Wow
This comes via Gary Haye’s blog (which I came across from a friend in the National Writing Project, who came across it via Will Richardson …) and it is fascinating to watch:
Peace (in the data flow),
Kevin
Author Archives: dogtrax
Boolean Abandons the Grade Remorse Calculator App
‘What I Like to Write’ Comics
I continue to use the National Day on Writing as a prompt with my students, and in our closed ToonDooSpaces site (which my students are completely eating up — writing, creating and commenting like crazy), I posted this:
And here are what some have come up with, even though I have not even officially introduced it as a lesson to the classes yet. These are some of the students who have found my comic and worked independently on their own. (Today, we’re going to do a Dark and Stormy Night comic …)
Peace (in a few frames),
Kevin
Not on the backs of our students
One more look at the Comic Strip Banner
As some of you know, the way we celebrated National Day on Writing at our school was through the use of a large and expansive Comic Strip banner that asked the question: What do you like to write?
I’m still trying to figure out what to do with the thing because it is huge. It’s also quite mesmerizing to look at. There are words and pictures and scribbles and notes and names all over the banner, every which way. It’s sort of a dizzying experience to read. Yesterday, before parent teacher conferences, I unrolled all of the parts and zoomed in on some areas with my camera. I mostly focused on the writing that answered the question posed originally.
I then took those photos and put them into the Animoto video machine and this came out. I’m not happy with the music I chose, but it works for now, I guess. I hope it gives a flavor of the banner.
Peace (in the close-up),
Kevin
Day in a Sentence goes to Israel
This week, Day in a Sentence rests comfortably on the beaches of Israel with Bonnie as the host. She asks that you consider boiling down your week or your day into a six word reflective sentence.
Come on — six words! You can do it. And you are cordially invited to join us by heading over to Digital Bonnie to post your six word Day in a Sentence this week. We hope to see you there!
Need some inspiration? Here is a song that I wrote last year for Day in a Sentence. Get your Six Word Groove on!
Peace (on the other side of the world),
Kevin
School versus World: Boolean Squared
Is it success if a student takes an assignment, runs it with their own way and finds an audience? What about if they don’t follow any of the structure that the teacher puts in place? This is one of the many quandaries faced by Mr. Teach with Boolean.
And of course, there’s a poke at both sides here, too.
Peace (in the forgetting),
Kevin
Media Coverage for our Comic Strip Banner
Just saw this, from our local newspaper, The Daily Hampshire Gazette.
(Click here to get larger version).
Peace (in the news),
Kevin
Celebrating National Day on Writing: Comic Strip Style
Well, the Huge Comic Strip Concept for celebrating at National Day on Writing at our school was pretty successful. It was also completely chaotic, as students rushed into the cafeteria at lunch, forgetting that they were there to eat and only wanted to write on the comic strip banner. At one point, I had to leave my own classroom just to act as traffic controller for the cafeteria staff, but it was fun to see so much energy and excitement around the act of writing and drawing.
I started with one large comic strip banner, but quickly realized that it was filling up and three times, I had to rush out, cut another strip of banner paper and add it to the original. I would turn my head and when I looked back, that one, too, would be filled with writing.
The original comic asked the question: What do you like to write? The answers ranged from stories, to poems, to plays, to comics, to tales about pets, sports stories and songs. It was pretty cool, and I had some great discussions with the younger kids about what they like to write.
I went on our closed-circuit morning television announcements to tell the school about National Day on Writing and to show the students (we have more than 500 students) the original comic strip banner, and one teacher later told me: “There was this incredible buzz in the room about writing. My entire class asked if they could run down to the cafeteria right then and start writing on it.”
Yeah.
I hope you were able to celebrate your own version of the National Day on Writing, too.
Peace (on the banner),
Kevin
