If you're not familiar with shared writing, it's a type of strategy when students and teacher collaborate to produce a written work. There are many benefits to using this technique such as increasing confidence and building motivation in struggling writers. It also allows as a 'stepping stone' for independent writing and encourages students to think deeply about the choices authors have to make. Plus! It's fun! ;) We use this technique frequently in my class. We may write as a class to produce a model or we may write in pairs to produce a written work (interactive writing). Then we always practice independently!
As we continue with our word choice unit in the 7th grade, we've been slowly understanding why word choice in writing is a deliberate choice & why it's necessary to revise our 'go to' words. Taboo words are words that need to be limited and replaced with a more vivid choice. (Taboo words: went, put, said,etc) For example, "I went to the store" could be replaced with "Mr. Ritchie frolicked to Game Stop to purchase a brand new XBOX game that his wife says he doesn't need"! You get the picture. 😜
Below are samples of a "taboo word" writing activity. 7th graders worked in pairs to produce a description paragraph of a topic that was unknown to the rest of the class. The challenge?? Each group had a list of taboo words they couldn't use in their paragraphs. During our share time, students read their passages and we tried to guess the description based on their clues! This was really beneficial to point out texts that didn't offer enough description or groups who mastered "painting that picture" for us.
Below are samples of a "taboo word" writing activity. 7th graders worked in pairs to produce a description paragraph of a topic that was unknown to the rest of the class. The challenge?? Each group had a list of taboo words they couldn't use in their paragraphs. During our share time, students read their passages and we tried to guess the description based on their clues! This was really beneficial to point out texts that didn't offer enough description or groups who mastered "painting that picture" for us.
As a special treat, in honor of my birthday... No, I'm not 40... Thanks Glen. ;)
After reviewing different types of nouns, adjectives and verbs, we played a game called Scattegories.
After reviewing different types of nouns, adjectives and verbs, we played a game called Scattegories.
8th graders have been reviewing using vivid words (adjectives, verbs and adverbs) & figurative language. Below are pictures of the Figurative Posters the kiddos created!
We will continue into the month of February learning about connotation, Denotation, mood, and tone! Be on the look out for more project posts soon!
Until next time,
Ritchie
Until next time,
Ritchie