Rachael Fletcher from Farimont Middle School will demonstrate educational uses of the SMART Board and Mimeo.
Thoughts about Blogging Activity by Mary Jo Swiger:
My thoughts on the magazine cover project: allowed my students to have an authentic audience, and regardless of ability, all students were able to express themselves, we also covered several cso's with this project. Thanks!
CSO's used in blogging:
RLA 5.1.02 Use strategies to increase grade appropriate vocabulary
RLA 5.1.07 Use pre-reading strategies to analyze text
RLA 5.1.08 Differentiate and apply comprehension strategies to summarize and judge text critically
RLA 5.1.12 Use denotation to understand meaning
RLA Standard 5.2 Apply writing skills and strategies to communicate effectively
Would you like to try another blogging session between my students and yours? I would like my students to write an article that will argue, defend and justify a "need" or "want" that they feel is missing from Fairview Middle School. For example, "an outdoor classroom"...
Your students would be part of the learning environment by supporting my students reasoning, or explaining some ways to enhance their writing, for example, giving synonyms, descriptive word choices, grammar suggestions, persuasive writing techniques, etc... In other words, critiquing their work in a positive way, to provoke more thought from my students. Hopefully, your students will become aware of student wants and needs in a school environment and also how to analyze writing and provide feedback. I'm going to present this as your students being an "authentic audience" that will respond to their writing.
Assignment:
Provide me with some of your thoughts about the blogging activity. What did you learn about fifth grade students abilities to communicate through digital writing? What surprised you? What are your concerns? How can they be addressed? Did this activity make you more or less likely to use blogging with your future students?
Due Thursday November 12 before class.
5th graders quite naturally have an enthusiasm for technology use and this was demonstrated in their eagerness to interact with our class. I was pleasantly surprised at the divergent interests displayed by the class, of course 5th graders have much more to be occupied with and inspired by than when I was in the 5th grade. Parental guidance is a must for any child involved in reading or writing blogs. I would remain concerned that parents were not involved enough in a students activies to allow proper use of internet activity; thus outside of the classroom, I believe that such youthful children be restricted in their access to internet use. I personally did not like the blogging engine utilized as it seemed to have less ease of use than some other bloggers I have been exposed too. This may be due to the restricted parameters placed within it to meet the needs of the educator to limit access, however, I feel that perhaps a more "user / guest friendly" version could be utilized. I am unsure at how useful blogging would be, it could be placed in a continuum of prioritized learning initiatives and evaluated from there. To me, it would most likely be in the middle of that continuum, with other technology usage being of greater importance. However, with that being said, I am quite certain that it is a very good means by which to allow students to transition through a portal into greater and more creative technology use and something I would certainly use at that age level.
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