Here's an absolute truism with regards to composition:
Good Writing = Good Thinking
While many teachers, much like myself, are questioning what happened to student engagement ever since the pandemic ... and we collectively curse those darned cellphones that preclude so much learning from happening ... and then you throw in the added element of ChatGpT cheating ...
No wonder the state of the modern day classroom is in such disarray.
But I have a question.
What happened to focus?
When I look at my audience during writing workshops, I swear to you, most of their eyes are broadcasting static.
They simply cannot (or will not) focus!
I'm a child of the 80's so our diversions actually taught us how to focus with stamina.
Think about it ... the concentration that went into PacMan and Space Invaders.
The focus that went into learning how to hoola hoop or pogo stick.
But the classic ... recall Rubik's Cube and the hours we spent on that conundrum.
In today's writing workshop video, I present my Rubik's Cube "Focus" Template.
It's super cool in that there are six sides to a Rubik's Cube and exactly six compositional moves one must make in a literary analysis.
I ran this unit last week - two weeks before Regents Exam ... burnout has fried most of my kids - but we managed to crank out some killer writing that had the magic bullets of focus and cogency.
I think you're really going to love this one!
Happy teaching and happy writing!
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