YWP's blog

Partners

Submitted by YWP on Mon, 08/03/2009 - 17:29
The following organizations and foundations have recently contributed to support the YWP Schools Project -- digital writing classrooms and ongoing mentoring for Vermont and NH schools:
  • A.D. Henderson Foundation
  • Amy E.
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Microstory

Submitted by YWP on Fri, 07/31/2009 - 17:20

A middle school teacher had students write a "microstory," paying particular attention to writing an opening that would really "hook" readers.  Here is one of the stories.  Be sure to click "comments" to read the comments the author got from classmates:

Don'tcha Just Wanna Read More?

I traced my fingers along the "volume" button on my iPod, unsure of what my favorite song would be today. My mother was singing to the radio again, and I wanted to tune her out. We suddenly came to a yellow light, warning us to slow down. As other cars stopped, my car kept going. I wondered why that was, what was the problem, why we weren't slowing down. I turned my head slightly forward to realize that I was in a car with no driver.

 

Student and Teacher reaction

Submitted by YWP on Fri, 07/31/2009 - 15:30

What students say about YWP's Digital Writing Classrooms:

"I think that the best thing about doing the blog this year was having the fun of being connected to my classmates without having to really call or talk to them. This blog built more of a sense of community and made me feel like writing is a lot more important. I think using the blog made me a better writer because I felt I had a reason to write. I've now realized how important writing is and want to keep writing in the future." Read more »

Commenting

Submitted by YWP on Tue, 07/28/2009 - 18:09
EXERCISE SUMMARY: Get each of your classes to set the rules for commenting. Have a student take notes or write the rules out on a white board for everyone to see. Have another student copy the rules onto the site with a tag: Commenting Rules. Having them set the rules aids in buy-in and makes it easier for you to talk about during the year.
 
CONTEXT: Peer-to-peer feedback is an extremely important part of the YWP Schools Project. Commenting helps students hear what their audience thinks of their work; in turn, they get to look at writing with an objective, constructive eye, and that helps them improve their own writing. 
 
Commenting is not about passing judgment on a piece of writing. The aim is for students to articulate what they notice in a way that's well received.
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Multimedia writing

Submitted by YWP on Mon, 07/27/2009 - 18:10

Multimedia writing uses a combination of text, still photographs, video clips, audio and graphics.  Its format is nonlinear, allowing the reader/viewer to choose how he or she will navigate through the various elements of a story.  The information presented in each medium is complementary, not redundant, so that different parts of the story are told using different media.

Using multimedia is a great way to engage students into many of the disciplines of writing, and the YWP Schools Project sites make it easy to do. It also often entices the less engaged student to participate.

However, it should be stressed that getting students to write and comment regularly on the site will be much easier to achieve and will have great impact on your classroom.

Among the attributes of a multimedia project are: Read more »

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