For novice writers, looking at a blank white computer screen can be daunting. I want students to brainstorm ideas in a way that is flexible, easy, and colorful. That's why I have students use Lino (linoit.com) to brainstorm. Lino is an online corkboard application that hosts student-created sticky notes on a canvas. Stickies can be moves, organized, color-coded, and copied to other canvases, and students can work on Lino canvases in groups.
For our introductory Lino activity, I had students alternate brainstorming ideas to write about and sharing with their groups for 5 3-minute segments. This gave everyone an opportunity to gather possible writing ideas, post them to their Lino canvas, and hear the ideas of others in their group. Posting then sharing encourages students to listen to each other, share their ideas with their writing group(which can be hard for some students), and inspire each other with new thoughts.
I start be modeling how to sign up for Lino and create a new canvas. Then I show students how to brainstorm with Lino, posting new ideas different stickies and letting them pile up before spreading them out to cover the canvas. After alternating brainstorming and sharing, students begin to organize their ideas.
Thursday, September 4, 2014
Day 10- Tackk (A of W)
Once students get a chance to see a model and create their own summaries of articles, they get to make their own websites for those articles. I use a free online tool called Tackk (www.tackk.com) that might be the simplest website creator I have ever used. I give students a demonstration on first the different pieces that they need to include in their website.
Tackk details: https://tackk.com/fhdv1t
Next, I show an example Tackk site that I created using the article we read, annotated, and summarized together in class the previous day.
Tackk Article Example: https://tackk.com/n51u0w
Finally, I run through a quick demonstration of just how easy it is to create a Tackk site and give students time to work in their groups creating their own Tackk site. They use the information they generated the day before and add resources and an image. I encourage them to divide the responsibility into roles:
- The title of the article
- Your opinion about the article's topic
- An image from or about the topic
- A summary of the main ideas and important details
- Personal connections and additional resources
Next, I show an example Tackk site that I created using the article we read, annotated, and summarized together in class the previous day.
Finally, I run through a quick demonstration of just how easy it is to create a Tackk site and give students time to work in their groups creating their own Tackk site. They use the information they generated the day before and add resources and an image. I encourage them to divide the responsibility into roles:
- leader: organizes the group, helps out wherever needed, and keeps the group on-task
- visual designer:finds great images and organizes the visual layout of the website
- resource finder: finds supplementary resources that add to the essence of their story, including websites, online articles, or maps
- summarizer: finalizes and proofs the written text
Day 9- Article of the Week
Articles of the Week
junior.scholastic.com
upfrontmagazine.com
We did a model reading and summary together, highlighting important information and combining main ideas with important details for a summary in our own words. We came up with a good title and formed an opinion which turned into our tagline. Next, each group will choose a different article and repeat the process of reading, highlighting, and summarizing for their chosen article.
- Every week, your group will read and annotate an article in one of the two online magazines.
- Your group will create a well-organized and visually pleasing website with the following information:
- The title of the article
- Your opinion about the article's topic
- An image from or about the topic
- A summary of the main ideas and important details
- Three additional resources
junior.scholastic.com
upfrontmagazine.com
We did a model reading and summary together, highlighting important information and combining main ideas with important details for a summary in our own words. We came up with a good title and formed an opinion which turned into our tagline. Next, each group will choose a different article and repeat the process of reading, highlighting, and summarizing for their chosen article.
Wednesday, August 20, 2014
Day 8-Poll
(Aug 22) Today we used a poll to elicit student responses about what the most interesting topic from CNN Student news. This activity served as both an introduction to Poll Everywhere, which will be used throughout the year, and as a way to determine which which types of text information students enjoyed. Students used their computers or cellphones to answer the poll.
Additionally, students responded to an exit card using Socrative. Socrative is a student response system that records responses of students to teacher-created questions. Today's exit card using Socrative was also an introduction to a new web tool that will be used for exit cards and quizzes as well as posting short student writing samples.
Day 6- Open Procedures
Today we learned our open procedure using our blogs. Open procedure includes opening our blogs up and checking the reader (RSS feed reader on Edublogs) for the day's open task.. We create a new post and title it with today's date. The first line of the post starts with the word OPEN. Students then do the OPEN task from the reader. [I post directions everyday in my teacher blog and students follow me. That way they can see my latest post in the reader.]
For the first set of OPEN tasks, I wanted to practice procedure without having too much going on with the OPEN task itself. I chose to use CNN Student News as my OPENS for the first three days so that I could start building consistency. CNN Student News is an online, ten minute, commercial-free video newscast from CNN that highlights the day's news. Watching it builds students' schema and connects them to the larger world via current events. Additional activities can be found on the site if/when a teacher decides she wants to use them.
http://www.cnn.com/studentnews/
Students then watch the news report and jot down interesting ideas as they see them. I ask that they describe at least three things they found interesting with good details. Students can choose to wait until the end as the news does move pretty quickly. I give students one minute to discuss what they found interesting and another two minutes to record their ideas. Eventually, OPEN tasks will include creative writing and analyzing tasks, but to introduce and practice the procedure, I want students to be comfortable with the task itself. The videos involve high interest topics and are paced for high school students.
For the first set of OPEN tasks, I wanted to practice procedure without having too much going on with the OPEN task itself. I chose to use CNN Student News as my OPENS for the first three days so that I could start building consistency. CNN Student News is an online, ten minute, commercial-free video newscast from CNN that highlights the day's news. Watching it builds students' schema and connects them to the larger world via current events. Additional activities can be found on the site if/when a teacher decides she wants to use them.
http://www.cnn.com/studentnews/
Students then watch the news report and jot down interesting ideas as they see them. I ask that they describe at least three things they found interesting with good details. Students can choose to wait until the end as the news does move pretty quickly. I give students one minute to discuss what they found interesting and another two minutes to record their ideas. Eventually, OPEN tasks will include creative writing and analyzing tasks, but to introduce and practice the procedure, I want students to be comfortable with the task itself. The videos involve high interest topics and are paced for high school students.
Tuesday, August 19, 2014
Day 4--Edublogs
I decided that I was going to use a class blog to post writing assignments in my writing-heavy language lab class. I used Edublogs to host my blog. At some point we may go to a learning management system, but for now the blog will do. I created my blog in Edublogs with my students in mind. First, I wanted to be able to share writing assignments online in a method that was simple. I also wanted students to become familiar with the backend on blogging such as using the features on a dashboard.
I had students watch me demonstrate how to register for a blog through Edublogs. Then students set up their own blogs. Once they were logged in, they went to my teacher blog and followed me. My new blog posts pop up in a reader on their dashboard. Now, they never have to go directly to my blog again. I posted my first assignment to my blog which showed up in students' readers. They then read through the directions and copy/paste important information from my blog to theirs.
For example, the first writing workout was a series of questions about who was important to them, what they enjoyed doing, and where they saw themselves in the future. Students use their blogs as writing notebooks which means that they do not have to use complete sentences or proper grammar. The terms of service of Edublogs do require appropriate language, however.
Students can organize their blogs in several ways. Students use the days' date as their blog title. They can add details if they choose. All blogs are automatically categorized as uncategorized. Students create a category called "love it" to categorize writing that they want to work on more or share in conferences. Students can also tag blogs so that they remember what their writing topic was about.
I had students watch me demonstrate how to register for a blog through Edublogs. Then students set up their own blogs. Once they were logged in, they went to my teacher blog and followed me. My new blog posts pop up in a reader on their dashboard. Now, they never have to go directly to my blog again. I posted my first assignment to my blog which showed up in students' readers. They then read through the directions and copy/paste important information from my blog to theirs.
For example, the first writing workout was a series of questions about who was important to them, what they enjoyed doing, and where they saw themselves in the future. Students use their blogs as writing notebooks which means that they do not have to use complete sentences or proper grammar. The terms of service of Edublogs do require appropriate language, however.
Students can organize their blogs in several ways. Students use the days' date as their blog title. They can add details if they choose. All blogs are automatically categorized as uncategorized. Students create a category called "love it" to categorize writing that they want to work on more or share in conferences. Students can also tag blogs so that they remember what their writing topic was about.
Day 3--Jeopardy Rules Review
Days 1 and 2 were spent going over classroom rules and procedures. Day 3 ended up being a Friday. I'm not sure if it's just me, but I don't like starting a new unit on Friday for several reasons--absences, the weekend to forget which requires review on Monday, the antsy behaviors on Friday in general. Also, I wanted to be sure that my classes were processing the massive amounts of information that I was sharing. Finally, I wanted a quick recap to ensure I told all my classes the same things and to fill in gaps for students who missed anything.
I decided to use a game of Jeopardy to review the large amount of information. Jeopardylabs is a great free tool for creating online Jeopardy games. The game can be displayed using a projector or SmartBoard. Here's a quick screenshot of the board.
jeopardylabs.com/play/stairs-class-overview-1
I can choose the number of teams and the game allows me to keep track of the score. I can make the questions anything I want. Students were given group numbers based on the six groups they were sitting in. I do Jeopardy a bit differently than the gameshow since I want all groups to have a chance to answer the question. Each group gets a dry erase board and marker (a white three-ring binder works if you don't have a dry erase board). I go around to each group to pick questions; if there is a question that I know I want them to answer, I will take a turn picking. After I read the question, groups have 10 seconds or so to answer by writing on their boards. Then I say3-2-1 show me! Groups show me their answers and I award or subtract points. If groups choose not to answer, they do not show me their board.
Using Jeopardy as a review works well. Groups get a chance to briefly discuss. They must come to a consensus quickly. Opportunities to speak and listen purposefully and negotiate are abundant. As a review of any information, it helps students to first activate the organizational hierarchy of their schema and then learn from their mistakes.
As an activity in general, Jeopardy is flexible enough to fill varied time constraints; the round can end at any time with a double jeopardy question. One class may play for six minutes and one class for fifteen. I usually give candy to the winners; often the winners get first choice and three out of a candy grab bag and then the rest of the class gets one piece of candy. I have also given bonus points on tests or quizzes for the top team(s).
I decided to use a game of Jeopardy to review the large amount of information. Jeopardylabs is a great free tool for creating online Jeopardy games. The game can be displayed using a projector or SmartBoard. Here's a quick screenshot of the board.
jeopardylabs.com/play/stairs-class-overview-1
I can choose the number of teams and the game allows me to keep track of the score. I can make the questions anything I want. Students were given group numbers based on the six groups they were sitting in. I do Jeopardy a bit differently than the gameshow since I want all groups to have a chance to answer the question. Each group gets a dry erase board and marker (a white three-ring binder works if you don't have a dry erase board). I go around to each group to pick questions; if there is a question that I know I want them to answer, I will take a turn picking. After I read the question, groups have 10 seconds or so to answer by writing on their boards. Then I say3-2-1 show me! Groups show me their answers and I award or subtract points. If groups choose not to answer, they do not show me their board.
Using Jeopardy as a review works well. Groups get a chance to briefly discuss. They must come to a consensus quickly. Opportunities to speak and listen purposefully and negotiate are abundant. As a review of any information, it helps students to first activate the organizational hierarchy of their schema and then learn from their mistakes.
As an activity in general, Jeopardy is flexible enough to fill varied time constraints; the round can end at any time with a double jeopardy question. One class may play for six minutes and one class for fifteen. I usually give candy to the winners; often the winners get first choice and three out of a candy grab bag and then the rest of the class gets one piece of candy. I have also given bonus points on tests or quizzes for the top team(s).
Day 2--Syllabus
I created my syllabus using Piktochart, an infographic creator. My rationale included a desire to streamline the information, eliminate paper, and keep it interesting and fresh enough to capture and hold the interest of freshmen. One thing that turning your syllabus into an infographic does is makes you thoughtfully consider which information is most important. I don't need a novel to explain and preview my class; rather, a simple, colorful, image-based syllabus lets me visually represent the ideas that I'm verbally sharing without expecting students to read three pages worth of material (most won't).
I made some choices about how to organize my infographic syllabus. My name and the class name is at the top along with materials needed. I include my three overall improvement goals--schema, skills, and strengths (our 12 week theme) near the top as well, and make sure that students know everything we work on will fall into one of those three categories. Students always want to know about grades, and so I include the category breakdowns. I also decorate it with a mustache to add a bit of whimsy--don't take grades too seriously is my message.
I also include a breakdown of skills students will focus on. Since my academy students also have a reading class, we focus on writing and discussion/presentation skills more than reading. I added a cool picture and demonstrated citing my source below the picture. I added class rules and then explained what I meant by each. I included a Tagul word cloud in the share of a globe that has many of the technology tools we'll be using. I wanted to add a list of all the tools; students probably wouldn't read it; that was my compromise.
There are some pieces of the infographic syllabus process that I might revise for next year. I didn't add the themes of the three units because I was still revising the order and wording when I made the syllabus. I would also add my class blog site for students to write down or a QR code linking them to the site. I didn't hand out a syllabus because I posted it my blog, but that means parents need to wait until their student is following my blog to see the syllabus. Finally, I might create a full-color printout for students to take a camera phone photo of or use the QR code to link to the class blog, just to increase accessibility.
https://magic.piktochart.com/output/2438304-language-lab-syllabus
I made some choices about how to organize my infographic syllabus. My name and the class name is at the top along with materials needed. I include my three overall improvement goals--schema, skills, and strengths (our 12 week theme) near the top as well, and make sure that students know everything we work on will fall into one of those three categories. Students always want to know about grades, and so I include the category breakdowns. I also decorate it with a mustache to add a bit of whimsy--don't take grades too seriously is my message.
I also include a breakdown of skills students will focus on. Since my academy students also have a reading class, we focus on writing and discussion/presentation skills more than reading. I added a cool picture and demonstrated citing my source below the picture. I added class rules and then explained what I meant by each. I included a Tagul word cloud in the share of a globe that has many of the technology tools we'll be using. I wanted to add a list of all the tools; students probably wouldn't read it; that was my compromise.
There are some pieces of the infographic syllabus process that I might revise for next year. I didn't add the themes of the three units because I was still revising the order and wording when I made the syllabus. I would also add my class blog site for students to write down or a QR code linking them to the site. I didn't hand out a syllabus because I posted it my blog, but that means parents need to wait until their student is following my blog to see the syllabus. Finally, I might create a full-color printout for students to take a camera phone photo of or use the QR code to link to the class blog, just to increase accessibility.
https://magic.piktochart.com/output/2438304-language-lab-syllabus
Monday, August 18, 2014
Day 7- Authentic Happiness
With a language lab class, it's always a good idea to have a theme. I chose to teach positive psychology as a theme for the first three weeks of school. Students would take a personal characteristics survey to determine their strengths. Then students would read and write about those strengths. As students were learning about their own strengths, they would also be practicing many of the writing and discussion skills that the language lab focuses on building.
http://www.ppc.sas.upenn.edu/teachinghighschool.htm
The survey students take is long so I differentiate student attention lengths and preferences by offering students a choice--either they can put on their headphones and work independently or they can follow along with me as I read the questions and evaluation statements. For slower readers and students who need supervision to focus, having me read the questions keeps the pace moving. For faster readers, they can work at their own pace and stay actively working. When they are done, they have an opportunity to read about their own strengths.
VIA Strength Inventory for Children
http://www.viacharacter.org/www/
When students finish their survey, they copy their top six strengths to their blogs. Students then read through detailed descriptions of those strengths to find their signature strengths, the ones they really own, that feel authentic and invigorate them.
Students are sent to the following site to read up on their signature strengths.
http://www.viacharacter.org/resources/ways-to-use-via-character-strengths/
Online surveys have many advantages over paper/pencil surveys. First, they can be longer--often translating into more accurate--because they do not use any paper or need to be hand scored. Immediate feedback for students enhances personal relevance and interest. Chinking long surveys on separate pages encourages students to stay focused and not be overwhelmed.
Surveys are a great way to get to know your students and for students to identify characteristics in themselves. Almost everyone enjoys surveys that help you know more about yourself.
Videos and resources about Positive Psychology
http://www.ppc.sas.upenn.edu/publications.htm
http://www.ppc.sas.upenn.edu/teachinghighschool.htm
The survey students take is long so I differentiate student attention lengths and preferences by offering students a choice--either they can put on their headphones and work independently or they can follow along with me as I read the questions and evaluation statements. For slower readers and students who need supervision to focus, having me read the questions keeps the pace moving. For faster readers, they can work at their own pace and stay actively working. When they are done, they have an opportunity to read about their own strengths.
VIA Strength Inventory for Children
http://www.viacharacter.org/www/
When students finish their survey, they copy their top six strengths to their blogs. Students then read through detailed descriptions of those strengths to find their signature strengths, the ones they really own, that feel authentic and invigorate them.
Students are sent to the following site to read up on their signature strengths.
http://www.viacharacter.org/resources/ways-to-use-via-character-strengths/
Online surveys have many advantages over paper/pencil surveys. First, they can be longer--often translating into more accurate--because they do not use any paper or need to be hand scored. Immediate feedback for students enhances personal relevance and interest. Chinking long surveys on separate pages encourages students to stay focused and not be overwhelmed.
Surveys are a great way to get to know your students and for students to identify characteristics in themselves. Almost everyone enjoys surveys that help you know more about yourself.
Videos and resources about Positive Psychology
http://www.ppc.sas.upenn.edu/publications.htm
Sunday, August 10, 2014
Welcome Sign in Wordle
A great way to welcome your class is with an original welcome poster. Wordle and Tagul are both great word cloud applications that teachers can use to make a variety of instructional tools as well as decorations.
This is an example of the welcome poster that I created for my classroom to hang outside the door. I started by searching "welcome in many languages." I found a website that had a two column list of languages on one side and their representative "welcome" on the other. I copied and pasted the list into a word document and then deleted the language column leaving only the words for welcome. In addition, I deleted words that were not in the Latin alphabet to shorten the list. I also deleted any extraneous information from the list.
Next I opened up Wordle and pasted my cleaned-up list into the text box. I played around with color schemes, finally deciding to create my own bold color palette. I chose the font I wanted and tried some randomized patterns. I noticed that the word welcome didn't stand out so I went to the advanced option which allowed me to weigh my words. I randomly assigned words 1 or 2 and "welcome" as an 8 to stand out. I was sure to copy and paste a copy of the list from a word document so that all the effort would not be wasted if I needed to go back and change my weights.
The final product was the result of about fifteen minute's work and I was pleased with the results. I can save this wordle by logging in to my account, printing it directly from the screen, or saving it to the public gallery. I chose to paste its embed code in this blog in addition to saving it to my account. The next step for me is to take a saved copy to an office supply store and have them print it poster-size and laminate for me.
This is an example of the welcome poster that I created for my classroom to hang outside the door. I started by searching "welcome in many languages." I found a website that had a two column list of languages on one side and their representative "welcome" on the other. I copied and pasted the list into a word document and then deleted the language column leaving only the words for welcome. In addition, I deleted words that were not in the Latin alphabet to shorten the list. I also deleted any extraneous information from the list.
Next I opened up Wordle and pasted my cleaned-up list into the text box. I played around with color schemes, finally deciding to create my own bold color palette. I chose the font I wanted and tried some randomized patterns. I noticed that the word welcome didn't stand out so I went to the advanced option which allowed me to weigh my words. I randomly assigned words 1 or 2 and "welcome" as an 8 to stand out. I was sure to copy and paste a copy of the list from a word document so that all the effort would not be wasted if I needed to go back and change my weights.
The final product was the result of about fifteen minute's work and I was pleased with the results. I can save this wordle by logging in to my account, printing it directly from the screen, or saving it to the public gallery. I chose to paste its embed code in this blog in addition to saving it to my account. The next step for me is to take a saved copy to an office supply store and have them print it poster-size and laminate for me.
Thursday, July 24, 2014
Day 1- Introduction
Welcome everyone to this year's technology experiment. I'm your mad scientist/English teacher, Kelli Stair, and I'm about to use my masters degree in technology integration as well as the extensive work I've done finding and creating practical classroom uses for free technology tools to teach some freshmen!
It's a few weeks before school starts, and I'm making it my mission to record daily (school day-ly!) the use of technology in this year of teaching. I'm starting at a new school, so there may be more of a learning curve than I anticipate with regards to things outside my tech control, such as filters and availability of student passwords, but I am confident that with the setup I'm walking into--a class set of laptops and a SmartBoard--that I'm going to be in ed-tech-topia!
The purpose of this record is to give other teachers a template for technology use in their own classrooms. This journal-style blog-book will help me break down the act of writing into daily manageable chunks. My goals are simple. First, my students will use technology meaningfully every day. Second, over the course of the year, my students will become confident and adept at using not only the tools I model for them but tools that they discover and figure out for themselves. Third, the use of technology will increase student participation, quality/rigor, and quantity of student writing as well as self-management strategies and independence in learning.
For me, my goal is simple: to create meaningful assignments for students to use technology everyday and to record faithfully in this journal. We have 180 student days and I'm adding 20 planning days into this log of technology activities. My hope is that it can serve as a roadmap for teachers to incorporate technology into their classrooms. I do not have all the answers and I anticipate not only epic wins but massively epic fails. This is reality not fan fiction. I'll have good days and bad days, the internet will on occasion seek to destroy my sanity, and sometimes the most amazing ideas will fall flat on their faces. I promise to record fails and wins, to report honestly, and to cut myself some slack since this is the first year I'm working this way. I know some days will be learning experiences--for me, not students.
After a year of writing and presenting about using technology in classrooms, I am so blessed to have an opportunity to put my ideas into practice. I'll be recording lessons and sharing them here. I'll be gathering survey data from students and sharing their products. I'll be talking to parents and other teachers about what we're doing and polish up the ideas. I'll be course correcting when things don't work as planned and scrapping ideas that don't meet my rigorous expectations. Most importantly, I'll be using this space to reflect upon all of these things, tweaking and crafting them to be the best they can be. This is going to be a busy, productive, exciting, exhausting, fulfilling year, and I'm happy to share with the world.
It's a few weeks before school starts, and I'm making it my mission to record daily (school day-ly!) the use of technology in this year of teaching. I'm starting at a new school, so there may be more of a learning curve than I anticipate with regards to things outside my tech control, such as filters and availability of student passwords, but I am confident that with the setup I'm walking into--a class set of laptops and a SmartBoard--that I'm going to be in ed-tech-topia!
The purpose of this record is to give other teachers a template for technology use in their own classrooms. This journal-style blog-book will help me break down the act of writing into daily manageable chunks. My goals are simple. First, my students will use technology meaningfully every day. Second, over the course of the year, my students will become confident and adept at using not only the tools I model for them but tools that they discover and figure out for themselves. Third, the use of technology will increase student participation, quality/rigor, and quantity of student writing as well as self-management strategies and independence in learning.
For me, my goal is simple: to create meaningful assignments for students to use technology everyday and to record faithfully in this journal. We have 180 student days and I'm adding 20 planning days into this log of technology activities. My hope is that it can serve as a roadmap for teachers to incorporate technology into their classrooms. I do not have all the answers and I anticipate not only epic wins but massively epic fails. This is reality not fan fiction. I'll have good days and bad days, the internet will on occasion seek to destroy my sanity, and sometimes the most amazing ideas will fall flat on their faces. I promise to record fails and wins, to report honestly, and to cut myself some slack since this is the first year I'm working this way. I know some days will be learning experiences--for me, not students.
After a year of writing and presenting about using technology in classrooms, I am so blessed to have an opportunity to put my ideas into practice. I'll be recording lessons and sharing them here. I'll be gathering survey data from students and sharing their products. I'll be talking to parents and other teachers about what we're doing and polish up the ideas. I'll be course correcting when things don't work as planned and scrapping ideas that don't meet my rigorous expectations. Most importantly, I'll be using this space to reflect upon all of these things, tweaking and crafting them to be the best they can be. This is going to be a busy, productive, exciting, exhausting, fulfilling year, and I'm happy to share with the world.
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