ELA Brave and True by Marilyn Yung

Sept. 11 Book Selections

Here are two more excellent books for remembering 9/11.

Tomorrow is September 11, and to remember that day I plan to read from two important books on the subject. I also did this last Friday with two other books: Vigilance by Ray Kelly and 102 Minutes: The Unforgettable Story of the Fight to Survive Inside the Twin Towers by Kevin Flynn and Jim Dwyer. Read this post for more on those two books.

By the way, I’m trying First Chapter Fridays every week this semester to introduce my students to more books. While I read, kids take sketchnotes. (I record my read-alouds for my at-home learners and have them take sketchnotes as well.) For more on the activity, check out Spark Creativity! for a sketchnote template, resources and procedures.

Tomorrow morning, however, I plan to read first chapters (or the introductions) from two additional books I’ve collected over the years: To Reach the Clouds: My High Wire Walk Between the Twin Towers by high wire artist Philippe Petit, and With Their Eyes: The View from a High School at Ground Zero, edited by Annie Thoms.

Here’s a brief description of each:

To Reach the Clouds

…is an autobiography written by the French performance artist who, with his “accomplices” rigged a highwire between the World Trade Center towers and then walked across it numerous times on the morning of August 7, 1974. It’s a mesmerizing book that spans the years and months leading up to the walk, which Petit refers to in the book as “the coup.”

Make sure to show your students some of Petit’s amazing photos while you read.

I also show the movie based on the book, The Walk, starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt. I usually save the movie to be viewed just prior to a holiday break. It’s always highly suspenseful and engaging. Kids seem to leave the movie with a stronger connection to the towers.

During the course of the film, they watch office workers coming and going, construction workers working, and myriad others who spent so much of their lives inside the towers that, when they opened, were the tallest buildings in the world. They also are amazed by the tenacity and skill of Petit.

Petit’s book, To Reach the Clouds, is a break from the usual 9/11 reading. It tells a surprisingly different story of the World Trade Center, one that leaves kids with an appreciative sense of awe and fascination for the iconic skyscrapers.

With Their Eyes: The View from a High School at Ground Zero

… is a collection of poetry written by former students of Stuyvesant High School, which was located four blocks north of the World Trade Center site. English teacher Annie Thoms writes the introduction which precludes the 245-page collection of poetry written by twenty-five students.

Think about pairing your First Chapter reading with this 30-minute HBO documentary video about the school’s experience. The book is mentioned at the end.

The book is divided into two acts, which reveals the collection’s dramatic structure. Thirteen students at the magnet school, which drew (and still draws) students from all five NYC boroughs, each conducted interviews with two to three people — a combination of students, faculty and building staff — in the school.

These poems capture those first horrifying moments of 9/11 in a powerful way.

The interviews were recorded and then transcribed word for word, “including all the ums, likes, and you knows of normal speech,” according to the Thoms’ introduction. “The transcriptions were crafted into poem-monologues, including line breaks to suggest pauses.”

The result is a poignant, informative collection of twenty-five significant, student-written poems that the group performed in a production on February 8-9, 2002.

I know your 9/11 plans are already in place…

…so consider making a note in your plans for next year about these two books.

Or here’s another idea: add a copy or two to your classroom library for inquisitive students curious about 9/11 outside the time-frame of the traditional annual observances.

Thanks for reading! For more ELA resources, lesson plans, and info on student writing contests, join my mailing list by entering your email address below. In return, I’ll send you a PDF of this handout that will teach your students to write Treasured Object Poems, one of my all-time favorite projects that results in highly personal poems your students will enjoy writing.

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The best 9/11 film for grades 8-12

Ric Burns’ New York: The Documentary from PBS’ American Experience

Every fall, I watch this film… sometimes with my classes, sometimes on my own at home. In my opinion, Season 1, Episode 8 of New York: The Documentary is the best film you can show students to help them understand the facts and aftermath of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. It’s part of the American Experience collection of documentary films from PBS.

I bought this entire set for my middle school classes a few years ago. The eighth DVD (episode 8) is called “Center of the World” and details the story of the World Trade Center, ending with the 9/11 terror attacks.

Episode 8 extends across nearly three hours, and chronicles the life of the World Trade Center complex and its star structures, the Twin Towers.

The episode takes viewers on a timeline tour.

We travel from the initial dream for the complex, as envisioned by Standard Oil heir and developer David Rockefeller, to the controversies regarding the towers’ relaxed fire-proofing codes and their seemingly banal architecture, to the exciting 1974 high-wire walk by French performer Philippe Petit. The film also comments on the towers’ pivotal role in and symbol of American capitalism around the globe, as well as, of course, their tragic demise on 9/11.

But that’s way too long for class, so I drastically edit it down to the most essential parts to support learning about the significance of 9/11.

Since Episode 8 lasts for nearly three hours, I only show these portions: 0:00 to 15:21 and then 2:05:00 to the end of the episode. This is about 67 minutes. I usually show the first excerpt at the end of one class period, and then we watch the remaining 52 minutes during the next class period. The first 15:21 segment introduces some necessary history and background before leading up to the attacks, which close episode 8.

This is a link to Episode 8 on YouTube. Order the original DVD or subscribe to PBS on Amazon for better quality.

Ric Burns, brother of famous documentarian Ken Burns, directs the entire series, which also includes thoughtful digressions by several guest commentators who include engineers, authors and journalists, historians, urban planners, World Trade Center Association executives, architecture critics, former New York City Mayor Ed Koch, and former New York Governor Mario Cuomo, among others, including the narrator David Ogden Stiers.

These commentators provide students with additional insight on the influence and significance of the towers and why terrorists may have wanted to see their destruction.

In fact, you can preview video clips from the film’s commentators at this PBS website, which also includes articles, primary sources, photos, and a timeline to supplement the documentary.

I usually show this film (before I would ever think of showing Hollywood-produced fare such as Flight 93 or World Trade Center, for example), because not only does it provide background, important details and history, it also shows the effects of the attacks on regular people coping in the midst of the life-altering event.

Read about my poetry lesson plan here that focuses on personal artifacts from Ground Zero.

It shows people gazing in disbelief at the towers, and others watching the attacks on live feeds at area TV stations. It also shows Mayor Guiliani’s team descending on the chaos minutes after the first tower was struck, as well as ordinary New Yorkers helping strangers in need.

And while the film is obviously sobering, it does conclude with hope for the future.

The subsequent cleanup efforts, reconstruction, and the eventual return to normalcy leave a life-affirming stamp on the conclusion of the film.

While this film is a documentary in the traditional sense of the genre, please know that my students have always been incredibly engaged during this film. I think that’s due to a combination of the subject matter, (kids are mostly still fascinated by 9/11) and the engaging personal stories the commentators tell.

The film is rated TV-PG.

The rating is due to the violent subject matter. In one brief moment, the film shows office workers jumping to their deaths. I warn students about this moment before I start the film and tell them it’s okay to look away, as I often do. I don’t wish to shock them about the attacks, but I do believe the gravity and importance of 9/11 has been lost on students who consider the attacks merely another long-over event relegated to their history texts.

There is also some profanity used by one of the guest commentators and by one bystander in some video footage from the day.

A photo I took of the Twin Towers on a visit to NYC in 1994. In the film, architecture critic Paul Goldberger notes, “More than any symbol in America,” the towers “said to the world not just, ‘This is America,’ but ‘This is a modern place — this is a place of the 20th century.’ And that made them a very potent target.” Insight such as this from its commentators make this film stand out among others.

Lastly, this film offers some evocative vocabulary that should spark some interesting conversations and expand students’ ideas about 9/11. Students will hear vocabulary words such as:

insular
paradoxical
modernity
hubris
benign
audacious
globalization
contradiction
arrogance
ambivalent
“moon shot”
capitalism
unprecedented

Any of these words would be good for vocabulary mini-lessons, such as these.

If you’re able to preview this film, I definitely would do that before showing it to your class, so you can determine whether it would be beneficial for your kids. As for my students, I believe this film is the most appropriate and meaningful film on 9/11 available that I have seen.

By the way, I use other episodes from this series to provide background for other units I teach, such as the Triangle Fire. I can’t speak highly enough of this series. Do you have a similar “must watch” film or series that you can’t imagine not having in your classroom? Leave a comment and share your thoughts.

For more ELA teaching ideas, resources, and creative lessons, sign up for my newsletter by entering your email below. In return, I’ll send you this free Treasured Object Poem handout that will teach your kids to write beautiful and creative poems about their most treasured possessions.

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Top Sept. 11 Resources and My 9/11 Poetry Lesson Plan

Plus a new 9/11 resource for distance learning

I never thought I’d say this, but I’m going to scale down my September 11 lesson plans this year. My students usually spend a solid week or more reading and responding to survivor accounts, historical articles, and other texts. We often watch an accompanying video, such as Episode 8: The Center of the World from New York: The Documentary.

Last year, I even designed a new poetry project that extended over four class periods and focused on artifacts found at Ground Zero.

However, due to the myriad challenges that 2020 has presented, I’m going to place less focus on the terror attacks this year. I feel that my students have experienced enough upsetting events this year… the COVID-19 pandemic, racial unrest, a tense political climate.

After all, 2021 will be the twenty-year anniversary of the attacks. That being the case, a more pronounced and thorough study of the attacks will be in order one year from now.

I’m still incorporating 9/11 into my lessons this year, however.

So, even though I don’t plan a major study of the event, I still plan to observe the September 11 anniversary by:

Reading the prologue to 102 Minutes by reporters Jim Dwyer and Kevin Flynn and the introduction to Vigilance by former New York Police Department Commissioner Ray Kelly to my juniors and seniors, respectively, for two consecutive First Chapter Friday readings.

I also plan to choose a September 11th article for next week’s Article of the Week assignments for both grades. One of these uses President Bush’s speech to the American people on the evening of Sept. 11, 2001 and the other is an “everything you always wanted to know” informative article from USA Today.

Regardless of how you intend to approach September 11 this year, I’ve provided links below to two of my 9/11-themed posts. Check out both of these posts below: 1) the top 9/11 resources I’ve used, and 2) my 9/11 artifact poetry project.

Top Resources I Use to Teach 9/11

The above post includes lots of ideas and resources including nonfiction texts, a student-written poetry collection, the best documentary I’ve found on 9/11 (for 8th-12th graders) and a movie I showed my 6th-graders to build some prior knowledge by introducing them to the World Trade Center outside the context of the terror attacks.

The Stories the Artifacts Tell: A 9/11 Poetry Lesson Plan

This second post outlines the process (and learning standards) for an extended project where students recognize a clear connection between the disaster and a specific human life lost. They write one-word summaries from an excerpt from the book 102 Minutes and then, using photos and details about personal artifacts found at Ground Zero, compose an acrostic poem about the artifacts built around their one word.

Studying 9/11 is paramount to understanding much of our world today.

I think it’s so important for students to understand the profound impact of September 11, 2001. I absolutely know that kids are ignorant on so many aspects of the attacks: the perpetrators, the aftermath, the vulnerabilities, the human loss and heartache, the overwhelming need to unite that citizens across the nation embraced. It’s shocking to me that so many students simply relegate September 11 to the annals of far distant historical events.

It Bothers Me that Sept. 11 is Becoming “Historical” and in the Distant Past

A new 9/11 resource for distance learning

Lastly, since so many school districts are employing distance learning in some form this fall, here’s a link to a new presentation resource from a non-profit called 9/11 Tomorrow Together that you can investigate to teach 9/11 to your remote learners. Here’s a photo of a few slides from this resource:

Specifically geared for distance learning, this shows an excerpt from the organization’s 9/11 Day Lesson Plan Slide Presentation.

According to the website, “We’ve created an outstanding lesson plan this year to help you “virtually” teach your students about 9/11 and the September 11 National Day of Service & Remembrance.” The site includes lesson plans and resources geared to both elementary and secondary students.

9/11 Tomorrow Together was originally founded by two friends, David Paine and Jay Winuk, who lost his brother Glenn Winuk in the attacks. “Glenn’s death, and the way he lived his life up to 9/11, helped inspire the idea of making 9/11 a day of service, unity and peace,” reads the organization’s “Our Nonprofit” page.

Lesson plans on the site include “Hallway of Heroes for 9/11,” “Tribute to First Responders,” a 9/11 Day service learning toolkit, and more.

Materials like this are available from 9/11 Tomorrow Together.

In closing, I share Paine’s and Winuk’s thoughts about the importance of including 9/11 studies into our school curriculum, even outside the traditional social studies classroom. Here’s how the two founders explain their goals:

“For many students today, 9/11 is just a day in history. Most of them were too young to remember the heartbreak or the subsequent period of hope and togetherness that changed our nation for a while. It’s up to you as an educator to teach them about the other side of 9/11. The side of goodness. The way people came together. The way empathy changed how we looked at each other. 9/11 was a historic inflection point for our society, one that carried with it very powerful lessons about the importance of inclusion and the value of diversity.”

The lessons of 9/11 are impactful and varied. Fortunately, many students are still intrigued and curious about the event that for so many of us is still a recent memory. It’s up to teachers to continue to include these lessons in our classrooms, in whatever capacity we feel we are able.

Thanks for reading! For more ELA resources, creative lesson plans, and teaching ideas, enter your email below. In return, you’ll receive this handout to teach your students how to write Treasured Object Poems, one of my favorite poetry activities for middle school and high school students.

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You Need a “Why I Teach” Binder

My ultimate self-care tip for teachers

Get a three-ring binder. Any three-ring binder will work. And it doesn’t have to be new. Just dig one out from the bottom of your desk or repurpose one that’s full of handouts from that PD conference you went to last fall. Y’know, the one where they taught you that super-engaging argument writing lesson that you still haven’t figured out how to incorporate into your curriculum?

Yep, grab that binder and make it your new “Why I Teach” binder.

And start to fill it up with all those little mementos that students have given you throughout the years.

The construction paper cards.
The hand-drawn pictures.
The “Thank You” notes.
The Christmas tree ornaments.
The school pictures.
The poems written just for you.
Copies of those essays that touched your heart (or your funny bone).

I keep my “Why I Teach” binder next to my desk in a rack inside my computer cart. Every so often when I need a boost or a shot of positivity, I crack open my binder and experience a moment of reflective rejuvenation.

However, watch the clock. If you’re like me, you’ll quickly lose track of time venturing down Memory Lane and reliving all those fun and rewarding moments that your teaching career has brought you.

I highly recommend making a “Why I Teach” binder. And if you can’t find a binder, just start tossing all those mementos into a dedicated file folder or a shoebox. You can hole-punch all the things later or do what I do and slide them into page protectors before placing them into my binder.

At the end of state testing a few years ago, I celebrated with my 8th-graders by bringing caramel-frosted chocolate cake. They had done such a great job all year and all that testing deserved a reward.

However you decide to make your “Why I Teach” binder, just do it soon. You work hard and often don’t receive the recognition or acknowledgement that you deserve. On those days when your strength is waning and your outlook is on the downhill slide, thumbing through your collection of authentic, heartfelt mementos written by the most important people in your school building will do wonders for your confidence and perspective.

My “Why I Teach” binder is a real blessing to me. I’m not sure what I would do without it. For more ELA resources, creative lesson plans, and student writing contest news, join my mailing list by entering your email below. In return, I’ll send you this PDF handout that will teach your students how to write Treasured Object Poems. These poems are absolute gems that help students clarify what they truly consider valuable.

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Make a “Live” Word Cloud with This Super Easy App

I tried Mentimeter.com on the first day of school

On the first day of school, I jumped in and tried something new: Mentimeter.com. It’s an interactive presentation software website that helps you increase engagement while gathering valuable information for teaching.

I used its popular word cloud presentation, but there are many other presentation styles available depending on your goals. Try open-ended questions, scales, ranking charts, bar charts, question-and-answer and others.

A screen shot of some of the presentation options.

Q: What was my goal?

A: To start off the year with my seniors with an easy, tech-y activity that would also help us acknowledge and embrace the challenges of learning in the year 2020.

I asked students to think of three words that could be used to “describe, guide, define, or propel” us into the school year. Then I projected the word cloud blank screen I had created at mentimeter.com onto the white board. I then asked students to go to menti.com to get a six-digit code that would then take them to a screen where they could enter their three words.

It actually took you, dear reader, longer to read that paragraph than it did for me to start seeing the word cloud populate with student responses.

Literally, within seconds, various words from students were populating my whiteboard, shifting sizes and rotating positions and colors as more words were added in real time. It was fun to watch the cloud develop and it was interesting to see the variety of words splash up onto the screen.

This, below, is actually a screen shot of the word cloud we made that Mentimeter later emailed to me as a PDF file. All your presentations can be collected and sent to you like this.

This is the word cloud my students made on the first day.

Based on its ease of use, I will definitely use Mentimeter.com. In fact, you can test Mentimeter right now by entering the on-screen code at this link.

Plus, it’s free.

There are lots of features you can use with a free account. Mentimeter also has a “Teachers and Students” menu with ideas for more ways to use the software in the classroom or online for remote learning. For example, you can:

Check students’ prior knowledge on a topic
Formative assessments
Quizzes
Reflections

There are definitely many more capabilities and details about the software that I don’t know about yet. But I’m sure that the more I use it, the more I’ll learn.

If you’re needing something new and easy-to-use that will engage both in-classroom and at-home students AND show solid information quickly, give Mentimeter.com a go.

I know this post sounds like an ad; please know that it’s not. It’s just fun to try something new, experience good results, and then pass the info along to you.

Have a great week!

Tech for tech’s sake isn’t the solution. However, when technology spices up your classroom routine, increases engagement, and provides you valuable information for teaching, why not try it? Let me know if you’ve tried Mentimeter.com and what your experience has been. Or… do you know something I don’t know about this app? Please share in the comments or by contacting me at elabraveandtrue@gmail.com!

For more ELA teaching ideas, creative lesson plans, and resources, enter your email below for my monthly newsletter. In return, I’ll email you this printable handout that will teach your students how to write Treasured Object poems.

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Where I’m From Poem Templates

Plus photos and links to help you plan

Back-to-school is the perfect time for Where I’m From poems. I’ve decided to repost this article from last May to help you add this great activity to your opening days.

Where I’m From poems from the author and poet George Ella Lyons… you just can’t write enough good things about them. That’s why this week I’ve decided to post twice about these poems that were a mainstay in my middle school ELA classes a few years ago. (Click here for Tuesday’s post that featured links to student-written mentor texts.)

And even though I now teach juniors and seniors in high school, I still look back on Where I’m From poems with fond memories. These poems were always one of my students’ favorite activities because of the personalized portrait they would paint of each student.

Parents loved them, too!

In fact, several parents told me the poems would be a treasured keepsake. (At my current school, freshmen students write Where I’m From poems to kick off the school year; my juniors explore headline poetry, a found poetry technique.)

Even so, below you’ll find three templates (plus the links!) that you may want to use with your classes whenever you decide to give Where I’m From poems a try. The templates will guide your students through selecting memories, family sayings, names, and all the other imagery-inducing details that make these poems so personal and enlightening.

All of these templates have merit; however, after experimenting with these, the first one has worked best for me.

And here’s the big caveat:

Any of these templates work best with lots of one-to-one conferencing. You may need to help students recall memories or name things. For example, a student may not know the “clicking thing” on Grandma’s piano is called a “metronome.”

Get in the trenches with your kids and help them unlock the magic of where they’re from.

Template and Link No. 1:

Freeology.com offers this template. Get it by clicking here. Sometimes I must edit or make a few changes to ready-made templates and handouts to make them work for my teaching. After all, why reinvent the wheel, right?

However, with this template, I made no changes. After reading several examples (Lyons’ poem, one that I demo for them on the fly, and a few student-written mentors), students can take this template and run with it.

The only detail some kids have trouble with on the template is the “natural item.” To solve that, we just brainstorm what a natural item could be if it wasn’t a plant or tree, as suggested on the same line. A sea shell? A worry stone that your grandpa kept in his pocket?

Also, some students don’t have many religious phrases or memories. And that’s okay. I just suggest focusing on another regular activity they remember… a family reunion or Christmas morning, for example.

Template and Link No. 2:

Try this template from Scholastic if you think it might work for your students. Get it by clicking here.

As for me, I found that this Scholastic template wasn’t specific enough. Simply listing sensory experiences didn’t spur a sufficient number of specific memories and ideas to craft the poem. My students needed more direct prompting and a structure that more directly mirrored Lyons’ original poem. Template no. 1 did the trick.

Template No. 3:

This template, which I found in a Google search late at night during a mad rush of lesson planning (LOL!), combines the poem with a visual project.

While I’ve never asked students to create an accompanying visual to complement their poems, it might make an interesting project for your back-to-school open house, a Mother’s Day gift, or merely an extension activity.

As for the actual poem template, I like how it calls out specific parts of speech. This format is also very specific with regard to the words students are to write into the blanks. In my experience, middle schoolers will find the line in the template below that reads “It tasted / sounded / looked / felt – choose one)_________” too stifling and possibly confusing.

I do, however, like that this poem is part of a larger project that allows kids to draw, gather mementos, and show some added creativity.

There. Those three templates should get you started.

If you haven’t tried Where I’m From poems, consider adding them to your lesson planning for fall. Support your young writers with some student-written mentor texts (click here for those links), George Ella Lyons’ original poem, and your own Where I’m From verse and I’m sure you’ll love it just as much as I and many other ELA teachers do!

Thanks for reading!

If you’ve tried George Ella Lyons’ Where I’m From poems, let me know your thoughts and experiences. Click like, share a comment below, or contact me on my Contact page.

Here’s a link to another recent post on acrostic poems and distance learning.

Need another poetry lesson?

Enter your email below and I’ll send you this PDF handout that will teach your students how to write Treasured Object Poems. It’s one of my absolute favorite poetry activities.

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Have you tried book bentos?

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ELA Brave and True | Love teaching. Make it memorable.

A Book Cover Analysis: A Fun Back-to-School Reading Task

When it’s too soon to ask questions about plot and character

On Tuesdays in my independent reading class, I prepare a text-based question for students to answer in a paragraph or two on paper. I ask them to do their reading, keeping in mind the question, and then at the end of the house, they can craft their paragraphs and turn them in for credit for that day’s reading.

But what do you ask when they’re just starting a book? They haven’t turned enough pages to know much about the conflict, the characters, or the plot.

For our first question, I decided to have students analyze their book’s cover. Here’s the question I wrote at the start of class on the whiteboard (and posted on Google Classroom for my students learning at home):

Analyze the cover of your book and write half a page. Look at the illustrations(s), fonts used, photos, the overall design. What does the cover tell you about the book?

I also grabbed these three books off my shelves to show and discuss as mentor texts: When The Astors Owned New York by Justin Kaplan, Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt, and The Catcher in The Rye by J. S. Salinger.

We noticed these details about When The Astors Owned New York:

a very traditional design
the use of serif typeface (I explained briefly the difference between serif and sans serif typefaces)
a center axis for everything on the cover (lines of type, a photo)
a symmetrical layout that hints at the stately presentation of the story within

Then we looked at Angela’s Ashes and noticed:

a poignant vintage photo of a barefooted little boy
a stone building that appears modest and hints at the poverty of the owners
a charming, wry little smile on the boy that indicates an author’s tone that is downtrodden, yet optimistic, and possibly even humorous

And what does the cover of The Catcher in the Rye imply?

It says, “I don’t care about having a catchy cover. I don’t play the game everyone else does. I do things my own way and I keep things simple, if you wanna know the lousy truth.” Catcher’s cover –while plain and boring — rebels against the norm, hinting at the story inside.

This was a fun way to start our habit of answering text-based questions in my independent reading class this year. After all, it was pointless to ask students about the action of their books four short days into the year.

Analyzing book covers also helps students interpret the visual elements of a text and then draw conclusions* from the choices made by the publisher and design team.

In addition, the activity took only about fifteen minutes of class time. This allowed students plenty of opportunities to delve further into their personal book selections.

*Missouri Learning Standards RL-1Cand RI-1C (Text Features)

Ever analyze book covers? Despite being the first thing students see when they pick up a book, its design is often overlooked.

Another idea I’ve thought of: many students don’t know the difference between Times New Roman and Arial. For teaching MLA formatting, it may be convenient to use the fonts on the book covers to discuss serif and sans serif typefaces , so students know for sure when they’re using Times New Roman.

Share your experiences by leaving a comment on this post or contacting me via my Contact page.

Need a new poetry idea?

Enter your email below and I’ll send you this PDF file that will teach your students to write Treasured Object Poems, one of my favorite poem activities. I know your students will enjoy it!

Image shows readers the paper I'll send for signing up for my email list. The handout gives instructions for a Treasured Object poem. — Treasured Object Poems

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Exploding a Moment: How I Show Students This Revision Strategy in Action

Seeing is believing with my “before and after” handout

First things first: THANK YOU, BARRY LANE! Barry Lane’s video where he retells the story of “Jane Wilson’s poured milk memory” is one of my all-time favorites to introduce my students to the idea of exploding a moment.

Exploding a moment is one of Lane’s signature revision strategies. When writers explode moments, they do what movie directors do to indicate a film’s pivotal moment: they show the moment in slow motion to indicate its importance. When a moment in a written narrative holds the same importance, exploding that moment across a page or two can do the same thing.

Slowing down or exploding a moment lends emphasis to important moments in narrative writing. Exploding a moment does the following:

It fleshes out the moment, loading it with images, textures, smells, and other sensory details.
It brings in the setting that hosts the moment, establishing a solid sense of the environment.
It lavishes the moment with extra attention that naturally and subtly conveys to the reader: This is important. Let’s spend some extra time right here.

“Exploding a moment” is an effective way to describe it and I can’t thank Barry Lane enough for coining that phrase and publishing the resources that have brought this concept to life for my students through the years.

When we are working on memoirs, slice-of-life essays, and other narratives, “exploding a moment” invariably shows itself as a skill that my students need help with. Most of my students nod their heads when I ask them to elaborate, but I’m not sure they fully understand. Most kids will just add a few adjectives and think they’ve done enough, but often their writing still lacks immediacy and emphasis.

The result? An opportunity for narrative excitement and richness is lost.

Inspired by Lane’s video, I’ve created a few lessons over the past couple of years to help kids learn what it means to “explode a moment” in their stories. I made this one for middle school students and this one for high schoolers.

Today’s post is about something else I did with Lane’s video script: I transcribed it and made a handout for students to read.

Why transcribe it? To show students the literal difference between Jane Wilson’s one-sentence draft and her revised “exploded” draft.

In deciding to transcribe it, I speculated that if my students were to see the moment evolve from one sentence to five paragraphs on the page, they would also see how the technique can help them “flesh out” their own stories.

While watching the video, as Lane reads Jane’s first draft (“I poured the milk over her head and it was a total mess everywhere.”), students follow along on the handout. Moments later, as he narrates the accompanying video, students continue to follow along and watch Jane’s sparse 15-word sentence explode into a 244-word, five-paragraph moment that, by its very length alone, implies THIS WAS A SUPER IMPORTANT THING THAT JUST HAPPENED!

Here’s the video that goes with the handout I made for my students:

Barry Lane’s video and the entire “explode a moment” revision strategy has been very successful in helping my students understand what it means to “flesh out” their writing. My handout reinforces the point and shows students how exploding a moment can truly enhance the experience they provide to readers.

revisers toolbox — Barry Lane’s book, *Reviser’s Toolbox*, covers the concept of exploding a moment, plus many other lesson ideas.

For more ELA teaching ideas, student writing contests, and creative resources, enter your email below. In return, I’ll send you this free printable handout to teach your students how to write Treasured Object Poems.

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This Back-to-School One-Pager Works Wonders

Get to know your in-class and remote learners quickly

Thanks to Spark Creativity! for this awesome “biographical one-pager” idea that I used last week when school started on Thursday. Read this blog post for all the details and printable downloads.

As a mentor or example, I projected mine (see above) on the whiteboard and we talked about the details I chose to share with my biographical one-pager:

Favorite Quote

Favorite Movies

Favorite Books

Favorite Places on Earth

My Family

Things I Collect

Something I Enjoy Doing

Favorite Musical Artist

I let students know that mine was merely an example. They could include their favorite athlete, team or sport, or really anything about themselves they wanted to share.

Then I turned them loose on creating their own. I previously copied off three templates from the PDF mentioned in this post, made copies, and set them on a central table in my room alongside a box of markers and colored pencils.

This also worked well for my virtual students learning at home.

I uploaded the templates and my mentor, along with a quick explanation of the task, to Google Classroom. One student colored theirs pronto, snapped a quick photo, emailed it back, and – voila! – I know them better already!

It’s definitely fun learning interesting things about your students. You’ll learn that you have quite a bit in common with several of them with this one-pager. And you’ll also learn that some of the most intriguing people are in your classes. For example, one of my students loves to do calligraphy, and one’s favorite place is Puerto Rico. Another couldn’t wait to work on their truck when they got home. Another is really uncomfortable with being onstage.

Seriously, you will learn so much more in one class period about your students than you will if you wait for individual writer’s conferences a couple of weeks into the year (like I did last year), or in passing as they file out of the room, or otherwise.

I’m really glad I used this to start the 2020-2021 school year, especially since we don’t know what the upcoming weeks will bring.

Thanks for reading! School has started and our first two days were awesome. Smooth sailing so far! For more ELA teaching ideas, resources, and reflections, student writing contests and a slew of upcoming headline poetry posts, enter your email address below. I’ll keep you up to date with an occasional newsletter. You’ll also receive a free printable guidesheet to help your students learn to write Treasured Object poems.

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The New York Times Announces Its 2020-21 Student Writing Contests

And get this: most are now open to middle school students!

Yes! The student writing contests hosted by The New York Times’ Learning Network are back! In addition, most are now open to U.S. middle school students starting in sixth grade (for international students, ages 13-18).

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote this post about the Learning Network’s two new contests created just for 2020-2021. Click here to read that post, which I published the day after I attended The Learning Network’s webinar for educators titled “Giving Students a Voice: Teaching with Learning Network Contests.”

Students work in peer groups to improve their writing for submission to the judges.

In that post, I promised to write a follow-up that would cover the remaining eight contests. Well, here it is, and the list is below.

When you click on each listing below, know that many of the links will connect you to the 2019 rules and guidelines. That’s because, according to C. Ross Flatt, professional development director for The Learning Network, the 2020 rules are not finalized as of yet. To keep abreast of the updates, keep your eyes on the contest calendar because as each contest goes “live,” a link will be added.

Without further ado, the contests follow:

Personal Narrative Writing Contest (Oct. 13-Nov. 17, 2020)… Students tell a story with a beginning, middle, and end, and a conflict that is resolved. Get mentor texts (past winning entries) here.
Vocabulary Video Contest (Nov. 10-Dec. 15, 2020)… Students make a 15-second video explaining the meaning of one of the Times’ 2,000 words of the day. Get mentor texts (past winning high school entries) here.
Review Contest (Dec. 8-Jan. 26, 2021)… Students write reviews in categories from books to restaurants to hotels. Open to middle school and high school. Get mentor texts (past winning entries) here.
STEM Writing Contest (Jan. 19-March 2)… Students explain “complex and interesting” topics to a general audience in a “clear, engaging way.” Get mentor texts (past winning entries) here.
Editorial Contest (Feb. 23-April 13, 2021)… Students write an editorial or opinion piece on a topic that matters to them. Get mentor texts (past winning entries) here. Read how successful this was for me in my years as a middle school teacher in this post.
Podcast Challenge (April 8-May 18, 2021)... Students create a podcast on any topic of their choosing. Podcasts can run no longer than five minutes. Winners from the 2019-2020 contest were just released July 1. Listen to their podcasts here!
Summer Reading Contest (June 10-Aug. 19, 2021)… Students choose an article from The New York Times that resonated with them and then tell the judges why. Get mentor texts (past winning entries) here. The current contest is still open through Aug. 20, so make sure you follow the contest calendar to stay up to date on the 2020 contest.
Current Events Conversation (All School Year Long)… Students respond to the daily news via provided writing prompts. Click here for past winners.

Students don’t mind revising when they know that real-world editors, reporters and instructors will judge their writing.

Don’t forget…

The two other new contests that have been added this year. These address the challenges of living as a teen in the year 2020. Read my post about that contest here.
The prize. The Learning Network publishes winners on its site and some winners may receive publication in the print version of The New York Times. Check the rules for each contest for specifics.
The extra motivation and engagement that using writing contests offers. During the webinar, Flatt and Rachel Manley, another professional development manager, and Natalie Proulx, editor, discussed the benefits offered by the contests. These benefits include:

An authentic audience (The contests are judged by New York Times staff and journalists….)
Real-world writing/creating skills (For example, students can try out their science reporting chops.)
Choice (Students may write within the genre of each of the ten contests in any style they choose.)
Student Voice (Winning pieces are published in The New York Times.)

I plan to include some of these contests in my teaching during the upcoming school year. (And if you do the same, let me know how it goes by commenting on this post or reaching out via my Contact page.) Even though it may take some extra planning and coordination to add these contests to my curriculum, the real-world relevance that the contests bring to the classroom make the extra effort worth it.

Thanks for reading! For more creative ELA teaching ideas and lesson plans, and news about student writing contests, enter your email below. In return, you’ll receive a free printable PDF you can use with students to write Treasured Object Poems.

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