Tag: shared writing

Letters to Malala Yousafzai

14 Comments

A group of my seventh and eighth grade intermediate ESL students  felt shocked and outraged after reading an article about the Taliban’s attack on 14-year-old award-winning activist, writer, and student Malala Yousafzai. They decided to write her letters in order to wish her a speedy recovery and to ask questions and express their feelings.

Quddus’s Letter to Malala: “I felt sorrow, I was weeping for your recovery.”

Diligence’s Letter to Malala: Human Rights

 

Muslim student Nadira felt compelled to explain the differences between her understandings of Islam and the images conveyed by the Taliban via the media. 

page 2 of Nadira’s letter

Angely’s Letter, page 1

Angely’s Letter, page 2: asking questions about regret

Mariah’s Letter to Malala: I think the Taliban should suffer.

Angel’s Letter: “You are like the second governor.”

Expository Writing: How To Complete a Word Search Puzzle

Leave a comment

Pearl and I used shared writing to compose an expository “how-to” writing piece. In this video, Pearl explains her steps for solving a word search puzzle using her written piece as well as the word search puzzle itself.

“I Am From…” Poetry By Pearl

Leave a comment

Pearl is my 9-year-old student here in the Dominican Republic, where I will be for the next two and a half weeks. She is participating in Mrs. Dines’ Writing Bootcamp. Today we wrote a poem together called “I Am From” using this template. Although Pearl knows a lot of English from her family, she has never attended school in English. This is her first poem written in English, and it was accomplished through shared writing – Pearl told me her ideas, I wrote them down, and then she practiced the poem and read it for the video camera.

Mrs. Dines: So, Pearl, how did we make this poem together?

Pearl: First, we made a plan to write a poem and make a movie. Then, we posted it on YouTube.

Mrs. Dines: Why did we write a poem together?

Pearl: To make a movie.

Mrs. Dines: Was it easy to make a movie?

Pearl: No because I had to repeat it and repeat it over and over again.

Mrs. Dines: How do you feel that you made a video for YouTube?

Pearl: Good because I had a little help.