A Media Savy Catechist in 10 easy steps!

A few media resouces from this session.

www.animationfactory.com For $100.00 a year you ( and 7 others) have unlimited access to moving animation or moving clip art. The students go wild for this stuff!

www.medialit.org

www.Cineandmedia@yahoogroups.com

www.nationalfilmretreat.org

www.screenit.com


Other resources:

Lights, Camera...Faith! A Movie of Lectionary Cycle A, B, C by Peter Malone and Sr. Rose Pacatte, FSP

Lights, Camera...Faith! The Ten Commandments! Sr. Rose Pacatte, FSP



Pauline Book & Media Center
3908 Sepulveda Blvd.
Culver City, CA 90230

310-390-4699

losangeles@pauline.org

Highlights from Sr. Kathleen Ross keynote

Here are some wonderful quotes that stood out to me during Sr. Kathleen's presentation. Sr. Kathleen is the Founder of Heritage University on the Yakima Reservation in central Washington state.


Presentation Title: Education; A Gateway to Learning and Freedom from Poverty


"Mission and ministry do not happen without men and women in the vineyard."

"Each of us is summoned called be name by God. Are you doing what you were summoned to do?"

"God calls us to Holy Boldness!"

"Talent is distributed randomly across the population, Talent deserves opportunity."

"Love produces hope, and great love produces great hope." - Jon Sobrino, SJ



As you approach your work with communities of people who have different backgrounds and realities from your own, let these guide you:

1) Participate in their community - before you do anything, learn everything you can by being present and participating in their community.
2) Increase your self management skills- communities of poverty tend to be wonderful readers of body language and facial expressions. You need to communicate positive messages. So, be careful about what you are "saying".
3) Your job is to bring hope to the community- not to save the world, but to simply offer a new sense of hope to a community where hope has been lost.

Designing Effective Writing Assignments in the Content Areas

Here are some quick notes from the pre-conference session.

Presenter:

Beverly Ann Chin
University of Montana
Professor of English
Beverly.chin@umontana.edu


New Resource:
She is publishing a new resource called "Grammar for Writing" grades 9-12. The publisher is Sadlier-Oxford, 2007.


Writing Process Steps:
1) Pre-writing: which takes place before you even begin writing-could include brainstorming, gathering resources, etc.
2) Writing: Just a 1st draft, not final anything. Don't worry about spelling or grammar, just get your ideas down before they evaporate!
3) Responding/Revising- Central part of the process! Looking for self revision and peer revision. Again focusing here on content not necessarily spelling, grammar, punctuation, etc. Ask the questions: Who is my audience? What is my message? What is my purpose? Is it clear? Is there another way to communicate this that would make more sense?
4) Editing- Following the revision step edit for grammar, spelling, punctuation, etc.
5) Publishing/Sharing: Could be on a large or small scale, but the audience should NEVER be just the teacher. There should always be another audience.
6) Evaluating: Did I reach my audience? Was my message clear? Did this writing serve my purpose?


1978 Montana Writing Project:
RAFTS acronym

R- Role of the writer
A- Audience for the piece
F- Format of the writing (what genre?)
T- Topic or subject or writing
S- Strong Verb (what action does the writing describe or detail?)


Are we reading like writers and writing like the reader?

Breakout Session: Vocabulary with a Hip-Hop Flava!

Vocabulary With A Hip-Hop Flava!

Description:This workshop introduced an alternative and fun way to teach 500 SAT vocabulary words to teens by using "Rap" songs. It is based on the program "Flocabulary" which utilizes 12 unique tracks appropriate for teens. It is especially useful for learning disabled students as they are shown how to use different modalities and a variety of activities to reinforce words.
Presenter(s): Members of the Martin de Porres staff especially Betty Williams and Karel Lancaster
Review Provided By: Jolleen WagnerThis "dictionary cover" is the cover of the hand-out made available by the presenters of this awesome teaching method!

Here is the story of how Flocabulary came into existence thanks to the creative efforts of founders Alex Rappaport and Blake Harrison.
A news story printed about the Flocabulary program. An article like this is what caught MDP teacher Betty Williams attention as she was reading a NYC newspaper and what began the presence of Flocabulary at MDP.
A sample from the hand-out provided by Betty and Karel. Notice that the lyrics are paralleled by the vocab. words and that definitions are provided in and next to the lyrics. These pictures can be enlarged by clicking on them.




When we entered our Huether classroom, there were colorful packets, home-made pins touting the Flocabulary method, and our teachers sported shirts proclaiming "Shakespeare is Hip-Hop!" Betty and Karel made it obvious from the get go that we were all about to experience an engaging and exciting atmosphere and they did not disappoint. They began with Betty relating her story of stumbling upon a news article, buying a solo copy of the book Flocabulary, and piquing the interest of her then graduating class. Before long, Betty's 8th grade students were finding success with the method and she was recommending it to her sister, Karel, who was teaching in the MDP high school.

As the two brought the method into their classrooms, they were visited by co-founders Blake and Alex. The two shared that when Blake and Alex walked into their classrooms, the students audibly gasped. Students could not believe the creators were white! MDP has been highlighted on local news for their use of Flocabulary and Alex and Blake have also been highlighted on national programs like "Good Morning America," "MTV News," and NPR.

Karel and Betty proceeded to teach us as though we were their students. Going through their process of allowing us to listen to the rap "Transformation" and then to sing along. When we finished, they set-up the electronic Jeopardy game (not formally part of the Flocabulary program) and broke up into teams quizzing us for answers in areas such as:

- Fill in the next line of the rap
- Opposite words
- Synonyms
- Which is spelled incorrectly
- Words beginning with C
- and many, many, more.

The winning team received the Flocabulary t-shirt and some of the books/audio cds were raffled off.

Every participant left impressed with the presenters, the program, and wanting more! It will be exciting to see how many Lasallian schools end up incorporating this method that speaks to students and staff and has proven success!










Lyrics to song, Transformation. Bold words are the vocabulary.

The transformation of bookworms
into hip-hop icons,
a dictionary and a microphone,
a dictionary and a mic.

Now this here's a story for
the fellows and the ladies,
sporting pocket protectors and
socket inspectors and marking their vectors,
glasses thick,
they're myopic, short-sighted,
they can't see the crumbs on their lips.
They don't say the word think,
they say "ratiocinate."
They don't render repeat,
they say recapitulate.
When they speak they're
wordy and loquacious,
verbose and gregarious,
so many words it's hilarious.
They study elocution,
the art of public speaking,
but they talk in circumlocutions,
indirect language.
They're recalcitrant,
defiant, and unapologetic.
Write an essay on
Shakespeare for extra credit.
So cogent and smart
that it changes the field,
it's seminal and original.
Their meritorious work always deserve merit,
they revise and redact their papers, they edit.
They placate their parents,
soothe them out,
by always getting good grades
and never leaving the house.
To them homework is never tedious,
dull and boring, they're never snoring or
yawning
they're working evening and morning.
They have tomes, large books
in their homes, which they read and peruse
when
they're talking to you on the phone.
They know about Pokemon,
Everquest, insects, entomology,
Dungeons and Dragons, and chess.

The transformation of bookworms
into hip-hop icons,
a dictionary and a microphone,
a dictionary and a mic.

Now if you've ever felt left out and
ostracized, like a pariah,
try Flocabulary Cereal with fiber.
We put the k in Outkast,
persevere, persist, and outlast,
we're part of this complete breakfast.
Your latent skills, hidden skills,
will burgeon and blossom,
after one bite, it'll be awesome.
If you're following the serving suggestions
diligently, carefully,
you'll be more hip-hop than Run D.M.C.
You'll be the paragon of animals,
the model of perfection,
blowing up the session like a
Mormon on a mission.
You're house will be more roomy and
commodious,
you'll be more clairvoyant than
Nostradamus.
Gaze into your crystal ball, more
cosmopolitan than Carrie Bradshaw,
with her humongous, vast, voluminous,
exorbiants, extensive,
extravagant, collection of shoes, sophisticated
shoes.
You'll be larger than a colossus,
Tony Danza will ask you who the boss is.
Summarize in a speech and give a synopsis.
Your speech will have that cadence,
that rhythm, progression of sound,
that makes people cavort, dance, and get
down.
You used to have a boisterous loud laugh,
people used to
think of you as crazy and daft.
Now you're so deft and skilled you got mass
appeal,
people crowd around you like Jesus eating his
last meal.

The transformation of bookworms
into hip-hop icons,
a dictionary and a microphone,
a dictionary and a mic.

Flocabulary - Part II

These are the price list and order form for th Flocabulary program referenced in the above Blog. If you click either, you will be able to view the full-sized version.

Together by Association

Sightseeing in St. Louis

The conference schedule included free-time opportunities that allowed participants to see some of what St. Louis has to offer.

Picture courtesy of Saul Martinez.