Clouds! Clouds! Clouds!

A Multi-Genre Project on Clouds

Created by: Brittany Guy

April 28th, 2010

 Table of Contents

Genre #1- Concrete Poems about clouds………………………………….……….1

Concrete poems are poems in the shape of their subject. These were made
using ImageChef.com. Students first gathered ideas and descriptive words they
knew about clouds. They were able to type these into the concrete poem
generator program and generate their own poems.

Explanation of Choice for Using Concrete Poems…………………………………………….2

Genre #2- Newspaper Clippings about Cirrus clouds………………………….3

Newspaper clippings can be generated using various websites and saved as
image files to print or embed into blogs. Students researched cirrus clouds and
thought of a way to write a newspaper article that would describe the clouds and
explain the type of weather they could cause.

Explanation of Choice for Using Newspaper Clipping…………………………………….4

Genre #3- Facebook Profile for Stratus clouds…………………………………..5

Facebook is a well-known social networking site, familiar to even fourth
graders. In this activity, students researched stratus clouds and had to
incorporate their findings into the sections of a social networking profile.

Explanation of Choice for Using Facebook Profile………………………………………….6

Genre #4- Multimedia Book for Classifying Clouds…………………………….7

Various websites allow users to create books with text and illustrations
about any topic. In this activity, students were able to research the three primary
categories for classifying clouds and put their information into an online book.
These could be printed or stored online.

Explanation of Choice for Using Multimedia Book…..……………………………………….8

Concrete Poems: A concrete poem is one that takes the shape of the object it
describes.

CLOUDS
Why I chose to use concrete poetry?

I chose to begin our cloud activities with a concrete poem about clouds

because I thought it was an effective way of showing the general ideas and

concepts students had about clouds prior to studying them in our classroom.

Students were asked to brainstorm their own ideas about clouds including their

appearance and purpose.

Then, they typed their words into a concrete poem generator, which can be

found at imagechef.com. They were able to type their words and choose a shape

for their poetry. Once their poems were generated, we were able to print a copy

and embed them into our wiki. Students were able to share these with the class.

This discussion made for a wonderful pre-assessment of the students’

knowledge. Also, other students were able to help them discuss their poems and

their ideas about clouds. For example, most students had that clouds were white

and fluffy. This is a general idea I would expect from most students; however,

once we began studying clouds, they realized that their ideas about them were

too general. I think this activity really helped students brainstorm and activate

their prior knowledge about our topic.

Newspaper Clipping: Fictitious newspaper clippings can be created on
http://www.fodey.com.
Why I chose a newspaper clipping:

For my second genre, I chose to have students compose a newspaper

clipping about cirrus clouds. We had recently used the newspaper clipping

generator in language arts, and the students loved being able to use it again in a

completely different way.

The newspaper generator gives the students four blank boxes to fill in.

They choose the title of their paper, the date, the title of their article, and the

article itself. Students completed this assignment in pairs. First, they worked

with their partner to make these decisions on notebook paper. Their article was

to detail the information we had read and discussed about cirrus clouds. Once

their plan was finished, they opened the generator and typed their information

on the laptops. Once they generated their image, they saved it to the shared

drive and printed themselves a copy of their newspaper.

I think using this genre forced students to think outside the box. They do

not usually think of weather or clouds being a part of newspaper articles.

However, they were able to use the information they had about this category of

cloud and incorporate it into an article about the forecasted weather. One

student mentioned that he felt like a meteorologist. The students thoroughly

enjoyed this genre.

Fictitious Facebook Profile: Students were able to create a fictitious social
networking profile for their character: Stratus cloud.
Why I Chose the Facebook Profile:

Facebook is a social networking site that many students maintain, even in

4th grade. Those who do not actually have a Facebook account do know what the

site is and most likely will have one in the next 3 years. Therefore, the primary

benefit for using this genre was student motivation and interest.

In an increasingly technological society, everyone is aware of social

networking. Many students, their siblings, their parents, or even their

grandparents have these pages. Therefore, they were excited to be able to tie

this into a school activity. They worked in a small group to organize their

knowledge about stratus clouds. Then, they worked on a laptop to fill in the

blanks on a template I provided for them. Once their profiles for stratus clouds

were complete, they were able to share and discuss them.

Overall, I think this genre was an interesting, new idea for classroom use. It

is another example of how society is changing. These technological innovations

are a part of our students’ lives and should definitely be embraced in our schools

whenever possible.
Multimedia Book: Thinking About Clouds
Why I Chose the Book:

As a culminating project on clouds, I chose to use a multimedia book

created using Tikatok, a company of Barnes and Noble. I felt that this would

enable students to connect the information they had acquired from the three

types of clouds together. They were to explain the three classifications and

describe the clouds in each.

Tikatok is a website that allows students to build their own books about any

topic. They can include pictures from their own computers or from their library.

They may change the layout of pages and add or delete pictures and text. Once

they have created all of the pages in their books with pictures and text, they save

to the available online storage. These books can then be purchased in hard cover,

soft cover, or pdf format by teachers, students, or parents.

In our classroom, we viewed the books online and shared them using the

SmartBoard. Overall, the students learned a great deal with this genre. I think

the book allows students to be creative but also synthesize meaning from the

information we had covered in the previous lessons.

Reflective Essay on Multi-Genre Project:

Through the completion of this project, I have learned a great deal about learning and

also about multigenre writing. I quickly realized how interesting this type of research and

writing is when compared to a typical research paper. I also noticed that the material was still

covered and retained in this type of activity. Students could greatly benefit from this type of

research and writing in any content area.

According to Hughes, the term multigenre means many (multi) types of writing (genre).

This assignment requires varied types of writing in each component of the project all focused

on a single theme or piece of information (Hughes, 2009). In a multigenre project, each piece

makes a point of its own and is not connected to any transitional devices (Romano, 1989).

The power in a multigenre writing assignment is that of choice. Students are able to choose

their presentation genre, which gives them some control over their education. “When we

encourage and invite our students to participate in the decisions we make surrounding

curriculum, our students choose topics that are relevant and engaging” (Beane, 2005; Caine,

Caine,& McClintic, 2002). I think this idea of allowing students to choose and play an active role

in their education is a key component of multigenre writing.

I believe that learning is a different task for each person. There are those who learn

best by listening to others, referred to as auditory learners. These learners could be easily

accommodated through the use of a multigenre project. In the discussions that could take

place, they would be able to build knowledge. Also, if they chose a genre such as a podcast,

interview, or voice recording, they could meet this need. If students are given time to share
with their peers, they can also hear the information being shared through the completed genre

projects of others.

Then, there are those students who learn best from seeing or writing called visual

learners. The multigenre idea gives them the options necessary to accommodate this need to

see content. With components such as newspaper articles, journal entries, poetry, and

illustrations, the visual learner can build this body of knowledge effectively, while being able to

choose his own methods of displaying the knowledge he has acquired.

Finally, there are those learners who learn by touching with a hands-on approach.

These learners are referred to as kinesthetic. This type of learner can also be accommodated

with a multigenre project. With genres such as crafts or different types of books, these learners

can choose to complete project components that allow them to use their hands and create

pieces that they can not only, read, write, and hear but also touch and build parts that

correspond with their topic.

Upon completing the project, I also learned a great deal about myself as a learner. First

of all, I realized that I gravitate more towards genres I can visualize. I enjoy writing and creating

objects that can be read by others. Also, I prefer illustrations to accompany or be a part of my

writing. Secondly, I did not find myself gravitating towards hands-on activities. I generally do

not enjoy building or constructing tangible objects if given a choice. I also enjoy using

technology in my classroom and in my own personal life. All of the genres I produced used

technology to create and share. Finally, it quickly became evident that I enjoy social

interaction. I would prefer to always have discussions in small groups, partners, or as a whole
group. I benefit from sharing projects and information with other people and assessing the

genres they have created as well.

In my own classroom, I would definitely want to invite my students to complete these

projects. I think they are obviously an effective way to master content knowledge and interact

with peers. Also, I feel that students would find this type of project enjoyable, which is always

important in a classroom. I have found that whenever students are highly engaged in an

activity, they produce better work and put forth more effort. This increased effort has a

noticeably positive effect on a student’s retention of the information being taught. If a teacher

can assign a project that the students truly enjoy, the student may remember that project and

its content for a long period of time. So often, students memorize information on a short term

basis in order to perform well on written assessments. However, this information is not

thoroughly understood or permanently stored. Finally, using multigenre projects, which enable

students to choose genres that interest them, would most likely prevent many classroom

discipline issues. In my experience in the classroom, I have noticed on several occasions that

management issues decrease when students are engaged in assignments and learning.

I plan to implement the multigenre project several times each school year. I think it

could easily be designed for multiple science topics as well as in language arts to accompany

novels. I would allow students to work in partners in order to create and socially develop the

knowledge to be learned from the content. As in the plan I have developed, I would encourage

students to choose a couple of the genres to complete as well as a specific topic. I think the

more choice they have in their education, the more successful they will be.
 Overall, I feel that the idea of allowing students to have a choice in their education is a

positive thought. Fourth graders always enjoy being able to make decisions about projects.

Therefore, encouraging them to decide on the actual project they would be completing could

definitely be effective. Students would take pride in their work and be happy to share and

discuss their work with their classmates upon completion.

Bibliography:

Bean, J.A. (2005). A reason to teach: creating classrooms of dignity and hope.
Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Bean explains that a classroom environment that supports the needs of all
children is one that creates hope for students. In order to make children feel
comfortable and successful, it is important to allow them a part in their own
education. Encouraging students to make their own decisions in their
assignments is a good way to create classrooms of hope.

Caine, G., Caine, R.N., & McClintic, C. (2002). Guiding the innate constructivist.
Educational Leadership, 60(1), 70-73. International Reading Association &
National Council

In this article from the International Reading Association, the authors discuss the
constructivist theory of learning and give methods for supporting this idea in the
classroom. They too believe that students should be given a choice in their
education.

Hughes, Hillary (2009). Multigenre Research Projects. Middle School Journal.

Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Hughes is a middle school teacher and PhD candidate. In this article, she gives her
own research and advice for implementing multigenre research projects in the
middle grades classroom. She gives the results of their genres as well as her own
assessment of the students’ work. She also provides guides for teachers to use
when implementing these multigenre projects in their own classrooms.

Romano, Tom (1989). The Multigenre Research Paper: Melding Fact,

Interpretation, and Imagination. The Writing Teacher as Researcher. Portsmouth,
NH: Heinemann.

Romano, who is a primary researcher for multigenre research papers, discusses

the implementation of multigenre research papers. He describes them as a blend
of genres. He gives examples of genres and provides support for the assignments.
Topic: Weather

Grade Level: 4

Related VA SOL:

4.6 The student will investigate and understand how weather

conditions and phenomena occur and can be predicted. Key concepts
include
a) weather measurements and meteorological tools (air pressure
– barometer, wind speed – anemometer, rainfall – rain gauge,
and temperature – thermometer); and
b) weather phenomena (fronts, clouds, and storms).
 Tentative Plan for Implementation of Multi-Genre Project

Day 1- Brainstorm what each child knows about weather. Have them create a concrete poem
using http://www.imagechef.com.

Day 2- Discussion of Multi-Genre project

- Students will be able to see examples of various genres from previous classes or
made by the teacher. The basic parts of the research and writing will be explained,
and their partners will be chosen.

Day 3- Mini-Lesson: Weather Measurement Tools

- Students will be able to view pictures on the SmartBoard of the different weather
measurement tools.
- Students will use the remaining class time to meet with their partner and decide on
their topic and genres.

Day 4- Students will have all of class to complete their first genre example. They will have
access to an individual laptop and printer, along with art supplies.

Day 5- Mini-Lesson: Fronts

- Students will be presented with information on fronts and how they impact
weather. This will be in the form of a prezi created and shared by the teacher.
- The remainder of class will be given to them to meet with their partners. They
should work on completing their first genre and deciding on their second one.

Day 6- Students will have all of class to complete their second genre example. They will have
access to an individual laptop and printer, along with art supplies.

Day 7- Mini-Lesson: Clouds

- Students will be presented with information on clouds. We will do a quick reading in
pairs of Classifying Clouds by AIMS. We will discuss different types of clouds and
their ability to forecast weather.
- The remainder of class will be given to them to meet with their partners. They
should work on completing their second genre and deciding on their presentation.

Day 8- Students will have all of class to complete their projects and prepare a method of
presentation to their peers. They will have access to an individual laptop and printer, along
with art supplies.

Day 9- Present, Share, and Discuss

- Students will quickly share which genres they chose and the information they found
with the rest of the class.
 You’re Invited…
to make your own choices!
You will each be able to choose a partner, topic, and 2 genres
to complete in our study of weather.

Possible Topics: Possible Genres:

Air pressure (barometers) Concrete Poem

Wind speed (anemometers) I-Poem

Rainfall (rain gauges) Letter to meteorologist

Temperature (thermometers) Newspaper clipping

Fronts Journal entry

Clouds Weather report

Storms Social networking profile

Multimedia book

So, what do I do?

Choose a partner. With your partner, you must choose a topic

relating to our weather unit. Then, each of you must complete two
of the genres listed. Each person will receive a grade on the two
genres that they complete. Finally, you and your partner will
creatively share your work with your peers.
Explanation of Genres:
Concrete poem- A concrete poem is a poem in the shape of its subject. To

complete this genre, you may creatively illustrate and write your own poem. Also,

you have the option of creating your poem using the website,

http://www.imagechef.com .

I-Poem- An I-Poem is a poem written from the perspective of the person or thing

speaking. Your I-Poem can be written and illustrated on construction paper or on

computers, using a program such as Microsoft Word.

Letter to Meteorologist- In this genre, you may write a letter to a meteorologist

about your weather topic. Your letter should be at least three paragraphs and can

be handwritten or typed using a program such as Microsoft Word.

Newspaper Clippings- Newspaper clippings are fake newspapers from a different

time. You can choose your paper title, date, article headline, and article content.

This can be artistically created or created using an online generator, such as

http://www.fodey.com .

Journal Entry- In this genre, you will compose a journal entry describing the

weather feature you are focused on for the project. You can choose to do a series

of entries ranging from 2-5 days. Feel free to include illustrations to accompany

your writing.
Weather Report - In this genre, you may write a weather report for a

weatherman to read on air. You can watch sample reports online at

http://www.weather.com to model your report. This may be typed or

handwritten.

Social Networking Profile- Social networking sites allow people to create profiles

that give information about them and their friends and family. In this genre, you

can create a fictitious profile of a cloud, front, or weather measurement tool using

a template in Microsoft Word.

Multimedia Book- Numerous sites now allow students to create books online. In

this genre, you will be able to create your own book about your topic. You can

include pictures and writing. You may change background colors, text colors, and

layouts. These can be completed at http://www.tikatok.com .

**Examples of all these genres will be shown in class as we begin discussing the

project.**
 Rubric for Multi-Genre Project

The following criteria will be used to evaluate your project. You can receive up to
the possible points for each section. If you receive less than the greatest amount,
I will provide an explanation in the comments section.

Comments:
Clearly chosen topic or
theme used throughout ___ out of 10 possible
genre writing points

Comments:
Collaboration with
partner shows teamwork ___ out of 10 possible
and effort points

Comments:
Genre Example #1 is well-
written and/or illustrated ___ out of 30 possible
with evident planning points

Comments:
Genre Example #2 is well-
written and/or illustrated ___ out of 30 possible
with evident planning points

Comments:
Information is creatively ___ out of 20 possible
shared with classmates points

FINAL GRADE: ______ OUT OF 100 POINTS

Comments: