Tween Tribune

Guest post: Tina Wolfer Grade 8

I introduced Tween Tribune to my class last week and was blown away by how engaged they were.

TweenTribune offers teachers and students an opportunity to read high interest news stories about everyday people from around the world.  Introduced in such an appealing way, Tribune stories are interesting to middle schoolers and are a great way to get students to read newspaper articles—and then to hear them comment. 

After reading the stories, the students are able to post a response.

Students log on in a very safe manner and are able to access TweenTribune at home. I’m able to check the blogs before they are published and able to print them.   

My students were sharing stories with each other and having a great time writing a response. They are proud to be published writers. I introduced this website on Thursday and many students logged in at home over the weekend! 

The responses have to be at least 25 words.  At first students were unhappy with that number, but as they started to respond, they realized how easy it was to accomplish.  Students came in the next day and asked if we’re going to read new stories again. 

In response to the article, “Suspended over long hair. Is it fair?” Korie posted: I don't think that it is fair that a four year old would get suspended for having long hair. There are students in my middle school with hair longer hair than him that don't get in trouble for it.

I recommend this site to all teachers.  The students are engaged and they are reading and writing at the same time.  Check it out: http://tweentribune.com/.

Getting a Word in Edgewise: Wordle

Missed the Just One Hour workshop on Wordle? A recap:

Horizontal, vertical, or any-which-way, Wordle makes it fun to, well, get a word in edgewise—visually. Wordle is an easy web-based program at wordle.net that allows you to create a graphic representation of text. Because it quantifies text (the more often a word or phrase appears, the larger it is represented), it can be used to compile or summarize data.

Most important, students love it.

So, how can you use it to promote student thinking in your classroom? What kinds of text can you use?

21 Ways to Use Wordle
1. Visualize a brainstorm session

2. Compile data from classroom polls

3. Create a graphic autobiography

4. Guess the ___________________ (story, novel, event)

5. Write a headline for a current event

6. See similarities and differences

7. Identify criteria for ____________

8. Show class rules

9. Present spelling lists in various fonts

10. Examine student writing (Overused words? Important details missing?)

11. Study an author’s tone

12. Display your syllabus

13. Discover main ideas in text

14. Look for key ideas in important speeches

15. Draw inferences

16. Summarize

17. Show synonyms or antonyms

18. Make a custom illustration for a blog, story, essay, book report

19. Compare news stories for bias

20. Customize your word wall

21. Reflect on your thinking

On his blog Copy/Paste, Peter Pappas shares ways to use Wordle to promote literacy skills. Pappas suggests:

Defining skills
Before the dictionary comes out, give your students a new vocabulary word and ask them to brainstorm all the word they associate with it. Gather up all the brainstormed words for a Wordle. After the term has been formally defined, repeat the process and compare to the "pre-dictionary" Wordle.

Summarizing skills
As a pre-reading exercise, copy/paste text of reading into a Wordle and ask students to predict what the main ideas of the reading will be. Another pre-reading option: give them a Wordle of a non-fiction reading and ask them to use the Wordle to generate a title or headline before they see the real article. Post reading: ask them to reflect on the reading based on a prompt (for example, main idea, what you've learned, funniest element, etc). Then collect all their reflections into a Wordle.

Comparison skills
Give them two different accounts / essays on the same theme / event - let them compare the Wordles generated by each. Or you could generate Wordles for two different readings, then let student see if they can match the Wordle to its corresponding reading.

For GREAT Wordle ideas and tips created by teachers, see the collaborative project Tom Barrett and colleagues created as a PowerPoint slide show:


How to create your own Wordles for class (or, better, have your students create them)? Start here with a copy of our Just One Hour workshop handout, Then head to wordle.net.  It's really as easy as 1-2-3:  Click create, paste in any text, and click go.

A word of caution, it's addictive. In a good way. Have fun.

M.E.

PS Just found this great post by Iowa teacher Becky Goerend with sample student work!

Sources:
http://www.wordle.net/
http://peterpappas.blogs.com/ (Twitter: edteck)
http://edte.ch/blog/ (Twitter: tombarrett)
http://mrsbmg.blogspot.com/ (Twitter: MrsBMG)

What Did You Write Today? National Day on Writing

October 20 was the National Day on Writing sponsored by the National Writing Project. Early this morning I sent an email to a few teachers to see what students were writing today. Lots! 

• "We've talked a lot about good readers making predictions," said Mr. Bertsch. Today his students wrote their predictions about the end of Arthur Miller's The Crucible. 
• First graders in Mrs. Cramer's class wrote and drew about what they want to do at Sun Rock Farm. Field trip tomorrow!
• Ms. Ferguson's freshmen have read Night by Elie Wiesel. Today they wrote in response to a section of a 5th grade German girl's social studies text used to promote Hitler propaganda about racial superiority.
• In Intro to Video Productions, Mr. Hammer's students wrote short personal essays in the form of the "This I Believe."
• "A White Heron" by Sarah Orne Jewett provided the prompt for Mr. Poince's class. "Today my students are writing symbolic and persuasive responses to the short story." 
• Mrs. Wolff's 13-year-olds compared two nonfiction articles they read about detective work. High interest!
• Macbeth's Act I was the backdrop for Ms. Yarchi's senior class. Today they wrote about Macbeth and Lady Macbeth's state of mind.  
• AP Environmental Science students in Mr. Whitford's class wrote about forest fire management. 
• Mrs. Henshey's eighth graders are writing personal narratives. "They're self-evaluating, peer editing and getting their papers ready for publishing," she said.
• Today marked day one of Mrs. Ford's G/T students' after school Writing Club. They'll participate in the national Novel Writing Month, setting up online accounts to keep track of words written for the month and receive one-on-one creative writing instruction. 

What did YOU write today?
M.E.
PS Count me in with 23 emails, one informational table, one blog post, two thank you letters, and four tweets.