Absolutely Amazing Adverbs! adding to sentence FORMS

November 4, 2013

Here is a summary of recent weeks of sentence class creativity:
Students now have a good understanding of determiners: the, this, my, our, etc.
They have a growing ability to identify the subject/verb/object of a kernal sentence.
They can add adjectives to nouns. They have a growing ability to use adverbs to add meaning to verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs that tell how, when, where (prepositional phrases), and to what extent.

Enjoy!

Absolutely Amazing Adverbs

Every Tuesday, our gray haired great-grandma races quickly around the big racetrack in her orange scooter to win snacks for Bingo on Wednesday. -Sean

The thirsty giant clumsily knitted an umbrella for his finger while sitting in his fridge. -Caleb

On her birthday our granny raced wildly through

the snow. Her blue scarf fluttered in the wind. –Jianna

One night my overweight hamster waddled sleepily through cookie dough ice cream before retiring to the waffle cone.

 –Mrs. H

My funny granny occasionally races rocket ships around Mars and Jupiter.

– Mrs, J

Sometimes the weird orchestra plays Beethoven’s 5^th Symphony hanging from tree branches.–Nolan, Cole

Now the 1^st party mutant cookie selfishly sings during a brainstorm. –group effort

Usually the mutant planet sings loudly at midnight during a neutron star apocalypse. –group

After breakfast my crazy grandma raced quickly to Hawaii with her pink Snickerdoodles. -Brinley

In the afternoon, the funny grandma crunchily ate a mouse on Mars.  -Caydee

Now she is the powerful nymph carefully creating unicorns out by the pool. - group

measuring the Learning Journey rubric,

Learning Journey rubric – working model – October 9, 2012

 (The 'traditional' approach is in brackets for comparison.)

Linda A. J. Johnson

0

no information is being considered, no questions are being asked

(information deemed appropriate to learner’s age is being distributed)

1

information is being acknowledged (that’s interesting…) and prior knowledge reflected upon (I  remember when…); questions are being asked (I wonder if…); 

(information may be attended to; prior knowledge remains untapped, questions usually asked to clarify meaning)  (anxiety symptoms begin)                                                                                                                                            

2

information is selected (by learner) for further consideration, resources are actively sought, (books, internet, mentors, media, library, school, text , etc) (information to be learned is pre-determined, learning resources are provided)

3.

new information is recorded, and considered with prior knowledge;  attending to new understanding (new information, as requested, is considered and recorded in  pre-determined forms)

4

‘playing’ with new understanding by using the body to inform the mind; creating new connections, using media of choice

         4.1

         talking- engaging in reflective dialogue

         4.2

         drawing-organizing thoughts visually, use of idea catcher

         4.3

         writing-organizing thoughts symbolically, use of idea catcher

         4.4

         crafting- in media of choice

         4.5

         other ‘playing’ demonstrated

(minimal time is given to ‘playing’ for genuine understanding, this neglect causes much of the break-down in our learning journey)

 5

clearly  articulates new understanding  to audience, audience ‘gets it’ (This is a key step that is seldom achieved) (Articulation is expected in required FORM; ie. the 5 paragraph essay)

6

demonstrates power of imagination, expands on ‘play’ connections in media of choice (Use of imagination expected on demand - imagination cannot be produced on demand)

(Learners in our culture seldom achieve the last 4 stages; …)

7

the power of creativity appears, new products, services, solutions, etc, are developed;

8

‘publishes’ product to the world meeting the conventions of required forms, achieves impact

9

asks new questions, returns to the beginning of the learning journey and grows in new directions

10

is a life –long learner and mentor to others

word play - adverbs, building on kernal sentences

Word Play – Adverbs                 October 24, 2013    lajj

Sometimes the weird orchestra badly played Beethoven’s 5^th symphony after hanging from tree branches.

Finally the mustached orchestra dangerously played Beethoven’s 5^th symphony while strapped to the roof of a jumbo jet.

Now she is the scary nymph randomly firing missiles here in the magic rainforest.

Finally she is the powerful nymph vigorously creating unicorns outside by the pool.

  

Finally the 1^st party mutant cookie nervously sings during a brainstorm.

Today the 3^rd party mutant planet sings boisterously during a neutron star apocalypse.

Thanks to Cole, Nolan and Mrs. J

Enjoy!

Review: Steps along the Learning Journey

Part 1  Mrs. J’s Musings today: October 25, 2013

Remember the Learning Journey?

How well do you understand your place in it?

A quick review: a learner has a question, (right now I am interested in learning how to make sweet relish); they seek out resources that may provide an answer (I turn to the convenience of the internet), they ‘play’ (work, make, experiment-I haven’t yet taken the opportunity) with the answer to prove its accuracy (or error). They articulate (apply words to) (… or… I will spread my creation on a sandwich) what they have learned; finally, they ‘publish’ their words. Publish? (I will munch it down and hope it is as good as the sample I had last week)

‘Publish’ means putting the words into the sentence FORMS that communicate the learner’s desired meaning and deciding who needs to read the words and why and what place or venue this can best be accomplished. (It may also mean putting my new understanding into other FORMS-media of choice; creating the relish, for instance and sharing it with others.

All writing is words ordered in sentence FORMS.  FORMS are limited and learnable. Content – what is articulated in those FORMS – is individual and infinite. 

         LEARN FORMS BEFORE CONTENT!!

We are ultimately responsible for our own words, but they are disjointed bits without the FORMS (patterns) that determine meaning. Words contained in FORMS generate meaning. (Ingredients according to order produce relish.) Understanding FORMS well gives you creative control over your content (words). Meaningful content generates understanding, for yourself and your readers. Your questions can be well and thoroughly answered, by you!

Learning Journey Part 2

What follows is a bit of a rant I published last spring. It adds to the discussion of the Learning Journey above; it still works for me and is reprinted below for your thoughtful consideration:

“Teachers are overworked and underpaid,

What energy it takes to turn a torrent into a trickle;

Then to direct that trickle down narrow,

Well-marked channels.”

This is the perfect metaphor for all I have learned in many decades of working in the teaching profession. If I can leave anything profound to the rising generation of teachers it is this: the children arriving at my first grade classroom door knew how to learn and were full of 6 years of doing it brilliantly! And no two of them were alike in their learning; their interests; their genius. Let them teach you their different ways of knowing.

Stop expending effort turning this torrent of learning into the trickle of conformity demanded by workbooks and standardized tests and bells ringing. Instead, step into the flood by following their natural learning journey.   Remember you are their resource not their reason, find out their background knowledge before presenting your ‘great’ (curriculum) idea. Let them ask the questions that indicate personal gaps between knowing and understanding; let them re-arrange and play with the new information until it works through their bodies and into their minds to filling understanding gaps.

Provide opportunities for them to explore all the media, all the different ways of showing how their understanding can be articulated; articulation is the best assessment.

Imagination and creativity are expected of our learners; frequently demanded in workbook pages, no less! Until prior knowledge and present learning connect in understanding (and is articulated) there is no framework on which to hang the power of imagining. And the habit of recording thoughts and ideas assists in this development. 

Creativity feeds on the power of imaginative connections, examining possibilities and turning them into visible products or services; every learner can make a difference in this world if we learn to follow the natural learning journey in their world.