In mid July I was starting to get nervous because I hadn't come up with any substantial changes. Sure I had some ideas and had been exploring new approaches, but I hadn't found anything Earth shattering.
And then I found Writing Bingo...
Someone had posted a series of about 40 differentiation ideas on Twitter. Writing Bingo was buried on 1/4 page, but as soon as I saw it I knew -
#thiswasit
So I jumped in, did a lot of googling, and created a year's worth of Writing Bingo boards: (Click on the image below to view and download the document)
I am so excited about doing Writing Bingo this year - I can barely wait until our session with it (which will be on day #4). Here's the skinny:
1. Students complete 5 creative writing tasks per month (in a row to form Bingo)
2. I schedule 1.5 hours per week for free writing to be used for Bingo
3. Writing tasks cover the entire gamut of written genres including
| * recipes | * stories | * jokes |
* directions | * poems | * personal journals |
* emails | * website designs | * menus |
* brochures | * letters | * songs/raps |
* comics | * arguments | * reviews |
* game rules | * scripts | * greeting cards |
* invitations | * autobiographies | * picture books |
* schedules | * shopping lists | * news articles |
You can tell I got excited - I couldn't stop coming up with ideas! Hopefully it's not too overwhelming!
Another exciting feature - A built-in self assessment rubric!
This approach excites me because
* It makes writing more fun and authentic
* Students have LOTS of choice
* Very formative
* Lots of creative genres
Our first writing time will be one week from today - I'll let you know how it goes! Feel free to download all 4 of my Bingo boards (the rubrics are on the last page).
Update: Writing Bingo is going wonderfully! The students LOVE it! I've written two follow-up posts: Differentiation and Engagement in Writing Bingo and The Writing Resource File - An Essential Tool.
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