I had the students complete a "writing interview" with themselves so that I could get a better idea of how they feel about writing and what they would like to learn about writing this year. Those interviews were great and honest and here are some of the best quotes that I was able to pull from them.
Writing Advice
By students of room 227
“ It’s easier to write about myself.” – Rivas
“Always brainstorm before you write.” – Sica
“I would tell them not to rush.” – Mohamed
“READ – you need to be a good reader to be a good writer.” – Smith
“When you write you should describe your senses, tell what you hear, see, feel, and smell.” –Caselnova
“Just let if flow and don’t think it.” – Chute
“READ. That is my advice to students.Read other people’s writing and yours will get better.” – Connelly
“Think about what you write and try to paint visual pictures of the story in your head.” – Sobotor
Why do you write?
“ I especially like to write about the symbolism behind the author’s words.” – Schluter
“I write because I like to remember what’s happening.I want to look back and remember that event, that feeling I had on that day.” – Rivera
“People sometimes write to feel comfortable to feel as though they have someone to talk to, to express their feelings.” – Baldini
“When you write sometimes you have no idea what you want to say, sometimes it just comes to you.” – Daly
“ I write because it gives a passage way for my feelings and emotions…” – Crimando
“Writers are artists.” – Buchanan
“I write occasionally when I’m not at school if I have a random great idea.” – Purvey
“I get my inspiration from how I’m feeling and watching people live their everyday life.” – Waitzman
“When I write I feel as if the world dissolves around me, and all I can hear are my thoughts and the clicking of the keyboard…” – Cuan
How can I help you?
“Teach me how to like writing.” –Sica
“You can help me by showing me examples and techniques.” – Rivera
“Let us write about things we enjoy so we apply more effort.” – Grove
“Writing different types of things would make me a better writer.”
In my last post I wrote how I was challenging the students to give up technology for an entire day. As this was happening they were supposed to keep notes on how they felt, what they were doing instead of using technology, and times when they had to use it and why.
Today they handed in those notes and we discussed it. After reading through them I found a few interesting things that I want to share.
1) Out of 127 students I had 1 who did not use any technology the entire day! Everyone else had to use it for school work or just decided to watch TV anyway.
2) Most of the kids found that they were more productive after school since they were not on the computer.
3) Many students spent their time reading (yeah!), working on homework, or getting ahead on homework. All three of these facts makes our team very happy!
4) They found other activities to complete! Some helped with dinner, read, and one girl even did the hula hoop!
5) The talked to their parents! Many kids wrote that instead of putting their ipods in during a car ride they talked to their parents -so that was good!
6) Over all I think it was a GREAT experience for the kids and I'm happy we tried it.
Below are some of the quotes I took out of their writing to share with you and my comments are in red:
“Instead of using technology I mostly read my book which was nice because I don’t do that all the time. I have learned that I waste a lot of time watching T.V. or playing computer games when I could be doing something productive.” –Shannon C. These types of comments make me so happy!
“I think this was a good experience for me to learn about life without all of the technologies we have today.” Amanda M – Went all day w/o tech! Good job Amanda!
“I discovered that I don’t need technology to get through the day, it’s just something for pleasure and can be very addicting.” –Miranda H. Very true, I have this problem too!
“It’s official – my life revolves around technology. It was extremely difficult to NOT use it, especially when I’m surrounded by it. I sometimes with I could go back to the 70’s – when life was so much simpler without all this new technology stuff. It’s overwhelming and time consuming.” Kim F. Interesting!
“Throughout today I realized how much modern technology plays a part in my life.” – Lauren S.
“I miss Facebook.: - Becca D Hahahahaha
“My whole life is really based around technology and never even realized it. A lot of good came out of it though. When I came straight home and finished all my homework without going on the computer; it left me with more time at night for whatever I wanted to do. Instead of sitting on the computer for the remainder of the day I went outside and played basketball so I got more exercise too. Overall this was a very tough assignment.” – Morgan W.
“OMG this was hard.” – Sirena A. Is it okay to use texting language in a technology assignment?
“The most difficult thing was not going on Facebook or listening to music. I slept so that I could pass the time.” – Kim P. Wow - more than one student said that - amazing!
“When I got home from school, I lasted about forty-five minutes, after I couldn’t take it any longer, I played video games.” – Gordy B. Oh no!
“The worst part was the temptation.” – Dani L.
“The day without technology has been very hard and weird. I guess we take technology for granted. We need to realize that technology is a gift and people today don’t realize what it was like before we had television or ipods. Like everyone else I am one of those people and the day without technology has shown me that we do not always need technology.” – John C. I've never thought of it as a gift, but what a great point!
“When I was first assigned this assignment I said to myself that, wow, this won’t be that hard. I can go ONE day. Turns out I was wrong.” –Jordan K. Yeah, that was what I was hoping for!
“I never thought technology had influenced our lives so much that it is our EVERYDAY routine.” – Jordan K.
What a great experiment! Can you spend a day or more without technology?
Those poor teenagers, sometimes they get a bad reputation just because of their age. Today I was lucky to see the really good side of teenagers!
I run a community service club at school and today we helped out setting up Pass It Along's annual toy shop. The toy shop is set up in a local church and it's just a huge room filled with toys! This week families in need can come and choose some gifts for their children. It's truly a remarkable event and it's a privilege to be a part of it.
I have volunteered at this shop before but I have never helped out with setting it up. Students from my club signed up, but this task was so big that we needed more volunteers, so I opened it up to all my students. Overall I had about 30 students and a few of my cousins :) come to help. When we walked into the church we were faced with a HUGE pile of bags filled with toys. I mean this pile was so big I felt sick looking at it because I felt that there was NO WAY we could get this done in only four hours. But my volunteers and others that came, including many former students who are now in high school, worked at sorting the toys by gender and age and then resorting by type of toy (barbies, cars, etc). Then we had to pack up some toys to hide because the shop is open all week long so we wanted everyone to have a fair shot at getting the best toys.
Well four hours later the place looked like Toys R Us. Everything was separated and organized and displayed beautifully. There was a table of books and puzzles, a table of crafts, a table of scarves and hats, a table of games - it was amazing.
The toy shop opens tomorrow and every parent can choose a large and small gift for each of their children, they can also take a book and stuffed animal or an item of clothing. When they leave they will be given a roll of wrapping paper, some bows, a homemade ornament and a box of homemade cookies. There is also a large section of gently used coats that they can take and some gently used Christmas decorations as well.
The shop is amazing but more amazing were my students who gave up a big chunk of their weekend to give back to their community and to those in need. No one moaned or complained, no one tried to leave early - nope they showed up and worked hard and laughed and sang as they did it. Teenagers are amazingly good and they have the power to change the world!
We are two days into our time in the media center so that the students can collect research for their Multi-Genre Research papers. So far the kids have only been allowed to research in books. They will have the opportunity to use the internet next week but I can't let go of book research, it's something I feel they will need.
It's a wonderful sight to see the kids huddled over their books, pens and pencils in hand, ipods plugged into their ears, learning about the influential people of the past. BUT there was one boy who was so proud of how he was working he asked me to take a look...so a took a picture!
Have you ever seen a more organized library cubby? Great job Ryan!
Today was the first day of the 2009 Green Fair! The kids were so excited and the first class did a great job. During their lunch period students visited stations that taught them about various green topics such as reusable bags, repurposing, green energy, energy efficient light bulbs, alternate fuel sources and green cleaning.
Each station was decorated nicely and the kids handed out information to the visiting students to help them become greener. The repurposing table was a hit and they showed kids how to make an ipod speaker out of a used Altoids container. They even raffled one off to a lucky winner.
Overall the first day of the Green Fair was a success. I'll post some pictures soon! I can't wait to see what the rest of the week will bring!
I just had to add this statement that a student made a few minutes ago in class when we were discussing the phrase "You can't judge a book by its cover."
Courtney T. said -
"Once you break the barrier of judging from the outside every thing inside comes out and that's all you see."
Sometimes I'm amazed that my students are only 12 years old.
Recently my students were asked to do some activities regarding critical thinking. After using their critical thinking skills they had a short writing piece to complete. Assignment: Why is critical thinking important in our everyday lives? Use examples. How do we use critical thinking in Connections class? Here are a few of the best responses I received.
By Megan H.
Yes, critical thinking is important because otherwise everyone would either be mindless sheep believing whatever we're told or we'd be conceited know-it-alls who always argue that we're right regardless if we knoew the answers or not. Either way it would be very bad. If we were all mindless sheep we would all be broke because we'd believe all the ads/commercials and spend our money buying these items and we'd have low self esteem because we would think something was wrong with us becausew e didn't look like the models the advirtisers said we were supposed to look like. If we always said/thought/argued that we are right then we would have no friends, be extremely lonely, and become depressed. We'd also be broke because we would always be fired for fighting with our boss or clients. So either way we end up broke and sad, not a very inviting prospect!
I think we use critical thinking in connections class by questioning authority and learning to think and figure things out for ourselves. If we question authority , especially when they are telling us something or feeding us information that is unrealistice and silly, we are thinking critically. When we solve a problem oursels and find the anser for ourselves we have to have open minds so then we are thinking critically.
I think it is very important to learn how to think critically because that can help us to have more peace and individuality in our world!
Great thinking Megan! - Mrs. Kopp
Another great one!
By Jarryd B.
Critical thinking is important in our everyday lives so that we can create new ideas and learn more about old ideas. For example, in many school classes like American History, we have many debates througout the year. Critical thinking will help us learn, understa, and use the facts we read in these debates. Also when having a conversation or arguement with someone else we will know when to argue and what to argue about.
In connections class during short writing assignments, projects, and note taking we must know what to write and after we are asked about at topic we must be prepared to explain how we feel, why we feel that way, and facts to prove we are right.
Well done Jarryd - I love how you used examples from another class! Mrs. Kopp
These were done in class with no preparation time - these students were thinking on their feet! Well done!
A few weeks ago the students were assigned a decade and were asked to research the fads and trends of that decade and create a poster. The poster had to include at least three pictures and descriptions of fads and trends from their decade, the results of their 100 person survey, a chart which explained some of the research they found, and the poster had to be professional looking and creative. Here are a few of the best ones!
The Crazy 80's By Olivia S.
Olivia did an amazing job putting this poster together. She even used a plaid background to enhance the presentation! Great Job!
The 1930's By: Shirley W.
Shirley's poster was very creative and she made it open up to reveal the great research she had done! Excellent!
