As of September 30, 2005, the North Central Regional Technology in Education Consortium
is no longer in operation.
Prior Learning, Interests, Misconceptions, and Conceptual Difficulties
Students have difficulty with descriptive writing. They tend to use very general terms in describing, and they believe that if they know what they mean, the reader will understand, too. The first activity is designed to help address this problem. As students see that general descriptions can describe many pictures, they should begin to understand the importance of specificity. When we begin this activity, I expect that students will struggle with the process of converting what they see into written expression. The guiding questions in this activity are designed to give students a starting place for this expression.
Prior to these lessons, the students will be familiar with the five steps in the writing process: prewriting, writing, revising, proofreading, and publishing. Students will have received some instruction on the function of adjectives in writing. They will understand the fundamentals of grammar and punctuation. And they will be familiar with the process of brainstorming as a prewriting strategy.
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