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Writer's Block
By Cara Bafile
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Grade Level: 3-6
Story Preview: When his teacher assigns what seems like a simple writing exercise, John discovers hes out of ideas. Characters from his imagination -- a cowboy, a wicked queen, a longed-for pet, and others -- help him overcome "writer's block." In the end, readers realize that the script theyve just read is John's play.
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Roles: Narrator, John, Cowboy, Astronaut, Samson, Wicked Queen, and Mom
Setting: present day
Theme: creative writing
Vocabulary:
- conflict: disagreement
- frustration: disappointment or aggravation
- buckaroo: cowboy
- cowpoke: cowboy
- destination: place one is going to
- persuade: win over
- betrayal: to mislead
- hideous: ugly or horrible
- villains: characters who act against the hero
- fantasy: something imagined
- banter: joking or clever chat
Props: none required
Follow-Up Questions:
- What was Mr. Lern's assignment to the class?
- What nursery rhyme is John talking about when he says one of his ideas has "been done"?
- What characters speak to John?
- Who is Samson? Why does John consider writing about him?
- Who suggests that John write about real events?
- What does John write about? Is it real or fantasy?
Follow-Up Activity:
Help students avoid the frustration of writer's block by having them generate a personal writing list. Ask them to write down at least ten topics they would like to explore through writing. They might consider family members, friends, vacations and trips, other memories, books or stories theyve read, famous people they would like to meet, and so on. Encourage students to keep their lists in a journal or other safe place for future reference.
Additional Notes:
A few additional tips that can assist youngsters in overcoming writer's block are
- Break down the assignment.
- Discuss ideas with parents, teachers, and peers.
- Write the assignment as a letter to a friend.
- Jot down ideas on a personal writing list.
- Respond to something read.
- Use a writing prompt.
Click here for a printable script.
Article by Cara Bafile
Education World®
Copyright © 2007 Education World
03/09/2007
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Learning grammar has been compared to other fun things, like having teeth pulled or being assigned detention. But it needn't be a painful experience with these five lessons that help teach grammar without the hammer! Included: Five fun activities.
Teaching the yearly grammar unit can be like giving a child cough medicine. Some students take it without flinching; others- those with a mental block about grammar- flinch at the mere mention of the word.
Teaching grammar has to be one of toughest tasks a teacher faces. We all know that grammar skills are essential to students' success on standardized tests and college entrance exams, in their ability to communicate orally and in writing, and in nearly all other areas of life! So the more fun we can have with grammar—and the more varied approaches we can use to teach it—the more likely our students are to 'get it.'
This week, Education World is offering a handful of lesson ideas to help you lighten up with grammar. These lessons help you lessen the pain, if you will.
FIVE LESSONS FOR TEACHING GRAMMAR
Click each of the five lesson headlines below for a complete teaching resource. (Appropriate grade levels for each lesson appear in parentheses.)
Synonym Scramble
A fun activity reinforces synonyms and builds vocabulary skills. (Grades K-12)
Verb-Adverb Charades
Verbs and adverbs take center stage in this lively activity. (Grades 3-8)
Proper Noun Gallery Walk Activity
A gallery walk activity helps reinforce the concept of proper nouns. (Grades 3-12)
Pair Editing
Students share their edits and then edit solo. Two humorous work are also sheets included. (Grades 3-8)
Parts-of-Speech Tall Tales
Kids write their own fill-in-the-blank tall tales. (Grades K-12)
Great Grammar!
Do you use Education World's Every-Day Edits to reinforce students' grammar, punctuation, and spelling skills? We offer a weekly activity for primary grade students and daily practice for students in grades 3-up. Daily practice and reinforcement are sure to improve your students' test scores, so check out our Every-Day Edits today.
See these additional resources from Education World for links to more great grammar!
* Language Arts Work Sheet Library * Good Grief, It's Grammar Time!
* 'Every Day' Activities: Language
As the pandemic stretches on, many of us are hyper-aware of the long-term consequences to our educational system if we cannot find ways to get students back into buildings. Yes, virtual teaching is improving with each passing week, but we all long to be in closer contact with students, particularly those who are struggling to receive basic needs. Models that send some students to school while keeping others home, known as “hybrid” models, have begun their implementation phase in these early fall weeks. From a teaching standpoint, the biggest challenge of this setup lies in the need to essentially teach two different populations at once, sometimes at the same time: the students at home, and the students in the building. How can we serve both?
Buddy Up!
For students learning virtually as they watch their classmates live, understanding what is happening is a real struggle. For one thing, both the on-site teacher and students are likely wearing masks, which muffles sound and facial expression. Furthermore, being able to see and hear anyone through a camera aimed at a classroom is a difficult proposition, one requiring both intense and continued concentration (and that stamina is not possible for younger children in particular) as well as excellent hearing. To be blunt, staying an involved member of the class community can be close to impossible for students who aren’t physically there.
For this reason, strategic pairings or groupings are critical. Rather than house the virtual students on a screen in the back or similar, assign each virtual student an in-person peer. Schools using tablets or laptops (and that is most of them these days) can place an onscreen student on the desk of one who is sitting right there in the room, and who can act as an advocate. Suppose that Jane, a virtual student, is paired with Carly, who is sitting in the classroom. If Jane wants to raise her hand or join the conversation, she can ask Carly to bring her needs to the teacher’s attention. Likewise, if Jane cannot hear something, she can ask Carly to type what just happened into the chat. The benefit of this system is not for Jane alone, either. Carly has a learning partner, and she can maintain her relationship with someone not wearing a face mask at a farther distance. It might be a distraction, but the potential benefit outweighs any downside. And if Carly is absent, Jane can be given to a new partner, or another group.
Keep Group Work Virtual
In the age of physical distancing, group work is problematic from a health standpoint. Therefore, rethinking how we group kids is vital to keeping the collaborative energy of a classroom intact. Even when students are sitting in class, group work can be conducted on Zoom to benefit both those learning at home and those in the classroom who cannot be in proximity, and who are wearing masks. Imagine two students sitting across the room who are still part of a Zoom small group. They can see each other on the computer, and virtual students can be pulled into the process as well. In this situation, the in-person students have the advantage of being in the classroom and being able to ask for immediate help from the teacher, while the virtual students are able to work with masks off and be equal contributors to the work with the guidance of their peers.
No Double Duty
Teachers who are working with two distinct populations at one time (one here, one there) may feel the need to do twice the work, since one set of lesson plans might not work as well for a particular group. Instead of giving into the urge to do more, think strategically. For example, assigning homework in a traditional sense might contribute to the workload in a way that is not productive, while flipping the model and focusing on in-class checks for understanding can tell the teacher more about what students grasp. In an English class, students might be asked to read on their own time, which makes sense, while writing workshops and assignments are prioritized for classroom time. That way, students can conduct peer review or other conference activities virtually or in classroom pairings. In a math class, the teacher could assign an instructive video for homework, and then use class time to have students work out problems collaboratively or alone, turning in work virtually whether they are in physical proximity or not. In other words, rather than assigning more work or two sets of work, the teacher can simplify as much as possible by thinking about what work can be done individually, and what might need some support during instruction.
Focus Support Proactively and Collaboratively
For students with special education or language learning needs, there are additional factors that will have to be considered in a hybrid model. For general education teachers who do not have additional staffing support, such as in-class aides or resource teachers, a conversation with school leaders is a vital part of making sure that each class proactively addresses projected student needs. If I know that I have a virtual student who needs read-to accommodations, it is important to brainstorm possible ways to meet the need with the school and family’s help. Similarly, if a student who is acquiring language skills will be sitting in a mainstream class, the teacher might want to meet with the school’s ELL specialist to determine how to ensure that the barriers of masks and physical distancing, not to mention the virtual component of class, will not detract from the language learning process.
The process of hybrid learning is going to be bumpy, and we have to continue to meet this newest challenge with compassion for ourselves and for those we serve. As we learn more, we can do more, but it will take time. For now, we can feel a little bit better about how we do our jobs if we try to stay just one or two steps ahead of the challenges we face.
Written by Miriam Plotinsky, Education World Contributing Writer
Miriam is a Learning and Achievement Specialist with Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland, where she has worked for nearly 20 years as an English teacher, staff developer and department chair. She is a National Board Certified Teacher, and recently earned her certification in Education Administration and Supervision. She can be followed on Twitter: @MirPloMCPS
Copyright© 2020 Education World 
Dear Teacher’s Lounge,
We only have twenty-four hours in each day, and as an assistant I am trying to make every day important. While on my school bus I am grateful for the students and greet each one with a smile and “good morning” to start their day. It is difficult to even get a response. As I transition into the classrooms I stay busy working with all of the students that I can give assistance to. How can I stay positive with a smile on my face every day while getting negative responses all day? Sometimes I just want to rip off my mask, hug these students, and just say “I love you” to each one of them!
~Keeping My Smile
Dear Smile,
What a shock returning to buildings has been for staff and students alike, particularly when we cannot rely on some of the key relationship-building strategies we’ve had in the past to let the kids know we care about them. It is heartbreaking.
When I read your message, I can see how much you love the students you serve. To help ease your mind a little bit about some of the vibes you’re getting from them, I want to make one really important distinction between a negative response and a lack of discernible response. For example, you talked about how you keep smiling. Sadly, the kids cannot see your smile, so for them, they could perceive seeing just a blank where the mask is as a negative response when really, you’re doing the opposite. The same holds true for how you receive the responses from students; they might be smiling, or frowning, or sticking out their tongues, or just making no expression at all. Unfortunately, we have no way of knowing. When you greet them and they are silent, there could be all sorts of reasons why, from being shy to feeling constrained by the masks and distancing. In general, it might be more beneficial to try and reframe the responses as neutral at worst rather than negative, and you might feel a little more positive about how things are going.
In regards to the now very different process of building relationships with kids given the pandemic restrictions in buildings, we have all been developing strategies over the course of the past few months that might be worth trying. Here is a list of just a few ideas:
Give each child a set of index cards in different colors. Each child can create a personalized set of “mood cards,” using each to identify a specific mood and perhaps add a brief explanation or sketch. For example, if I were to create a set for myself, I would work with a range of possible feelings, from “tired” and “discouraged” to “excited” and “joyful.” When students walk into the room, they can show you their card of the day, which gives you a sense of how they feel under the mask.
A lot of self-hugging has been going on to mime a real hug. If you feel the urge to tell the kids you love them and support them, cross your arms over your own shoulders in a hug to express the practice of safe distance-hugging.
Pick a small number of kids to focus on each day in the moments before and after class. Use that time to strike up a conversation about anything, from the weather to a TV show referenced on a t-shirt. Gradually, students will warm up to you as you make these small gestures.
Don’t give up on the greetings, even with no audible response. “Good morning” goes a long way even if we don’t see a smile, as does “It’s so nice to see you” and “I’m glad you’re here today.”
Pick a student each day or each week to be a “happiness ambassador” and bring smiles to the classroom. That can be in the form of a prepared joke, a funny story, or just going around and asking for a celebration or piece of good news.
Acknowledge the frustration you feel honestly and openly with students, but with an empowering slant: “I really want you to know that it’s hard for me not to see your face or be closer to help you out, and I know you might feel the same way. But I’m not going to give up, and I would love to hear some of your ideas for making this class as enjoyable as possible.” By expressing your feelings, students will appreciate a perspective that they were likely unaware of.
If safe and permitted, visit other classrooms and talk to colleagues about their own solutions, and to see some other classroom dynamics in action. The smartest person in the room is the room itself: do not underestimate the power of collective brainstorming!
No matter what strategies you try, here’s the bottom line: don’t give up. Children are looking to us to keep it together and be a force of stability in a world that seems to have gone absolutely insane. Working in a school is never easy, and it’s even harder with so many barriers. We owe it to ourselves to have compassion for everyone in this situation (ourselves included), and to be okay with some very slow progress toward building the relationships that might take longer, but are so very worth it.
Please feel free to write back in and let us know how things are going!
Have a question, comment, or helpful tip about virtual teaching and learning? Send them to the Teacher’s Lounge We’ll get through this - together!
Read more tips and advice from Teacher's Lounge!
Written by Miriam Plotinsky, Education World Contributing Writer
Miriam is a Learning and Achievement Specialist with Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland, where she has worked for nearly 20 years as an English teacher, staff developer and department chair. She is a National Board Certified Teacher, and recently earned her certification in Education Administration and Supervision. She can be followed on Twitter: @MirPloMCPS
Copyright© 2020 Education World 
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