Thread by @PaulWHankins

@FletcherRalph has a new book coming in September from @HeinemannPub @HeinemannPD (and I've pre-ordered, friends). The idea of the book has got me thinking and making this morning. Here is a quick collage to share and an idea to share. It will take a few tweets. #Room407 #THIS407

@FletcherRalph @HeinemannPub @HeinemannPD There used to a monthly magazine, MENTAL FLOSS, that I would pick up from stands. One of the features of the magazine was something called "1006 Words" which was really like a synthesis of ekphrasis and the 6-Word movement (inspired, according to folklore by Earnest Hemingway).

@FletcherRalph @HeinemannPub @HeinemannPD This is a quick collage I threw together this morning using an old Subaru ad, a crisp, beautiful backdrop of a bird feather and two phrases that seemed to work with the image. All of this is placed in an IKEA frame I got for a dollar.

@FletcherRalph @HeinemannPub @HeinemannPD See how this becomes an invitation to write out of the six words or the thousand-and-six words?

What does a "birds-eye view?" reveal or invite for consideration?

How might going to the balcony help us to tell and to write our story more consciously and conscientiously?

@FletcherRalph @HeinemannPub @HeinemannPD From the bird's perspective, what is beauty and what is burden?

Can we take wing and fly up and away from the ground clutter?

@FletcherRalph @HeinemannPub @HeinemannPD Now, what we have is a synthesis of image, text, and collage arrangement that taps into visual, verbal, spatial, and tangible in a lesson that could be invited in a writing workshop at all grade levels (I've presented prompts as they might be invited of a secondary ELA student).

@FletcherRalph @HeinemannPub @HeinemannPD @FletcherRalph Ralph: I don't know if this is a part of the new book or not, but you are welcome to this idea as are my teacher friends here at Twitter. #satchat @ncte @writingproject @ILAToday