This week's readings:
Johnson: Chapter 7- Writing Online pages 99-118
BABR: Chapter 7- Co-constructing Knowledge Through Collaborative Writing pages 135-161
Yim: Cloud-Based Collaborative Writing and the Common Core Standards
Guzetti: "Nomadic Knowledge" Men Writing Zines for Content Learning
ILA: Sharing Student Writing With the World
So rather than review each of the readings I have decided
that I would define some of the key words Dr. Beach discussed on her blog and
make connections to digital writing.. I knew of some of these but not many. The
readings this week were full of applications to be used in digital writing. All
of the terms she asked about relate back to digital writing in one-way or
another.
Zine- it is a small self-published form of writing. I
remember learning about these when I was younger through the exploration of penny
dreadfuls! Many of our students are into this kind of literacy because it is
known for being fan fiction. An example of this would be pottermore online
where people post digital writings of alternative Harry Potter stories or
extensions. I read these myself; I’m a zine reader! Who knew!
Do you guys read fan
fiction or use it in your classrooms?
I would think it would be a great way especially in older
grades to get students excited about literacy.
Vlog- I was happy that I figured this one out on my own. It
is a video log or journal of the happenings in one’s life. I myself only have
one connection to make with it and it is from the show TrueBlood. After each
episode you could get online and watch a vlog of one of the characters. It was
a way of keeping it going. I could see this being fun for students during a
book study or author study. The teacher or students could take turn doing a
vlog of each chapter reflecting on what happened.
Digital story- I think we all know what a digital story is
and I believe Cathy has commented before that she has made them with her
students. I just really wanted to point out a tool they discussed in johnsons
reading about ZooBurst (www.zooburst.com).
You can get an account for free and create 3D pop-up books that are
interactive! You can use it on the iPad too.
Digital anchor charts-
Cathy- you have
mentioned before that you use Evernote, a digital anchor chart. Do your
students prefer this to traditional anchor charts?
Mentor texts- The readings discussed that you should always
model and use good mentor texts in both traditional and digital writing. Ralph
Fletcher stated: “I think mentor texts are any texts that you can learn from.
And every writer, no matter how skilled you are or how beginning you are,
encounters and reads something that can lift and inform and infuse their own
writing.”
What are your typical
mentor text go-to examples that you use? Can you think of a way to convert them
into digital formats?
Cloud computing- Is just a storage device of digital texts
or anything else you keep on the computer. I use icloud for my personal things,
but prefer DROPBOX for my professional things so that I can easily share with
others.
What do you guys use
for professional storage?
Purpose- While we all know what purpose is in relation to
any form of writing I think it is important to remember to be mindful in
sharing this idea with our students.
For what
kind of activity do you think it would be better to have students collaborate
on a wiki and for what kind should they collaborate on a blog? Why?
Which of these ideas that you read about would you like to try with students? which have your tried?
Which of these ideas that you read about would you like to try with students? which have your tried?
I think that whether or not to use a blog or wiki depends on
the goal you are trying to achieve and the class of students you have. Here is
a table that explains how they differ.
Wiki vs. Blog
Wiki
|
Blog
|
Multiple Authors
|
Usually a single author. Sometimes
can have multiple contributors
|
Pages
·
Edited
·
Changed
·
Added
|
Chronological Content
·
Posts/Entries
·
Comments on Posts
·
Responses to Comments
|
Edited by a group or team
|
Author posts, user comments
|
Knowledge Sharing
|
Opinion Sharing
|
Links to other Wiki pages
|
Links to outside
|
Grows rapidly, at all hours of the
day
|
Grows slowly, one post at a time
|
Articles constantly change and are
continuously updated
|
Each post becomes stale over time
|
Discussions can take place on pages
or in the discussion forum
|
Discussions take place in the
comments of a post, typically approved by blogger.
|
Many-to-many communication
|
One-to-many content
|
New Literacies- creativity
I couldn't find much on creativity because it is so intertwined into all the domains of new literacies. let me know if you find any else in wiki about it!
Evernote is a pretty cool tool. It is great for taking notes and saving a clip from a website. I actual haven’t used it as a digital anchor chart like Johnson mentioned. Given that I teach second grade, I think it is an important part of the process for the kids to be a part of the creation of the anchor chart. It has more meaning and makes more connections. After the chart is created, I would make a digital version. I am going to try it soon and will let you know how it goes. As a teacher this is just a great way to keep your units of study organized. When you attempt to teach the students methods for responding to a blog, all of these tools being in one place is very beneficial.
ReplyDeleteI am not sure that I have used mentor texts exactly like the book specifies, but I have used mentor texts. The other day I read There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Some Leaves. We have read a few of these books in the past. I drew the student attention to the word patterns and rimes. The student did their own writing response similar to the book. They loved it. This book is in a digital ebook, but it isn’t free. The public library does have a bunch of books that are digitally available for free. It just takes a bit of planning ahead to utilize them. Also, you won’t have a library late fee like I have right now for a book I still have! Ha!
Regarding professional cloud storage, I like google drive! I enjoy all of the other applications, and the way it works.
Sad to say I haven’t ever used blogging in my teaching. Our district has all blogs blocked. I think if I had to pick between a wiki and a blog to create, I would choose a blog. I think that this, at least in my brain, it would be easier to start with a blog for younger students. I think it lends itself to a little more flexibility as students are learning about online collaboration.
I have to agree that with younger children more concrete anchor charts work better. Although, I do tend to think that with the pace of how abstract thinking skills are developing at a younger age due to use of technology and other influences it may become the more developmentally appropriate thing at some point to use evernote or things like it for anchor charts. Especially once everyone starts using ipads or something like it as paper in the classroom! I recently read an article that stated that men should be reading to children more because they question during stories differently than women. This actually helps them in developing more abstract thinking and reasoning skills. I'm going to post where I read it just in case I can't figure out how to insert a hyperlink without being the publisher of the blog.
Deletehttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/relationships/fatherhood/11896196/Five-reasons-why-dads-should-read-to-their-children-more.html
I so think that there is a place for digital anchor charts. I think we always need a balanced approach to literacy. I think there are many positives to having men read to kids. One is just the simple role model aspect of men as readers. Once a month the Noble librarian, who is a male, comes into my class. He reads a few stories and does a craft. The kids love this time!
DeleteWow, Tabitha, I'd love to read that article on how men should read more to children. I think men have and play a special part in children's lives not matter the circumstances. From sports to reading, the way children react will be totally different from those reactions if they were dealing with a woman (mom/sister/aunt etc.)
DeleteI love that you have a male reader come!
DeleteI discovered after I read and thought about your question about mentor text that I don’t really have any specific go-to examples that I use. As you mentioned Ralph Fletcher stated that “… mentor texts are any texts that you can learn from,” and as a result of texts including both books and other written work I would say that I learn the most from news articles, and other writings that pertain to my likings and interest. For example, writings on teacher development as well books and writings that will help me to learn about new teaching techniques, frameworks and class actives that I could implement. For students I love big books, both fiction and nonfiction. I think that these texts give students the opportunity to use their imagination with fiction and still learn a great deal with non-fiction. To make these texts digital for students I could either find them online and project them using laptop and projector/ Smartboard and if I could not find them online I would take a picture of the printed version with my smart phone and can place them in a Power Point document, Microsoft document or just project them as is in pictures. I think the latter ideas are an easy and even practical way to get a text to digital format, especially if you have a time crunch or you are not as tech savvy as you’d like to be.
ReplyDeleteStorage is an essential in my life. I take tones of pictures and store lots of saved documents both for personal and professional reasons. I do have a Dropbox, iCloud, three email accounts as well as my laptop and numerous external drives. However, I would say that I like both my 64 Gg pin drive and 300 Gg external hard drive the most for professional storage. Even though it may seem like a hassle I am very apprehensive about not saving my documents on external devices. If I were to not save them there I would send them to an email and save them in a particular folder.
I found myself wondering about the kind of activities I think would be better to have students collaborate on as it pertains to a wiki and what activities would be better for them to collaborate on if they were to use a blog. As a result of wikis’ ability to be changed or edited by others I would have my students collaborate on group projects like poems, stories, and digital posters. They can all choose a color so that they know who did what. This too would call for some parental involvement. I think blogs would be good for students to collaborate and share their ideas and thoughts on the books that they are reading in class (one at a time), or how they felt about the day’s class or a specific lesson or just about something they would like to talk about (sports, hobbies, etc) and in the end a compilation of their work could be printed.
Last, I think that I would love to try blogging in my class. It is something that I have never done but I believe it would be good for both my students and me. Firstly, for them they can write without anyone changing their work. They can see what their classmates or writing and they can post as many times as they want, depending on the topic. This can help them with their digital communication, computer skills and they can also build an online-community. Taking part in this Literacy and Technology Savvy Teachers blog has enlightened me and because of its impact on me I would want to implement it into my classroom routines so that my students can also have the same experience, both at school and at home.
I kind of think that for the age we all work with that blogging would be a good introductory activity that could lead into creating wiki's. Blog's could be teacher created in the beginning and then with the gradual release of responsibility be assigned to students.
DeleteGreat thoughts Krystie!
DeleteI also think blogging is a great introduction to collaborative writing and sharing of thoughts. One great way to introduce kids to blogging could be the use of a responsive journal. This could be an actual journal format (paper, pencil) that is set up visually like a blog. The kids actually write with this as a graphic organizer to acclimate to the digital format and blogging style. I would like to see if there is a tool that could work like interactive writing. I am sure it exists. There are several I can think of that could possible do this, but each have there own negatives.
Thanks Cathy,
DeleteYes, blogging seems to be our number one choice for our little ones. I'm really excited to use this one day with my kids.
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ReplyDeleteBlogging in the Classroom
ReplyDeleteClick on the link above to hear Monica Chewning discuss how blogging in the classroom can help students become stronger writers and critical readers in addition to other "Blogging 101" objectives.
Where did you look to figure out this hyperlink without being the blog publisher?
DeleteI can't find a good tutorial
DeleteNevermind! Found where you posted in the community, thank you for that.
Delete..I refreshed and opened this blog so many times this afternoon and these messages were not here. Man, I think i'm having a message lag here. Is this happening to you ladies?
DeleteI'm glad you found the information for the link Tabitha. Did you find it easy to follow? If i'm ever stumped on something, especially technical stuff, I always Google it. With that said...technology, sometimes its good to you and sometimes its not!
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ReplyDeleteAs it pertains to digital anchor charts, do you all think that a running header (short) or a screen saver on the smartboard or on a computer could suffice? I was just thinking about that and wanted to know what you all thought. I know they don't leave much room for a lot of information but maybe just maybe it could work.
ReplyDeleteI don't see why not. I mean there is a lot of room for creativity in decided what to use to align with new literacies.
Delete