After hearing a radio interview some time ago, I have become a big fan of the Six-Word Memoir. The concept comes from the website of Smith Magazine, a literary publication that allows writers to submit their personal stories in six words. Apparently, the basis of the idea came from a story about Ernest Hemingway - when challenged to write a story in six words, he came up with this: "For sale, baby shoes, never worn."
Earlier this year, my eighth graders tried out the process and came up with some gems. It can be a challenge to make meaning in so few words, but they did so in creative and touching ways.
This week, I posted some of them on a bulletin board and will invite students and guests to add more. (Leave one in the Comments section and it will go up on the board.) I love the activity because it really engages students with content and meaning without being bogged down much by the mechanics of writing. Consequently, students who may normally struggle with certain elements of writing longer pieces get to shine in this format.
Showing posts with label writing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label writing. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Process Over Product II
One of my favorite early-year activities is to create rubrics with my students. While there are plenty of pre-published rubrics available, I find that they are primarily written for teachers and not students. For example, here is the Pennsylvania Writing Assessment - well meaning, but not particularly well written.
When students are involved in the creation of a rubric, I find that they are better able to understand and apply it. It is a process that is certainly worthy of the time investment needed to complete it.
This past week, both classes created a rubric for answering questions, such as the type typically found at the end of a textbook chapter. First, they wrote answers (anonymously) to two sample questions. Next, I selected five responses for each question and displayed them on-screen to the class. We thoroughly critiqued them and created a list of qualities we look for in an answer - this list was able to be collapsed into three general categories. Then, referring back to the examples, we created a four-point range of criteria from Great to Poor to complete the rubric. I typed and printed it and distributed them to the class (two copies per student - one for the language arts binder and one for the social studies binder).
Now the rubrics are ready for self-evaluation as well as for teacher evaluation. I am happy with the product, but I see the real value coming from the fact that the students created them from the ground up. They will have a sharper sense of what to look for in their writing and better understand what I am grading them on. Had I simply handed them a rubric, their investment level would be much lower.
It is a great process, and can be adapted to create rubrics for any task.
When students are involved in the creation of a rubric, I find that they are better able to understand and apply it. It is a process that is certainly worthy of the time investment needed to complete it.
This past week, both classes created a rubric for answering questions, such as the type typically found at the end of a textbook chapter. First, they wrote answers (anonymously) to two sample questions. Next, I selected five responses for each question and displayed them on-screen to the class. We thoroughly critiqued them and created a list of qualities we look for in an answer - this list was able to be collapsed into three general categories. Then, referring back to the examples, we created a four-point range of criteria from Great to Poor to complete the rubric. I typed and printed it and distributed them to the class (two copies per student - one for the language arts binder and one for the social studies binder).
Now the rubrics are ready for self-evaluation as well as for teacher evaluation. I am happy with the product, but I see the real value coming from the fact that the students created them from the ground up. They will have a sharper sense of what to look for in their writing and better understand what I am grading them on. Had I simply handed them a rubric, their investment level would be much lower.
It is a great process, and can be adapted to create rubrics for any task.
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