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Brainstorming a no-drainer for HMS seventh graders
From staff reports
Seventh-graders in Beth Yanda's English language arts class at Hedrick Middle School (HMS) are tackling a big project - research and writing an informative essay.
"For our project, I decided to have the students imagine the school had unlimited funds to hire a celebrity mentor," Yanda said. "Someone, who students might look up to for advice on how to navigate middle school."
For students who aren't engaged in learning and taught how to take their time and think about interesting topics, the writing process can be extremely difficult, Yanda said.
The 10 is a series of magazine-style resources similar to an encyclopedia. Topical in subject matter, such as top ten hip-hop artists and top ten funniest people, each magazine contains the top ten that fit the theme. The magazines are full of facts, but information is presented in a way that excites and interests students. For the purposes of the project, students were to envision an educational edition of People magazine.
"By using The 10, I think I was able to help my students through the brainstorming process and alleviate some of the pain involved in choosing someone to research for the project," Yanda said.
By the time students got to the computer lab to begin in-depth research, every one knew exactly who he/she was going to research. They chose celebrities such as Oprah Winfrey, Michael Jordan, Lucille Ball, Sergey Brin, Mia Hamm and Rowan Atkinson.
As students researched, they used circle thinking maps to graphically represent and organize interesting information in preparation for writing.
"I was in awe of how engaged my students were during the brainstorming step of the writing process," Yanda said. "Even my most reluctant learners were completely focused and intrigued by The 10. The pictures on each page pulled my students in, while the captions and short, easy to read format sustained their interest."
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Updated 11/9/12
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