OVERVIEW:
I just started a wiki for my advanced reading group of 15 kids. We are reading two companion books to The Giver by Lois Lowry, Messenger and Gathering Blue. Kids are working in groups of 2-4 to read and discuss the book. Instead of doing comprehension questions on worksheets, kids are answering questions (including many open-ended questions) on the wiki. Additionally, I’ve required kids to respond to at least two of their peers’ comments. This has given me the opportunity to teach kids about how to respond to someone online. We talked about being respectful with our words. I sent a permission slip to parents explaining the project.
NUTS and BOLTS (How to Set it Up):
1. Go to www.wikispaces.com and create an account.
2. Read the online guide to set up. It is extremely helpful.
3. Email the list of kids and passwords to wikispaces.com and they will set up your kids’ accounts.
4. Type "practice" questions in the discussions piece of the home page. It is helpful to kids.
5. Go over procedures and expectations BEFORE kids start.
6. Give each kid a folder. Include directions for how to get on the wiki, including username and password, and spiral notebook to write down online questions to take back and discuss with the group if needed.
LESSONS LEARNED (thus far...):
1. Small groups work best.
2. When kids respond to others comments, wikispaces.com does not show the response. Instead, it is sent directly to the student.
3. Not a good idea to be "notified" via email when a kid makes a comment. I received 55 emails in one lesson!
4. Instead, print out a "feed" of the discussions for each question. This shows who said what. I’m planning to keep track of questions answered.
5. Make sure each kid has their own book to read.
6. Remind myself I am still learning how to use it, too.
KIDS’ FEEDBACK:
After class, I asked kids how they felt about answering online versus pencil/paper. Overwhelmingly, kids preferred the online method - but maybe that’s just because it is new.
IDEAS for OTHER WIKIS:
I’m very interested in getting one started with our pen pals at Madrona.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Friday, March 7, 2008
AUTHOR’S CHAIR: Virtual Trip to Wolf Creek Elementary
Yes! We had a successful (with a little help from SOESD) connection from Evergreen School to Wolf Creek Elementary. (video was a little pixilated, but not too bad)
My fifth graders had written and illustrated their personal narrative stories in mini-books. They knew they would be sharing their writing with first graders via a virtual field trip. I found kids were more conscientious of their writing when they knew they had an audience, other than me. Since it would take too long to read all 29 stories, I chose a few stories to share with Kelli Lovell’s first graders. I copied the stories ahead of time and sent them to Kelli so that her kids could generate questions for my kids.
Her first graders did a marvelous job asking their questions! They made my students think about their writing and why they chose to write about the specific narrative. Part of the assignment for my kiddos was to include a simile and an idiom. One of my students wrote that she was “in the doghouse”, meaning, of course, that she was in trouble. One of the first graders asked why she was put in the doghouse. It gave my student the opportunity to explain an idiom and what the phrase meant.
I felt the learning for both fifth graders and first graders was tremendous! My class is excited about doing it again some day.
My fifth graders had written and illustrated their personal narrative stories in mini-books. They knew they would be sharing their writing with first graders via a virtual field trip. I found kids were more conscientious of their writing when they knew they had an audience, other than me. Since it would take too long to read all 29 stories, I chose a few stories to share with Kelli Lovell’s first graders. I copied the stories ahead of time and sent them to Kelli so that her kids could generate questions for my kids.
Her first graders did a marvelous job asking their questions! They made my students think about their writing and why they chose to write about the specific narrative. Part of the assignment for my kiddos was to include a simile and an idiom. One of my students wrote that she was “in the doghouse”, meaning, of course, that she was in trouble. One of the first graders asked why she was put in the doghouse. It gave my student the opportunity to explain an idiom and what the phrase meant.
I felt the learning for both fifth graders and first graders was tremendous! My class is excited about doing it again some day.
Monday, March 3, 2008
The Thrill of Victory and Agony of Defeat
Victory
The first virtual trip to the Carnegie Museum of Natural History went fabulously well! The kids behaved perfectly and the connection was good. After the trip, several kids commented how much they enjoyed the virtual trip. They were eager to get started on the follow-up activity, which was dissecting owl pellets.
Defeat
The following week we tried virtual field trip #2. The plan was to connect with Mr. Talty’s 8th graders at Lorna Byrne Middle School to begin a series of activities pertaining to science. Mr. Talty and I put our students in 10 groups of 3. The groups would be matched up and introduced to each other. His students wrote a science procedure that my students were going to try and replicate via the virtual field trip. Both classes were excited about getting started. Unfortunately, we were unable to connect due to technical difficulties.
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