Gary Anderson's List of Journal Writing Topics

Looking for journal writing topics to get students reflecting and sharing their ideas? Check out the July 14, 2014 blog post by EMC's Expository Composition author Gary Anderson at the Discovering Your Voice Blog. Gary has received requests for the list of journal topics he has used in his writing classes at William Fremd High School in Palatine, IL. Thanks for sharing this inspiring list, Gary! Meet Gary at NCTE in November where he will be participating in a roundtables session showcasing research about teacher learning spanning the career--from pre-service education to professional development and beyond. These roundtables will offer complex and varied studies centered on how teachers learn to teach for and across a range of contexts.

All Summer in a Day

They crowded to the huge door.
The rain stopped.
It was as if, in the midst of a film concerning an avalanche, a tornado, a hurricane, a volcanic eruption, something had, first, gone wrong with the sound apparatus, thus muffling and finally cutting off all noise, all of the blasts and repercussions and thunders, and then, secondly, ripped the film from the projector and inserted in its place a peaceful tropical slide which did not move or tremor. The world ground to a standstill. The silence was so immense and unbelievable that you felt that your ears had been stuffed or you had lost your hearing altogether. The children put their hands to their ears. They stood apart. The door slid back, and the smell of the silent, waiting world came in to them.
The sun came out.
It was the color of flaming bronze, and it was very large. And the sky around it was a blazing blue tile color. And the jungle burned with sunlight as the children, released from their spell, rushed out, yelling, into the summertime.
“Now, don’t go too far,” called the teacher after them. “You’ve got only one hour, you know. You wouldn’t want to get caught out!”
But they were running and turning their faces up to the sky and feeling the sun on their cheeks like a warm iron; they were taking off their jackets and letting the sun burn their arms.
“Oh, it’s better than the sunlamps, isn’t it?”
“Much, much better!”
They stopped running and stood in the great jungle that covered Venus, that grew and never stopped growing tumultuously, even as you watched it. It was a nest of octopuses, clustering up great arms of fleshlike weed, wavering, flowering in this brief spring. It was the color of rubber and ash, this jungle, from the many years without sun. It was the color of stones and white cheeses and ink.
The children lay out, laughing, on the jungle mattress and heard it sigh and squeak under them, resilient and alive. They ran among the trees, they slipped and fell, they pushed each other, they played hide-and-seek and tag; but most of all they squinted at the sun until tears ran down their faces, they put their hands up at that yellowness and that amazing blueness, and they breathed of the fresh air and listened and listened to the silence which suspended them in a blessed sea of no sound and no motion. They looked at everything and savored everything.
Then, wildly, like animals escaped from their caves, they ran and ran in shouting circles. They ran for an hour and did not stop running.
And then—
In the midst of their running, one of the girls wailed.
Everyone stopped.
The girl, standing in the open, held out her hand.
“Oh, look, look,” she said, trembling.
They came slowly to look at her opened palm.
In the center of it, cupped and huge, was a single raindrop.

--from "All Summer in a Day"
by Ray Bradbury
Mirrors & Windows, Level I, Grade 6

Watch a video version of Bradbury's classic story.

Summer School Resources Online

Don't forget that all of the Mirrors & Windows Differentiating Instruction activities are available for your summer school students on the Internet Resource Center at mirrorsandwindows.com. Differentiating Instruction activities are offered for developing readers, English language learners, and advanced learners. For example, the activities for ELL students include the full selection text, accompanied by guided reading questions, reading strategies, and vocabulary prompts. To find these activities on the website, go to the selection title, click on Activities, and select the Activity for ELL. Full audio support is also offered in the Audio Program on the website under the Resources Tab.

Make Your Students FLIP for Learning Using Video

It's not too late to sign up for the Free edWeb.net Webinar:

Wednesday, June 04, 20144:00 PM - 5:00 PM (Eastern Time)

Presented by Shannon McClintock Miller, District Teacher Librarian and Technology Integrationist, Van Meter, IA When: Wednesday, June 4th at 3pm (CST) Where can I register? Click here to register today (no cost) Shannon McClintock Miller from the Van Meter Community School in Iowa presents her strategies to "integrate video into her library and school using digital tools, creative projects, and global connections." Miller will also share how she's used Flipgrid™, EMC Publishing's video collaboration tool, to "connect students with other students around the globe." Miller is a District Teacher Librarian and Technology Integrationist who also writes an award-winning blog titled, "Van Meter Library Voice." Miller has over 30,000 Twitter followers. (@ShannonmMiller) Don't worry, if you miss the webinar today, the recording, slides, and chat log will be posted in the Resource Library at http://www.edweb.net/video. Want to request your own free 21-day demo to try out Flipgrid™?  Simply visit www.flipgrid.com and click the "Get Started" button in the upper-right hand corner.