I JUST WROTE AND JOINED 750 WORDS AND SO WILL SOME OF MY STUDENTS

 I cannot state the purpose of 750 Words any better than Buster Benson himself.

Here is a cut-and-paste job from the site itself:

I’ve long been inspired by an idea I first learned about in The Artist’s Way called morning pages. Morning pages are three pages of writing done every day, typically encouraged to be in “long hand”, typically done in the morning, that can be about anything and everything that comes into your head. It’s about getting it all out of your head, and is not supposed to be edited or censored in any way. The idea is that if you can get in the habit of writing three pages a day, that it will help clear your mind and get the ideas flowing for the rest of the day. Unlike many of the other exercises in that book, I found that this one actually worked and was really really useful.

I’ve used the exercise as a great way to think out loud without having to worry about half-formed ideas, random tangents, private stuff, and all the other things in our heads that we often filter out before ever voicing them or writing about them. It’s a daily brain dump. Over time, I’ve found that it’s also very helpful as a tool to get thoughts going that have become stuck, or to help get to the bottom of a rotten mood.

750 Words is the online, future-ified, fun-ified translation of this exercise.

I had recently read Paul Tevis’s blog entry which talked about his use of The Artist’s Way and was lucky enough to run across the book selling for two bucks at a flea market.  I had also recently heard about 750 Words from a blog post at Buried Without Ceremony about how things should do one thing and do that one thing excellently.  It was a kind of call to all gadgets, gizmos, games, and such to K.I.S.S., keep it simple saint.  At the same time, I was trying to be more consistent in my writing practice.  The time seemed to be NOW.  The planets had aligned.  Time to sign up at 750 Words.

I finished my first 750 word entry just minutes before writing this post.  Try it.  IF YOU HAVE A DESIRE TO WRITE CONSISTENTLY, THIS WILL HAPPEN:

• YOU WILL SIGN UP.
• YOU WILL READ ABOUT THE COOL, GAME-LIKE POINT REWARD SYSTEM…AND THE BADGES!
• YOU WILL WRITE 750 WORDS.
• YOU WILL BE PROUD OF YOURSELF.
• YOU WILL CHECK OUT ALL OF THE COOL STATS AND INFO YOU GET TO SEE AFTER EACH POST.  I LOVE THIS PART.
• YOU WILL COMMIT YOURSELF TO WRITING 750 A DAY BECAUSE THIS SITE MAKES IT FUN.

This site is an absolute no-brainer for classroom use.  Anything that gets students writing is a good thing.  The more you write, better you get.

Again, a no-brainer.  People have a hard time writing consistently.  People DO NOT have a hard time forcing themselves to play games.  This is a call for 750 Words.  Have your students sign up.

 

GIVE YOUR STUDENTS AMNESIA

             

Lady Macbeth Before Therapy

          I had the chance to play Paul Tevis’s A Penny for My Thoughts  for the first time during my recent vacation.  In this award-winning game,  players pretend to be amnesiacs undergoing therapy in order to  recover their lost memories.  All players in the game have supposedly been given a drug called Mnemosyne that breaks down the barriers between the patients’ minds, allowing them to help each other recollect their pasts.  Without each other, the fog of forgetting would be  impossible to overcome.               

         As we played, it was the collaboration involved in regaining our memories that struck me.   Of course, my mind went straight to the classroom possibilities of the game.  Many students love group work.  Most students can learn from group work, but there is always the problem of one student carrying the load.  This game would definitely fight against that tendency thanks to its very structured play, which includes the use of ritual phrases and actions.  This game encourages true cooperative learning.  It would be easy to eyeball a group from across the room and be able to see if all group members are playing the game.      

       So here is the idea for class.  This would be done after a literary piece has been read.      

•  Go over the game rules and procedures as a class.
• Assign a character from the literature to each player in each group.
• Students roleplay the character they have been assigned as having profound amnesia, as per the rules.
• As the game proceeds, students help each other recall the characters’ memories as learned in the reading of the literature.
• Students correct each other when the memories do not line up with the book.  The ritual phrase, ”Are you Sure?” would certainly fit here.
• Students inevitably create a collaborative “book report” by playing the game.

     I must say that when playing the game as it is intended–unlike this application–the memories of the characters are made up as the game is played, but this classroom application of the original game could be a fun way for students to show evidence of understanding the literature’s characters and its plot, a creative way to recall information and make connections.         

       And for history class this could be equally awesome.  Pick some historical figures that have been studied.  Imagine they have amnesia.  Recall their memories and how they tie together.  Show the teacher your understanding.