Top 10 Authors Chosen by 8th Grade Students

It has always been believed that reading a lot improves writing skills. Now, is being said that writing a lot improves reading skills. Either way, it is important for young writers/readers to find great books so they can see how talented writers are able to develop strong characters, a setting that feels real and is easy to visualize, and a plot that brings the reader into the story like they are part of it. After interviewing my 8th grade students, I discovered the top 10 authors and some of their well-written books that sparked the students' interest. The students strongly recommend that you give the authors and books on their top 10 list a chance.

Top 10 List of authors chosen by Carroll Middle School 8th grade students:

1. Suzanne Collins - Hunger Games Series
2. Ellen Hopkins - Crank, Burned, Glass
3. Nicholas Sparks - Dear John, The Rescue, The Guardian
4. Sarah Dessen - That Summer, Someone Like You, Lock and Key
5. Rick Riordan - The Last Olympian
6. James Patterson - Maximum Ride Series
7. Brent Crawford - Carter Finally Gets It
8. S.E. Hinton - The Outsiders
9. Alexx Flinn - Nothing to Lose, Beastly, Breaking Point
10. Anthony Horowitz - Snakehead

Google Docs and Google Presentation

Almost, if not everything can be found with the search engine Google. Google not only offers links to sites to answer our questions or help us with our research, but Google offers two free programs that many schools are taking advantage of, Google Docs and Google Presentation. Due to not having PowerPoint on our computers at school, our students have had to use Google Presentation. Google Presentation is a great alternative to PowerPoint. Most of the options that PowerPoint offers can also be found on Google Presentation. The best part about this program is that a group can work on the same presentation at the exact same time. For example, If Bill, Sue, and Jane are working in a group together and have their own computer in front of them, what Bill does on his Google Presentation automatically appears on Sue and Jane’s presentation. The only reminder is that one group member must share in their other members, which is as simple as typing in the other members’ gmail address. This program makes creating presentations for school projects less of a hassle and the students really enjoy watching other members’ additions appear on their screen.

Now that I have talked about how wonderful Google Presentation is, I do have some issues to Google’s other program, Google Docs. Google Docs is a very generic version of Word. Formatting on Google Docs is very difficult, and sometimes when you indent a section of text, the rest of the document will be affected as well and it becomes impossible to correct. When typing a document, many of us rely on spell check. It is very difficult to spell check with this program, so either you copy and paste your document to another program to spell check, look up all questionable words, or, as many students do, assume it’s all perfect. Honestly, the only major plus that this program has is that it can be saved in your gmail documents and you can access your document from any computer, not just the computer you typed it on.

With how strong Google is, I wish that Google Docs was a better program because it is very convenient for students and adults, but it just doesn’t compare to what Word or Works is capable of doing.

Effects of Social Networking on Teens

You don’t have a Facebook account??? Are you crazy??? Everyone has a Facebook account! These are the words that I heard at the beginning of the school year. I never said I was up-to-date on today’s trends, but I never realized I would be seen as an outcast because I hadn’t taken the step into the wonderful world of Facebook. Well, after being laughed at by a group of 13 year olds, I decided to find out what all the excitement was, and yes, I entered the world of Facebook. And to this day, I don’t understand why this new advancement is so wonderful. To me, it appears to be a way for people to complain about their lives, bad mouth others, hide from face-to-face interaction and destroy the written language. Writing has become a lost art due to all the advancements in technology. Many teens do not understand that “you” is not spelled “u” or that there are apostrophes in words like can’t, don’t, and won’t. As a writing teacher, I have become very discouraged by the fact that my students need to be retaught at 8^th grade how to write a complete sentence and, just because commas and periods are not necessary when Facebooking or texting their friends, it is necessary when writing a research paper or creative writing piece or any other “formal” type of writing….which would include most school assignments. Not only are students losing their ability to write correctly, but also their ability to communicate with others has greatly decreased. It isn’t uncommon to see two friends sitting side-by-side texting one another. Why? Why don’t you just talk?? I have a friend whose husband will fight with her over text message. He refuses to face her when having this conversation. This phenomenon of social networking has been taken advantage of, and is not showing signs of benefiting teens in terms of their academic success, but rather causing them to lose ground and grades are beginning to slip in some areas due to their ability to not use these sites correctly.

So, after ranting, I understand these sites are not going away, so whose job is it to teach how to use these sites correctly and to understand there is a world outside of Facebook? How can these sites be used to benefit teens in and out of the classroom? What are your thoughts?

Writing is a Process

Writing is a process. It is not fair to consider your first draft your "final" draft. If you do, you are cheating yourself out of creating something wonderful. Therefore, in this class, we do walk through a process and take time working with each step. At the beginning on the year, there will be mini-lessons to be sure you are comfortable and get the most out of each step.

The process we will follow is:

1. Prewriting
2. Drafting
3. Revising
4. Editing and Proofreading
5. Publishing and Presenting

A. Prewriting
1. Explore ideas
2. Choose topic
a. Meaningful and significant
3. Consider your audience
a. focus on PURPOSE for writing
4. Gather details/facts
5. Graphic organizer

B. Drafting
1. Powerful opening sentence (topic sentence)
2. Elaborate with facts and details

C. Revising
1. Challenging and Continual
2. Use a strategy that works for YOU
a. circling, brackets, highlighting, sticky notes
3. Each paragraph relates to SOME purpose
4. Complex and compound sentences “8th grade sentences”
5. Word Choice
a. examine language
b. word usage
6. Peer review
a. Get other points of view
b. Final decision is YOURS

D. Proofreading and Editing
1. Check ALL conventions
2. Double check that all facts are accurate
3. Continue to check until you are 100% happy and proud of your work

E. Publishing and Presenting
1. FLAWLESS
2. Take pride in your work it is a reflection of YOU
3. Portfolio

What is the Purpose of Writing?

At the beginning of the school year last year, I posed the question, what is the purpose of writing? The list the students generated was:
~To communicate with others
~Another way to talk to someone when you are too embarrassed to tell them to their face
~Keep a record of events that happen in your life (especially as you get old)
~Great way to relieve stress
~Makes the memory stronger
~Focus thoughts/ideas
~See strengths
~A way to become somebody else or live life a different way through the characters in the story you write
~Express yourself in a better way...have the time to choose words more clearly and precisely
~Understand the world around you better
~Become a stronger reader
~Have a bigger vocabulary
~Know that commas HAVE to be used so the reader doesn't get confused :)
~Become more creative
~Inform others about a variety of different topics
~Express the interesting thoughts that we have

The students did have other ideas, but the above are the most common responses to the question. What we say and write can make a difference in the world around us, therefore, it is important to understand the power that writing gives us and to use that to make a positive impact on our own lives, the lives of those that we hold close to our hearts, and on the lives of others that we have not had the opportunity to meet.

Do we have to write???

At the beginning of each school year, I have students walk into my room dreading writing. What I ask from them is to be patient and have an open mind and just maybe will they allow me the chance to break through and inspire them to "kind of" enjoy writing. What I've found in my four years of teaching writing is that all students can do it, but for some reason, as they get older, they lose some ability to think creatively and become too much of a surface level thinker. My goal as a writing teacher is to help my students bring back their creative thinking and start to look at the world around them in different ways. In my class, I use a variety of different strategies from music to games to role play to good old fashion research to find a way to motivate, inspire, and encourage my students to "loosen up" and allow themselves to think more deeply and creatively about the topics they are writing about or presenting on.

Welcome to Menken's World

Although I have created a blog in the past, I haven't taken the time to fully benefit from all the wonderful learning opportunities blogging has to offer me. I would like to welcome you to the official beginnings of my new blogging adventure! Through this blog, I hope you are able to gain a better understanding of what happens in my writing classroom through the information I post and the thoughts, ideas, and experiences of my students. As each unit is presented in my classroom, I will be sure to update you on what I am doing to teach my students and what they are doing to apply their new knowledge.

Writing is an area that I feel has become a lost art. With all the advancements in social networking, some are forgetting about the joys and creative opportunities writing has to offer. I hope that not only my students take full advantage of the information in this blog but other readers who happen to stumble across it find it just as meaningful and purposeful and can apply some of the information and strategies in their own instruction.

Best wishes and happy writing!