Since the National Day on Writing, a number of students from other grades have come into our classroom to add their own sticky notes about “what we write” to our classroom mural. So, I updated the video and stretched it out a bit (and fixed a nagging missing letter that Animoto dropped off on me). The photo above shows what the huge WRITE looks like now, and just in time for parent-teacher conferences, too.
Peace (in the share),
Kevin
I was lucky to be invited to chat with some friends about the nature of writing, in celebration of the National Day on Writing last week. Steve Moore and Scot Squires host a new website called Write on Through, and they invited myself and Betty Raye (of Edutopia) to talk about writing, the teaching of writing and our own writing. Through some strange tech quirk, Scot and Steve (a friend via the National Writing Project) never got their voices recorded, so you have to use a little inference to their questions. But they mixed it as best as they could and I think Betty and I come across as fervent believers in the power of writing.
As it should be …
Peace (in the podcast),
Kevin
As part of this year’s National Day on Writing, we asked teachers in the Western Massachusetts Writing Project to talk a bit about what they like to write. I wonder if we ask this question enough of our teachers, who see themselves so much in the frame of their students, and not of themselves?
Peace (in the writing),
Kevin
This year, to honor the National Day on Writing, we created a massive block-letter WRITE on the back chalkboard in the classroom. During the week, students used colored sticky notes to share the kinds of writing they enjoy doing. It’s been pretty magical to see the WRITE fill up with ideas. I’ve also had my camera ready, taking images as the sticky notes were being placed.
Here is our Animoto video of our National Day on Writing responses:
Peace (with writing),
Kevin
Today, I am pulling together the various threads of a poem I was writing and sharing this week as part of the National Day on Writing. This Glogster project includes the text of the poem, the podcast, and the “inside look” at the writing of the poem video.
Peace (in the writing),
Kevin
Today is the third day I am posting about this one single poem, as I lead up to pulling it all together into one multimedia project for tomorrow’s National Day on Writing celebration. The first day, I shared the text of the poem. The next day, I shared a podcast version of the poem. Today, my sharing was inspired by a small line I read from one of the NCTE tweets, suggesting that folks share their writing process along with their writing. Since I had used Google Docs to write my poem, I figured I could give a little tour of the editing and revising that I did while trying to write the piece.
Here, then, is my inside look at writing What I Write: An Archeologist of an Idea
I hope you’ve been writing, too, and that you will be sharing your writing or writing activities tomorrow for the National Day on Writing.
Peace (beneath the poem),
Kevin
Yesterday, as part of the upcoming National Day on Writing, I shared the written text of a poem I wrote to celebrate the theme of “What I Write.” Today, I want to share out the podcast version of the poem. (Tomorrow, I will add another media component and then finish up on Friday with everything pulled together into one large digital composition).
Thanks for listening and I hope you get inspired to write.
Peace (in the poem),
Kevin
As part of this year’s National Day on Writing (which is Friday and Saturday — yeah, two days as one), I wrote a poem on the theme of what I write. I also began to toy around with various media, and will release a piece of my multimedia poem as the days go on. Today, it’s just the text of the poem. I hope you enjoy it and I hope you do some writing this week — yourself and with your students — on the concept of “what we write” in celebration of the National Day on Writing.
What I Write: An Archeologist of an Idea
What I don’t know
when I write are the mysteries of ideas –
the shadows filtering in from outside of myself
as some sort of jewel
half-hidden away in my consciousness demanding
freedom
from the perpetual over-thinking of just about everything.And so, pen scratching paper,
fingers pounding keyboard,
skin touching screen,
the writer in me tinkers with these treasures that slowly unfold as
a singular phrase,
an inspiring song,
a passionate letter,
a sad story,
a shout-out-loud yelp into the wilderness of the world,
a poem — always, it seems, my mind comes back to me as a poem —
which circles back around on itself
until the grains of time get gently brushed away
and I, the writer, slowly emerge as an archeologist of an idea.
Peace (in the poem),
Kevin
I stumbled upon this site — Vuvox — the other day as I was reading a blog post about remixing in a college composition classroom. One of the students used this site to remix a graphic novel with a rap song. I decided to see I could create a media collage from last year’s National Day On Writing, with the theme of Why I Write. I used images from my classroom and a podcast collection that we created that day. Check it out and see if you can think of possibilities for the classroom.
Go to the Why I Write Collage
And let’s see how it looked embedded:
Peace (in the sharing),
Kevin
When we took part in the National Day on Writing, my students used our iPod Touch devices for podcasting. It was our first exposure to the devices this year. I couldn’t help but listen in to their discussions and a few comments stayed with me. So, I made a comic, not just because I think the comments are sort of funny (they are, to me) but also because the comments give us some insight into their thinking around using mobile devices in the classroom.
Peace (in the sharing),
Kevin