Engaging Education

In my eight years of teaching, rarely had I encountered a project that gave students as much ownership and motivation as the Young Writers Program for National Novel Writing Month…  Or as lovingly referred to by its participants, NaNoWriMoYWP.

Today commences the 2012 month of novel writing.  Students around the world are choosing a personal word count goal and launching on an adventure to tell a long narrative tale by November 30th.

Not only does this project significantly boost the quality of student writing through hours of deliberate practice and give amazing opportunities for powerful writing mini-lessons that students can immediately put into practice, but NaNoWriMoYWP also provides an appropriate learning environment for demonstrating  to students the power of setting and working toward a challenging goal.  Completing one’s first novel at the age of 8, 12 or 16 is something that belongs wholly to that student and can never be taken away.  It represents a lifelong transformation from writing student to author.   The message of empowerment is undeniable.

Click to download .pdf version.

So, I encourage you to take join my students, colleagues, friends, writers around the globe and me in taking the NaNoWriMo challenge in 2012.  Just because it is November 1, doesn’t mean it is too late to jump in. In fact, I am attaching a .pdf adapted from NaNoWriMo materials that can help you shortcut your planning time, turn your ideas into a true story concept and even connect with other NaNoWriMo-ers.  Plus, this month, I will be continuing to share writing resources, tips and student stories to keep your writers engaged and motivated along the way.

So, take the challenge yourself, integrate the program into your reading and writing instruction over the next month, or at least send a Twitter message to the many students on their way to becoming authors!

Let the novel writing begin!

“NaNoWriMo – I am an Author” – Video

Click here to read more about our 2011 NaNoWriMo experience!

“Beyond waiting “To Grow Up”

For too long, our students have worked tirelessly for an audience of one: their teacher. When class assignments assume that work is simply preparation for some future “real world,” this singular audience makes sense. But in the course of a 21st century school year, if a class of students never produces anything worthy of being showcased for a real audience, the students’ potential has been both overlooked and under-realized.

Brilliant solutions to problems, insightful compositions, and entertaining performances are not unique to grown-ups. I have watched a fourth grader write a short novel that hit number seventy-five on an Amazon bestseller list, and a kindergartener execute a talent show performance that moved an audience to tears. In 2012, people across the nation marveled as 15-year old, Jack Andraka won the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair with research likely to revolutionize pancreatic cancer detection.

Each of these examples is the result of quality 21st century educational experiences… the result of experiences that allowed students to set personal goals, take ownership of their own progress, engage a real-world situation, and make an impact on a community significantly larger than an audience of one….”

Read the rest of my article and contribute to the conversation on the Creative Educator website.

With all of the advances in technology tools and 21st century learning strategies, it can be hard to both keep up… and to nail down just what ideas are the most important. My latest article in NAESP’s Principal magazine aims to help you do just that.

Technology Integration for the NEW 21st Century Learner

You can read it online here.

OR

You can view the full color PDF of the article here.

I would love to hear your thoughts, feedback and implementation ideas as we work together to use technology to make a difference in our schools and in the lives of our students.

Need an educational, yet fun, elementary or middle school activity to get you through the last days of school before the holidays? Try making greeting cards with original student poetry inside.

Students can create folded cards by hand, drawing images or adding pictures cut from magazines or holiday newspaper ads. For a technological spin, use the templates in Microsoft Publisher or Microsoft Word, allowing students to add their own personal message and customizing clip art.

Once you have the basic greeting card, it’s time to add the original poem. In this case, I recommend a Diamante poem. They are simple to create and enable a great review of parts of speech during a creative activity. Since the students are able to choose their own topics, it is easy to diversify this activity for students who celebrate various winter holidays, or even for those that do not celebrate holidays. Some topics that have worked well for our students are: Snow, Christmas, Santa, Family, and Love.

To instruct the students in composing their Diamante, use one of the following technology resources while students are synchronously composing their own pieces:

-       Use the Diamante interactive poetry creator at readwritethink.org, projecting the live composition of a collaborative poem.

-       Use your Document Camera to project a live collaborative composition, systematically working through each line. This method can be enhanced by using a different color to represent each unique part of speech represented in the poem (as shown in the picture to the right). Additionally, encourage students to use prediction to guess what type of line should follow to complete the diamond.

Here are a few samples, created by third graders at McKeel Elementary Academy.

Today was the first of three days I will be spending at the National Association of Elementary School Principals Annual Convention. It was eye-opening. Surrounded by thousands of educational leaders ready to grow and brave bringing ideas of change and innovation back to their schools, I was inspired by the clear messages of reform potential in the sessions I attended and the conversations I had with principals from across the country. Here were some of my favorite comments, quotes, and moments of the day:

General Session with Sir Ken Robinson:
“The only things necessary for education are the learner and the teacher. You could take away everything else.”
“All high performing education systems have 1 thing in common – highly respected teaching status.”
Finland with no drop-out rate, in response to hearing of the US 30% drop-out rate, replies, “Why wold you drop out?”
“Each of us is a unique moment in history.”
“Anyone who credits their organization had a teacher who looked into their eyes to see who they were.”
When speaking about ed reform – “Children can’t put their lives on hold while other people figure it out.”
“And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.” – Anias Nin
……..I could probably continue this list all day….
More about this session at: Education Needs Different Principles—Not Different Principals http://tinyurl.com/3myogu2 via @NAESP
or stay inspired by following @SirKenRobinson on Twitter.

Robert Marzano Session – Formative Assessment & Standards-Based Assessment
This session was informative and moving. Impossible to leave unchanged!
These quotes do not do the whole session justice, and yet they were some of my favorite uses of words today.
“You can never rely on a single assessment.”
“We must avoid labeling students with a number.” (ex: Little Bobby is an 80 student.)
“This is not the extreme, because it is the logical conclusion.”
“You can never rely on a single assessment.”
“…let me paraphrase, but not exaggerate…” <<– I hope he doesn’t mind if I adopt this phrase!
“If I sounds passionate about it, I am.”
“You can never rely on a single assessment.”
You can find out more about Robert Marzano at MarzanoResearch.com
or follow him on Twitter @robertjmarzano or @marzanoresearch.

Another moment of note:
A Washington DC ed leader in learning about the success of Charter Schools in Polk County: “Why aren’t people talking about this?! My wife works in Florida and doesn’t even know about this. Why isn’t this being published everywhere? People need to hear about these things.” <<— Good question. Perhaps we need to speak up!!

Looking forward to another inspiring day tomorrow… and then sharing in my own session about Transforming Technology Curriculum for 21st Century Learners on Sunday. Keep looking for posts and updates on here and on twitter @engagingedu or #NAESP11. Going to be a great weekend!