Writing & Reading Across the Curriculum�WRAC
Helping Our Students Explore and Share Their Voices Through Writing
HELLO!
Dr. Melissa Shields, NBCT
ALSDE – Office of Student Learning
mshields@alsde.edu
You can find me at @mjshields
on Twitter!
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Virtual Meeting NORMs
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Session NORMs
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For today’s handouts, PPT, and links:
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Place your screenshot here
Be on the lookout for…
Hyperlinked Website Resource for Topic/Strategy
Topic/Strategy Materials in Handout
Google “Melissa Shields Wix”
Click on on Teaching Channel
For today’s handouts, PPT, and links:
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Place your screenshot here
Hyperlinked Website Resource for Topic/Strategy
Topic/Strategy Materials in Handout
https://tinyurl.com/y2xdvddy
2021 ELA Course of Study
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To be implemented in 2022-23
ELA COS Crosswalk (2016 and 2021)
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Be on the Lookout!!
Why have our students lost their voice in writing?
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Who’s hungry?
Gamechangers for WRiting
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@mjshields
https://goo.gl/KZtdkx
Our Students Want to Learn…
6th Grade Writing Log Activities
Journaling
“For any individual, a low vocabulary is a serious handicap.”
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The Importance of Vocabulary
SPONGES
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Speechless Interviews
Content –Specific Strategies
From Alicia Stephenson, Al/GA Middle Level education Conference 2021
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From Alicia Stephenson, Al/GA Middle Level education Conference 2021
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Create Memes
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Life Graphs
Inspired by Jim Burke – The English Teacher’s Companion (2007)
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Walk Across America
Project
Walk Across America
Project
Brief Description
National Geographic
April 1977
Student Blog Excerpts
From Wade G.:
Hi, my name is Wade, and I am walking across America. I am
setting out to see the sights of this wonderful country. I have
camping supplies, $750 in cash, and the unbridled spirit of exploration to get me through. I plan on walking from my home town of Hokes Bluff, Alabama to the coast of California in a year. We recently red a book called A Walk Across America. The book is about this guy who is fed up with people and the way they are. He's gotten to the point where he hates everything so he decides to walk across America with his dog Cooper and see what everything is all about. He's trying to find himself basically. Our teacher, Mrs. Shields, decided that we were going to walk across America too. She gave us a map so we could choose where we wanted to go and $750 to start our journey with. Below are all the states I went to and what I found!
January Entry:
That month I had traveled through Texas and Oklahoma. Texas was so hot that Josie and I could hardly stand it. We went swimming in anything we could possibly get wet in. After Texas we went straight through Oklahoma and stopped in Oklahoma City to see a bombing memorial. The memorial sprawls across the real estate where the bombing took place. One particularly eerie sight is an array of chairs in a field, representing each victim, lit by a translucent cube below each seat. I camped there at night and it was so beautiful with all the lights everywhere.
Student Blog Excerpts
From Morgan G.:
In Reading class we are reading a book called
"A Walk Across America." It's about a man named Peter Jenkins.
He doesn't exactly like the direction his life is going, so he decides to give America one last chance. He and his dog train for a few weeks and then they take off on their journey through America. In class we are following in Peter's footstep and going on our own journey across America. We have one year and $750. We can't take anyone with us, so it's just us and great Mother Nature. HERE WE GO!!!!!!----
�For three months I prepared for this. The walk that hopefully, would change my life. I packed all off the things that I needed. I had a huge bag on my back packed full, and a German Shepherd named Mary by my side. Early in the morning on February 7th, we took off...on out walk across America.
a sentence
will always look
like poetry
if you
hit enter
a lot
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Poetry is more than rhymes and limericks
RAP SONG Research
RAP SONG Requirements
Rap Song Excerpts
CLEOPATRA
Cleopatra comin’ at you from about 69 B.C.
Cleopatra was her name
Playin’ the flute was her game
The daughter of Ptolemy
A pharaoh known extensively
She had a lot goin’ on for a teen
At only eighteen she became queen
She married her little brother
But soon she loved another
The man she met was king of Greece
He always wanted to keep peace
Caesar Agustas was his name
Ruling Greece was his game
Caesar thought Cleo was very keen
But all she wanted was to be queen……
Written by the Verb Vipers, 8th Grade
Rap Song Excerpts
America, Sept. 11, 2001
“We live in the United States, a country that is free.
Something happened in New York City, and it affected me.
On the day of September 11 of the year 2001,
Clouds of black smoke billowed from tower number one.
At 8:50 on that morning, terror from the skies
Would change the world forever by taking many lives…..
They killed about 6,000 people, and tons of them are missing.
We have to stand up very tall and tell our enemy we’re not sinking.
Remember to keep praying for our country and do the best we can,
For God is with our nation, and He will protect us until the end.”
Writing Rappers (8th Grade), 2001
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Grading Essays…
More about Grading – How to Shorten Grading Time
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Rubrics are our friends…
“I tried out my first grading rubric, and it worked really well: my grading time was cut in half, the feedback I gave was equal or better than when I used to make extensive comments on each paper, and I was much more consistent.”
Ryan Luchs, Assistant Professor of Marketing, Duquesne University
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| 4 – Excellent | 3 – Good | 2 – Needs Improvement | 1-0 – Poor |
Organization X 3 = | Introduction lays out main argument and gives an outline of what the reader can expect in the essay | The introduction lays out the main argument but gives the reader little idea of what to expect in the essay. | The introduction gives the reader an idea of what to expect in the paper, but does not effectively lay out the main argument. | Essay has no clear organizational pattern. |
Argument X 4 = | Essay contains a clear argument—i.e., lets the reader know exactly what the author is trying to communicate. | An argument is present, but reader must reconstruct it from the text. | Author attempts, but fails, to make an argument. | No attempt is made to articulate an argument. |
Mechanics X 3 | Language is clearly organized. Correct word usage, punctuation, sentence structure, and grammar; correct citation of sources; minimal to no spelling errors; absolutely no run-on sentences or comma splices. | Sentence structure and grammar strong despite occasional lapses; punctuation and citation style often used correctly. Some spelling errors and at least one run-on sentence, sentence fragment, or comma splice. | Major problems in sentence structure and grammar. Multiple errors in punctuation and spelling. May have several (two to five) run-on sentences, sentence fragments, and comma splices. | Very difficult to understand owing to major problems in mechanics. |
Overall Impression X 5 | Author directly addresses main question or issue. He/She is able to synthesize this knowledge in new ways and relate to material not covered in the course. | Author competently addresses main question or issue, but does not add much new insight into the subject. That said, it is clear that the author is able to communicate new knowledge to others. | Author attempts to address main question or issue, but fails. The author does not fully understand its meaning or context and cannot clearly convey it to others. | Essay does NOT address main question or issue. |
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ACAP Writing Rubric
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Cross-curricula relevant and engaging writing activities.
Thanks!
I’m here for YOU!
You can find me at
@mjshields
Website:
Google “Melissa Shields Wix”
Click Teaching Channel
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Credits
Special thanks to all the people who made and released these awesome resources for free:
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Presentation design
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Now you can use any emoji as an icon!�And of course it resizes without losing quality and you can change the color.��How? Follow Google instructions�https://twitter.com/googledocs/status/730087240156643328
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