Sessions from WES 2008
TRACK 1 SESSIONS: Reading and Writing for Primaries
Pellegrino: Haiku Writing
Writing haiku involves expressing feelings, providing comparisons that create ideas and meaning, and bringing nature into the heart and mind of writer and reader. Haiku writing is a language experience that helps one condense ideas, expand vocabulary, and learn syllabication. Pellegrino has studied Japanese literature in Japan. Besides having taught Japanese literature at the college level, he has authored A Slip of Bamboo: A Collection of Haiku from Maui. He will share some of his poems as well as several haiku by famous Japanese writers. You will have an opportunity to pen some haiku during this session. When you leave, you will have a handle on haiku and be able to incorporate haiku writing into your curriculum. And if you’re anything like Pellegrino, you may become obsessed by the haiku and never stop writing them yourself.
Shirley George: Sound City
The Blended Sound-Sight program employs a bank of strategies which empower students to be capable spellers and consequently fluent readers and writers. Among these techniques is Sound City which becomes a focal point for the storage and review of English sounds and rules. As Mrs. George describes Sound City, she will guide participants in learning simple English rules in a non-threatening and enjoyable manner.
Anna Ingham: Organizing a Primary Classroom
Mrs. Ingham will give practical suggestions for organizing a classroom to provide a firm foundation of basics, plan for effective use of time, set up goals and expose children to good literature including poetry. Based on her experience Mrs. Ingham will explain Poetry, Activity Time, Discovery and the Individualized Classroom Library, important strategies which have stood the test of time.
Shirley George: Writing in the primary grades
Using student writing samples, Mrs. George will demonstrate techniques to help students retell and rewrite narrative stories, guided by Mrs. Ingham’s Story Sequence Chart. She will also show how students can write summaries from outlines and gradually enhance their compositions by adding elements of style as described in J.B.Webster’s book, Structure and Style in Composition. Besides producing quality writing and feeling successful, students will enjoy a happy writing experience.
Anna Ingham: Poetry as an Integrator
Mrs. Ingham will discuss how incorporating poetry into our daily schedules will facilitate fluent reading, spelling, phonics, comprehension and writing as well as providing a vehicle to integrate all areas of the curriculum. As she describes several teaching techniques, Mrs. Ingham will share experiences where students increased, not only their academic skills, but also their appreciation and love for poetry. Above all, poetry can be fun!!
Andrew Pudewa: The Four Language Arts
When asked, “What are the language arts,” people may respond by listing such things as: spelling, phonics, grammar, penmanship, composition, etc. But actually, only one of these is correct! According to the classical (and the common sense) model, there are four core “language arts” and to teach each from the beginning in the proper way must be the highest priority for those who call themselves “writing educators.”
Lee Roddy: Teaching Story Writing to Young Children
A simple 3-step system using three “O’s” is all your beginning writing students need to create a real story instead of a series of incidents. This triple “O” technique, taught by the author across the country, shows students what basic elements must be in the beginning, the middle and the ending of any story. This method also helps structure the story so it is complete and doesn’t wander off to end up hopelessly lost. This session will greatly benefit your young students.
Adam Andrews: The Story of Job – Leadership Education for the Luckiest Man in the World
Education is not an object we can acquire; it’s a state of the heart, mind and soul. All great leaders share certain attributes in this area, and Job was one of the greatest! Adam’s unique perspective on Job’s career inspires parents to prepare their own students for leadership. The lecture sends them away with renewed vision for the liberal arts and practical suggestions for applying this vision in the classroom.
TRACK 2 SESSIONS: Schools and Groups
James Webster, Ph.D.: Using Fairy Tale Models
Using examples of children’s compositions from grades 3 to 5, this discussion demonstrates how to encourage creative writing, how to individualise it within the confines of one assignment & how age & grade level are of little concern within Blended Structure & Style. Some do’s & don’t of classroom management will be touched upon, if time permits.
Lori Verstegen: Teaching with Games
Come and learn how to quickly and easily add fun to any curriculum. In this workshop, you’ll first learn why and how games can be used as powerfully effective teaching tools. Then, you’ll play a variety of educational games adaptable to any grade level and any subject, so that you can take them home and try them in your own classroom. You’ll be amazed at the results!
Victor Pellegrino: Perfect Punctuation
Too many writers like to guess about what punctuation mark to use. Some even try to make a period look like a comma, or a semicolon look like a colon. They think readers will just pass their trickery by; however, leaving the interpretation of ideas in writing to guesswork puts the reader in a “work-to-understand” mode, and the writer’s ideas and views may not be clearly understood. Today, more than ever, text messaging and e-mails are adding to the confusion, and perhaps we are now “unlearning” the rules of good punctuation. Pellegrino has authored A Writer’s Guide to Perfect Punctuation, a book that can be used from elementary grades through university and into the workplace. No longer will you have to be faced with questions such as, “Mom, where do I put the comma?” All the comma rules and examples are in Pellegrino’s reference book. In addition, every punctuation mark in American English is included.
Panel Discussion on Starting a Flourishing Tutoring Bussiness: Rempel, Verstegen, Brekke, Ashford, Spitler, Pudewa
Andrew Pudewa: Humor and Other Motivators in Teaching
The power of humor and mirth to aid in effective teaching is certain. Although some people have more of a natural inclination toward humor than others, everyone can study and learn how to use the elements of humor to improve their teaching and speaking skills. Learn to incorporate the rhetorical techniques of Misunderstanding, Absurdity, Hyperbole, Exaggeration, Understatement, Double Entendre, and more.
Shirley George: Independence and Individualization in the Classroom
Drawing from her many years of experience, Mrs. George will relate how she sought to accommodate for individual differences among students and to encourage independence by employing techniques from the Blended Sound-Sight Program of Learning by A.G. Ingham. This resulted in effective use of pupil and teacher time and created a safe environment where students could take ownership of their own learning and above all, feel happy and successful.
Adam Andrews: Reading Comprehension from Seuss to Socrates
This lecture demonstrates that everything you need to know about understanding and teaching literature is present in your second grader’s bedtime story. Adam reads a classics children’s story out loud to begin the presentation, and then leads the audience into a discussion of eternal literary themes. Along the way, he shows how you can do the same at home by following five simple steps. You’ll never put the kids to bed the same way again!
Andrew Pudewa: Understanding the Brain
To maximize our teaching in the classroom and at home with our students, we must know more about how the brain functions, how information is stored, what are some of the impediments to learning from which our students may suffer, and how we can “teach at the point of need” and in a neurologically appropriate way. There are not only gender differences, but there are significant learning differences that bear specifically on the teaching of writing. Let us begin our study of the brain, and continue to study it for years to come.
TRACK 3 SESSIONS: Advanced Writing Models
Janet Spitler: Marking and Grading
Grading causes as much anxiety for teachers as writing does for students! Overcorrecting will likely harm not help. Telling them what they have done well and why it is good is more powerful. Students will put more effort into repeating something they did right than not repeating a mistake. Come see how to grade papers that will cause students to happily search for your red ink comments!
Lee Roddy: Teaching Advanced Story Writing
Here’s an opportunity to help your advanced writing students learn a simple expandable system to create stories which can reach professional status. This proven, practical method will properly structure a story of any length. Asking one right question will keep the narrative on track. The instructor developed this enhanced technique to publish countless short stories and 50-plus novels.
James Webster, Ph.D.: Descriptions, Dialogues & Flashbacks
Following my usual procedure, I give a diagram with short notes, followed by a model composition. There are three ways to write a descriptive paragraph & after this lesson was taught all of my students had to follow one of the models. No more random descriptions. Following a definition of a dialogue set, rules of structure, style & mechanics come before a model. The flashback paragraph follows a similar pattern, first a very few rules & then the models. It is only advanced because it is new. Writers of any level, grades four to university can do it.
Pellegrino: Embedding Transition
Many teachers and writers fail to understand that the eight methods of transition, and particularly the use of transitional words and expressions, help them to organize their paragraphs and whole compositions. Pellegrino will introduce transition, demonstrate some useful activities that you can use with students, and leave you wondering why no one ever taught you about the value of transitional organization when you were in school. Writers are supposed to take their readers from beginning to end with writing that is connected, that flows, and that is clear. Pellegrino’s A Writer’s Guide to Transitional Words and Expressions is used from elementary levels through university and on the job. It is his best-seller. If you should ever take your eyes off your copy, it will be snatched up by someone.
Lesha Myers: Literary Analysis
Literary analysis is the art of delving below the surface meaning of stories, seeing how authors create meaning, and most important, accepting or rejecting authors’ views of the world. There’s no question that literature has the power to move us, but how does it get that power? Come learn how to unlock some of the secrets of literature, how to evaluate and write about it, and how to recognize its place in developing wisdom. This session is appropriate for high school students who want to learn more about literature, as well as one of the steps towards preparing for the Advanced Placement Literature and Composition exam.
Pellegrino: Getting the Paragraph Right
Students need to know everything about paragraph writing. It is the basis of creating the larger form of prose, the composition. It is surprising how we know so little about paragraphs, yet they are the building blocks of thought and organization. Pellegrino will cover several paragraph structures that can be used immediately with your students. Pellegrino’s second best-seller in his writer’s guide series is A Writer’s Guide to Powerful Paragraphs. This book explains everything a writer needs to know about paragraph writing. Thirty different paragraph structures are explained, examples are provided, and suggestions for writing are included. Pellegrino frequently gets asked, “Thirty? I never knew there were so many kinds of paragraphs!”
James Webster, Ph.D.: Advanced Decorations, Metaphorical & Allegorical Writing
To enhance writing & include elements of imagery required in High School, the category of decorations has been doubled & divided into two, Structural & Stylistic. In metaphorical writing we help children expand & elaborate a metaphor into a full paragraph. Almost all levels can do this because it is primarily description. In allegories the metaphor is stretched to three paragraphs. I have only attempted it at the high school level.
Lesha Myers: Research & Documentation
One of our goals for our students is to prepare them to be citizen-rhetors as they take their place as discerning people of the land. What should citizen-rhetors be able to do? They should know how to analyze arguments as well as create ones of their own; evaluate resources, especially those found on the Internet; document their sources; and most important, combine their ideas into persuasive and influential arguments. This session will help to equip students to think about and write about controversial issues, as well as a step for students who might take the Advanced Placement Language and Composition exam.