We began the class with a lovely stroll down memory lane about our free weekends in England, Scotland, and France.
Next, Natalie reminded us of our first class in England.
As we settled in to this class, Ruie informed us that we would be using our daybooks, or computers if we wished to do a descriptive writing. She led us through an exercise to be able to connect with our senses. She had us each close our eyes and imagine a tranquil room. She led us through each of the five senses to bring in more description into our room. Then she asked us to open our eyes and begin writing when we had our rooms well detailed in our minds.
We were writing quietly, until we received a bit of a startle.
We're Not Here to Have Fun
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vG58uIn44BA
Ruie directed us back to our writing for a few moments.
Some examples were:
Justin Covington – winter and snowflakes like ballerinas going down to the white blanket that envelopes Mother Nature. Lisa: double wooden doors that are polished. Ruie noted the texture in this. Curtis: silky white curtains blowing from the air.
Ruie led us through making revisions using our senses in our writings without losing our voice. We took the time to practice adding/editing texture words.
Amy: dog’s fur on her leg (course and bristly). Lauren V: soft carpet, hard wood, gritty sand.
Sense of smell examples:
Ann: Freshly cut grass mixed with the smell of dog piles basking in the sun. Curtis: Incense and flowers. Jackie: Fresh picked lavender. Spencer: Cooking charcoal.
Sense of hearing examples:
Curtis: silence, Chelsea: rain beats the window, Ruie: missed the sound of the trains when she went home from England last time. Adrienne: kitchen percolate and gulls giggle.
Sense of taste examples:
Ruie: suggestion of taste through sweet strawberries, Ann: sipping hot macchiato.
Usually descriptive writing has a lot of state of being verbs: have, has, had, and is... We went through our writing and circled these. We looked for sentences that begin with it or there to see if we could get rid of the being verbs because they are weak and find our real subjects and change the sentence around. Amy changed from the black clock saying 10:00 to the black digital clock on the matching black nightstand welcomes 10:00. Chelsea eludes to morning by saying that the smell breakfast lingers in the air. Ann: are sleeping changed to slumber on. Stephanie: snow falling to tress, bushes, … being tucked in for a long winter’s nap.
Ruie also told us about using collocation in writing. Collocation – words that speak to each other and that we think would work together to describe our writings better. It is not something that you can teach directly, but there are some exercises that can help.
Collocation using some of these examples: Cooking, Teaching, Doctors, Lawyers, Chef, Gardening, Cards, Sewing, Fishing, Water,… We picked a verb to use for this to try it out. Ruie: sun sifts trough curtains, melt into chair, Elliot: gulp down the written word. , Sara: needling through the cooking, Spencer: wave of August air floods, Ann: sunlight painting the wall, brushes the wall.
We then considered the organization of the piece. These writings usually start with the writer at the center and go out, but they do not have to. Organize topically, chronologically, exc. These are just ideas to change and play with writing. Everyone read one sentence. (i.e. stitching a memory, smells wafting in, weaver’s delicate workings, …)
In another class we will be learning about sentence variety. Usually in descriptive writing the author puts information upfront or cumulates it into one sentence. Sometimes when there is an add on, the writing needs to be broken up into a shorter sentence.
Our Impressions of England assignments could be an expressive writing. Keep a log of your impressions. This can also be done through Pinterest boards.
Glogster: edu.glogster.com
Megan went over Glogster. Elementary students tend to love it, but like to make it cutesy. Glogster can be used by students in our classrooms to create different reports and presentations. Glogster is now offering limited resources for free, however, Glogster is currently giving away 30 days of the premium version for free, so we will be able to use the premium version for this class. Make sure you click on the free version to sign up for Glogster. Glogster is an online poster that can include video, sound, text, and pictures. There are step-by-step instructions on Moodle for how to use this technology.
Some aspects and definitions of Glogster to remember are:
Graphics: images that you can use from Glogster. You can link graphics to different sites.
Text also has many choices.
Images: using your own images. Uploading pictures takes a while.
You can add a frame around your picture with lots of choices here as well.
Images, videos, and audio can all be uploaded, linked, or grab (made currently using web camera).
Data and draw is with the premium version only.
The wall is what the background will look like.
When Megan did this with elementary students, she gave a very detailed rubric, which is suggested when working with younger students. Uploading videos and pictures can take a very long time. You can go work on adding text and the like while waiting, and it will continue to upload. When you log in, your glogs will be on the bottom of the page. There are Glogster videos to help if you forget. Glogster does get hung up and stuck at times. Glogster can be frustrating. Just chill, and work through it. Patience is a must with this!
ToonDoo: http://www.toondoo.com
Kevin went over ToonDoo. Kevin said that we probably don’t want to complete this assignment until Saturday since we will then be meeting with the international students on our trip to Oxford. There is a handout on Moodle for directions including formatting suggestions. You can import your own pictures for backgrounds or use the standard ones that are given from ToonDoo. You will have to do multiple strips and combine them into a book. Change your background to fit your ToonDoo. ToonDoo is basically a drag and drop. Import your own pictures into the "my gallery" section (the last tab). An update will be posted on Moodle for uploading your own photo. To delete an image that you do not care to use, highlight and click delete.
We wrapped up this incredibly scorching class with Kevin saying, “Let’s get out of this hot room!"
Next, Natalie reminded us of our first class in England.
As we settled in to this class, Ruie informed us that we would be using our daybooks, or computers if we wished to do a descriptive writing. She led us through an exercise to be able to connect with our senses. She had us each close our eyes and imagine a tranquil room. She led us through each of the five senses to bring in more description into our room. Then she asked us to open our eyes and begin writing when we had our rooms well detailed in our minds.
We were writing quietly, until we received a bit of a startle.
We're Not Here to Have Fun
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vG58uIn44BA
Ruie directed us back to our writing for a few moments.
Some examples were:
Justin Covington – winter and snowflakes like ballerinas going down to the white blanket that envelopes Mother Nature. Lisa: double wooden doors that are polished. Ruie noted the texture in this. Curtis: silky white curtains blowing from the air.
Ruie led us through making revisions using our senses in our writings without losing our voice. We took the time to practice adding/editing texture words.
Amy: dog’s fur on her leg (course and bristly). Lauren V: soft carpet, hard wood, gritty sand.
Sense of smell examples:
Ann: Freshly cut grass mixed with the smell of dog piles basking in the sun. Curtis: Incense and flowers. Jackie: Fresh picked lavender. Spencer: Cooking charcoal.
Sense of hearing examples:
Curtis: silence, Chelsea: rain beats the window, Ruie: missed the sound of the trains when she went home from England last time. Adrienne: kitchen percolate and gulls giggle.
Sense of taste examples:
Ruie: suggestion of taste through sweet strawberries, Ann: sipping hot macchiato.
Usually descriptive writing has a lot of state of being verbs: have, has, had, and is... We went through our writing and circled these. We looked for sentences that begin with it or there to see if we could get rid of the being verbs because they are weak and find our real subjects and change the sentence around. Amy changed from the black clock saying 10:00 to the black digital clock on the matching black nightstand welcomes 10:00. Chelsea eludes to morning by saying that the smell breakfast lingers in the air. Ann: are sleeping changed to slumber on. Stephanie: snow falling to tress, bushes, … being tucked in for a long winter’s nap.
Ruie also told us about using collocation in writing. Collocation – words that speak to each other and that we think would work together to describe our writings better. It is not something that you can teach directly, but there are some exercises that can help.
Collocation using some of these examples: Cooking, Teaching, Doctors, Lawyers, Chef, Gardening, Cards, Sewing, Fishing, Water,… We picked a verb to use for this to try it out. Ruie: sun sifts trough curtains, melt into chair, Elliot: gulp down the written word. , Sara: needling through the cooking, Spencer: wave of August air floods, Ann: sunlight painting the wall, brushes the wall.
We then considered the organization of the piece. These writings usually start with the writer at the center and go out, but they do not have to. Organize topically, chronologically, exc. These are just ideas to change and play with writing. Everyone read one sentence. (i.e. stitching a memory, smells wafting in, weaver’s delicate workings, …)
In another class we will be learning about sentence variety. Usually in descriptive writing the author puts information upfront or cumulates it into one sentence. Sometimes when there is an add on, the writing needs to be broken up into a shorter sentence.
Our Impressions of England assignments could be an expressive writing. Keep a log of your impressions. This can also be done through Pinterest boards.
Glogster: edu.glogster.com
Megan went over Glogster. Elementary students tend to love it, but like to make it cutesy. Glogster can be used by students in our classrooms to create different reports and presentations. Glogster is now offering limited resources for free, however, Glogster is currently giving away 30 days of the premium version for free, so we will be able to use the premium version for this class. Make sure you click on the free version to sign up for Glogster. Glogster is an online poster that can include video, sound, text, and pictures. There are step-by-step instructions on Moodle for how to use this technology.
Some aspects and definitions of Glogster to remember are:
Graphics: images that you can use from Glogster. You can link graphics to different sites.
Text also has many choices.
Images: using your own images. Uploading pictures takes a while.
You can add a frame around your picture with lots of choices here as well.
Images, videos, and audio can all be uploaded, linked, or grab (made currently using web camera).
Data and draw is with the premium version only.
The wall is what the background will look like.
When Megan did this with elementary students, she gave a very detailed rubric, which is suggested when working with younger students. Uploading videos and pictures can take a very long time. You can go work on adding text and the like while waiting, and it will continue to upload. When you log in, your glogs will be on the bottom of the page. There are Glogster videos to help if you forget. Glogster does get hung up and stuck at times. Glogster can be frustrating. Just chill, and work through it. Patience is a must with this!
ToonDoo: http://www.toondoo.com
Kevin went over ToonDoo. Kevin said that we probably don’t want to complete this assignment until Saturday since we will then be meeting with the international students on our trip to Oxford. There is a handout on Moodle for directions including formatting suggestions. You can import your own pictures for backgrounds or use the standard ones that are given from ToonDoo. You will have to do multiple strips and combine them into a book. Change your background to fit your ToonDoo. ToonDoo is basically a drag and drop. Import your own pictures into the "my gallery" section (the last tab). An update will be posted on Moodle for uploading your own photo. To delete an image that you do not care to use, highlight and click delete.
We wrapped up this incredibly scorching class with Kevin saying, “Let’s get out of this hot room!"