week+of+oct+27+and+29

October 27 Question for the day: What can research on learning grammar mean for teaching writing?

1. Writing our way in ... Spend some time writing a scene that involves: (could be script, poem, narrative, comic, etc...)
 * a hair salon or barbershop
 * a greenhouse
 * a clothing boutique
 * a public restroom
 * a city council meeting

2. Collecting our responses/letter/writing for our writing partners (During this section, we wrote on the board two things: 1. What is it we thought our writing partners were working on and 2. What was the one thing we suggested that they work on in their writing.... Then, we tried to find patterns to our responses)
 * What do we notice the student working on?
 * What might we teach next (and next)?

3. Smith and Wilhelm chapter 1 and 2: What kind of questions might we ask of their chapters? __Creating a Question Hierarchy (in Wilhelm's //Strategic Reading//, p. 129-130) of the Smith and Wilhelm chapters__

Preview Grammar Girl Podcast link here ... []

For next time: See if you can find and bring in two lesson plans on grammar (maybe focused on one or two of the 16 "Terms We'd Teach" that Smith and Wilhelm list on page 15)

Site for finding lesson plans on teaching grammar and linking it to writing

NCTE's [|readwritethink.org]


 * October 29**

1. Writing our way in ... a prompt of random words from [|easystreet prompts]

2. Examining the argument from Smith and Wilhelm (since we really did not get to talk too much about it last class) about WHAT to teach about grammar and its connection to learning to write and HOW best to teach each

Claim Reasons Evidence

Warrants (Principle that allows the claim and evidence make a logical connection)

Acknowledge and respond to counter arguments or gaps

3. Looking at the lesson plans you have found:
 * What is it the teachers want students to know or be able to do as a result of this lesson?
 * How is it learned in this lesson? (What is it students will say, do, or produce?)
 * How will the teacher know it is learned? (What's the evidence of student learning?)