thought I knew how common they were, but there are so many uses that I was unaware of. Reading this paper made me realize how important this class is. I learned how to do so many things that will help me in my high school career."
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"So much has changed over this year. I’ve learned so much more then what I knew before. I hadn’t even known what to look at in Excel and Access before, and even though I used Word all the time, I had no idea half of what it was capable of. I’ll use everything I’ve learned throughout life. I’ve already used many of the things I’ve learned on some of my finals papers."
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"I know a good deal more about computers than when I first entered this class. I thought I had even mastered PowerPoint, but I know even more about it now. I had no clue how to add video to it but it’s really simple! I feel like I am a better at typing than I have ever been before. This is the first time I have ever done anything for my class online, where you had to upload your work. This year I feel like I have done more things on my own also, instead of needing help ALL the time. I still would not be able to take computers apart, but I now know all about the history of computers."
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TV6 Upper Peninsula Quiz Questions
All students in our classrooms researched and wrote Upper Peninsula Quiz Questions for the TV6 news and sent them in. Many students have already been featured on the news! The amazing thing about writing for the TV6 news or any 'high stakes' writing is that students themselves do the critiquing without it being 'for' the teacher. They understand whole heartedly the importance of spelling, grammar and sounding professional. At the right is one example of a quiz question send via Gmail. Every student (even class helpers/techies/etc.) had to write these questions.
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Google Form Reactions
Following are reactions from a student Google Form completed by students involved in the Project Based Learning Veteran's Day Community Show:
Online Digital Portfolios & Writing Digital Presence with Weebly & TouchCast
Students created online digital portfolios this year in our classes. This included not only writing in an excellent way to best represent each individual student on their digital footprint, it also taught students to put their writing 'out there' for the world to see! The new generation of learners have to be prepared to share their knowledge, information and digital footprint to the world and in our classroom, they do just that!
Click HERE to see an example of a student portfolio
Click HERE to see an example of a student TouchCast
Click HERE to see an example of a student portfolio
Click HERE to see an example of a student TouchCast
Collaborative Google Docs & Presentations
As can be seen on the Tech Integration portion of the portfolio, Google docs and presentations were used collaboratively in many of our courses this year. This gives students not only an opportunity to write but also an opportunity to work as a group on a collective project which gives them ownership in course material. See the additional sample below.
On this particular project, students were asked via a shared Google Doc to contribute to the overall requirements of the newsletter. It was phenomenal to see their opinions and ideas take shape into today's Knightly News. Note that at the right you can view students who participated in modifications to the project. Not only is this a lesson in writing but it also covers differentiated instruction by allowing all students to have input into the requirements of the project. In addition, it is technology integration with shared Google Docs and it even touches the Project Based Learning/Makers Movement learning methods since it is a project that is going to be publicized both school wide and community wide.