Wednesday, April 17, 2013
Story Bird
Using Story Bird is a simple way for students to learn how to create stories using pictures that can symbolize the ideas, terms, or events that they are learning in class.
Story Bird is user friendly, and easy to set up for your classroom. After choosing to create a Story Bird, you are shown works of art by many different artists. The idea is that you choose an artist and their style to use in your creation. You are able to use the search option to look for art that is more specific to the subject. However, you will rarely find art that is an exact representation of your work. Whereas students find this to be difficult, it is more useful to them than they know. Students have to think more about the terms, characters, or ideas that they are writing about in order to find art that is used more as symbolism. Once the art is chosen, you decide if it will be used for a story or for poetry. In this case, it will be used for a story. As you prepare to write your story, you are shown multiple pictures that you can use to add to your Story Bird. Once you create your cover page, you can add multiple pages as your creation grows.
One of the very helpful functions on the Story Bird page is the classroom organizer. You can load your classes, though you have to do one student at a time, and actually give them assignments on Story Bird. This is great because you can access everything they are working on, what they have published, and you can assign them new work on the site. Assignments are listed as well as the work from the class library. All work is private and can only be accessed by you or the students that are assigned to the class.
In my class, students were assigned to create a Story Bird that used Symbolism. Specifically, they were to create a Story Bird that shared an event from The Hunger Games. Using different pictures, students were to write 1-2 sentences for each picture that would explain what their picture symbolized. Students first had to choose an event, and then choose pictures that would help them to create their Story Bird.
In the Middle - Ch. 9
Ch. 9 - Valuing and Evaluating
Self-evaluations and evaluations are less about judgment and more about growth and improvement.
Atwell uses portfolios in order for students to collect their work through each semester/trimester. Record keeping is a great way to students to see where they came from, and their self-evaluations help them to decide where they want to go.
Atwell ask 5 different questions of her students when beginning the self-evaluation task.
1. How many pieces of writing did you finish this trimester.
2. What genres are represented among those pieces?
3. How many books did you finish this semester?
4. What genres are represented among these titles?
5. How many pages of letter have we written in your reading journal?
These questions represent the hard data that the students should have knowledge of before starting their self-evaluation.
After the hard data, students are asked reflective questions that make them think about both their reading and writing over the year.
Sometimes you will find that the students are thoughtful about their answers, and other times they will be quick. If your prompts are not clear, their responses may not be insightful. Be careful of the questions that you choose, and make sure that your students are prepared and understand.
In the Middle - Ch. 7 and Ch. 8
Ch. 7 - Responding to Writers and Writing
Ch. 8 - Responding to Readers and Reading
Any writer knows that the single scariest moment in writing is when you get your paper handed back to you from the teacher. The fear of the red pen leads sweat to figuratively and sometimes literally run down your brow. Atwell hits the nail on the head. “Writers are vulnerable.” The second a student writes their thoughts and personal stories, they are leaving themselves exposed to the comments and critiques of their teachers and sometimes their peers. Instead of just writing comments on a paper, sitting down and having a conference with the students leads to an effective dialogue that takes away some of the fear of writing. Teachers are able to show their students what they can change and how they can do it. Instead of criticizing the writing, help them to improve their writing.
The purpose of the conference is not to rewrite their paper, it is a time for students to share what they wrote, why they wrote, and how they feel about their writing. When you conference with your students, you enable them to share more of themselves and their writing.
Atwell recommends that when working with readers, journal writing is an effective way to have students reflect on what they have read. Students should be reminded that their journals are not a test of their writing skills or their reading skills.
When we think of journal writing, we do not think of responding as well. Atwell describes not only students writing responses, but teachers responding as well. I can understand how this could be an effective learning tool. Students know that they there responses are not just going to be checked and thrown to the side. They are aware that there writing should be thoughtful because the teacher’s writing is thoughtful as well.
Because you have kept your workshop organized, your students should be able to understand and appreciate the journal writing as a way to organize their thoughts as well.
In the Middle - Ch. 5 and Ch. 6
Ch. 5 - Getting Started
Ch. 6 - Mini-Lessons
Just like when you are getting ready and organizing your classroom, you need to organize and plan the beginning of your workshop. Atwell states that you must set the tone on the first week if you want your students to commit to the workshop and learning. Student buy-in is as important as teacher buy-in when beginning this process.
Setting routines allows for the ninety minute class time to run as smoothly as possible. One routine that students need to gets used to right away, is the ability to “look at what they are doing as writers and identify it…”
Setting a quiet tone is important as well. By talking quietly yourself while working with students, you help them to understand that they should do the same. This helps to set up a comfortable writing environment.
Ch. 6 - Mini-Lessons
When committing to a reading-writing workshop, mini-lessons become an important part of learning. Instead of maximizing a lesson and taking days to explain concepts, many mini-lessons that cover and recover concepts are more effective for student learning. You can use mini-lessons in order to “highlight concepts, techniques, and information that will help writer and readers grow up.”
When deciding what you should teach in a mini-lesson, look at what your students are writing. Where are there problem areas? What can be improved? Once you have uncovered and answered those question, you have found the topics for your mini-lessons.
Remember, as a teacher, you are the most knowledgeable reader and writer in the classroom. Put your expertise to good work and use what you know to help your students. Information out of a book cannot be compared to your first-hand knowledge of what works and what makes the writing harder and less successful.
In the Middle - Ch. 3 and Ch. 4
Ch. 3 - Making the Best of Adolescence
As teachers, we are taught to keep students in-line, control behavior, and not make waves within the classroom.
Atwell reminds teachers that they have to recognize that adolescence is a time of discovery, “confusion, questioning of authority, and manifestations of poor attitudes.” It is a mixture of positive and negative emotions, and a rollercoaster of events that can change the lives of the students. When we accept that they are going through these changes, it is easier to understand that they need to share those feelings and release the emotions that they are always taught to repress when in school. Writing is a positive outlet for those emotions, and a great way for students to share themselves, their thoughts, and their struggles with others.
In addition to letting students express themselves, we must also let them gain positive independence in the classroom. Teachers should keep an organized classroom that allows students to safely be independent while making good choices and communicating their concerns.
In Chapter 4, Atwell begins to discuss how to great ready for Reading and Writing workshops.
The first and most important step is organization. Atwell steps back and revisits her time in the classroom when her successful readers and writers were helped by an organized environment.
In order to write well, students need “frequent time for writing.” I would also say that in order to read well, students need frequent time for personal reading as well.
When prepping for reading and writing workshops, allotting time for work and personal reflection is very important. Even when students are given copious amounts of time to work on their writing and reading, it is still a very slow process. It is necessary for the teacher to plan lessons around these times as well as within. When students are writing, there are always occasions for learning.
In the Middle - Ch. 1 and Ch. 2
Ch. 1 - Learning How to Teach Writing
Ch. 2 - Learning How to Teach Reading
Nancie Atwell states that she began her teaching career as a creationist. She came in to work everyday and created new lessons that she hoped would be exciting and useful to her students. As the years went by, she realized that though creating is useful, learning is better. So now she has changed from a creationist to an evolutionist. Instead of deciding what her students will learn, she learns from them and what they need learn next.
One of the ideas that Atwell discusses is the need for meaningful tasks. We can ask our students to write about anything, but if they feel that the task does not warrant hard work, we cannot expect positive results. Atwell shares that we cannot just ask our students to write, we must write as well. Modeling is the first step in showing students that their own writing is important.
Students need to know that we write for reasons other than assignments, and that they will have to do the same. Atwell frequently wrote with her class as well as modeling her own writing and reasons for writing.
In the Middle elaborates on the need for active learning of the teacher alongside the students. In order to be an active learner, teachers must accept that they do not know it all. This is probably the hardest part of the process. Most teachers want to believe that they know everything there is to know about their subject, but the fact is that we are always learning new things every day. In fact, if we take the time to listen to our students, we will learn everything that we need to know in order to help them to be the most successful writers that they can be at this time.
Ch. 2 - Learning How to Teach Reading
If there is one thing that teachers need to know, it is that we do not just teach students a specific subject, it is that we are teaching them how to learn.
When we want students to read, we give them an image of what the proper reader is believed to be in the literate world. Unfortunately, that image is portrayed as a snobby reader of massive novels, and poetry. The reality is that most students are intimidated by the idea that they are to become that kind of reader. Instead of pushing students towards this idealistic thought of reading, we should instead let them read what they enjoy and share with them reading that is more challenging but enjoyable. In addition, we need to make time for reading. As with writing, we must model reading as well. Bring your favorite book, put your feet up and read. You may find that your students do the same!
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Tagxedo
So you need a way to make learning more exciting? Do you want something artistic that you could hang on the wall or post on your webpage? Perfect! You need TAGXEDO! Tagxedo is a WEB 2.0 innovation that is useful for more than just writing your name over and over again. It is actually a great way for students to learn more about words, characters, places, and more!
In my class, I took the opportunity to use TAGXEDO as a way for students to learn more about their vocabulary words, characters, places, and events from the Hunger Games. Students were first given the task of finding synonyms for specific words from the book. By using the thesaurus, students find synonyms that they can use to load on TAGXEDO. They also have to find the right shape for their words as well. A perfect example would be the word LOVE. There are many words that describe love, but there is one perfect symbol of love, a heart! Using the shape of a heart, students upload their words to TAGXEDO and create a beautiful work of art that they can share with the class. While they have been creating, they have also been learning about symbolism and synonyms. My students love using TAGXEDO, and I love that they are so creative with their work!
In my class, I took the opportunity to use TAGXEDO as a way for students to learn more about their vocabulary words, characters, places, and events from the Hunger Games. Students were first given the task of finding synonyms for specific words from the book. By using the thesaurus, students find synonyms that they can use to load on TAGXEDO. They also have to find the right shape for their words as well. A perfect example would be the word LOVE. There are many words that describe love, but there is one perfect symbol of love, a heart! Using the shape of a heart, students upload their words to TAGXEDO and create a beautiful work of art that they can share with the class. While they have been creating, they have also been learning about symbolism and synonyms. My students love using TAGXEDO, and I love that they are so creative with their work!
Thursday, March 21, 2013
EDMODO
In a time where social networking with students is taboo and completely inappropriate, schools have found a way to still allow students to reach their teachers for educational help! EDMODO is the new way to create dialogues with students in a way that uses the many technologies that students love to use everyday!
In my classroom, I have recently starting using EDMODO with my 8th grade students in order to move away from the old paper-and-pencil assignments that waste resources and cause boredom for students.
EDMODO is accessible for students on the computer, on their cell phones, and on iPads as well. One of the biggest advantages is allowing students to be able to ask questions about any assignments when they need answers. I regularly receive questions from my students about assignments that I have given on EDMODO. It is great because instead of not doing an assignment because they are confused, they ask questions, I give my response, and then they can finish their work.
In my classroom, I have recently starting using EDMODO with my 8th grade students in order to move away from the old paper-and-pencil assignments that waste resources and cause boredom for students.
EDMODO is accessible for students on the computer, on their cell phones, and on iPads as well. One of the biggest advantages is allowing students to be able to ask questions about any assignments when they need answers. I regularly receive questions from my students about assignments that I have given on EDMODO. It is great because instead of not doing an assignment because they are confused, they ask questions, I give my response, and then they can finish their work.
Thursday, February 14, 2013
Core Principles for Great Teaching
Core Principles for Great Teaching
In this audio file, "Tom Newkirk, author of "Holding on To Good Ideas in a Time of Bad Ones", talks with Nancie Atwell, author of "In the Middle", about the core principles in their teaching."
I wanted to share this link, and will post my response shortly.
In this audio file, "Tom Newkirk, author of "Holding on To Good Ideas in a Time of Bad Ones", talks with Nancie Atwell, author of "In the Middle", about the core principles in their teaching."
I wanted to share this link, and will post my response shortly.
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