Project Evaluation
At this point in my Summer Book Club Bloggin’ project I’m not totally ready to evaluate results as I am right in the middle of it. However, there are some things that I will do differently in the fall and some things that could definitely be better.
First, I started this project the last week of school and had intentions of current 6th grade students and incoming students working together on the same book. In the last week of school I sent out a letter to my incoming 6th grade students inviting them to be in the book club and giving instructions for how to get started. In this same week I gave my current students a tutorial on how to log on, create a post, and other details of the site. I chose the book the first week of break and we are just starting reading this week.
The kinks and lessons learned were as follows:
- Incoming 6th graders really needed an “in-person” tutorial on how to log in, post and navigate the page. Trying to assist through email is cumbersome and doesn’t always work.
- The two groups should have probably read separate books. The “community” that my students from 08-09 built throughout the year makes it hard for new students to integrate. If there would have been separate groups it would have given my new students a chance to get to know each other and allowed my old students to continue their current relationships. There is also a big difference in the maturity level of incoming and exiting 6th graders.
- I should have started a couple weeks earlier and have decided upon and supplied the books. We are reading the Great Michigan Read, Stealing Buddha’s Dinner, which is available all over but the students had to purchase it themselves. I also broke the cardinal rule of reading the book before recommending it to students. There are some mild content issues that I probably should have prepared parents for.
I will do this again in the fall and use it for a few different things. I like the book club format and can see using it with a whole class novel or having different groups to complement my current literature circle format. I also still planning on using the blog for my original intention of publishing students’ writing and allowing peers to evaluate and comment on it.
Overall, so far this endeavor has been very successful. My students are engaged and excited and it is pretty minimal management on my part. Using what I have learned from this summer I feel confident that my fall implementation will be much more streamlined and effective!
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When looking for ideas and research to support the use of blogs in the classroom I came across more than I could possibly analyze! Overall, the opinion out there about blogging in the elementary school is that it can be educationally relevant if used correctly. Just like anything else.
I usually gravitate to Webcrawler (and have since 1995) because it avoids a lot of Googlized “junk”. Until I began my studies in Edu Tech I had no idea why I liked it but have since learned it is because it is a metasearch engine.
I used key words such as:
“blog in the classroom”
“blog in the elementary school”
“Blogs for language arts”
Blogs + elementary school
Writing with blogs
Overall my favorite article was the one found here:
http://www.education-world.com/a_tech/tech/tech217.shtml
I found this article by using the key words “blogs in elementary school”
This article elaborates on the following points:
- Blogging is not just for high school!
- Definition of blogging
- Examples of elementary blogging in action; including a weblink to a teacher page that has tried blogging where she shares her experience, problems and solutions, including a rubric.
- Tons of links to blogging hosting sites
I also had to research blog hosting sites and after looking at a lot of stuff I settled on a blogging site hosted by ePals since I was already familiar with the email portion of ePals and have been very happy with the layout and customer service. The blogging hosting sites that I looked at were:
http://kidzblog.en.softonic.com/
These options looked ok but seemed harder to get up and going than ePals. Especially because my current class of students already has ePals accounts.
The biggest lesson learned from performing the search is that there are A LOT of teachers out there doing exactly what I want to do. As I said in my previous posting I plan on using: http://www.classroom20.com/forum/topic/show?id=649749%3ATopic%3A32329 , a support forum for beginning bloggers to help along the way. I also learned that it is important to specify ELEMENTARY when I am searching through a search engine. Lastly, I realized that the support forum has more targeted resources and research than just open searches on the web. The internet is going to continue to be a source of information, inspiration and support for this project.
Uncategorized | Comment (1)Internet Research for TechQuest
I thought that one of the requirements was to link a document to our blog so I did 
Here it is!
Problem of Practice
Problem of Practice
I LOVE writing. I LOVE teaching writing. Students come in hating it and leave at least without throwing up in their mouth when I say that we are beginning a writing project. I even catch a few students along the way that also learn to LOVE writing!
What I don’t love is grading writing. It is impossible, in my opinion, to give relevant written feedback for 45 students on every piece with the amount of writing we do in my classroom. We operate on a daily basis, in my 4th-6th grade writing classes, as a writer’s workshop (Lucy Calkins style) with a twist. Every student is working on an independent project (usually on a self selected topic within a specific framework). My 6th graders also this year rotated between an essay of the week on a very teacher directed topic within a very specific format and a current events commentary. They also do reflection journals in each content area. My educational need or opportunity is to reduce the amount of teacher driven feedback and increase peer to peer reflection.
I plan to address this need using a classroom blog. I will use the blog as a reflection journal with four objectives. 1. Students will learn to be safe and responsible social networkers. 2. They will understand intellectual property and copyright issues. 3. Students will have the opportunity to write real and relevant content which is viewed by an authentic audience 4. Students will synthesize lessons in the content areas.
I found a couple great examples of teacher s using blogs the way that I would like to:
http://classblogmeister.com/blog.php?blogger_id=17192
http://classblogmeister.com/blog.php?blogger_id=193950
I’m looking for suggestions from experienced bloggers on what hosting site to use. I’m looking into teacherweb and schoolblog through ePals. I also found a great network for beginning bloggers in the classroom that I can go to for support.
http://www.classroom20.com/forum/topic/show?id=649749%3ATopic%3A32329
My plan would be to set up the blog/classroom page this term and begin using it with current 6th grade volunteers over the summer. That way it would be ready to go in the fall.
Addressing the four common places of education:
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- Someone teaching- Me! And reducing my workload by allowing students to give feedback to each other with my guidnece and monitoring.
- Someone learning- My students! Meeting the four objectives outlined above.
- Some subject matter – Interdisciplinary of course! ELA, SS, Science, and Math.
- In some setting - Initially in my 6th grade self-contained classroom with the goal to role out to the 4-5 grades 2nd semester.
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Zoho Docs
So I recently learned about Zoho which seemed very similar to Google Docs but in looking around a little more I see a LOT of differences. First….it has over 20 web-based applications similar to an Office suite but all online. I focused on Zoho docs to see if I could see any improvements in comparison to Google.
1. Still frustrating …….. no cutting and pasting from Word or other Office applications. You lose the formatting. Not practical when uploading old documents to share. It was also a little slow…….
Kind of cool…. No advertisements! Still lots of free options…
2. Applications for the classroom:
· Zoho docs is cool like Google is cool because it eliminates the need for students to have word processing software at home. It does, however, still require internet access.
· Specifically, Zoho docs allow organization of files that can be shared with the teacher, the class, or group members in a collaborative project.
· Class wide projects would be used when responding to literature, a social studies or science lesson or a community math problem.
· The teacher could post story starters and students could add to them.
· Students could turn in homework assignments into a specific folder.
Concerns:
· Students would be able to pick this up quickly if they were internet and Office savvy. With a few exceptions students 5th grade and above could use it pretty independently once signed up.
· Parents might be concerned about students having independent accounts.
· Not all students have access at home.
· Varied tech ability levels would require adjusted support.
Conclusion:
On the surface Zoho seems much more organized and thought out than Google but still deals with the issue of Microsoft compatibility. It is nice that there aren’t advertisements and that makes it more classroom friendly. The idea of collaborating on assignments seems cool. However, for now, I don’t see it fitting in really well into a typical classroom with limited computer access, at home and at school. The question needs to be asked….is there more learning by using these applications? Or is it simply just technology for technology’s sake?
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Webquesting!
Parents, Students and Colleagues,
Until recently I have had little experience with using webquests in the classroom. However, I know my students are excited to be “let loose” with a few. I have started using a social bookmarking site (delicious) to organize links for my class to use at school in the lab and at home and have found this very helpful. My recent favorite link is www.sciencebuilder.com. The site has vocabulary practice and quizzes for the GLCEs at every grade level. It is open to everyone. The login name is Michigan and the password is Science. Check it out! This site, I think, technically qualifies as a stand alone instructional resource because it takes little teacher assistance to practice. The quizzes are great for an introduction to a new unit as a pre-assessment.
I have noticed that I have to be careful when using the links in my social bookmarking site because some days they work and others they don’t! The special consideration always needs to be made to have a plan-B for when technology fails you. I have also noticed that although a webquest may look great on the surface once you start navigating it you can be disappointed.
Here is an example (http://questgarden.com/37/90/8/070207101253/index.htm) of a webquest that I was very excited about until I actually tried to work it. It fits perfectly with the Mayan simulation unit that I am working on right now, however, the content provided for resources was weak. I still might be able to take the central idea, provide my own resources and have it be as great as I think it could be.
As 6th grade winds down for my students this year we have a lot of things to cover and a little time! Within the next few weeks (after Spring Break) we are starting a combined Science and Social Studies unit that addresses Geography of the Western Hemisphere GLCEs as well as Earth Science GLCEs dealing with plate tectonics and fossils. Prior to spring break we are finishing a Ancient Maya simulation culmantaing with a group comparative cultures report. (comparative-cutures-report) Lastly in May we are talking abotu the agricultural revolution and matter and energy. So…these are the areas that I am looking for Webquests for and this is what I came up with:
http://www.mrconant.org/webquests/insideearth/index.html
Kinetic and Potential Energy:
http://www.stmary.k12.la.us/fhs/kinetic_and_potential_energy_web.htm
http://www.glencoe.com/sec/science/webquest/content/rollercoast.shtml
MesoAmerica:
https://www.msu.edu/~mcginnsu/WebQuest/index.html (probably a fellow MSU EduTech student!)
Agricultural Revolution:
http://www.shenet.org/High/hsacaddept/science/jstdenis/human_population_growth_web_quest.htm
Geography:
http://projects.edtech.sandi.net/grant/dreamvacation/
Fossils:
http://www.glencoe.com/sec/science/webquest/content/hominidfossils.shtml
History of the Earth:
http://www.runet.edu/~sbisset/rockswq.htm Great!!! Will probably use with all students
I selected these webquests because they specifically relate to the curriculum that we we be covering in the last two months of the year. I can see allowing my students to choose one project out of these offerings.
All for now except to provide the link to my delicious site for more bookmarks: http://delicious.com/BSpielman
Enjoy a sunny Saturday in Michigan!
Bridgit
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