Slice of Life Transitions #DigiLit Sunday

DigiLit Sunday under the leadership of Margaret Simon focused this week on Transitions. Margaret delighted in the transition her students made to independent learners through the workshop approach in her classroom.Carol Varsalona discussed the importance of transition words in writing and in movies for her photography gallery. I love that she wrote her ideas in a poem.

Transition and connecting words are exactly what my students considered the past two weeks.

Transition words connect ideas in sentences and paragraphs.  Connecting words layer ideas from sentence to sentence using similar or the same words so the reader follows the logic.

Two examples from class show the idea of these two strategies to develop one’s ideas for the reader

One strategy to build ideas is to ask questions:

Why is are desserts your favorite?

What dessert is your favorite sweet one?

What is it about the ice cream that you like?

Why is the cold of the ice cream important?

Why is topping trees harmful to the bark?

Why is direct sunlight harmful?

What happens when sunlight burns the skin or bark?

What else could happen besides cankers?

So what if the bark splits?

Asking questions and including connecting words help build your ideas in layers that flow logically.  Transition words make the connections more clear.

We also learn about other strategies authors include: Writing Strategies

How do your students learn to build their ideas, instead of simply listing them?