Join the Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life Challenge.
Poetry forms the quality of light within which we predicate our hopes and dreams toward survival and change.
–Audre Lord
PHOSPHORESCENCE. Now there’s a word to lift your hat to… to find that phosphorescence, that light within, that’s the genius behind poetry.
― Emily Dickinson
My poetry light to my OLW:
Rise to the novelty
Eager for the rising
Arms stretched overhead
Calling for strength
Happy to hold the sunlight.
–Margaret Simon
If you missed DigiLit Sunday, I posted an Emaze presentation you can use with your students to make their own One Little Word resolutions. I presented this on Monday, and my students began working on their word webs and Canva designs. I wanted to share a few with you today.
Julie Johnson wrote about the importance of design. She wrote, “I think some would ask if it’s important to teach our students these skills when they are crafting digital compositions? I believe it is. Our students are composing and consuming texts very differently in today’s world. I believe it’s my responsibility as a teacher of writers to help my students be able to produce thoughtful quality products.” Full post here.
Thinking about Julie’s post, I talked to my students about design. “How can you use design of the image, the color, and the font to communicate what your word means to you?” In Kielan’s image above, she was very thoughtful about her design. She chose the word Merry. Many of the other students were thinking about “Merry Christmas,” so instead of changing her word, she used an image to describe what she meant by the word. She wants us to feel the calm, peaceful beauty of the word Merry.
I like the way Emily used synonyms for her word, Unique, to express her word.
Reed used a white board to share his word web around his word Light. I love how the design of the word web looks like a light.
When I was working with a first grader, I showed him how to use Thesaurus.com to make his word web. After we did this together, I realized how much this would help all of my students. So for my afternoon group, I suggested they try it. Put your word into the thesaurus and click. Find another word you like, click it, and so on, until a word web is built around a central word. This led some students to new words they could either select as their OLW or use in a poem. I look forward to seeing more student words. This activity not only gives students an opportunity to set goals and reflect on themselves, it also uses 21st Century Skills, the C’s of Creativity, Critical Thinking, and Communication. Feel free to use the Emaze to work with your own students on OLW.
http://app.emaze.com/@AOFLCWZL/one-little-word
To make your own images with Canva, click here.
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Reflections on the Teche 
Shades of Grey
Posted in Digital Learning, Slice of Life, tagged #gray, comments, Digital photography, Slice of Life Story Challenge on February 22, 2015| 11 Comments »
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I hope my title was not misleading. You will only find G-rated media here. My cyber-colleague, Kim Douillard, puts out a photo challenge every week. This week her challenge was shades of grey. An appropriate color for February. I took a walk with my favorite grey pooch, Charlie.
The sky was grey with a little blue trying to peek through. The wind was blowing, but the temperature was mild.
The Japanese magnolia is in full bloom. The blossoms are fragrant and vibrant pink. The trunk and branches are all grey, no green leaves. The grey backdrop makes these flowers pop and please.
Grey moss hangs from the live oaks year round. Watching the moss sway in the strong wind, I came to the conclusion that grey is beautiful.
Join the Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life Challenge.
This format of themed images with descriptions could work well for a Slice of Life post. If you are not familiar with Slice of Life, it is a monthlong writing challenge created by Stacey Shubitz of the Two Wiring Teachers. I believe, like Stacey, that a teacher of writing must be a writer. We must practice what we preach. The SOL challenge gears up in March. Today is the day to make your commitment. Be sure to go over to the site and sign up. I testify that slicing has changed my life. The daily practice of meeting a blank page and knowing I have a kind, like-minded audience waiting has made me a better teacher and a better writer.
Along with SOL month, it’s time to make plans for Digital Learning Day on March 13, 2015. Join me in a super-duper comment challenge. My students will be in their second week of the Slice Of Life Story Challenge. (Go to Two Writing Teachers for more information.) They asked me if we would be doing a comment challenge this year. So I want to declare Digital Learning Day, March 13th as Crazy Comment Challenge Day. My students slice on Kidblogs. We can only access other Kidblog sites. So if you have your students blogging, send me the link. On March 13th, we will try to visit as many sites as possible within our class time frame. Let me know if you want to take the plunge.
Tara Smith wrote a great post about preparing your students for the Slice of Life Challenge. This is a wonderful opportunity to connect with other classrooms across the globe and to get your students writing daily in an authentic way. I am one of the classroom concierges for the challenge. Do not hesitate to contact me with questions.
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