Seward Literacy Festival 2012

Look for next year:
Sept 26-28
Kevin Henkes

Handouts: blue Concordia folder

Tom Lichtenheld: CREATIVITY MATTERS

The most creative minds never lack for job offers: 

• innovative
• problem solver
• flexible

Myth 1

It's not about total freedom.  We need guidelines.  Precise constraints and limitations inspire creativity but vague directions inhibit.  Give them a box,  but make it deep. 

• a story to tell
• a theme/insight
• a problem to solve

suggested reading: Houdini Solution

How an illustrator/writer has guidelines

• space: author's box=32 small squares for sketches
• time: give a deadline
• tools: take away the fancy tools=pencil drawings

 Myth 2
Two heads are better than 1
collaboration vs. teamwork
collaboration: too much risk; we all conform to please the alpha to agree
teamwork: lightening strikes a single spot.

Stephen King "Write with the door closed.  Rewrite with the door open." 

 Tom's Way

1. foam core walls to shut out the world to limit space 
2. always has 'Idea Radar' on (Why are You So Grumpy? while sitting by a man on the plane)
3. keep drawings/sketches small (See Mrs. Carne's Way at:
   Peterson's Pad: Great Day!)
4. his inspiration: Pagoo: Holling, Clancy, Holling
5. special trips with parents=Magic
6. storytelling has value
7. visuals are fair game for play: bend the rules; change reality Book: Duck/Rabbit It's all about perspective. Retell with Props.
8. 
9. Language is a game Carl Jung: the creative mind plays with the things it loves.

Draw and 'OLD' man.

Draw a 'boy'.

Tom Lichtenheld's website

Watch for his book "Sing" from Sesame Street summer 2012

Cane's Arcade

Sometimes it's best to think INSIDE a DEEP box.

Lori Oczkus (Scholastic)
Comprehension: Sure Fire Ways to Engage Students and Improve Reading

(Authored many books

Handouts in folder)

Struggling Readers:

-have difficulty finding main ideas

-decode but do not comprehend

-vary in vocab and background knowledge****

*DISCUSSION is the key!*

• "I wonder about..."
• "Turn and Talk"
• "I can tell ______________ because _________."

SUMMARIZE! Make it fun!

1. Write down 5 words that describe article, reading, etc. and turn in.
2. Play charades: with a partner, use gestures while speaking sentences and act out those 5 words.
3. Use their Multiple Intelligence's
1. Hannah Montana Bone Dance
4. Marzano Non Linquistic Representations
1. http://www.netc.org/focus/strategies/nonl.php

POST THE 6 STRATEGIES/BOOKMARK

1. posters need to include props or pictures
2. Introduce all of them at once: an FYI 'dump'
3. Re-introduce one at a time in detail & practice
1. wear costumes, become another person (master of disguise) 
2. ham it up
3. idea: place arrow on poster where your current focus is

ASK QUESTIONS

1. Post its: before, during, after questions
2. graphic organizers
3. ***'Flip It' Students change a statement into a main idea question
1. may require one-on-one coaching
4. 4 door 'peek' book to record Q's

USE OTHER BOOKS TO TEACH

1. http://www.booksource.com/ 
1. find out what strategies/levels various books are
2. purchase
2. Use metaphors: teach the unfamiliar by using something familiar to help them connect
1. props
2. Two Bobbies, The Quiet Book, The Loud Book, Pigsty (Teague)

Ted Scheu (sounds like shy--That 'Poetry Guy')
Poetry Helps Young Writers find their Voices

(Handouts in folder)

http://www.poetryguy.com/

Poems 'launch' laughs and tears!

Use verbs!  Juggle and play with your words.

Memorize and share poems

Poems speak to many inteligences.

Until I Saw the Sea by Lillian Moore

Until I saw the sea
I did not know
that wind
could wrinkle water so

I never knew
that sun
could splinter a whole sea of blue

nor
did I know before,
a sea breathes in and out
upon a shore

by Lilian Moore

'List' Poem (In folder)

Valerie Worth poems (a listening guessing game)

Publish anonymously for the reluctant

Let your guts spill out

'show my ears' what you feel, like, etc.

Lori Oczkus (Scholastic)
Guided Writing: Practical Lessons, Powerful Results

Get rid of 'stalling behaviors'

3 STEPS

1. I do: model
2. We do: Teamwork
3. You do: final piece

***Take the extra time to do guided writing in small groups.  It is the missing link.  

Do not use the easier word just because you can spell it.  Circle it and come back.

You don't have to finish every story from beginning to end.  Just write a portion of it.  If you still love the topic, then come back to it.

Ex: Teach ' Best Beginnings' by--

1. Guided Modeling

see Barbara Mariconda

• Don't always tell them the 'fantastic' life story
• Use a 2-3 sentence summary
• Ask: where should I begin my story?
• give bad examples
• read a short article and 
• Tell a friend: what do you like? What did you notice?
• have students rewrite the beginning as a team.

Use Cool Tools: to engage kids such as 'thumbs up/down'

• Topic Tube: make a web on a topic, but focus on a detail
• Wilfred Gordon...what is in MY basket of memories?  Which one do I want to write about?
• Bum Lesson: bring your supplies with you
• Act out the story with 4-5 types of beginnings: action, description, etc.
• Act out the elements to teach them
• description--paint the picture
• quotation--talking hand


• noisy word (onomatopoeia: The use of words (such as hiss or murmur) that imitate the sounds associated with the objects or actions they refer to, animal noises.)--ear
• action--move body
• feeling/thought--touch heart
• **use real literature to practice identification

2. Give a topic and send them off to team up and  ... "Write 2 beginnings to your topic using....(description and noisy words.)

3. Independent: Write a new story OR find one to rewrite the beginning of.

• accordion fold: rewrite beginning in several styles.  Choose 2 to share.
• brainstorm web: have web at top of page so they can write on bottom of page
• Weekend or Last Night Web (Next weekend?)
  On Mondays, make a web then use your tube and choose one part to develop;
  goal is detail and organization

Available for any grade

---

Other

1. POETRY

Because poetry doesn't follow grammatical conventions, give the students skinny paper so they don't 'unlearn' everything you've taught them.

Write poetry to go with content area.

Rather than rhyming, teach them to repeat one or two of their favorite lines.

Best Line Poems: 4 students put their best lines together on said topic as a separate poem.

2. Pattern Writing

Use an author's pattern and rewrite it

Ex: My Mother Had a Dancing Heart

Ex: If You're Not From the Prairie

• If you don't know ______________, you don't know ______________.

3. Use an "Author's Craft Chart"? (learn more about this) http://blogs.scholastic.com/3_5/2009/04/teaching-in-context.html

4. Non-fiction writing: Work as teams.  Each teammate rewrites one section.

5. Live Rubric??? Have we heard? Action/dialogue.