The fabulous Winner twins, Brianna and Brittany gave another motivating creative writing presentation, this time to Colette Amoroso’s grade 8 English class.
Brianna and Brittany answer all emails from students. winnertwins@winnertwins.com.
Thank you, Winner Twins. I am spreading the word to teachers and hope to give more of our students a chance to hear your valuable writing tips. See previous post for more information about this program.
Many thanks to Jerry Csaki, of the Pro Football Hall of Fame for bringing Harry Carson, New York Giants Linebacker, Team Captain, Superbowl Champion ’86, Pro Football Hall of Famer, and author of the recent Captain for Life, to Suffern Middle School on Friday, March 9. Mr. Carson spoke to Jennie Narcisco’s grade 6 and Russell Rice’s grade 8 in two sessions about the 6 Pillars of Character: trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, and citizenship.
Suffern Middle School hosted two multipoint videoconference sessions with Mr. Carson for eight schools nationwide in partnership with the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Jerry Csaki facilitated the discussion so that students from each school had a chance to ask questions.
Harry Carson exemplified the 6 Pillars of Character in his courteous manner and inspiring words. He spoke about how values on the field and as Captain mirror positive values on life’s playing field.
Mr. Carson’s message was in essence two nuggets of wisdom:
1) Be a Hall of Famer in life.You have your life ahead of you. Strive to be the best you can.
2) His mother always told him to be nice to people. At the end of the day we are all God’s creations and we are all the same. We don’t know what people are going through or who they are or how we will affect their lives.
Each hour, however, was packed with such wisdom from Mr. Carson that I have listed a sampling here:
Pro Football Hall of Fame Distance Learning Goals/Objectives:
Students will:
Define the 6 Pillars of Character: trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, and citizenship.
Demonstrate understanding of the traits associated with the 6 Pillars of Character.
Demonstrate understanding of how good character is essential for achieving success in life.
Be inspired to live more meaningful and effective lives by incorporating new insights regarding good character into their daily lives.
National Standards met:
Family and Consumer Sciences: 12.0-Analyze factors that impact human growth and development; 13.0-Demonstrate respectful and caring relationships in the family, workplace, and community.
Thumbs Up! Gayle Yodowitz’s grade 7 AVID class learned how twin sisters Brianna and Brittany Winner overcame dyslexia and co-authored their first novel, The Strand Prophecy, at the age of twelve. “The Strand Prophecy won numerous awards including Best Adolescent Fiction, making them the Youngest Multiple Award Winning Authors in America…They have spoken to over hundred thousand students, inspiring them to read, write and to overcome any obstacles they may face in order to achieve their dreams.” (from The Strand Prophecy back cover).
Brianna and Brittany showed how writing can be fun with a positive feedback loop. They talked about how their tips for successful writing can be applied to many disciplines and even test taking.
A few of their writing tips:
DO: Keep Calm – Keep Going - Focus – Have a Positive Attitude
DO Not: Freak Out – Rush – Obsess over Details – Get Angry
This is a highly energetic and interactive program. The girls are motivated, friendly, and relate well to middle school students. The conversation went beyond writing tips to how they overcame learning obstacles to accomplish their goals, and all of this with great fun. They emphasized that people can get through disabilities, that things do get better.
The content provider was The Center for Interactive Learning and Collaboration (CILC) Description from the program flyer:
“Identical twin teens and America’s youngest award winning authors, The Winner Twins, present a multi-media presentation that educates, informs, and inspires. Their program focuses on.
1) The creative writing process that the Winner Twins developed in writing their multiple award winning novels.
2) Their journey in getting their books published and in the process overcoming their dyslexia.
The twins’ novels are aligned with US national standards for fourth grade and higher and is a 14 point book in the Accelerated Reader program.
OBJECTIVES
America’s youngest multiple award winning authors the 15 year old Winner Twins, will teach students, about the creative writing process they use to write their novels.
The students will engage in a question and answer session about creative writing and overcoming challenges.”
NATIONAL STANDARDS
NS.LA1: Students read a wide range of print and
nonprint texts to build an understanding
of texts, of themselves, and of the cultures of the United States and the world; to acquire new information;to respond to the needs and demands
of society and the workplace; and for personal
fulfillment. Among these texts are fiction and
nonfiction, classic and contemporary works.
NS.LA5: 5.Students employ a wide range of strategies as they write and use different writing process elements appropriately to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes.
Tagged AVID, ELA, Language Arts, Writing
Meaghan Roberts’ grade 6 students learned about “NFL team histories and how team nicknames were selected and the meaning behind those. Students (learned) that not all teams are named from fan polls. Some team nicknames are deeply woven into the history of the communities or the geographic region in which they reside. The 50-minute program, which is designed to be highly interactive, is supplemented by a lesson aligned with national standards of education and is recommended for 4-12.” http://www.profootballhof.com/hall/ProgramSelectionsMaterials.aspx
Excellent program. Informative and high quality audio-video. Many thanks to Jerry Csaki for another engaging presentation.
October 26. Barbara Biddy’s period 6 class used Polycom to video conference with James Hicks’ grade 7 class in Guillen Middle School, El Paso, Texas. Guillen resides about 100 yards from the U.S.-Mexico border. They shared Google Earth images with us to show their location which is over 2,000 miles from Suffern.
Suffern students prepared for the conference by refining questions and practicing speaking skills, including enunciating words and projecting voices. They learned how to look into the camera when speaking and the importance of being attentive. They also brought up the word, ‘polite’ as an important ingredient in a successful video conference.
Students volunteered for jobs which will be rotated in future conferences: cameras, microphone, note takers, welcome greetings and goodbyes.
This was the first conversation of this type for both schools and the students learned not only about differences and similarities, but about the skills of communication.
Our students are currently writing reflections about the experience. More information may be found on the Hand to Hand Connect wiki. Many thanks to James Hicks and his students for speaking with us and to Edwardo Rivas for technical support.
Class discussion with Barbara Biddy reflecting on experience.
Jackie Perich’s grade 7 students enjoyed an informative and motivating session with Jerry Csaki on careers related to the NFL. Great program. Thank you!
Russell Rice’s grade 8 Social Studies classes participated in this interactive program that explores the vast array of jobs associated with the NFL: the high expectations for players and coaches, the short career span of a professional player, the grueling hours, the broadcasters, referees, camera people, technical assistants, sports agents, doctors, equipment managers, and people who take care of the field and stadium. It takes hundreds of people working together to execute one game.
Excellent video conference provider! A great opportunity for students to learn about real life examples of careers and what they need to do to get there. Many thanks to Jerry Csaki and Adam Shipley for engaging presentations.
Website Description:
“This program examines the importance of education and the hundreds of careers available in and around the National Football League. A 15-minute careers video which examines a wide variety of careers with the Pittsburgh Steelers organization is shown during this session. The 50-minute program, which is designed to be highly interactive, is supplemented by a lesson aligned with national standards of education and is recommended for 5-12.” Pro Football Hall of Fame
