Inspiring Reading and Writing With an Authentic Audience - Part 2

This post is Part 2 of a three-part series. Click here to see Part 1 and Part 3.

We did this project as part of the Go Beyond Challenge I took on, along with some teachers I work with. See Part 1 of this project for some more background. In that part, I also explained how I started it off with a group of elementary students (who acted as the authentic audience).

This second stage of the project doesn't require any technology use from the students. In it, I introduce some concepts about making good stories. I also share three powerful examples of people who overcame challenges in life.

This took just over one class period this time. I met with the older students (6th graders, this year) to introduce our working definition for a good story. As an aside, we normally try to get 7th graders writing for 3rd graders, to increase the difference in ages. As I'm sure all teachers understand, there have been many obstacles this year! We were glad to have a 5th grade teacher express interest in having her students be the audience. And due to scheduling decisions, the Learning Through Literature class happened to be a 6th grade class this time around. 

As I mentioned in Part 1, these students had been the readers in this project three years ago. They had a good idea of what the end result of this would be. The teacher and I decided we needed to sharpen the focus on this part of the process, though, so I assured the class we made some changes. I always like to present a project as something new we are trying. Students generally like to be a part of learning along with the teachers.

I showed a few slides and talked them through these points:

1. I start with several of the slides I showed the younger students just a day before. I address how technology can open doors, how they have gifts for helping others, and how we all face obstacles in life that we need to overcome. I remind them of my personal stories. Of course, we talk as if this is all for the younger students, but I'm hoping to hook some of them with the message as well.
2. I show them the questions I asked the younger students. I don't share any of their responses yet, but I explain that those answers will be given to them the next day.
3. I also be sure to include a photo that I took of the younger students, as they filled out the survey. Of course, seeing their faces is a key part of the motivation for this project. They will be writing for real students who need to hear the message.
4. I introduce our definition of a good story:  A character who wants something, and overcomes obstacles to get it
5. We take some time to discuss where we see this pattern in our favorite books and movies.
6. I ask them to read one of three short biographies I compiled. I tell them these people were selected because they overcame challenges, then went on to help others. These are all inspiring stories to me that I enjoy sharing with them with the class. I certainly prefer a true story to fiction. The links below will take you to the documents I use (which cite the sources I pulled them from). I give them printed copies rather than having them get Chromebooks out for this.
1. Ben Carson - Raised in poverty by his single mother, Carson faced great challenges in school. Everything turned around when he realized how much he could learn by reading.
2. Phiona Mutesi - This story was made popular by the book and Disney movie, The Queen of Katwe. Phiona rose from extreme poverty when she discovered the game of Chess and quickly exceled at it.
3. Helen Keller - This is a familiar story for most of us, but the students usually do not know it. The biography highlights the moment she remembers the word "water" and suddenly the world takes on meaning.
7. After they finish the biographies, we put them in groups of three students who read the same biography. I give them a sheet of simple questions they can use to sum up the key parts of the person's story. (We used to have them just summarize what they read, but they had trouble focusing on the aspects relevant to this project.) The question sheet for each biograph is in this document.
8. We then have each groups report out their answers, so everyone can hear the key points for each person. 
9. This year we also shared this reading of Emmanuel's Dream, a children's book about one more person who overcame great obstacles to help others.

 As always, the students were very much into the project by the end of this part of the activity. In the final post, I'll talk about how we started making the stories and I'll share some final examples. 

Quotes and thoughts for teachers and leaders

At some point I started turning the things I say regularly at school and my more popular tweets into the little word posters we see plastered all over the internet and social media.  I compiled most of them here, each with a brief thought. 

Please feel free to share or use them as slides or images for presentations. A link to my blog or my profile on Twitter is appreciated. 

One variation on my "play or make something" routine...

Here are a few that sum up everything I'm learning from all my "teaching like an artist" thinking. 

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Artists dream big and do what it takes to make the dream real. They are motivated by letting their ideas spread and they love to share the ideas with others. School needs more of these people!

Too often we forget that technology allows us to connect and to do something big now. I know students don't think of it much. They are bombarded with free entertainment instead. The chance to do something big now is why I'm not big on talking about career planning or getting a high paying job someday. 

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Change happens a heart at a time and for school, those hearts will mostly be those of the teachers. Let them see us learning.

This picture that came to mind when I discovered the power of creativity in school. It has received a lot of attention in the years since.

Technology integration doesn't mean there's a computer on in the room or even that a student is engaged in an activity at a computer. 

We don't often grade on the creativity and it's not on the list of learning objectives. That's fine, but that doesn't mean it's not important in all grades and subjects.

This is the key to success I always taught my students. 

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It's no wonder the students get bored with school. We all are wired to learn so we can do. Focus on the doing and design it so learning happens. 

This was my most tweeted thought ever. It would be displayed before a learning activity. I designed it for a session for teachers, but any secondary class might benefit from it. I wrote a lot more about it here. 

The only question that matters when working for success. 

Don't forget it's not about the tools. Let students be amazed with what they can accomplish. 

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The 4 C's of Success - Tips for students at the start of the year

Here is a presentation I gave students when I was a classroom teacher.  I also tried to consistently use the language throughout the year.

The main purpose of the carefully defined "four C's" is to distinguish between a commitment to improve and the choices one must make along the way to achieve that.  Identifying the key choices and the times those choices must be made is an essential insight for success.

The Three P's of Success - What makes a full life?

From 
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ex_magician/4587972292/ 

When I taught high school seniors in a class about life goals they would often talk about wanting to "live life to the full".  The phrase turned up on mission statements and final presentations but it was rarely defined.  


What does it mean to live a full life?  


Certainly a full life would be defined differently in specifics by each of us, but I didn't like that being an excuse to get away with a throwaway line.  


Wasn't there something we could agree on as a basis for discussion or written reflection?


I knew from their conversations that their vision of a full life looked like crazy vacations with friends over spring break and having a nice house and car.  I hoped to get them beyond superficial dreams that would cost more than they realized (almost all of them lived with parents).  I wanted to get them thinking about responsibility too.

After weeks of reading and hearing their thoughts, I put together a few activities and presentations that I called the 3 P's of Success.  I could tell from engagement and comments that it connected with many of them.  I'm not teaching that class any longer, but the themes still are apparent in my work.

Here are three P's with a little elaboration.
Passion - A student can spend a lot of time in school without experiencing much passion.  It's a shame that I was discovering this while working with seniors, kids that had been in the system for almost 13 years.  For this "P", it was an exploration of figuring out what good things they liked to do.  I developed a few questions to let them write about that.

________

Purpose - If passion is what they liked to do, purpose is what they should do.  While our passions almost certainly come into play, purpose is what we're meant to do even if we don't really feel like it in moment.  It's the piece I think students were forgetting when they envisioned lives of fun and material possessions.  


It's also a realm that can touch on matters of faith.  A lot of teachers won't go there, but I refused to back away from this vital concept that I know is an important component in the lives of many successful adults.

This was my approach.  Using thought provoking questions I encouraged the students to consider their purpose in writing.  I told the classes that for some questions, this topic will bring up matters of faith, religion or spirituality for some people.  I made it clear that they were in no way required to include those elements in answers.  At the same time, however, they should feel completely comfortable expressing those thoughts on the assignment.

For writings like this, I never cared if my students expressed very different religious beliefs or if they had no beliefs at all.  I just wanted them to consider the basis of their worldviews and how they affected their purpose.  Many of the comments I read from students as they expressed this important part of their lives surprised me in a good way.  I concluded that they needed to consider their lives in this way.  I decided I would never rob students of the chance to express their personal beliefs, but that I would encourage it in non-threatening ways.

________

Potential - Passion fuels us and purpose sets the direction, but potential is the final measure.  Did we achieve as much as we should?  Of course, potential is impossible to define in detail because our skills will always improve and often we'll be surprised by what we can do.  I just encouraged students to dream about what they could accomplish.  I hoped it would be the exciting start to a never ending process of discovery.

Here are two resources related to these ideas.  I discovered them long after teaching the class, but they provided some thoughts as I continue to develop my work:

• This is a great blog post about finding one's passion in three steps.  It combines the three elements together in different ways than I do, but it's well worth the read if this sounds useful to your work in teaching.  I particularly like the Three Movie Exercise for use with teens.
• And check out Seth Godin's book Poke the Box.  It is a quick read.  He has a few paragraphs on p. 64 about why he believes it is our moral obligation to seize an opportunity.  It's a great thought for discussion and it fits well with the three P's.

I'll be glad to hear other thoughts you might have on this or activities you use with students.