Learn How to Show Not Tell: A Class in Writing Children’s Fiction

Next week, I am doing yet another writing class and one topic that I always talk about is how to show not tell in writing. Here is a very useful article that illustrates this concept with examples. This first part deals with how to add emotions into writing. A second part deals with the use of dialogue.

Learn How to Show Not Tell: A Class in Writing Children’s Fiction

Becoming a 'Champion' Teacher

Yup, I am catching up on my reading this week and have decided to share some gems with you.

So what makes a "champion" teacher? In our context, many teachers and parents may say that a champion teacher is one who produces good results in an exam. I can't quarrel with that although I think it is very limiting and does not do justice to the many roles a teacher plays. But here is a new book by Doug Lemov that provides 49 effective teaching techniques that will help kids do well in their studies.

Teach Like a Champion: 49 Techniques that Put Students on the Path to College

By Doug Lemov. Jossey-Bass, 2010, 352 pp.

This link will give you some examples of the "concrete, specific, and actionable" techniques that you can use immediately in class.

Becoming a 'Champion' Teacher

Maybe you're a champion teacher who has some good techniques yourself? Care to share?

Annotating texts

I am a big believer in teaching kids to annotate a text. When I first started disseminating this idea to teachers more than ten years ago, I received rather lukewarm response. But today, I see many schools advertising this as one of their key reading strategies. I am very pleased that the strategy has taken root in schools although I am aware that there is still a lot of just mindless underlining and scribbling of who? what? where? etc.

I often urge teachers not to just be concerned about answers to comprehension questions. They should also check the annotations in their students' texts because the annotations tell us how well a child has read and thought through the text. Indeed, a reader's active engagement with text is evident from her/his jottings, highlighting, questions, comments and inserts.

Cris Tovani, author and English teacher, describes these jottings or marginalia in a short article here.

Cris Tovani on the value of marginalia

Lessons from the Earthquake

By now, we must have all read about the devastating 9-magnitude earthquake, the 10 metre tsunami and the grave possibility of a nuclear meltdown in Japan last week. The drama continues this week and all this while, I have been, like everybody else, stunned by the footage of a huge wall of water washing away everything in its path. This must be one of the most shocking natural disasters the world has witnessed. Should we be talking about this with our students?

The tragedy took place on the last day of the school term, and all schools have been closed for a week. But when school begins again on Monday, I hope that teachers will not just go about teaching what is on the syllabus. This disaster merits attention and teachers should use this opportunity to discuss the many issues related to it.

I say this because, time and again, I hear teachers talking about their need to complete the syllabus and to assign a quota of work. I hope they are not thinking this way when they meet their students again next week. I also hope that they won’t dismiss the topic in a cursory way. Too often, we miss out on discussing topical issues because they have an unfortunate way of popping up in the midst of our planned curriculum. They mess up our already tight schedule. But by not discussing such topical issues, we are actually depriving our students from a marvellous learning opportunity. In the case of the earthquake and its after-effects, we must remember that we are also affected by what has happened in Japan.

Help your students understand about the causes and effects of this natural disaster. Help them feel for the people who have suffered and are still suffering as a result. Help them learn about the many issues related to nuclear power and the need for energy. Help them realise that in any disaster, people’s behaviour can be unpredictable. Help them see the courage and grace the survivors have shown despite the tragedy. Help them realise that even though we are miles away, we are not completely immune to the after effects, and that we all have a duty to offer any kind of assistance available. Help them be thankful for where they are, and for what they have. Put life in perspective for them.

I don’t need to spell out the value of such lessons over the grammatical items, the essay topic or the comprehension passage. And I am sure teachers realise too that such lessons are not only enriching pupils’ hearts and souls; the potential for language learning is immense. But don’t just do it for the vocabulary and the grammar; do it because it is the right thing to do. What happens around us is always our business; we cannot afford to be apathetic.

Education is not just about studying the stuff that will help children pass exams.

Good teaching is all about helping children make a connection with, and to learn from, what is all around them.

What is one thing you wished you'd known when you started teaching?

What is one thing you wished you'd known when you started teaching?

I wish I'd known about the professional organisations around that could have helped me with advice, suggestions etc about teaching because we had no one to turn to then for any kind of help in teaching. Things are better now, of course, but still, was there one thing you wished you'd known?

Read US teachers response in this link:

The Whole Child Blog « Whole Child Education

Questions & Authors: Finding the time for reading

Every teacher believes in the power of reading, but everyone struggles with finding time for reading. Here are some suggestions for what you can do in the classroom. Everything begins with the teacher so instead of lecturing or scolding the kids, always take out a book and read it aloud. You can be sure that everyone will settle down after a while.

Click on this link to read the rest of the article.

Questions & Authors: Finding the time for reading

Formative Assessment­—A Process, Not a Test

Formative Assessment­—A Process, Not a Test

Click on the above link to read the rest of the article.

Quote from this article:

If we are to promote use of the formative-assessment process, it’s crucial that more educators accurately understand the process in the way that empirical studies have shown it works best. If research-ratified versions of the formative-assessment process are used widely by teachers, then many more students will learn better and faster. But if formative assessment is regarded as nothing more than a specific sort of test, its impact is apt to be trivial.