In class this week, we begin from a historical perspective, considering what it means for writers today to have instant access to such a variety of useful writing technologies. In our first Writer's Workshop, we will consider the five Reading Lenses. Students will first write from their own personal, most comfortable lens. They will then be challenged to write from a different lens. Check back later for samples from these Workshops.
Students will finish the week writing a reflective summary about their process in creating a piece of writing without the use of any writing technology.
To help us tailor the writing projects in this class to our students' unique interests, we asked them to complete the following survery.
A Historical Perspective Writers today have so many convenient options because of the available variety of writing technology. Before there were pens, paper, and computers, writers used writing technology that required a lot of time and effort to communicate even very simple ideas. We are going to learn about the history of writing and the earliest implements used to convey objects or ideas and later, sounds, words, and sentences.
Let's think about this...
What did we unleash when we invented writing? In other words, what was made possible by the invention of writing that was previously impossible?
Before we watch the next video, here is some vocab that might be new to you: - Protowriting: earliest form of writing that represented concepts or ideas with pictures and symbols. - Pictographs: rock paintings representing places or objects, often animals or tools. - Petroglyphs: rock carvings representing places or objects. - Ideographs: symbols for ideas and concepts, often combining pictographs to represent the idea or concept. - Metonymy: a figure of speech that uses a name or symbol to represent another related object or concept. (I.e. saying "The Crown" to represent a monarch.)
Ideograph Activity
You will create your own Ideograph. First, you will select a word or phrase from the basket. Don't tell anyone what it is! Think about the meaning of your word or phrase and represent that idea using simple pictures. Design your Ideograph and then draw it on the board. As a class, will try to guess the meaning of your Ideograph.
We practiced creating ideographs in class. Here are some for you to try! Can you figure out what words and phrases these ideographs represent?
Click on the buttons below to explore these exaples. You'll notice that these techniques were used in different parts of the world and seem to be influenced by one another. You will also see that while the earliest forms are pictographs, the same techniques were used to record writing as it became alphabetic and phonetic. This means that the pictures no longer represented ideas directly; symbols representing sounds could be combined to communicate increasingly complex ideas.
Today we learned about the earliest forms of writing, how they were used, what they looked like, and the materials that were used to create them.
What would it be like to be an early writer who has something to say, but no writing technologies with which to write?
Here is the assignment:
Choose something to write using our Standard English written language. Your writing needs to make sense and be between 3 and 10 words in length. It is okay to use a quote you like.
To write your words, you MAY NOT use any form of writing technology. This means you cannot use any writing instruments or writing surfaces. (No pens, no paper, no computers or other devices, no markers, no art tools.)
Your writing must be visible and able to be photographed.
Thursday's Homework - Write these 3 steps in your planner.
Choose what you are going to write.
Gather the materials you need to complete your writing.
Bring the materials to class on Friday, January 6.
Friday's Class You will have time in class to complete your writing. You will share your finished product with the class and spend some time reflecting on your experience with the assignment. A reflective paragraph will be due on Monday, January 9.
Porter created her writing using aluminum foil. She rolled up each piece and shaped the letters and punctuation.
Aveni found a yellow graduation cord. He cut it into pieces, and unraveled the strings. He created the letters using various lengths of string.
Ruth chose to use two rocks to create her writing. Scratching her words into the surface of one rock using another rock, Ruth created the most permanent writing in the class.
Theo used a stick and created his writing in the snow.
Abby used a slate tile as the surface and created the letters using a rock scraped against the surface.
Reflections
"It was hard to find something to do my phrase.Before Ms. Firestone gave me a cord, I tried to make the phrase with rocks and it wasn’t working.I just stopped and started thinking, while I was thinking I was looking for something too. Then I found a cord and I started cutting to do my phrase.Maybe in the future I will find easier ways to make phrases without writing and I would definitely think I could have done better. One example of an easier way would be with play doh." -Aveni
"I originally just thought to make ink out of berries. The only obstacle I faced was not grabbing any berries during breakfast so i decided to use a rock to write on another rock. In the future I would probably try not to forget to grab the materials that I need and have a backup plan just in case anything goes wrong." -Ruth
“I had a lot of different ideas at first. I settled on the simplest one which was writing in the snow. I think it turned out pretty clear. There weren’t really obstacles. It was cold out, but there wasn’t any real challenge. I probably should have done something more difficult. In the future I would try a different style. The drawback of the snow is that it can be ruined pretty easily. It would disappear really easily, like if it snowed overnight. It isn’t permanent in any way.” -Theo
"Imperfection is something everyone has and should accept; it should not be something to run from." -Abby