Teachers
Teahers: Here's information that will help you use this site.
Features useful to teachers:
1. Content standards for language arts, history, and sociology teachers: The Language Arts coordinators for the WV Department of Education have put together a list of West Virginia College and Career Readiness Standards (WVCCRS) that fit well with this website in all three categories.
2. The transcript and table of contents for each writer's program are downloadable. You can find them by going to the writer's audio page under the "Listen/Scripts/Tools" tab. The Table of Contents for each writer gives you a condensed view of that writer's program, plus the exact time each audio track lasts.
3. From this site, you can play short tracks for your class or children, voices that bring writers back to life for them. All the tracks - and a "table of contents" for the tracks - can be found on the writer's audio page, under the tab "Listen/Scripts/Tools".
4. The writers' voices can bring it all to life, making points that can be discussed or enriching a history or social studies lesson.
5. The Activities page gives you ideas about ways you can use this site to inspire students and help them learn from these writers, while you teach skills. We have divided the activities into sections for your convenienece.
6. Think of this website as a classroom resource. We know you time is limited, so we've tried to make it easy tor you to weave WV wrioters ioto what you're already doing. See the Activies page and WVCCR standards for this site.
7. Fourteen-writer Files let you see and compare the comments of all 14 writers on the following subjects: Reflections and Advice for writers, Growing Up in West Virginia, and state and local history. Note: The Reflections/Advice file is now available, and the other three will be completed over the summer.
8. Coming this year: Teh Opportunities page, which will list West Virginia writing contests and writing training programs in West Virginia and nearby states.
Once you introduce the site, it becomes another classroom tool, These steps will help you get started.
1. Introduce the site and writers to yourself:
• Enjoy the website! Listen to the audio programs. Be sure to explore "The Writers" tab (writer home pages) and the "Listen" tabs (writer audio pages). Each writer will have some jewels.
• Decide which passages entertain you, stir you and make you proud. Decide which writers work best for your class. Download the transcripts and tables of contents for those writers. Put them in a folder so you can make notes as you go along. Mark the transcript as you listen. Which tracks might you like to play or feature?
• Scan through the ideas on this page. As you read them and as you listen to the programs, you'll have your own ideas. Write them down. We hope you'll try them and share them. We want teacher-tested ideas! There's a handy form on the Contact page.
• If you have questions, send them to info@wvstories.com. Let us know how you like the site too!
2. Introduce the site to your class:
• Use the web site to give your class a parade of writers, projected on a big screen. Show them proof that West Virginia kids can and do grow up to be writers. A tour is a positive thing to do, no matter how much you plan to use this site. It helps torpedo stereotypes.
• Use the writers' voices to bring them to life. Let them hear voices as you introduce, letting them know the writers come from many backgrounds. See the childhood stories file.
• Flip through the writer pages, telling where they're from, some details. Give the students a quick glimpse of each writer and a longer glimpse of a few writers.
3. After the intro: ideas
• Choose the writers you feel are appropriate for your students. Show a book or books by that writer if you can. Let them hear the writers' voices, speaking and reading and talking about their lives.
• Maybe set a short "writer" time? for instance, for younger students, 20 minutes after lunch weekly or daily? For older students, "writer of the week?" Play a track or a few tracks. Sometimes have an associated group activity, sometimes homework.
• Give students easy assignments related to that writer, that require them to practice skills you want them to practice. Do them as a group, as homework, or both.
• Idea for advanced or interested students: Have each student choose more than one writer they'd like to study. Ask them to write about why they chose those writers. Have them compare and defend their choices. Then they narrow it down to one >
• Explore the activity ideas on the Activities pag