Digital Poster

I have been working with a fifth grade class this past month.
They just finished a "traditional"poster board book report. We have had discussions on the benefits and struggles that come with doing a poster board to express what you have learned, and what information to share.
I shared with them a Gloster Digital Poster I did. I have taught them how to navigate the site Glogster.com they enjoy the website, because it is fun and they can be creative, create and edit when they are at home, as well as at school.
Our next step is for them to create their own digital poster.
I plan to document their progress and what they find to be advantages of doing a digital poster and disadvantages, if any.

Assessment

So - I just finished my first round with Freshman research papers. We're ready (for the most oat) to move to the next step and do research to create the group websites. So, before we begin I'd like to spend some of my time this Saturday in developing a before and after assessment to gauge what they get out of it when we're done. I'll need to figure out what questions to ask, how to ask them, and what method to use. I have done paper questionnaires in the past, but I know that there are on line ways of doing this. I'd love to somehow turn the info into graphs or something so that we can get a better handle on the data.

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance!

Dowloadable Resources

There are some resources you might find helpful, particularly in digital storytelling and movie-related projects. You'll find them on this wiki:

http://maineresources.wikispaces.com/

Am I getting anywhere?

So I now have 98% of my students using Google Docs and it has certainly helped my ability to edit. It has other challenges to it...getting accounts, getting access, and getting them familiar with how to use it. One funny thing happened was that I was on one night, late, and a student came on to the same document. That was pretty cool...although it was hard to figure out WHERE to have our conversation.

I am learning...they are learning..or at least that is my hope/goal. Small...but a goal!

A Steep Learning Curve

Since our last gathering I have been working toward launching two new initiatives in my classes that has challenged my own technological skills. I may be trying to do too much at once, but it's exciting for me, so I'm determined to keep going. First of all, I have created a blog to use for Virtual Literature Circles (http://jfdsbooktalks.wordpress.com/), an idea I read about in an article in Educational Leadership. I have 4 titles (The Outsiders, Speak, Shattering Glass, & The Hunger Games) that students in my 2 classes of at-risk students (16 students total) have chosen to read. They will meet face to face tomorrow to plan their meetings, and I will review the requirements. My plan is to initially provide the prompts to begin discussions, but I am hoping they will use this as an opportunity to construct meaning as a group. I will work on helping them write questions that elicit rich responses. There is also a page called "Making Connections" for students to respond to what I call the BIG QUESTIONS. For example, these titles have many themes in common including the concept of power. One class began a discussion about the use and abuse of power that we will continue tomorrow.

At the same time, I am preparing to launch a Digital Writing Workshop. In the spirit of collaborative learning, I planned to use the wiki resource on Moodle, but after much work and frustration, I have decided to work outside of that forum. Since I've used both wikispaces and pbwiki before, I plan to use one or the other for student writing. That's my weekend project!

In case anyone missed it, the May 2010 issue of English Journal is about social networking/collaboration. I've referred back to it several times.

Digital Is

The National Writing Project's website that we're all creating resources for, Digital Is, has officially launched.

When you visit the site, try the log-on you've already created and see if you are still a member. In some of the final revisions to the site, a number of existing accounts were wiped out, so check and see if yours if still active. If it's not, create a new one. Explore some of the resources, get a sense for what these resources and collections look like, and if some idea hits you, create and upload a resource. You'll see a huge variety of possibilities.

While you're in there, feel free to start some discussions on the resources you're looking at. The hope is that over time, this becomes a live, dynamic site, not so much where people go for lesson plans and tips, but to talk about teaching and learning with digital writing and all that entails.

The site is likely to be quiet for just a little bit; it's being touted in the new book, Because Digital Writing Matters, which has just been released. I've ordered copies for all of you (wow, a course that pays you and buys your books!) and we should have them by the December meeting. No, it's not a required read, and there won't be a quiz, but you might find it useful in light of your participation in this program.

You'll see Digital Is getting some national press - the MacArthur Foundation, the primary funder for the site (and this program) featured the work of one of my students in their announcement of the site, and I expect other media sources to start writing about Digital is in the coming weeks.

Locations...

We're leaving Orono and heading south. Our next two meetings, Saturday, December 4, and Saturday, March 5, will be held at the Maple Hill Bed and Breakfast in Hallowell, just a couple of miles off 95 in Augusta. We'll provide coffee in the a.m., wireless Internet, and a lovely lunch. The final session for the program, the Writing Ourselves event, takes place at the same location on Saturday, April 2.

Click here for directions.

update

Seth and I are working to create a community of writers between his students and mine. We are experimenting with digital storytelling, and skype to engage my 3rd grade writers in production, revising, editing, and sharing of work. I'm working on a rubric and feedback form that will allow Seth's high school students to offer praise and polish to my 3rd grade writers, as well as an authentic destination for their work. I'm also working to incorporate my students management of our blog, hoping that they will become the facilitators of this digital piece as we work through the school year. I appreciated the help with the digital storytelling and look forward to sharing what we've done when we meet on the 4th.

I've begun my work on poetry with my students. Most have taken the survey I developed at our last group work day. I'm still looking at the results. Some students are enthusiastic about the work, others, not so much. I notice that a lot feel like they're floundering, so I guess I have my work cut out for me.

video games for education

In the spirit of sharing - here are a couple video games that I have my juniors play. First they get a lecture on the Battle of Hastings and that whole deal - then for a fun homework assignment I have them play these two games and answer some open ended questions about them.

The first is a simple game that can be played in a few minutes. The second is very complex and takes hours to actually complete.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/interactive/games/hastings/index_embed.shtml

http://www.channel4.com/history/microsites/0-9/1066/game/index.html

If anyone else teaches Brit Lit, perhaps you'll find this fun.

After 1066 we discuss the French impact on English which leads to Thomas Becket, Magna Carta and then Chaucer...

common core

We just had a lovely (...) staff day this past week discussing the coming tsunami that is the common core interstate standards.

I guess my tone is pretty snarky here, so I should say that in principle I think the "idea" of standards is fine. What I am skeptical about is the implementation. Recalling all the hoopla around Maine's failed attempt to institute the learning results and the accompanying set of assessments, I am apprehensive that this new process will be any more successful.

Anyone else dealing with this in their school? Any insights on how to weather the transition smoothly? Any implications for writing?

I actually printed out the common core writing standards and started highlighting. I highlighted in green the kinds of writing I already do, and in orange what I don't so much. That's not to suggest that writing is an all or nothing thing - this was just to give me a rough idea of how my approach lines up with the core. Not surprisingly, I found that I'm very much in line with the core, except that I don't have students do any writing that is solely geared towards describing a process or reporting/ summarizing an idea. I lump those kinds of explication in with other writing I suppose, in the sense that students need to summarize certain points before they move to argument or analysis, but I always thought that summary on it's own wasn't terribly useful a skill to develop. Anyone else taking a look at these standards???

i have posted my ideas on digital is website. am i also to post on the blog?

More on newspapers

Last week I had the editor of a local 'rag' come to talk to my English Language Learners about writing in general, and what it takes to write for a newspaper. He emphasized the ability to be "digitally saavy" and gave them new information about both the qualifications of a reporter as well as the idea behind what good news means (right now, today, after this election...I am not quite sure! Sorry...my own viewpoint is showing here!). It was a great lesson all around for them.

Have you checked it out??!

Hey Everyone!

What do you think about the Digital IS website? I just took a quick look and am so excited-it seems like an amazing resource. I can't wait to dive into it some more, I think there is a ton of great stuff I can show my teachers. What are your thoughts? Find anything useful?