Yes, Kristin Zeimeke does work with elementary learners. What did you see in her talk that YOU can use/build on/"tweak" in order to engage secondary learners in English classrooms?
I loved hearing how Zeimeke discusses her struggle with reading and how she lets her students learn with her. This can be applied to students of all ages. She also is creative when it comes to writing and reading in her classroom. The "flashlight" Friday idea is a concept that any teacher could use. Students needs days to read for fun and not be tied to a test or assessment of any type. I think that she uses technology in ways to enhance her connections with other teachers and students. She mentions the need for students to make more than one connection with the world through literacy. I find that students truly need this connection to be successful readers and writers. She use photography to capture moments in her classroom and she can look back and the students can reflect on the learning. I find this to be applicable to all classroom settings. She is a very passionate and creative teacher and learner.
The Flashlight Fridays was one of my favorite ideas! What a great way to make reading exciting and personal. I reminds me of when I was younger and my mother told me I had to put down my book and go to sleep. Instead, I would sneak a flashlight and read in the dark. It is definitely something I could see students of all ages doing. I would love to do Flashlight Fridays in a classroom like Mr. A's room full of couches!
From the teachers I have been interviewing lately, it seems like those type of ideas would be hard to implement. The consensus has been that things like couches or extreme activities would get out of control and could detract from learning altogether. This may be where the needs of elementary and the disposition of high school learners separate. It could also just be the school systems in which these teachers work. Either way, I believe it will all depend on the kids and that should be the first tool before implementation.
Lee, I think the reason many high school teachers have apprehension about 'extreme' activities or what I like to call 'play' activities is 1) they have copious amount of content to cover and there never seems like there is enough time in the day, month, school year, etc. (this is completely valid, btw! It's stressful.) and 2) they are correct in saying it gets out of control, but it gets out of control because students have not had these opportunities before. They don't know how to handle the excitement or the movement or the creative moments. I, once, did an activity where I let my students cut up old t-shirts as a response to a short story we read. To say the least, it got out of hand. Students started playing tug of war with the scraps. Markers were thrown. They were switching groups to get 'the best' design ideas. At one point, I lost it, and told them to stop, that we weren't going to finish the project, that we were going to discuss WHY I wanted them to do this project, instead. So, that's what we did and their discussion ended up being relevant regardless of the shenanigans. I thought the whole project, though, had been a failure. Then, my mentor suggested I get their feedback. Shockingly, the students thought it had been great. They told me they had never done anything like this in school. They liked how they were able to be creative and how it connected to the short story we had read. One student even said it helped her understand the point of the story! I was in shock and made it my goal to give them more opportunities to do 'play' activities. And, I call them 'play' activities because oftentimes I feel play and work have been so categorized that these two terms have been misused in relation to school. We need to fuse what we consider play with what we consider work (lots of cool theories on this). After this incident, I had my students moving all the time. Human Likert Scales, Vine Days, Aurasma Scavenger Hunts, Small Discussion Circles going on everywhere but in the classroom. It was messy and loud (loud doesn't even describe it), but they needed time to figure this stuff out because they had never done these kind of 'play' activities in the classroom. All they had ever done was 'work' aka learned how to tolerate boredom.
There were several points Zeimeke made which I found resonate with every classroom, no matter the age of the students. For starters, she talks about "Wondering Wednesday," a day in her classroom each week when students are encouraged to "live curiously." While the name Wondering Wednesday might be a bit elementary for a high school classroom, every classroom should encourage curiosity and asking questions. In "How Children Succeed," a book that we've discussed in another class, the author says that we can teach curiosity in a classroom, and I absolutely believe Zeimeke has found a way to do that. She also talks about a collaborative project that her 2nd grade students participate in with other students from 4th and 6th grade classes. I love this idea, and I could see it working at the middle school and high school level as well. I think it's a great way to show students that they can work together in a surprising way, and for younger students it's a great look into the kinds of learning and thinking they'll be doing in the future. Lastly, I mentioned it in a previous response, but Zeimeke uses technology to help get her students' work out there and to interact with people outside of their classroom. This is definitely something that is done and can be done with secondary learners. Showcasing student's work for the public doesn't only inspire 2nd graders, but it has the potential to inspire any student, regardless of age.
Ziemske talks about how each day instead of their being 31 learners and one teacher, she attempts to have 32 learners in the classroom. I think with technology, it's helpful to the teacher to allow the students to help navigate new mediums. Kids are becoming more and more tech savvy, and kids who are not strong readers and writers may be very successful in creating through a digital medium. I really enjoyed the idea of "Wondering Wednesday." Smagorinsky had a similar project in his classroom, in which students pursued a self-created inquiry. Almost every author we have read this semester discusses the importance of choice in the ELA classroom, for both reading and writing.
I agree that digital tools can help some students who are having trouble finding their voice through the "traditional" means we present them. I think that choice shows the students that we trust their judgment on what is important to write on as well as allowing them to be creative in how they approach topics or ideas.
I honestly think many of Zeimeke's ideas were so versatile that it could be worked into any classroom in any grade. My absolute favorite thing that she does with her students is publishing their work. It gets the students invested into their writing because they know their writing is going to be read by an audience, not just their teacher. It gives the students' writings purpose beyond getting the grade to pass. It also showcases their work, almost like a metaphorical trophy. Like Leah, I also love the idea of the students of different grades working on blogs together. That, similar to publishing students' writings, gives reason to their work. It takes the work they do in the classroom and make it mean so much more than that. It builds a community and gives students purpose in everything they do. Without students understanding how their schoolwork ties into their part as a member of society, it makes activities and assignments pointless.
I agree with Leah on the subject of the interconnectivity of classrooms. This would be a fantastic thing to see as an extension of interdisciplinary connectivity between high school subjects. If done in a high school setting, it would give the students across age groups a mode of relation building that if done in an autobiographical annotation of high school development would most likely take hold on all levels. Freshman could journal to the freshmen coming behind them on things they wished they knew, as well to seniors questions they have. This could develop into any form of peer review in a naturally abounding mentor like program through the connections established from the autobiographic question/answering. The possibilities are endless if you could be so lucky to fall into a program that would be willing to work with the implementation.
I really like your mention of the multi-level collaboration on a personal level. When I first read your proposed topics of "what I wish I knew" etc., I wondered if this would be academically relevant. Quickly, I realized..."of course." At the very least, establishing this comfortable conversation between grade levels would create connections to better learning. I would also challenge that not only can lower grades learn from upper grades, but also, the upper levels would benefit. Younger students could serve as reminders/review for older students who may have forgotten some material or, with technological advances, learned it in a different way.
I also like the idea of having a discussion/collaboration with another classroom. This would be interesting to do within the school as well as find a classroom across the country, or even in a foreign country (which would be more difficult to find). This would allow students to see that they do have a SLN that reaches outside of their particular classroom/school/city/state. I did at first think that it would be difficult to bring some of Zeimeke's ideas to a middle/high school classroom, but I agree with Leah that it's not about labeling things the same, but using a general topic and incorporating curiosity, social intelligence, zest, etc. up through the grades. I really love coming into a classroom and asking students what they're passionate about because it gives us as teachers insight into their thinking as well as allows students to connect with each other. It also would be good fodder for a writing piece.
I like the idea of having discussions with other classrooms as well!! During my student teaching, I had two classes with the same prep. So I was moving at the same pace for both of these classes. I had read an article on using journal time to write to a person in another classroom about the topics discussed for the day. Journal time would then become a time to reflect, respond, and synthesize in relation to another person outside of the classroom. With so many different technologies, I think ideas such as these are definitely plausible and useful in creating multiple audiences. I never had the chance to implement this journal idea but I think it could be a useful strategy that we can definitely expand via technology!
I’m slowly starting to warm up to the idea of having students do some of their writing in Google Docs. Ziemke mentions it mainly in reference to how she collaborates with her writing partner and editor on her book, but she also tied it into her classroom when she said that Google Docs allow her to check up on her students and stop them from going in the “wrong direction.” Jim Burke, author of The English Teacher’s Companion, also writes about the benefits of using Google Docs during the revision process; students can comment on their peers’ work and suggest changes at any time. I like the collaboration that’s involved in both Ziemke and Burke’s methods: teacher-to-student as well as student-to-student.
I am a huge fan of the YAL author, John Green. Over the summer I read his book, "Will Grayson, Will Grayson", that both John Green and David Levithan wrote together. Each author had a protagonist named Will Grayson that existed in an alternate reality from each other. In each chapter, one of the Will Graysons was narrated my one author and then the other author presented his Will Grayson in the next chapter. Finally, both Will Graysons meet and the story progresses in one said universe. It's an interesting idea and format for a story. When Ziemke discussed co-writing her book in Google docs, my mind began to buzz with how to apply this to a secondary setting. Modeling what John Green and David Levithan created in "Will Grayson, Will Grayson", I would love to see the end product of two students composing fictional texts together.
I am itching to implement into a secondary classroom setting many activities, both digital and tangible, that I learned from Zeimeke. As a fun activity, I love her idea of “Flashlight Friday.” The idea is that on Fridays students read their independent/ free book with the aid of a flashlight because the classroom lights turned off. By making the designated reading time more “special,” students will recognize this reading privilege and, even the reluctant readers, will want to partake. I would tweak Zeimeke’s Flashlight Friday event by not limiting students’ reading spots to their desks. Students could pick a spot around the classroom to claim as their own. Their special reading nooks would further Zeimeke’s idea of allowing for a relationship with a book in an intimate place and space to develop.
Zeimeke mentioned that she has her students craft writing pieces digitally. Following completion of students’ works, they publish their finished products to iTunes, where both students and parents have the opportunity to download the eBooks into their iBooks app. As a personal reader, I will always be loyal to paper books. As a teacher though, I love the idea of digital stories and the ability to share digital stories with a wide variety of audience members. I would be interested to see the development and product of an e-classroom library full of current and previous student-published literary texts within a classroom. Theoretically, students would also have the opportunity to reference previous students’ published works and use their works as mentor texts.
Personally, I believe that all of Zeimeke's ideas could be implemented in elementary, middle, and high school levels. I think we categorize students by age level to often when all we need to do is up the challenge, add a level of meaning, or reduce the scaffolding in relation to the child's learning. Why do we define our lives by age-categories!? Isn't life fluid? (Okay, mini-soap opera over).
One of my favorite things she talked about, though, was how she use different technologies to track her thinking and learning. Zeimeke mentions using twitter, pictures, voice memos, and a few others to capture moments throughout the day. I've been thinking about how to capture these 'writing moments.' I know I've definitely sat down to 'write' and thought, "Well, my life is boring. I have nothing to say." In reality, I had so many thoughts throughout the day but I had never held onto them as writing moments. It never occurred to me that one moment in my life could spark an entire story. I like the idea of teaching students to hold onto these 'ah-ha' moments using multiple mediums. Then, when students sit down to write, they already have a repertoire of ideas and thoughts.
Zeimeke's ideas were very versatile in the sense that her points can be implemented from elementary into secondary education. My favorite idea was the idea of publishing their work. This is a great motivation for students to not only do their work, but also for them to do it to the best of their ability. Especially in high school and beyond, kids sometimes need that accountability for assignments or they will just sit there and pretend to be doing something. By having them publish their work, they will know that others will be reading it, understand that there is a purpose for the assignment, and will be more likely to complete it to the best of their ability.
I also liked the idea of using "writing moments". Using multiple mediums for students to be able to document an important moment is a great way to give them a "writing bank" for when they cannot think of anything to write about. This is a great way to help students have the initial moment (i.e. picture, tweet, etc.) that they can later elaborate and write about.
I like the fact that Ziemke believes in and teaches balance, though I strongly am for the balance tilting toward more reading of the classics and writing expository composition/research writing. I really like the fact that she expects her students to use pen/pencil and paper and that she teaches them that the 'traditional' mode of writing/reading is still important. Since I know next to nothing about the current state of affairs in 'technology,' I can't comment on what I would 'tweak.' From a quick perusal of the comments given on this blog, I perceive that I am from another time and age, and must have somehow been transported into another dimension. I am amazed as to how my fellow students connected with Ziemke. For the most part, I had little idea of what she was saying or what her point was except that she is advocating for a richer learning environment where students are more engaged through the use of digital technology. Or did I miss something?
To start on an irrelevant note, Zeimeke's youthful energy and playful way of speaking made that webinar fly by. Zeimeke really opened my eyes on childhood education, a field that is all too often dismissed as an easy course of study for college students. Zeimeke has disproved these misconceptions in implementing research and seeking advancement. There are many aspects of Zeimeke's teaching that could (and should) be implemented in an upper level classroom: learning together as teacher and student, giving a variety of technologies to redefine our notions of traditional notetaking/learning, writing as a teacher, collaborating with other grades to create a multi-level answer to a question, incorporating sketching and audio work as a part of learning. Ultimately, I don't think much of the school-safe technology would need to be edited much from elementary to secondary. I would say that content would be the changing factor. I also really like the idea of "flashlight Fridays." The idea sounds a bit gimmicky at first, but to give an additional "fun" aspect to individual reading time gives students from all levels something to look forward to. Older students are probably often stripped of this type of activity/variety. In reality, though, adding these type of elements make learning more memorable and sensory.
Zeimeke takes poetry into her elementary classroom. She shares her own poetry, written mostly on the run, with students because they can connect to and decode poetry. I hope to incorporate the element of quickwriting anywhere in my classroom. It is important for students to understand that writing doesn't just occur in the classroom. Whether they're writing poetry, short stories, novellas, nonfiction, students can write at anytime, anywhere. I want to instill in them the energy to write outside the classroom whenever an idea strikes them. No matter where they are students can write anywhere.
I totally agree. I really liked her point about showing her students her struggle with writing. While poetry can be a daunting topic, I like that she implemented it with elementary school students. I think it would be a really cool idea to just take the kids outside and have them write about their surroundings, turning it into some sort of writing piece or poem using what they see (or any of their senses). This is a direct model of how writing can be done outside of the classroom and how they can find ideas anywhere in the world.
I agree that teaching students that writing happens anywhere is important. Students can see from Ziemeke's examples that sitting on her roof inspired her to write a short poem on her phone. Inspiration can happen anywhere at any time and students need to know that it is both okay as well as good to allow that inspiration to move them forward. Poetry is not defined by classroom walls.
The first thing in Zeimeke's talk that stood out to me was the use of pictures as writing prompts. One of the slides she showed was just a collage of different pictures she had taken which captured some special moment for her and which she might want to return to write about. I love the idea of pictures as inspiration for writing, and think it could work very well in a secondary classroom. Students could search through their photo albums on their phones and find the most emotionally charged picture for themselves to write about or teachers could provide students with a photo and ask them to write about some aspect of it. Also, she mentioned a school-safe social media platform, and I kind of like that idea. Rather than starting with a bunch of student blog sites, a teacher could ask students to update their status on the social media site in response to a certain prompt, which would allow all of them responses to be in a continuous stream. I think that could encourage interaction with other people's responses more readily. The writing would likely be less in depth, but perhaps it could be an intermediary way to get kids thinking about online publishing before having them write blogs.
I agree that the picture prompt idea could be an excellent creative writing prompt for secondary students. When I was brainstorming, I thought of this: Maybe for homework you could have students hunt down and bring in one picture that speaks to them and tell them we will be writing about them the next day in class. When the students arrive, collect all of the pictures and then redistribute them to different students. The kids will have prepared to write about their own pictures, but this will teach them how to think on their feet and be able to organically respond to something totally foreign to them.
I liked Ziemke's ability to learn beside her students if she doesn't understand something. I think that is a scary place to be in sometimes but it can teach the students a lot about being humble and not being afraid to admit when you don't know something or need help. She re-emphasizes writing in the classroom, which is probably less threatening around 1st graders, but still as important as it is with older students. Her multi-modal writing can be shared easily with high school students: showing them that writing can take place anywhere at any time, even in a 10-second text to yourself when you get an idea, is a powerful tool.
In her talk Kristin Zeimeke explains that she does much prewriting with digital and video tools. She goes on to say that sometimes students discover a fantastic idea to write about, but before they get it down on paper it has somewhat escaped them. Through storyboarding, simply hand-drawing a storyline/a few scences, creating a thought web or mapping notes on a topic, middle and high school students can create prewriting. It is essential to map and keep our thinking before we write. These artifacts are powerful tools to which we can return when we become stumped in the writing process, or forget about a section in our writing.
Ziemke introduces the idea that instead of the one teacher and thirty three learners model we should follow the thirty four teachers and thirty four learners model. I think this is especially applicable to a high school classroom, specifically concerning the use of technology. As we mentioned in class, technology is changing so fast that it is impossible for us as teachers to learn about every single app with which our students are engaging. In this way, students can teach us how we might use certain technologies, and they can also share this knowledge with one another. The classroom teaches technology to itself.
I loved hearing how Zeimeke discusses her struggle with reading and how she lets her students learn with her. This can be applied to students of all ages. She also is creative when it comes to writing and reading in her classroom. The "flashlight" Friday idea is a concept that any teacher could use. Students needs days to read for fun and not be tied to a test or assessment of any type. I think that she uses technology in ways to enhance her connections with other teachers and students. She mentions the need for students to make more than one connection with the world through literacy. I find that students truly need this connection to be successful readers and writers. She use photography to capture moments in her classroom and she can look back and the students can reflect on the learning. I find this to be applicable to all classroom settings. She is a very passionate and creative teacher and learner.
ReplyDeleteLadonna Perkins
The Flashlight Fridays was one of my favorite ideas! What a great way to make reading exciting and personal. I reminds me of when I was younger and my mother told me I had to put down my book and go to sleep. Instead, I would sneak a flashlight and read in the dark. It is definitely something I could see students of all ages doing. I would love to do Flashlight Fridays in a classroom like Mr. A's room full of couches!
DeleteFrom the teachers I have been interviewing lately, it seems like those type of ideas would be hard to implement. The consensus has been that things like couches or extreme activities would get out of control and could detract from learning altogether. This may be where the needs of elementary and the disposition of high school learners separate. It could also just be the school systems in which these teachers work. Either way, I believe it will all depend on the kids and that should be the first tool before implementation.
DeleteLee, I think the reason many high school teachers have apprehension about 'extreme' activities or what I like to call 'play' activities is 1) they have copious amount of content to cover and there never seems like there is enough time in the day, month, school year, etc. (this is completely valid, btw! It's stressful.) and 2) they are correct in saying it gets out of control, but it gets out of control because students have not had these opportunities before. They don't know how to handle the excitement or the movement or the creative moments. I, once, did an activity where I let my students cut up old t-shirts as a response to a short story we read. To say the least, it got out of hand. Students started playing tug of war with the scraps. Markers were thrown. They were switching groups to get 'the best' design ideas. At one point, I lost it, and told them to stop, that we weren't going to finish the project, that we were going to discuss WHY I wanted them to do this project, instead. So, that's what we did and their discussion ended up being relevant regardless of the shenanigans. I thought the whole project, though, had been a failure. Then, my mentor suggested I get their feedback. Shockingly, the students thought it had been great. They told me they had never done anything like this in school. They liked how they were able to be creative and how it connected to the short story we had read. One student even said it helped her understand the point of the story! I was in shock and made it my goal to give them more opportunities to do 'play' activities. And, I call them 'play' activities because oftentimes I feel play and work have been so categorized that these two terms have been misused in relation to school. We need to fuse what we consider play with what we consider work (lots of cool theories on this). After this incident, I had my students moving all the time. Human Likert Scales, Vine Days, Aurasma Scavenger Hunts, Small Discussion Circles going on everywhere but in the classroom. It was messy and loud (loud doesn't even describe it), but they needed time to figure this stuff out because they had never done these kind of 'play' activities in the classroom. All they had ever done was 'work' aka learned how to tolerate boredom.
DeleteThere were several points Zeimeke made which I found resonate with every classroom, no matter the age of the students. For starters, she talks about "Wondering Wednesday," a day in her classroom each week when students are encouraged to "live curiously." While the name Wondering Wednesday might be a bit elementary for a high school classroom, every classroom should encourage curiosity and asking questions. In "How Children Succeed," a book that we've discussed in another class, the author says that we can teach curiosity in a classroom, and I absolutely believe Zeimeke has found a way to do that. She also talks about a collaborative project that her 2nd grade students participate in with other students from 4th and 6th grade classes. I love this idea, and I could see it working at the middle school and high school level as well. I think it's a great way to show students that they can work together in a surprising way, and for younger students it's a great look into the kinds of learning and thinking they'll be doing in the future. Lastly, I mentioned it in a previous response, but Zeimeke uses technology to help get her students' work out there and to interact with people outside of their classroom. This is definitely something that is done and can be done with secondary learners. Showcasing student's work for the public doesn't only inspire 2nd graders, but it has the potential to inspire any student, regardless of age.
ReplyDeleteZiemske talks about how each day instead of their being 31 learners and one teacher, she attempts to have 32 learners in the classroom. I think with technology, it's helpful to the teacher to allow the students to help navigate new mediums. Kids are becoming more and more tech savvy, and kids who are not strong readers and writers may be very successful in creating through a digital medium. I really enjoyed the idea of "Wondering Wednesday." Smagorinsky had a similar project in his classroom, in which students pursued a self-created inquiry. Almost every author we have read this semester discusses the importance of choice in the ELA classroom, for both reading and writing.
ReplyDeleteI agree that digital tools can help some students who are having trouble finding their voice through the "traditional" means we present them. I think that choice shows the students that we trust their judgment on what is important to write on as well as allowing them to be creative in how they approach topics or ideas.
DeleteI honestly think many of Zeimeke's ideas were so versatile that it could be worked into any classroom in any grade. My absolute favorite thing that she does with her students is publishing their work. It gets the students invested into their writing because they know their writing is going to be read by an audience, not just their teacher. It gives the students' writings purpose beyond getting the grade to pass. It also showcases their work, almost like a metaphorical trophy.
ReplyDeleteLike Leah, I also love the idea of the students of different grades working on blogs together. That, similar to publishing students' writings, gives reason to their work. It takes the work they do in the classroom and make it mean so much more than that. It builds a community and gives students purpose in everything they do. Without students understanding how their schoolwork ties into their part as a member of society, it makes activities and assignments pointless.
I agree with Leah on the subject of the interconnectivity of classrooms. This would be a fantastic thing to see as an extension of interdisciplinary connectivity between high school subjects. If done in a high school setting, it would give the students across age groups a mode of relation building that if done in an autobiographical annotation of high school development would most likely take hold on all levels. Freshman could journal to the freshmen coming behind them on things they wished they knew, as well to seniors questions they have. This could develop into any form of peer review in a naturally abounding mentor like program through the connections established from the autobiographic question/answering. The possibilities are endless if you could be so lucky to fall into a program that would be willing to work with the implementation.
ReplyDeleteI really like your mention of the multi-level collaboration on a personal level. When I first read your proposed topics of "what I wish I knew" etc., I wondered if this would be academically relevant. Quickly, I realized..."of course." At the very least, establishing this comfortable conversation between grade levels would create connections to better learning. I would also challenge that not only can lower grades learn from upper grades, but also, the upper levels would benefit. Younger students could serve as reminders/review for older students who may have forgotten some material or, with technological advances, learned it in a different way.
DeleteI also like the idea of having a discussion/collaboration with another classroom. This would be interesting to do within the school as well as find a classroom across the country, or even in a foreign country (which would be more difficult to find). This would allow students to see that they do have a SLN that reaches outside of their particular classroom/school/city/state. I did at first think that it would be difficult to bring some of Zeimeke's ideas to a middle/high school classroom, but I agree with Leah that it's not about labeling things the same, but using a general topic and incorporating curiosity, social intelligence, zest, etc. up through the grades. I really love coming into a classroom and asking students what they're passionate about because it gives us as teachers insight into their thinking as well as allows students to connect with each other. It also would be good fodder for a writing piece.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of having discussions with other classrooms as well!! During my student teaching, I had two classes with the same prep. So I was moving at the same pace for both of these classes. I had read an article on using journal time to write to a person in another classroom about the topics discussed for the day. Journal time would then become a time to reflect, respond, and synthesize in relation to another person outside of the classroom. With so many different technologies, I think ideas such as these are definitely plausible and useful in creating multiple audiences. I never had the chance to implement this journal idea but I think it could be a useful strategy that we can definitely expand via technology!
DeleteI’m slowly starting to warm up to the idea of having students do some of their writing in Google Docs. Ziemke mentions it mainly in reference to how she collaborates with her writing partner and editor on her book, but she also tied it into her classroom when she said that Google Docs allow her to check up on her students and stop them from going in the “wrong direction.” Jim Burke, author of The English Teacher’s Companion, also writes about the benefits of using Google Docs during the revision process; students can comment on their peers’ work and suggest changes at any time. I like the collaboration that’s involved in both Ziemke and Burke’s methods: teacher-to-student as well as student-to-student.
ReplyDeleteI am a huge fan of the YAL author, John Green. Over the summer I read his book, "Will Grayson, Will Grayson", that both John Green and David Levithan wrote together. Each author had a protagonist named Will Grayson that existed in an alternate reality from each other. In each chapter, one of the Will Graysons was narrated my one author and then the other author presented his Will Grayson in the next chapter. Finally, both Will Graysons meet and the story progresses in one said universe. It's an interesting idea and format for a story. When Ziemke discussed co-writing her book in Google docs, my mind began to buzz with how to apply this to a secondary setting. Modeling what John Green and David Levithan created in "Will Grayson, Will Grayson", I would love to see the end product of two students composing fictional texts together.
DeleteI am itching to implement into a secondary classroom setting many activities, both digital and tangible, that I learned from Zeimeke. As a fun activity, I love her idea of “Flashlight Friday.” The idea is that on Fridays students read their independent/ free book with the aid of a flashlight because the classroom lights turned off. By making the designated reading time more “special,” students will recognize this reading privilege and, even the reluctant readers, will want to partake. I would tweak Zeimeke’s Flashlight Friday event by not limiting students’ reading spots to their desks. Students could pick a spot around the classroom to claim as their own. Their special reading nooks would further Zeimeke’s idea of allowing for a relationship with a book in an intimate place and space to develop.
ReplyDeleteZeimeke mentioned that she has her students craft writing pieces digitally. Following completion of students’ works, they publish their finished products to iTunes, where both students and parents have the opportunity to download the eBooks into their iBooks app. As a personal reader, I will always be loyal to paper books. As a teacher though, I love the idea of digital stories and the ability to share digital stories with a wide variety of audience members. I would be interested to see the development and product of an e-classroom library full of current and previous student-published literary texts within a classroom. Theoretically, students would also have the opportunity to reference previous students’ published works and use their works as mentor texts.
Personally, I believe that all of Zeimeke's ideas could be implemented in elementary, middle, and high school levels. I think we categorize students by age level to often when all we need to do is up the challenge, add a level of meaning, or reduce the scaffolding in relation to the child's learning. Why do we define our lives by age-categories!? Isn't life fluid? (Okay, mini-soap opera over).
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorite things she talked about, though, was how she use different technologies to track her thinking and learning. Zeimeke mentions using twitter, pictures, voice memos, and a few others to capture moments throughout the day. I've been thinking about how to capture these 'writing moments.' I know I've definitely sat down to 'write' and thought, "Well, my life is boring. I have nothing to say." In reality, I had so many thoughts throughout the day but I had never held onto them as writing moments. It never occurred to me that one moment in my life could spark an entire story. I like the idea of teaching students to hold onto these 'ah-ha' moments using multiple mediums. Then, when students sit down to write, they already have a repertoire of ideas and thoughts.
Zeimeke's ideas were very versatile in the sense that her points can be implemented from elementary into secondary education. My favorite idea was the idea of publishing their work. This is a great motivation for students to not only do their work, but also for them to do it to the best of their ability. Especially in high school and beyond, kids sometimes need that accountability for assignments or they will just sit there and pretend to be doing something. By having them publish their work, they will know that others will be reading it, understand that there is a purpose for the assignment, and will be more likely to complete it to the best of their ability.
ReplyDeleteI also liked the idea of using "writing moments". Using multiple mediums for students to be able to document an important moment is a great way to give them a "writing bank" for when they cannot think of anything to write about. This is a great way to help students have the initial moment (i.e. picture, tweet, etc.) that they can later elaborate and write about.
I like the fact that Ziemke believes in and teaches balance, though I strongly am for the balance tilting toward more reading of the classics and writing expository composition/research writing. I really like the fact that she expects her students to use pen/pencil and paper and that she teaches them that the 'traditional' mode of writing/reading is still important. Since I know next to nothing about the current state of affairs in 'technology,' I can't comment on what I would 'tweak.' From a quick perusal of the comments given on this blog, I perceive that I am from another time and age, and must have somehow been transported into another dimension. I am amazed as to how my fellow students connected with Ziemke. For the most part, I had little idea of what she was saying or what her point was except that she is advocating for a richer learning environment where students are more engaged through the use of digital technology. Or did I miss something?
ReplyDeleteTo start on an irrelevant note, Zeimeke's youthful energy and playful way of speaking made that webinar fly by. Zeimeke really opened my eyes on childhood education, a field that is all too often dismissed as an easy course of study for college students. Zeimeke has disproved these misconceptions in implementing research and seeking advancement. There are many aspects of Zeimeke's teaching that could (and should) be implemented in an upper level classroom: learning together as teacher and student, giving a variety of technologies to redefine our notions of traditional notetaking/learning, writing as a teacher, collaborating with other grades to create a multi-level answer to a question, incorporating sketching and audio work as a part of learning. Ultimately, I don't think much of the school-safe technology would need to be edited much from elementary to secondary. I would say that content would be the changing factor. I also really like the idea of "flashlight Fridays." The idea sounds a bit gimmicky at first, but to give an additional "fun" aspect to individual reading time gives students from all levels something to look forward to. Older students are probably often stripped of this type of activity/variety. In reality, though, adding these type of elements make learning more memorable and sensory.
ReplyDeleteZeimeke takes poetry into her elementary classroom. She shares her own poetry, written mostly on the run, with students because they can connect to and decode poetry. I hope to incorporate the element of quickwriting anywhere in my classroom. It is important for students to understand that writing doesn't just occur in the classroom. Whether they're writing poetry, short stories, novellas, nonfiction, students can write at anytime, anywhere. I want to instill in them the energy to write outside the classroom whenever an idea strikes them. No matter where they are students can write anywhere.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree. I really liked her point about showing her students her struggle with writing. While poetry can be a daunting topic, I like that she implemented it with elementary school students. I think it would be a really cool idea to just take the kids outside and have them write about their surroundings, turning it into some sort of writing piece or poem using what they see (or any of their senses). This is a direct model of how writing can be done outside of the classroom and how they can find ideas anywhere in the world.
DeleteI agree that teaching students that writing happens anywhere is important. Students can see from Ziemeke's examples that sitting on her roof inspired her to write a short poem on her phone. Inspiration can happen anywhere at any time and students need to know that it is both okay as well as good to allow that inspiration to move them forward. Poetry is not defined by classroom walls.
DeleteThe first thing in Zeimeke's talk that stood out to me was the use of pictures as writing prompts. One of the slides she showed was just a collage of different pictures she had taken which captured some special moment for her and which she might want to return to write about. I love the idea of pictures as inspiration for writing, and think it could work very well in a secondary classroom. Students could search through their photo albums on their phones and find the most emotionally charged picture for themselves to write about or teachers could provide students with a photo and ask them to write about some aspect of it. Also, she mentioned a school-safe social media platform, and I kind of like that idea. Rather than starting with a bunch of student blog sites, a teacher could ask students to update their status on the social media site in response to a certain prompt, which would allow all of them responses to be in a continuous stream. I think that could encourage interaction with other people's responses more readily. The writing would likely be less in depth, but perhaps it could be an intermediary way to get kids thinking about online publishing before having them write blogs.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the picture prompt idea could be an excellent creative writing prompt for secondary students. When I was brainstorming, I thought of this: Maybe for homework you could have students hunt down and bring in one picture that speaks to them and tell them we will be writing about them the next day in class. When the students arrive, collect all of the pictures and then redistribute them to different students. The kids will have prepared to write about their own pictures, but this will teach them how to think on their feet and be able to organically respond to something totally foreign to them.
DeleteI liked Ziemke's ability to learn beside her students if she doesn't understand something. I think that is a scary place to be in sometimes but it can teach the students a lot about being humble and not being afraid to admit when you don't know something or need help. She re-emphasizes writing in the classroom, which is probably less threatening around 1st graders, but still as important as it is with older students. Her multi-modal writing can be shared easily with high school students: showing them that writing can take place anywhere at any time, even in a 10-second text to yourself when you get an idea, is a powerful tool.
ReplyDeleteIn her talk Kristin Zeimeke explains that she does much prewriting with digital and video tools. She goes on to say that sometimes students discover a fantastic idea to write about, but before they get it down on paper it has somewhat escaped them. Through storyboarding, simply hand-drawing a storyline/a few scences, creating a thought web or mapping notes on a topic, middle and high school students can create prewriting. It is essential to map and keep our thinking before we write. These artifacts are powerful tools to which we can return when we become stumped in the writing process, or forget about a section in our writing.
ReplyDeleteZiemke introduces the idea that instead of the one teacher and thirty three learners model we should follow the thirty four teachers and thirty four learners model. I think this is especially applicable to a high school classroom, specifically concerning the use of technology. As we mentioned in class, technology is changing so fast that it is impossible for us as teachers to learn about every single app with which our students are engaging. In this way, students can teach us how we might use certain technologies, and they can also share this knowledge with one another. The classroom teaches technology to itself.
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