Demonstration Plan — Storify

Storify Demo    –I’m posting my agenda, handouts & link to my Demonstration here as I put them all together.

http://smccabe29.edu.glogster.com/unccwpdemo/

Because I need a “reputable” write up — Filtering the Social Web to Present News Items

A Storify I want to share–“looks” like a story —2010 #NYSnowstorm

Another Storify — about the floods — Sioux City Journalists Use Storify for Flood Coverage

Use of Storify to tell the story of a college class — Digital Textuality Spring 2011

Duh….look what happens when you follow the creators on Twitter!!! Storify.com, where journalism and scholarship intersect #storify

**For use in journalism — anybody can be a reporter now–okay, not a JOURNALIST, but report on what’s happening in one’s community or opinions or traffic! The “real” news is happening on Twitter — real time, breaking news — not just about “What’s for breakfast” or “Popped another pus-filled zit this morning” like it was when it first started. ***I mean, the POTUS had a Twitter Town Meeting today (Wednesday, July 6)!! This is big!

**What the Common Core State Standards say about nonfiction writing:

Increase in Nonfiction Texts. Currently, students in elementary school read 70-80% fiction and 20-30% nonfiction. This changes to 50% fiction and 50% nonfiction for 4th grade, 45% fiction and 55% nonfiction by 8th grade and 30% fiction and 70% nonfiction by Twelfth grade. This kind of change will prepare students in order to deal with real world data while in the labor pool.

Content Area Literacy. Grades 6-12 have added standards directed toward the subject areas science, history/social studies, and technical subjects. They have to specifically address texts, which includes primary sources. As an example, some might examine speeches by Presidents, not just read about their presidency; some might read scientific papers and not simply read about the breadth and effects of research.

Increase Complexity of Tests. K-12 reading highlights text complexity as the most important factor in developing experienced readers. Increasing intricacy forces students to respond to and think about sophisticated ideas that they’ll need in college and in careers. Leveled readers are discouraged and instead, pupils are asked to interact with the text and decide what it really says and means. Or, what it doesn’t say and doesn’t mean.

Focus on Text-Based Questions. CCSS places very little faith in personal opinions, experiences or connections with a written text. Rather, questions should target just what the wording actually says or doesn’t say. Particularly important will be the ability to cite sections of a text to support an answer. Can students find the important information in the text?

Target Writing Arguments. The leading focus in composing is on developing arguments and supporting these with text-based research instead of creative writing, individual stories, and memoirs. Students write mostly to describe, to inform or to argue. It’s a subtle difference, but students don’t write with regards to persuading; instead, they must provide facts and text-based data to support an argument. See that they never write to entertain. Humor? Absolutely absent.

13 Ways Storify Can Help Address Nonfiction Needs in an ELA Class:

1) Provides a “container” (mode) for real world & real time news

2) Short chunks of text & pictures — but can get a gist of a story

3) Is multi-media & social — students get a glimpse into how social media is used to get a news account or topic out into the public eye — a way to show that writing has value in the world outside school (Thanks to Rebecca for this thought)

4) Preserves the original link of the writer — students are able to use specific facts in a writing assignment, and cite those facts — the teacher has provided

5) The teacher can assign students to search specific target modes (i.e. Google search, YouTube, Flickr) — whatever is available at your school. Those who have home computers can search Twitter or Facebook, send links to the teacher or class account or however it’s set up

6) I think for a little while at least, if a teacher chooses to use Storify, it will have to be the teacher’s stories — maybe based on class content or what’s happening right now in the news

7) Students could use this as a way to show their interests, what they might want to be when they grow up…

8 ) Set up a Storify with only Flikr for pictures as writing prompts (This part can be used K-12)

9) Ask students to post on their Facebook, then aggregate their ideas about a specific class topic

10) If you find a YouTube clip you want to use, download it & save to Teacher Tube, then add the link in Storify (I suppose this can be done for Twitter & FaceBook,too….then show your tech leaders & how you used it with your students & hopefully they’ll see the value of social media in the classroom

11) Build background knowledge about a subject (Thanks to Rashid’s thinking out loud about revision) — become the historian, scientist, techno-geek, musician, health advocate, etc

12) “Read” the Storify & pay attention to the categories we learned in Rebecca’s foldable activity (Content, Style & Organization, Language, Anything Else); or, “Map the Essay” as we learned from Lil — with quick sketches that show the main ideas of the topic

13) Be okay with a little “wobbling” when it comes to digital writing — I’m not okay trying to bring in every single piece of new tech, but I also don’t think it’s okay to not teach the kids about it. Why else do we have so much online bullying & sexting??? Because the teachers aren’t showing the students how to use this appropriately!! 😉

 

First Official Post

So, I’m only about three weeks late with my first “Official UNCC-NWP Post” — July’s still a ways off, right? I’ve tweeted a few times just so people know I’m still out and about. I’ve started reading a couple of books in a vain attempt to figure out a demonstration teaching topic. Unfortunately, I can’t formulate something creative. These types of situations always make me feel like I really don’t know anything about teaching. It’s not just this, though. We received our 10th grade writing test scores two weeks ago — Wow! There’s nothing that says “You’re a sucky teacher” like Writing-Test-Score-Day. Our scores went down ten percentage points — 10!!! –from 80 % to 70%; the principal set up a meeting for this coming Tuesday with the 10th grade English teachers to decide what kind of School Improvement Plan goals we need for next year.

Hmmmm…..I’m game. Here’s my first Official List for UNCC-NWP:

13 Suggestions for Next Year’s Writing Plan

1) Buy more books for independent reading.

2). Lower the class sizes to 18 students.

3) Celebrate the 70% of students who performed well, but acknowledge the students who are making As or Bs in English class–Those are the real winners!

4) Require daily independent reading time for all classes.

5) Students can take a mock test at the end of the Fall semester’s English II or Composition class, scored in-house; then take the better score after the March test results.

6) Recognize that writing and assessing writing is individual and subjective.

7) Keep electronic portfolios

8 ) Have the principal kiss a cow’s butt if we reach 80% proficient on the last writing test next year.

9) Require only essay tests in content classes (i.e. Science, Social Studies, etc) — no multiple choice tests.

10) Take out the time limit for the test.

11) Allow retakes like the state does for ALL the EOC tests — oh, and let the English teachers remediate the day before the retake!

12) Start all students on a level playing field (i.e., get them out of poverty, make sure they live in a stable home, have equal access to at-home technology & print-rich environments.

13) Say “Thank You” to Mrs. Gilmore, Mrs. Nutt, and I for the 70% “success” because without our yelling, changing plans to meet needs, and nightly crying, that score could have been SOOOO much worse!

And….because I can find an Elvis song to match just about every situation, here’s the theme song for this year’s 10th graders (and why we can’t get them to perform proficiently on ANY standardized test…..). Enjoy!