Category Archives: Blogging

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Playing With a New Theme

Update 7/24/2010 – fixed header so it doesn’t double post the blog’s title – new header to come soon I hope!

If you are a regular to this blog you will note some changes here. I have wanted to change the look and workings of this blog for quite awhile, but time and knowledge have always held me back. I am not a real techie type, I don’t know php programming and as you can see I’m struggling a bit with getting my header to work like I want it to.

I am having my artistic daughter help me design a new image for my header, so things will continue to shift and adjust for a bit. I thought it fitting to leave it like this though so you can share in my “messy” redesign.

Learning is messy!

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Make Their Day!

My 4th graders are mostly second language learners and on IEP’s so they need lots of practice using correct English, punctuation and spelling. Since we blog, Skype, make wiki pages and more, I believe constantly exposing them to the ethics, safety and respect that having a presence online demands. To that end I devised a new blogging activity for them to participate in.

Kids like to help out. That’s just the way they are. So I chose a 1st grade class that blogs and explained to my students that being “older” they could “Make The Day” for these younger students by leaving them some positive, supportive comments. We even discussed any experiences they had being included in a game or activity when they were “young” by older kids and what that was like for them.

So far they have taken to this idea very enthusiastically! Here is the activity description from our class blog:

“This week we are going to practice making positive, supportive comments and make the day for younger bloggers at the same time! First, go to the first grade blog linked on our class wiki page. Then find a blog post that you make a connection with. You might have to deal with “invented spelling” that you have to decipher. EXAMPLE: It is a post about a cat and you have a cat too.

Next, say something positive about what they wrote or the picture that might accompany the post, like: “I like how you described your cat. I have one too.”

Then ask them a question like: “My cat is white, what color is your cat?”

Leave it fairly simple like that, after-all they are 1st graders.

Edit it and post it to their site.

Have fun and MAKE THEIR DAY!”

Learning is messy!

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New Report Finds That Writing Can Be Powerful Driver for Improving Reading Skills

Some will say this is so obvious that it goes without saying … and I would tend to agree, but I think it’s one of those studies that allows us something to point at with authority to those that don’t get it.

From the National Writing Project web site:

New Report Finds That Writing Can Be Powerful Driver for Improving Reading Skills

From the NWP web site:

“The majority of American students still do not read or write well enough to meet grade-level demands, and poor literacy skills play a role in why many students do not complete high school.

To help reverse that trend, the authors of Writing to Read: Evidence for How Writing Can Improve Reading (PDF) call for writing to complement reading instruction because each type of practice supports and strengthens the other.

The report provides practitioners with research-supported information about how writing improves reading while making the case for researchers and policymakers to place greater emphasis on writing instruction as an integral part of school curriculum.”

(Link to the PDF of the report) Writing to Read: Evidence for How Writing Can Improve Reading, a new report from Carnegie Corporation of New York published by the Alliance for Excellent Education.

From the report:

“Writing practices cannot take the place of effective reading practices. Instead, writing practices complement reading practices and should always be used in conjunction, with each type of practice supporting and strengthening the other.

This study shows that students’ reading abilities are improved by writing about texts they have read; by receiving explicit instruction in spelling, in writing sentences, in writing paragraphs, in text structure, and in the basic processes of composition; and by increasing how much and how frequently they write. Our evidence shows that these writing activities improved students’ comprehension of text over and above the improvements gained from traditional reading activities such as reading text, reading and rereading text, reading and discussing text, and receiving explicit reading instruction.”

Learning is messy!


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Our First Blog Posts! (yeah!!!)

It’s been a long time coming, but my new class of 4th graders posted for the first time on their blogs today. Our new MacBooks are up and running, we’ve learned how to turn them on, find our class wiki page … and now how to post to our blogs.

We have been doing an activity I’ve blogged about before, but this time I’m following the lesson plan from the Writing Fix website (This lesson idea was proposed to WritingFix by NNWP Teacher Consultant Kim Polson) a bit more closely because my current students are less experienced writers than my 6th graders last year.

Their posts are simple paragraphs about topics of their choice that follow a pattern from the book “The Important Book” by Margaret Wise Brown. Later we will “expand” these first examples into much more descriptive paragraphs … and eventually drop the “pattern” and develop other language pieces as well as write multiple paragraphs on the same topic. But this is a great starting point for us, everyone was successful … and thrilled. Note: my 4th graders are very “at risk” … 90% free lunch and 90% second language learners (and most are not close to fluent in their 1st language either).

My students were excited to say the least, and the few that have internet at home were making sure they knew how to find our blog online so they could show their families tonight.

Learning is messy!

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Reno Bike Project Winding Up!

We still have a few minor loose ends to finish up, but today we finally can say we have completed our Reno Bike Project, project. Amazing what we got done when we got some consistent time to work the last two weeks (although we took three required assessment tests this week). As I’ve mentioned in my last 2 posts, I turned the responsibility for the last 6 web pages over to each of the six groups in my room with minimum direction (each group was given one of the pages to do randomly – they had to do the page they got). At the end of the day Tuesday the pages were pretty sad and I was afraid maybe they weren’t ready to take this on. But Wednesday we looked at each page as a class and brainstormed ideas and I saw major improvement. Thursday we looked at some professionally made pages and things really improved, and today they just went nuts. The wikis really came out well, with only “consulting” duties on my part, mainly at the request of the students … “does this look better or should we do it like this?”

We also put the final touches on our PSA (video) which had to be re-edited to change the URL it references. So today we burned multiple DVD copies to send to local TV stations.

So what went into doing this project?

*We had a class meeting when this opportunity first came up to decide whether or not to take on the project in the first place.
*We took a field trip to the Reno Bike Project where we shot video and took many of the digital photos we archived on our Flickr accounts.
*We had guests visit our classroom and talk to us about the Reno Bike Project, bicycle racing and the health benefits of bicycling.

*We researched on the web for information for all the wiki pages we designed and to learn more about the science curriculum that was much of the basis for this project.

*We used our Diigo account to archive and annotate much of our research.
*Maggie Tsai from Diigo visited our classroom and taught students about Diigo and encouraged them about the work they were doing.

*We storyboarded, wrote (as a whole class shared writing) the script for our PSA.
*We had numerous discussions about the order of scenes and wording and which clips made the most impact.
*We practiced and then recorded the voiceovers for the video.
*We designed posters, one of the loose ends we need to finish … we have to change the URL on those before we publish them … will probably put some on our Flickr account later.
*We peer edited each others’ work over and over checking writing style and content and whether or not links worked correctly or whether someone could be understood on the video.
Students set up various photos to use in class and outside and took them themselves.
*We Skyped in Will Richardson to talk about healthy eating habits, specifically being a vegetarian.
*We blogged about various aspects of the project.
*Students designed graphics for the PSA and for images on their wikis and posters.
*Students designed the layouts for their wiki pages.
*Students noted “experts” (classmates) at certain aspects of getting the formatting of their wikis to look “right” or import a photo and would enlist their help … which was fun to watch. “Why is she over in your group?” … “Because she knows how to get this photo to show up on the right part of the page with the caption under it and she’s showing us how.”
*Lots of collaboration, planned and not (see above).
*Lots of “messy” learning … mostly NOT planned. : )

*I’m sure I left out lots, but it’s getting late.

Learning is messy!

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Class Blogmeister Is Safe – It’s Yahoo Groups That Has A Problem!

A “messy learning” opportunity reared it’s head this week that bears mentioning. Those of us that use Class Blogmeister as our classroom blogging tool love it for many reasons, but the safety features David Warlick built in give teachers confidence that students are in a safe environment. Student blog posts don’t appear on their blog until the teacher approves them, and comments coming to students are filtered the same way so that students don’t receive inappropriate comments.

Long before I started using Blogmeister David set-up a discussion board in Yahoo Groups so that users could discuss issues and ask questions. This was a nice feature, but technically it is not actually part of Classblogmeister, just a group you can subscribe to IF you choose. Students don’t see what is on the Yahoo Group and so anything that appears there has nothing to do with the actual blog.

Recently the Blogmeister Yahoo Group has been receiving a fair amount of SPAM comments with very sexually explicit material. Teachers that have received these comments have been frustrated by them as a whole, but a few have over-reacted and stated that they will now drop their blogs on Blogmeister. I’m wondering if some don’t understand that they could just unsubscribe from the Yahoo Group and never receive an email from it again … problem solved, but believe that somehow this is going to get to their students … no it won’t … this is a totally separate entity. This would be like deciding not to use the internet anymore because you received an email that had inappropriate content. Or canceling your cable or satellite TV because you got an inappropriate email … one doesn’t have much to do with the other.

We have all had students write inappropriate notes and pictures on paper in class … do we stop having students write on paper? Years ago I had a student poke another student with their pencil and the lead broke off under the skin and they bled some … do we stop using pencils? We had a student hit by a car while crossing the street in front of our school a few years back … did we stop having students cross the street or stop cars from driving on it? No. AND remember this email issue didn’t effect even one student.

Technology is new to many of us and TV shows get great ratings scaring people with images and stories of kids being contacted inappropriately on the internet. My brother was approached by a pervert on a city bus when we were kids … we rode the same bus the next day … and yes my parents reviewed safe behavior (and my brother did all the right things  BECAUSE my parents taught us to be safe) and admonished us to be vigilant.

Let’s not over-react here.

Learning is messy!

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So You’re A Teacher And You’ve Been On The Web More Than Usual Because Of The Election? Stay Tuned And Read Some Blogs By And For Teachers!

I’ve been hearing news stories here and there about people in general, but also teachers commenting that they have been obsessed with the web the last weeks and months following the election. Does that describe you? Great! So now that the election is winding down keep that new habit going. Instead of finding out what is going on with the election find and read blogs by teachers, students and administrators discussing every topic and issue you are dealing with in your classroom, community and school. Find out what others are doing with this technology stuff that has them and their students so excited and engaged, and maybe jump in a bit yourself … there are lots of people here to support you.

So how do you get started? Well you made it here somehow. Look over on the right side of this page you’re reading right now and you will see a column labeled “Blogroll.” (NOTE: if you don’t see the blogroll on the right CLICK HERE) The titles under that “Blogroll” heading are links to other blogs. Click on some and read and try others (ONLY OF COURSE AFTER SPENDING TIME HERE FIRST : ) )

What you will find is that most of those blogs also have blogrolls of their favorite blogs (they’re not necessarily ALL about education by the way) that you can peruse too. It’s kind of like searching for books you like in the library … you open the book, check out the dust jacket, then decide whether it seems like something you’d like to read more of. The great thing about blogs that is different about your experience with books though, is that whenever you have the courage to do so (and its really not  as scary as it MIGHT seem) you can leave the author a comment right on their writing … you can just tell them it was great … or you can completely disagree (and of course detail why, bloggers love that) and maybe even get a conversation going.

Next read some blogs done by students … yep that’s right, many teachers have their students writing through blogs. Students as young as kindergarten and all the way through college level and beyond. Instead of telling you why here I’ll let you find out for yourself. Then, when you decide to have your students enter the 21st century you can start your own blog (it’s free!!!) and after you have some experience blogging yourself you can start a blog for your students.

All this based on the habits you’ve begun to nurture during the election process … see, something good can come from this election!!!

If you need any more encouragement just leave me a comment here and tell me what kind of support you need to get you started. Really!

Learning is messy!

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Skypeing For Online Safety

A funny thing happened over the summer. My students became sixth graders! (and that can’t be good!) ; ) As we began the year and broke out the laptops I saw things happening that I didn’t like. Nothing horrendous mind you, but students checking their blogs before going straight to whatever they were really supposed to be doing. Or the student I “caught” on Club Penguin as I wandered the room. The student doesn’t even have a Club Penguin account, was just checking it out. So not exactly dangerous stuff, but the fact that they were wandering and off task hit my teacher radar … what else might be happening I’m not aware of? Especially at home or friends’ houses where many parents work odd hours and aren’t necessarily aware of safety issues on the net.

But what really grabbed my attention as we began an online safety program called  “7 Random Facts“, which is powerful in its simplicity. I’m not sure how each teacher involved prepared their students, but we talked about not disclosing information about yourself through your blog, even in little snippets that alone are not dangerous, but if someone “mined” your blog they might put a lot of nuggets together and find more than you realize. My students have had a great time deciding what 7 facts they would reveal about themselves and then searching the blogs of other participants to find out who might have similar interests and leave comments for them.

One day during a discussion about online safety – Myspace, Bebo and Facebook came up. It came out how many of my students have those kinds of pages (they are 11 and 12 years old) a bit over half my students have pages that they are too young to have according to the sites own rules. This revelation caused me to expand our online safety unit. In my research on the topic I used Twitter to ask the “Ed Tech Network” for resources. Through that act I made connections with several other teachers having similar issues with their students.

About a year ago we were involved in a Skype video-conference with George Mayo’s class, and he contacted me about having our students write more about online safety and continue the conversation through their blogs. I jumped at the chance and the next thing we knew we had set up a video-conference to share what we were learning. George imbed a YouTube video on online safety on his student blog. Both classes watched it and wrote about their reactions to it. 

George and I then had a Skype planning session and we designed a project on Google Docs where each group of students in our classes wrote vignettes describing someone being unsafe on the internet. Then they stated the rule that should have been followed. I had my students  figure out how to take a photo that illustrated their rule which we put on on Flickr account and then pulled into the Google Docs. 

During the video-conference our students took turns sharing their vignettes and George’s students asked my students questions about our climate, favorite teams, and other topics. The video-conference was great when it was working, but because of a major network issue my school district was experiencing (which I only found out about afterwards) we were on and off a lot. I’ve done probably 100 video-conferences in my classroom and have only had similar issues a few times.

The upshot is that I had a conference with a student and parent the next day and the student mentioned that since our safety unit she had purged her Myspace page of several pieces of info that could lead to her. By-the-way her mother knows all about her page, she monitors it and uses it herself to talk to relatives in Guatemala and elsewhere. I realize that although that is great news, we will need to continue this conversation all year.

One consideration … half of my class has been blogging, making wikis, video-conferencing and more for 3 years now. Next year in middle school they will have only scattered access to technology and probably little to no teaching about being safe online. Of course why worry about students that will begin their teenage years. By that age they know how to take care of themselves. 

Learning is messy!


 

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Dear Senator McCain and Senator Obama,

I wanted my sixth graders to be involved at even a minimal level in this election for several reasons. Foremost was that their families tend to NOT be involved in decisions that effect them. I even received notes from several parents telling me they don’t know enough about the issues to discuss them with their child, but they didn’t want them to receive a poor grade because of that.

On the first day of the project we spent time talking about why elections are important. Then we talked about what issues presidents might influence or want to influence. “My little brother is a pain, make him go away” OR “Make a law that allows us to chew gum at school,” OR “Pizza for lunch every day!” were discussed as not issues presidents get involved in. Next we brainstormed issues that were important to them and I was really impressed with what they came up with: Immigration, food prices, the war in Iraq, more jobs, gas prices, more parks (closer skateboard park), mortgage problem (which they asked me to explain), homelessness and more.

The next day for homework they were to ask their parents what issues and concerns help them decide who to vote for … I impressed on them this WAS NOT about WHO their parents would vote for, but what issues were important. The list we produced yesterday and the discussions and questions that went along with that was really much better than I expected.

So today we will re-visit the discussion for a few minutes and then students are to pick the issues most important to them and write to the candidates about them.

Below is from our class blog explaining our latest writing project.

What are the issues that are important to YOU that you want the next president to do something about? We brainstormed and discussed what issues concern us and asked our parents about what issues concern them (without asking who they are voting for, just what issues concern them the most). Then we revisited our list, answered questions and clarified what the issues were about. Next we each thought about which issues are most important.

Now your job is to write a post expressing your concerns to the presidential candidates. Explain what each of your important issues are, why they are important to you and why they should be important to the next president.

Be persuasive enough and maybe you’ll have some influence on the decisions the next president makes!

Learning is messy!

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