Persuasive Writing: Student-Made Videos

I've recently been teaching Grade 9 English Language Acquisition - or ESOL if you prefer - in the IB MYP program. The four students have been with us between 2 and 6 months, so the are very much developing all their skills. 
Outcomes for our current unit include being able to plan and write a persuasive essay, so in a bid to make the elements as clear as possible, the four students each produced a video on one of the following topics: thesis statements, topic sentences, supporting details and elaboration. 
Before commencing on the project, they negotiated this rubric. 
See the results below and feel free leave comments on their blog; they'd love to hear your thoughts.

Thesis statements by Sumire
Topic sentences by Steve
Supporting details by Ju Yeon
Elaboration by Ishak

Marking: From Loathing to Loving

Earlier today, I read a couple of blog posts (including this one) about 'common language' and its pros and cons. I then sat down to continue checking my Year 8s writing corrections and realised that I was actually enjoying it; definitely progression in my attitude toward a task that I met with procrastination more often than not.

What's the link?

In the past, when I've annotated a learner's writing, I have struggled to give them enough direction to self-correct without a. 'telling' them the 'correct' answer (and thereby robbing them of a learning opportunity) or b. being so vague that the learner really doesn't know where to start with how to improve what they originally penned.

However, over the last couple of weeks, I've been trialling a resource from Laura Randazzo on TeachersPayTeachers and it has been transformational for both me and my learners. The idea is that there is a shared set of codes used to annotate texts - nothing new there - but the feature that separates it from the rest is that the reference sheet gives technical guidance on the error, using authentic concise and accurate terminology. I like to think that my editing of the reference sheet has also enhanced its efficacy as I inserted shortened urls (using Bitly) linking to further guidance and self-tests.

The first 'win' with this resource occurred after I asked learners to go through, and note in their workbooks, the error codes. Lots of mental sweat visible here! Next, they wrote out the guidance, followed by the corrected version of the extract. At that point, I did an anonymous feedback survey and the results were most encouraging. While a couple (surprisingly, not more) of the 24 surveyed mentioned they hadn't enjoyed the physical wrist tiredness they'd experienced in writing out at such length, every single one (yes, without even one exception) gave positive feedback. They said they felt it made them more aware of their errors, how to correct them and that the exercise meant it was less likely they'd repeat the errors in their next writing task, partly because of their raised awareness and partly because they would proofread more carefully so as to avoid such onerous writing out of corrections again. (At the point of writing this post, this remains to be seen, so I'll be back to update on whether this is indeed the case or not.) I had explained to the class that I would make a decision on whether to continue using the system or not based on their feedback, so a positive response was effectively the class telling me, "We want more!" 

The next victory came as I sat down to mark their corrections and realised that having this common understanding of technical terms made it so much easier for me to mark up their work. As learners had already corrected themselves following guidance on aspects such as 'preposition', 'tense shifting', 'fragment', 'subject', 'verb' and a range of punctuation terms, it was effortless to concisely note where their focus should lie for future proofreading. 

Furthermore, an added bonus was that the learners I would usually worry most about understanding my feedback found they had an advantage over the rest of the class: my EAL learners. As they have all experienced learning English with regular exposure to grammatical terminology - especially around tense formation - I was able to be even more specific in my feedback to them, using terms like 'past participle', 'present perfect' and other such terms the rest of the learners (and many English teachers) would baulk at.

The enjoyment factor for marking now comes from the strong sense that it is a constructive, collaborative experience that is visibly building the learners' skills, while being differentiated, personalised and putting the onus of learning where is should be: with the learner.

"If I had to reduce all of the research on feedback into one simple overarching idea, at least for academic subjects in school, it would be this: feedback should cause thinking." (Dylan Wiliam (2011)

A massive thanks to Laura Randazzo for this resource; I receive nothing for promoting her materials, monetary or otherwise, but I do wholeheartedly recommend a look here.

DoppleMe: Create Free Avatars

DoppleMe allows you to create a head-to-toe avatar and customise it as you please. There are limited options for those who do not register, but enough to create a decent figure. For those who do register (for free), you can save and edit your avatar and get access to a wider range of features.

Integration:
I recently used this site for my learners to create personalised avatars for interactions with other schools. For those who have concerns about learners putting their faces on the Internet, this is a safe option.
Another use that comes to mind is creating characters for storytelling. Using Michael Gorman's lesson plan for the 'one take video' I could see how these avatars could be exploited to create characters.

PicLits: An Adaptation on Concrete Poetry?

PicLits is a site that I was reminded of by a recent blogpost. Visitors click on a picture of their choice from a selection provided and then they can drag and drop words onto the picture to create a type of art-based poem or PicLit. The word banks are customised to each picture so that something relevant is likely to be produced. 

A great tool to get learners started on composing while avoiding 'blank page syndrome' or it could be used as inspiration for descriptive writing. There is also a Learn It section on the site where visitors can take writing Master Classes.

Teachers may think this is restricted to use in the English classroom, but why not start your Science or Math lesson with a bit of a creative burst? Click here to give it a go.

Warning: Check the day's gallery (not on the home page) before sharing with learners as some of the results may be inappropriate for your context.

Visual Writing Prompts from Pinterest

I came across this great Pinterest page and I'll be using it to give learners ideas when they're doing 'free writing.' Below is a screenshot of just a few of the many examples. Click here to check out the pins and be inspired!

Publishing tools for learners: a collection of options

I can't quite remember where I came across this lino (something like an online notice-board), but it's a great source for finding ways of giving learners' options when it comes to presenting their work. It's a public lino so anyone can add notes to it. Explore and add your own ideas.

Visual Literacy: Inspiration for Literacy Activities

I came across a great resource a couple of days ago on TES containing a link to a posterous site set up by one Rob Smith. Although only a couple of months old, the blog already contains over 50 video clips with suggested activities from creative writing to discussion, inference and deduction and much more. The clips are generally short and the ideas are great for seeing just how many ways there are to incorporate this engaging material into lessons. If you've got 10 minutes to spare, have a browse and see what gems you uncover.

Rob seems to be a Primary teacher, but there is plenty in here for the Secondary classroom too. Be inspired!

Click The Literacy Shed to visit the site.

ZombieMe: Zombify Yourself

Warning: If you're easily grossed out, look away now!

As I was researching resources for a unit based around 'Horror', I came across ZombieMe which allows you to upload a picture of yourself and then add scars, necrosis and other zombie features to create a picture you can use however you choose. Definitely not one for the younger learners, but with the recent trends in the zombie genre, perhaps this would allow your learners some creativity in the classroom?

Integration:

• Learners could create zombies for their own horror photostory
• Use creations to inspire creative descriptive writing
• Use as a lead-in for Biology lessons looking at decomposition; a zombified teacher will certainly capture their attention!

Present.me - Slideshows with a Face!

Present.me allows you to record yourself via a webcam while presenting a slideshow. The guy in the video below has over 50 years of communications experience, so I'll let him explain the rest.

Integration:

• Use it to explain concepts for lessons and make it part of your flipped-classroom toolkit.
• Learners can use present.me to record digital presentations for current and future learners.
• Learners could also use it to present a portfolio of work evidencing their progress or talk their audience through the process of doing something e.g. the essay-drafting process.
• How about a project where older learners write stories for younger learners, illustrate slides to accompany their tales and then read them aloud before sharing across the school and perhaps even with other schools?

A Result! Thinglink Gadget for Google Sites

After a very frustrating couple of days, the kind Andrew of Thinglink has produced a gadget to embed Thinglink images into Google Sites.

>> Click here for the Thinglink gallery<<

Instructions (Open your Google page before reading):

1. Go to the Google Sites page where you want to place image and click 'edit'
2. Click 'insert' and choose add gadget.
3. Add a 'Gadget by URL'
4. Enter the URL: http://thinglink.s3.amazonaws.com/resources/tlGoogleGadgt.xml
5. Enter the embed code from the Thinglink image where the box is
6. Save the page to see what it looks like; you may have to fiddle with the height and width settings depending on your image dimensions

Integration:

• Use embedded Thinglinks as a navigation menu on the splash page of your site. (Thanks to Holly for this one.)
• Learners can use Thinglink to draw together information on a topic using a relevant image; as it's a collaborative tool, you can allow anyone to edit and add tags.
• Learners could make a map of place that a story takes place in and then embed different media at certain locations as a way to experiment with experiencing narrative in different ways.
• Science could set up a murder scene with tags leading to various clues or English/Language Arts teachers could do the same as a starting point for imaginative writing.

Festisite: Unleash the Creativity - Mother's Day Cards?

Festisite is an interesting platform for producing some great teaching resources, as well as getting your learners to be creative with texts. You can sign-up using an existing account such as Facebook, so no need to create a separate profile.

Integration:

• Use the money generator to produce customised cash for use in the classroom - maths?
• Personalise cards with pictures for classroom games.
• Create shape texts - how about one like this letter (below) for Mother's Day?

Get Writing with Elastoplast Stories

Elastoplast Stories offers another way to encourage writing among younger learners. Kids are offered a blank template with boxes for each scene of their story. They can write the story and then add pictures with speech bubbles and other media, including animated elements. Once finished, they can submit their stories to the public gallery for all to share.

Click to enlarge

Learners can peruse the gallery to promote excitement about writing and to see what the finished results could look like, and there is a kids' adventure pack to download for exploring the great outdoors which could be great inspiration in itself.

Moonbase Alpha

"Step into the role of an explorer in a futuristic lunar settlement... 

Your mission is to restore critical systems after a meteor strike cripples life support equipment."

Moonbase Alpha: An education guide is provided with lesson plans for this interactive game where survival depends on teamwork, use of resources and learning from mistakes. Although tagged as a game for science subjects (ages 11-15), I think the immersive nature of the challenge would also be great for inspiring some creative writing. It only takes about 20 minutes to play an episode, so why not try it out yourself to see its applications in your classroom?

Word Spy - A Guide to New Words

Wordspy is a great little find. It documents the meaning and usage of new words coming into the English Language. From browsing the front page, I learned that a 'piem' is a poem where the length of each word corresponds to the numbers in pi, thereby offering a mnemonic for recalling pi itself; one for me to take away and use immediately - great!

Integration:

• Entries can be searched in a number of ways including by category so learners studying language itself may well find this useful for a particular topic e.g. the language of insults or economics; as citations of where the words first appeared are included, it's a great starting point for a research project
• The catalogue could be used to enrich writing; I particularly like the euphemism section and I can see how directing learners to it could support them in their attempts at injecting humour into their texts
• In a world where new words are being coined on a daily basis, this is a great repository for simply keeping up with the lingo in a particular field, whether it be Science, Computers, Sociology or others

The Write-n-ator

The Write-N-Ator is an interesting tool for getting younger learners writing. They watch a video and then take a linked writing challenge. Tips for writing are included as are U.S. standard alignments. The challenges span a range of purposes from descriptive to explanatory with some requiring only a sentence or two, and others more. Useful for Primary-school kids or perhaps even younger Secondary learners.

Hello Slide (& Wicked - Science and Maths)

Hello Slide offers another way of presenting information. It's similar to other platforms, such as Voicethread, but it incorporates a text-to-speech function which means that you don't need access to recording equipment. Here's an example:

Integration:

• Use to create self-access instruction whether for flipping the classroom, learning stations or a 'help yourself' section of a website or VLE.
• Learners can produce their own presentations for sharing with peers or paired schools.
• Learners could create stories with narration, explain mathematical/scientific concepts, illustrate geographical events or profile historic figures - consider applications for your own subject area. 

Like this? You might also be interested in these science interactives on plate action, rock formation and more from wicked.org.nz

Boom Writer - Encouraging the Best Writing from your Learners

Boom Writer takes the idea of collaborative writing and adds in the important element of peer assessment with a requirement to do the absolute best writing possible.

Learners write a chapter and then, without knowing who wrote what, vote on the one that should continue the story.

Schools have the choice of then publishing the finished book, or simply access it from the website.

An example of what this can result in is here and the short, clear video below gives an overview of the process.

Zopler - Collaborative Story Telling

Zopler offers a platform for people to write stories together. Once the story's been started, you can invite others to contribute until it's finished. The video gives a quick overview.

Integration:

• Use Zopler for a whole school / class story or for creating a whole class response to an excursion or event.
• Support reluctant writers by having them contribute to or start a story and see it grow into something much more comprehensive.
• Encourage higher ability writers to contribute regularly to experiment with different styles, finding a voice and getting feedback from a writing community on Zopler.
• Stories can be public or private (to an individual or group) so explore these options to avoid inappropriate additions or comments.

Blue Ribbon Readers

Blue Ribbon is a series of resources from PBS Learning designed to improve reading literacy at grades K-5 but it could be used for intervention with weak readers who are older too.

There are 14 activities in the set and skills covered range from inference and deduction to visualising.

Below is one of the activities which can be embedded into site by way of an iframe.

Collaboration without Google Docs

A recent post on Edmodo made me realise that not everyone is fortunate enough to have access to the world of Google and all the educational benefits it brings. If the powers that be have blocked the use of Google Docs and you are looking for a way to do collaborative writing, some alternatives are below. (With thanks to Ms Hurst, Ms Quirk and Mr Boysen on Edmodo for these suggestions.) Click on the icons to go to the sites.

"Springnote allows you to create pages, to work on them together with your friends, and to share files. Springnote is also a great tool for group projects as it allows group members to easily collaborate. Advanced search, numerous templates, and 2GB of FREE File Storage are only few examples of how Springnote can help you. Of course, you already know that Springnote is an Internet service, meaning you can access it from anywhere anytime."