As T-Day nears, April 9th to be exact, it becomes time to kick up the creativity and remediation a few notches. Keeping those two very different concepts in check becomes a serious balancing act for this little joker. Today was no exception.
Once again, aimlessly scrolling through Facebook one even yielded an inspiration in the form of Disney quotes. If you have ever taught middle school writing, you know that many of the writers in this certain age group haphazardly throw in a random quote willy-nilly, thinking, "Yes! I make this sound GGGOOOODDDD!" Nice try, but not so much!
So today was spent using Disney quote to learn to embed them into complete sentences that included:
1--who said it (novel idea, right)
2--where it was from (I don't need to say it again, but you feel me!)
3--some basic context
4--the topic
I modeled the first two sentences using the PowerPoint I am attaching to this post,then turned the kids loose to choose a Hot Topic and compose a sentence using the quote. I also had the kids choose two or three quotes that worked with several of the Hot Topics and that they found easy to commit to memory. We have two essays coming in the near future, so we shall see if true transference occurs.
Here are a few examples:
When people encounter struggles in life like the winds of a coming storm, it is important to remember the wise words of Grandmother Willow, a guiding force in "Pocahontas," a Disney film, "Sometimes the right path is not the easiest one."
Topic=struggles
Making a true friend out of a complete stranger is magical; "All it takes is faith and trust and a little pixie dust" according to the leader of The Lost Boys, Peter Pan, from the Disney movie of the same name.
Topic=true/good friend
Cinderella, a neglected princess from a Disney show of the same name, knows the value of failure in finding success because "If you keep on believing, the dream that you wish will come true."
The next step, knowing how middle school kids struggle with basic memorization, would be showing them how to take a quote, translate it into their own words, and combine it with the topic for the essay.
Here are a few more examples:
Focusing on the failures left behind in the darkness of the past will prevent people from see the light of success lies before them.
Topic=failure leads to success
The very things that appear to tangle, squash, and hold people back in this world are the exact same things that will lift them up with just a little determination.
Topic=determination
The future is waiting just out of the reach of a person's comfort zone; take the risk.
Topic=risk/chance
The moral of the lesson is to just get the kids to write--write all the time!
Once again, aimlessly scrolling through Facebook one even yielded an inspiration in the form of Disney quotes. If you have ever taught middle school writing, you know that many of the writers in this certain age group haphazardly throw in a random quote willy-nilly, thinking, "Yes! I make this sound GGGOOOODDDD!" Nice try, but not so much!
So today was spent using Disney quote to learn to embed them into complete sentences that included:
1--who said it (novel idea, right)
2--where it was from (I don't need to say it again, but you feel me!)
3--some basic context
4--the topic
I modeled the first two sentences using the PowerPoint I am attaching to this post,then turned the kids loose to choose a Hot Topic and compose a sentence using the quote. I also had the kids choose two or three quotes that worked with several of the Hot Topics and that they found easy to commit to memory. We have two essays coming in the near future, so we shall see if true transference occurs.
Here are a few examples:
When people encounter struggles in life like the winds of a coming storm, it is important to remember the wise words of Grandmother Willow, a guiding force in "Pocahontas," a Disney film, "Sometimes the right path is not the easiest one."
Topic=struggles
Making a true friend out of a complete stranger is magical; "All it takes is faith and trust and a little pixie dust" according to the leader of The Lost Boys, Peter Pan, from the Disney movie of the same name.
Topic=true/good friend
Cinderella, a neglected princess from a Disney show of the same name, knows the value of failure in finding success because "If you keep on believing, the dream that you wish will come true."
The next step, knowing how middle school kids struggle with basic memorization, would be showing them how to take a quote, translate it into their own words, and combine it with the topic for the essay.
Here are a few more examples:
Focusing on the failures left behind in the darkness of the past will prevent people from see the light of success lies before them.
Topic=failure leads to success
The very things that appear to tangle, squash, and hold people back in this world are the exact same things that will lift them up with just a little determination.
Topic=determination
The future is waiting just out of the reach of a person's comfort zone; take the risk.
Topic=risk/chance
The moral of the lesson is to just get the kids to write--write all the time!
Disney Quotes for Hot Topics |