Thoughts on this project so far:
1. The website is very difficult for my kids to understand. Find an easier one. Yahooligans, maybe?
2. Model notetaking step more clearly. Have a premade response page.
3. Emailing with someone actually in the field for information. Is it an option? Safety?
4. Creating brochure/powerpoint-model, show good/bad examples
I was waiting for my 16 yo daughter’s second volleyball game to start today, so I took out Adolescent Literacy (Beer, Probst, Rief, eds.) to read. I picked up in “Tom Sawyer, Teaching, and Talking” by Probst, and a few thoughts came to mind. I thought back to a quote that I remembered from Dancing With the Pen: “Writing floats on a sea of talk.” I don’t have that book with me here at home as I write, so I don’t know who to attribute that quote to.
I am guilty of not promoting quality talk in my classroom. And I am an ESL teacher! I suspect if I teach my students how to communicate better orally, then their writing will naturally become better. It is already Sunday here, so this afternoon I am going to rework my plans for Monday through Wednesday to work on discussion as we explore The Devil’s Arithmetic (8th grade) and Where the Red Fern Grows (7th grade).
I’ll be thinking of what I need to do to scaffold the conversation to be worthwhile. I’ll update here later with any ideas I have. I will finish reading from AL to see if I get some more insight!
In considering how to use a classroom blog to enhance my reading and writing curriculum, I’ve thought about a few things:
I want my 7th and 8th graders to be proficient users of English, whether to listen, speak, read or write. Will a blog enhance the way that my students use English in these ways?
What do I need to give my students authentic reasons to listen, speak read, and write?
I don’t want the technology to be and end in itself. I want it to be tool that students use to practice their communication in English.
What do they need to know about using technology to help them incorporate new technologies in the future?
I am also monitoring my own exploration of the technology and how I go about learning it. I have needed the motivation to wade through vast seas of information available, research skills to locate the information I need to accomplish my goal, time to mess with what I learn (time to make mistakes and try again).
I went throught those processes as I first found out about Edublogs and saw the possibilities of using it in my classroom (motivation). Then I clicked a “start now” button and followed the walk through to get set up. I explored some existing blogs to see what was possible. I clicked through the Dashboard to see what was there, but still didn’t know how to “make it happen” in terms of creating my blog.
I noticed the Edublogger and read a bit, then searched for some getting started info, which turned up a couple of intro manuals, which I skimmed because I already had done some of what was discussed. I identified those activites which I hadn’t done and tried them out.
I clicked on the Voki link because it caught my attention and then played with it in the same way until I managed through trial and error to get it into my first post.
Whew! That was work, but FUN work, and an experience of learning that I want my students to have. The process was important I think, since it was problem solving. I almost want to set my students up with the problem (figure out how to set up your blog) and see how they move through it. How much support from me will they need? Will the interest be maintained even with frustration? I could walk them through step by step, but would the problem solving really be a better lesson???
Something to consider.
Happy blogging!!
