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pseudonyms and other cool ideas
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From: Monica R. Edinger <edinger>
Date: Fri, 21 Jun 2002 11:29:43 -0400
ME Kerr writes :
"
I LOVE this! (Now a riff about my classroom teaching provoked by this neat idea. Apologies to those who think it is off topic or self-indulgent.)
I begin the year with my 4th graders writing about their names to introduce themselves to each other and going from that to creating their own pseudonyms seems perfect. There is a touch of fantasy play in it which I like too. That is, creating a pseudonym is a form of creating a new persona for yourself. I moved a lot as a kid and tried to do that at every new school (and even tried to change my name once without success). I always thought that "this time I'll be cool, I'll be part of the in group, I won't be so shy." Of course, it never worked, but I tried and hoped! And now I watch my own students pretending less and less every year (at least in the way I did when I was their age) so I jump at anything that encourages them to do so and not feel it is too babyish.
And it is further a wonderful technique for creating a safe environment in which to critique work in public. I started reading my students' work aloud anonymously a couple of years ago after seeing how successful the technique was in a writing class I attended. I had pretty much given up group critiques with kids reading aloud their own work because they had little interest in serious criticism. They either wanted to bask in their peers' approval or to defend vehemently their work. They were rarely truly interested in hearing suggestions for improving their work. I gave up after deciding that these kid-read-alouds were doing little to help kids with their writing and a lot to reinforce problematic social relationships in the class. That is, alpha kids got lots of positive comments and applause while those at the bottom of the social pyramid got an overabundance of criticism, rolled eyes, and the like. (End of riff.)
Do you have any other great suggestions for those of us who teach writing to kids?
Monica
Monica Edinger The Dalton School New York NY edinger at dalton.org monicaedinger at yahoo.com
Received on Fri 21 Jun 2002 10:29:43 AM CDT
Date: Fri, 21 Jun 2002 11:29:43 -0400
ME Kerr writes :
"
I LOVE this! (Now a riff about my classroom teaching provoked by this neat idea. Apologies to those who think it is off topic or self-indulgent.)
I begin the year with my 4th graders writing about their names to introduce themselves to each other and going from that to creating their own pseudonyms seems perfect. There is a touch of fantasy play in it which I like too. That is, creating a pseudonym is a form of creating a new persona for yourself. I moved a lot as a kid and tried to do that at every new school (and even tried to change my name once without success). I always thought that "this time I'll be cool, I'll be part of the in group, I won't be so shy." Of course, it never worked, but I tried and hoped! And now I watch my own students pretending less and less every year (at least in the way I did when I was their age) so I jump at anything that encourages them to do so and not feel it is too babyish.
And it is further a wonderful technique for creating a safe environment in which to critique work in public. I started reading my students' work aloud anonymously a couple of years ago after seeing how successful the technique was in a writing class I attended. I had pretty much given up group critiques with kids reading aloud their own work because they had little interest in serious criticism. They either wanted to bask in their peers' approval or to defend vehemently their work. They were rarely truly interested in hearing suggestions for improving their work. I gave up after deciding that these kid-read-alouds were doing little to help kids with their writing and a lot to reinforce problematic social relationships in the class. That is, alpha kids got lots of positive comments and applause while those at the bottom of the social pyramid got an overabundance of criticism, rolled eyes, and the like. (End of riff.)
Do you have any other great suggestions for those of us who teach writing to kids?
Monica
Monica Edinger The Dalton School New York NY edinger at dalton.org monicaedinger at yahoo.com
Received on Fri 21 Jun 2002 10:29:43 AM CDT
