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<h1>Demonstration Lesson: How to Build Community and Voice While Writing for an Authentic Audience</h1>
 
<img src="https://www.wikispaces.com/site/embedthumbnail/custom/9895969?h=0&w=0" class="WikiMedia WikiMediaCustom" id="wikitext@@media@@type=&quot;custom&quot; key=&quot;9895969&quot; align=&quot;left&quot;" title="Custom Media" align="left"/>Rationale: 
 At the beginning of the school year, it is essential for me to begin to get to know my students on an individual level so that I can connect the curriculum to the student’s interest. This approach helps strengthen the learning process by connecting information to prior knowledge. Students are aware of how the knowledge from class transfers or connects to the outside world, breaking down compartmentalized, non-transitory learning. Further, this activity functions as a formative writing assessment whereby I can tailor the course to meet the students needs. 
 The student most benefits from this assignment by entering the classroom community from the beginning of class. Diversity of perspectives and respect for individual voice strengthen the educational experience by allowing students to inquire in an academic and safe environment. Podcasting student essays on a school-based website comprised of the work from multiple English classes enlarges the classroom community and provides an authentic audience for student work on the internet. Encouraging students to submit essays to This I Believe, an initiative that has revived the 1950s radio program, allows students to pursue publication and become part of cultural discourse. 
 
 
 
 
Essential Questions 
<ul><li>What does it mean to be an active participant in learning?</li><li>What does it mean to be a community of learners with diverse perspectives?</li><li>How can a student's voice emerge from the classroom?</li><li>What is the writer’s purpose?</li><li>Are our beliefs static or in flux?</li><li>Why is it important to identify and write for an authentic audience?</li></ul> 
 
Objectives 
<ul><li>Students will engage in the explication of a narrative essay with emphasis placed on imagery</li><li>Students will write for an authentic audience</li><li>Students will enter into a classroom community that respects diversity and participation</li></ul> 
Unit Activities 
Mission - Get students describing the aims, values, and overall plan of the student for the course 
Memoirs - Gets students thinking in terms of using concise language that evokes meaning 
Manifesto - Gets students to generate a list of beliefs--similar to T<a class="wiki_link_ext" href="http://thisibelieve.org/essay/57159/" rel="nofollow">arak McLain's &quot;Thirty Things I Believe&quot;</a> 
Mantra* - Gets students to consider what words guide their lives 
What is Narrative? A Discussion 
Exploration of Sample Essays 
Identifying Strengths and Weaknesses 
Prewriting activities help the student to identify a belief they carry that they can convey in a personal narrative 
 
PSSA Style Draft- Used as a formative assessment of student writing 
Content Development - Descriptive Writing - this activity is exactly like the artifact exercise we did at LVWP, but instead of selecting an artifact from your peer's artifacts, the student is to bring in an artifact that is reminiscent or identifiable in their personal essay. The student directs his or her attention to the &quot;Who?&quot; &quot;What?&quot; &quot;Where?&quot; &quot;When?&quot; &quot;How?&quot; &quot;Why&quot; *Inspired by Breakthroughs, &quot; &quot; 
Identify Conventions Weakness 
Crafting stage helps students articulate and strengthen their beliefs 
 
Due Draft 
Record and Post Due Draft 
Peer Response 
Sharing stage allows students to hold and express individual beliefs with a community of learners. 
<hr />
The Memoir 
Generally, I begin the year in memoirs. I share examples each day before the students write. The samples come from the book, the video clip, the website. I usually try to share them from different mediums each day, so the student can see different ways of presenting their memoir. 
 
Memoir: An account of one's personal life and experiences; autobiographical (but in a snapshot sense) 
 
<img src="https://www.wikispaces.com/site/embedthumbnail/custom/9868901?h=0&w=0" class="WikiMedia WikiMediaCustom" id="wikitext@@media@@type=&quot;custom&quot; key=&quot;9868901&quot; align=&quot;left&quot;" title="Custom Media" align="left"/>Inspiration: “Legend has it that Ernest Hemingway was once challenged to write a story in six words. Papa came back swinging with ‘For sale: baby shoes, never worn.’ […] [In 2006, SMITH Magazine] gave Hemingway’s form a new, personal twist:” the six-word memoir. 
 
A Few of My Favorites 
&quot;Soul'd out so I could prophet&quot; 
&quot;Changing mind postponed demise by.&quot; - Scott O'Neil 
&quot;Verbal hemophelia. Why can't I clot?&quot; - Scott Mebus 
&quot;Ate caterpillars. Still won't grow up.&quot; - Chris Jackson 
&quot;Perpetual work in progress. Need editor.&quot; - Sherry Fuqua-Gilson 
&quot;Left a desert for a wasteland.&quot; - James Slone 
&quot;I colored outside of the lines.&quot; - Jacob Thomas 
&quot;Educated too much. Lived too little.&quot; - Dan Vance 
&quot;Mistook the streetlight for the moon. Climbed.&quot; - Zach Wentz 
&quot;Spent longing for the seventh word.&quot; - Ron Bel Bruno 
 
A Suggested Motto for Our Week: &quot;Let me in, you narrative whore.&quot; - C. McClosky <a href="http://www.smithmag.net/sixwords/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><img src="/file/view/Picture_11.png/239235061/87x83/Picture_11.png" alt="" title="" style="height: 83px; width: 87px;" align="right" /></a> 
Published in Fershleiser, Rachel and Larry Smith, eds. Not Quite What I Was Expecting: Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous 
and Obscure. New York: Harper Perennial &amp; SMITH Magazine, 2008. 
<a href="http://www.smithteens.com/" rel="nofollow"><img src="/file/view/Picture_12.png/239236067/147x24/Picture_12.png" alt="" title="" style="height: 24px; width: 147px;" align="right" /></a> 
 
 
<img src="/file/view/Picture_40.png/239240845/374x276/Picture_40.png" alt="Sample from http://www.smithmag.net/sixwords/" title="Sample from http://www.smithmag.net/sixwords/" style="height: 276px; width: 374px;" align="right" /> 
 
Suggestions for Sharing 
<ul><li>Read aloud</li><li>Post about the room</li><li>Pair the memoir to an image and post about the room</li><li>Create vokis and have students post as part of an online portfolio</li><li>Enter memoirs into<a class="wiki_link_ext" href="http://www.wordle.net" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> Wordle</a> <a class="wiki_link_ext" href="http://www.tagxedo.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Tagxedo</a> and discuss the commonalities</li><li>Have students publish on SmithTeens (this would likely require parent permission)* 
 
</li></ul> 
 
 
 
 
 
 
<hr />
What makes good narrative writing? Identifying strengths and weaknesses. 
 
How do we adhere to the curriculum while effectively teaching writing? Narrative or Informational? 
This I Believe has served as a partial answer to this question. I am mandated to do three (narrative, informational, persuasive) PSSA-style essays with my juniors. While PDE provides a thorough explanation about what a narrative is, PDE has not posted a sample narrative prompt or essay. When I have seen examples identified as narrative, I struggle because I tend to see the prompt as leaning toward the informational or narrative modes. Thus, I push for my students to write essays that incorporate narrative elements, so that I can enter the lives of my students' through this piece. 
 
A Note About the Narrative Form 
From my experiences in the high school classroom, students seem to struggle most with the narrative mode. They are used to formulaic writing, e.g., the five paragraph essay, but have limited confidence and practice writing the narrative. 
 
As you listen to the essay, please highlight on your hard copy the words and phrases that evoke clear description and images 
<a class="wiki_link_ext" href="http://thisibelieve.org/essay/31840/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Finding the Flexibility to Survive</a> 
<a class="wiki_link_ext" href="http://thisibelieve.org/essay/5322/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">There Is No Such Thing As Too Much Barbecue</a> 
 
<img src="/file/view/StrengthWeakness.png/239255189/800x582/StrengthWeakness.png" alt="After examining sample essays, the students constructed this venn diagram of what makes a strong narrative and what makes a weak narrative. The items that are placed in the overlap can strengthen or weaken the essay depending on how the student uses the item." title="After examining sample essays, the students constructed this venn diagram of what makes a strong narrative and what makes a weak narrative. The items that are placed in the overlap can strengthen or weaken the essay depending on how the student uses the item." style="height: 582px; width: 800px;" /> 
 
<img src="https://www.wikispaces.com/site/embedthumbnail/file/NPR%20-%20TIB%20-%20School%20Poster.pdf?h=52&w=320" class="WikiFile" id="wikitext@@file@@NPR - TIB - School Poster.pdf" title="File: NPR - TIB - School Poster.pdf" width="320" height="52" /> 
 
Ideas for Student Sharing: 
<ul><li>Play one at the beginning of each class</li><li>Record essay and post on a course web space</li><li>Have students publish on NPR (this would likely require parent permission)*</li></ul> 
<hr />
Student Digital Writing Portfolios 
This year I am having my students create online writing portfolios. Since there is much concern over student privacy, the students will create their online writing portfolios on a private wikispace that only their peers can access. Quarterly, students will need to update their writing portfolios and comment on their peers' portfolios. Ideally, this will expand the student's audience from the teacher to their peers. The Voki introduces students to the writing portfolio. 
 
My Questions and/or Concerns: 
<ul><li>This I Believe essays generally straddle the modes of informational (this is my belief and this is why I believe in it) and narrative (this is my belief and this is my story that conveys it). I have really struggled articulating this dichotomy. What approach would you take in your classes?</li><li>It seems as though the girls in my class thrive with narrative writing; whereas, my boy do not. Possible inquiry.</li></ul> 
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Links 
<a class="wiki_link_ext" href="http://thisibelieve.org/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">NPR: This I Believe</a> 
<a class="wiki_link_ext" href="http://psdweb.parklandsd.org/livesey/Livesey/ThisIBelieve.html" rel="nofollow">This I Believe Unit Website</a> 
<a class="wiki_link_ext" href="http://www.voki.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Voki</a>