A Few Crooked Words
Category Archives: Language
Look and You’ll See: Observation as Writing and Social Practice
We began this year by doing observational writing. I took my classes to different places — a community garden, a meadow — and had them write down things they noticed. I asked them to only write down things they had … Continue reading
Posted in Language, Uncategorized
Tagged Frog Hollow School, Homeschooling, Seattle, social justice, teaching English, Travel, Writing
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Chinook Jargon
Continuing in our explorations of translation, my class has been playing around with Chinook Jargon. Chinook Jargon is the trade language of the Northwest, a pidgin of English, French, and several Salish languages. It was widely spoken through the 1800’s, … Continue reading
Posted in Language, Poetry, Uncategorized
Tagged American culture, chinook jargon, Creativity, Education, Frog Hollow School, Homeschooling, Language, Seattle, Teaching writing
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Translation with Nine Year Olds
I’ve been doing poems using words in Spanish or French with my students for several years, and have been trying to figure out a way to do our own translations. They love working with words in other languages, but it’s … Continue reading
Posted in Exercises, Language, Literature, Poetry, Uncategorized
Tagged Education, Frog Hollow School, Homeschooling, Seattle, teaching poetry, Teaching writing, Translation
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5 Reasons to Teach Revision
As a writer, I can say that most of writing is actually revising. As a teacher, I can say that this idea isn’t how most children think about writing. As both a writer and a teacher, I want to argue … Continue reading
Posted in Essay Writing, Language
Tagged Carnation, Homeschooling, Seattle, spelling, Teaching, Teaching writing, Writing
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