writing across the curriculum

Stix Discussion

The Stix Discussion (Stix 1999) is a discussion strategy that has four distinct viewpoints as well as an inner circle and an outer circle that equally participate in a discussion. This strategy is a modification of the inner-outer circle or fishbowl discussion. The students in the inner circle and the outer circle will change roles, so everyone gets an equal chance to participate. This strategy is appropriate for middle school through college-level classrooms.This strategy takes discussions to a more...

Pinterest for Educators

The most popular bulletin board for pictures and photographs in social media today is Pinterest. It follows a scrapbook-styled interface designed for communicative sharing, the focal points of each company differ. Pinterest was primarily used for sharing favored material goods and inspired ideas; but now, it is also intended for dispersing educational tools and learning resources. Pinterest for educators helps to easily design online content and craft a set of lessons using this powerful image-based platform. They take a topic...

Role-Play in the Classroom with Delicious

Delicious (del.icio.us) is an online social bookmarking platform that stores and categorizes photos, videos, and articles that teachers can use to motivate and engage students. It is part of social media because teachers can see each other’s folders called “stacks” of information and share each other’s postings of links on the web. These links are usually of high quality because teachers have invested time in surfing the internet to make meaningful selections.Many teachers have used Delicious to share great links with...

Imagery Walk

The Imagery Walk is an exercise that allows students to visually bring content alive by utilizing their imaginations. It is based on meditative practices but allows for scenes in English Language Arts, historical periods in Social Studies, geometrical designs in mathematics, and procedures in science to be recreated. By implementing this strategy, students are more able to move the content from short-term to long-term memory, because they personally create and interact with the content area. Using a soft, gentle, soothing, and...

Kinds of Writing

Do you want to spicen up the kinds of writing that you assign to your class? Do you want to give your students a list of choices from which they can choose? Here’s a fabulous list to get your juices flowing:A ads (for magazines, newspapers, yellow pages) advice columns allegories anecdotes announcements answers anthems appendices apologies assumptions autobiographies awardsB ballads beauty tips bedtime stories beginnings billboards bloopers blurbs books book jackets book reviews broadsheets brochures bulletins bumper stickersC calendar...

Carousel Brainstorming

The Carousel Brainstorming strategy is easy to implement. Each cooperative group walks up to an open-ended question posted on chart paper, discusses it, brainstorms answers or solutions, and writes down responses within a given amount of time. When the teacher “carousels” students, or rotates the groups to new locations, they repeat the exercise with a new question. This time students must read the responses from the previous group(s) before they begin to write down new ideas.MaterialsDifferent colored markersChart paperMasking tape (Tape chart...

Essential and Guiding Questions

Using essential and guiding questions certainly binds a unit of study together, bringing a clearer focus to the lesson. Originally introduced by Heidi Hayes Jacobs, we modified the practice and infused it into our Exploring History series back in 2000. We are finding that more and more people ask for a clear explanation of how to draft these questions for each unit of study.The Essential QuestionWhat is an essential question? Simply put, the essential question:is a definition question, serving as...

Pic-Jour Math: Pictorial Journal Writing in Mathematics to Understand Pi

Come every fall, teachers of mathematics are confronted with oversized classes filled with students who vary in both their learning style and their way of communicating what they have learned. Teachers are challenged to recognize and exploit those differences or risk bored or confused students who lack any true mathematical understanding and may end up manipulating numerical symbols and equations by rote.Both experience and research in the past twenty years have demonstrated the clear effectiveness of using a multimodal, interactive approach...

Using Multi-Level, Young Adult Literature in the Middle School American Studies

Talk to middle school teachers about the challenges of teaching today, and you are likely to be barraged with a long list of factors that make their jobs difficult. Class size, lack of materials, poor attendance– the list of problems facing today’s teachers sometimes seems endless. We often hear middle school teachers from all subject areas complain that, “It is so difficult to motivate students today.” Another complaint, often made by teachers is, “My students read on so many different...

Bridging the Standards Across the Curriculum with Portfolios

From the Middle School JournalThose of us who are involved in education, in whatever capacity, can sense the stirrings. Parents are voicing concerns about the adequacy of their children’s education. The business community and American industries question whether the quality of education will prepare youngsters for the realities of the workplace. Corporations question whether schools are preparing America’s youth to cope with the demands of an increasingly technological environment. It is now imperative that the next several generations of...

Blog

Stix Discussion

Pinterest for Educators

Role-Play in the Classroom with Delicious

Imagery Walk

Kinds of Writing

Carousel Brainstorming

Essential and Guiding Questions

Pic-Jour Math: Pictorial Journal Writing in Mathematics to Understand Pi

Using Multi-Level, Young Adult Literature in the Middle School American Studies

Bridging the Standards Across the Curriculum with Portfolios

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