We have finally lauched our blogs and the kids are really into it! I couldnt' believe the buzz in the classroom. They were so excited and really wanted to see what everyone else was doing. I had them learn how to post and comment by having them write about their favorite foods. This allowed them to just focus on the process. This way they wouldn't get too bogged down or overwhemed with also having to focus on the content about global warming.
Giving them the writing rubric and having them practice that more really helped to improve their responses. They are producing much better quality work now. Today when they did their first two "official" posts on the blog I reminded them about the rubric.
Monday was our first day where they learned how to post and practiced it. Then, yesterday I was out of the building for half of the day so they had to take a break from it as I didn't want to leave something so new with a substitute. So many kids asked about whether we would be blogging again today when they entered class. They were eager beavers!
I am really excited about how into this they are. I really think that by starting with something more conversational and easy for them it gave them a jumpstart. Today went very smoothly. They commented and posted about what their thoughts were about blogging- why is it good/bad? What makes this different than a usual class discussion? etc. After that the last task of the day was to revisit their positions on global warming and to write a post about that. The room fell under a dead silence as they focused in on their writing! Yippee!
I encouraged them to go onto the blogs tonight if they are able to and willing. Read what other people have written. Comment if you like. Maybe check out the other classes blogs.... Yet, I wanted to keep this optional so that if they do post and comment it is purely out of their interest and desire to do so. Wow! What a great start!
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Really getting into it
Over my break I read over the students' written responses. The first day responses were not very good. However, that was really only a brief introduction and the questions were not very in depth. Hence, the responses were not that great. After the second day when we learned more about the greenhouse effect and how it relates to global warming students started to gain a better understanding. In addition the questions on day 2 were more thought provoking. The responses were better but still not quite up to par as I would expect.
Upon thinking about this over break I decided that I should clarify what a good response would look like. What criteria would I grade it on. We settled on a 3 point rubric.
A 3 would be the best score where the entry covered all of the following elements:
- thoughtful and addressed the topic
- directly connected to ideas discussed or learned in class
- detailed explanation
- gave support or reasons why
A 2 would be given to a response where only 1 or 2 elements were missing and a 1 to those missing quite a bit or that were completely off-topic.
I decided to go back to one of the crucial topics related to global warming after explaining the rubric for how writing would be graded to students. The students were told they would have a chance to revisit what they had written to revise or add to it and improve their score.
After asking if this was helpful the majority of students said yes. This will allow us to move forward with quality responses to the questions being addressed. The same rubric will be used for grading the posts on the blog. Then, after the fact I can compare the results.
Finally, today the topic of blogs was introduced. We started by looking at several different examples and talkinga about what was there. Students are to look for one blog of their own interest tonight. Also, to list two do's about posting to blogs and two don'ts. We will use these ideas as a springboard for creating our "blogging bill of rights."
More to come soon!!!!
Upon thinking about this over break I decided that I should clarify what a good response would look like. What criteria would I grade it on. We settled on a 3 point rubric.
A 3 would be the best score where the entry covered all of the following elements:
- thoughtful and addressed the topic
- directly connected to ideas discussed or learned in class
- detailed explanation
- gave support or reasons why
A 2 would be given to a response where only 1 or 2 elements were missing and a 1 to those missing quite a bit or that were completely off-topic.
I decided to go back to one of the crucial topics related to global warming after explaining the rubric for how writing would be graded to students. The students were told they would have a chance to revisit what they had written to revise or add to it and improve their score.
After asking if this was helpful the majority of students said yes. This will allow us to move forward with quality responses to the questions being addressed. The same rubric will be used for grading the posts on the blog. Then, after the fact I can compare the results.
Finally, today the topic of blogs was introduced. We started by looking at several different examples and talkinga about what was there. Students are to look for one blog of their own interest tonight. Also, to list two do's about posting to blogs and two don'ts. We will use these ideas as a springboard for creating our "blogging bill of rights."
More to come soon!!!!
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
A great start
Last week I spent several days introducing the project to the students. They started by taking the online survey I created which went very quickly. I am really glad I decided to include several open-ended response questions because they give me some more insight as to the specfics of why students do what they do. For example, looking at why students do like participating in class versus not participating. Also, why they like or do not like writing. Although in retrospect I think it would have been better to clarify what I meant by writing. I had many students respond as if the writing were creative writing instead of content related writing. SurveyMonkey worked great. The results were all calculated rather quickly and it give me a great starting point for looking at my data.
We also started watching "An Inconvenient Truth" by looking at clips I had pre-selected for them to view. I also had some questions before hand for them to write about. This is the phase of the project where they are writing by hand rather than on the computer or in the blog. I really tried to focus my questions on feelings and thoughts. Such as, "What kind of reaction do you have to seeing where the level of CO2 is going to be when you are 60 years old?" Many of them had very strong feelings. Also, in this portion of the project they were only able to discuss through traditional means- by raising their hand to share or if I called on them. They were many students who wanted to respond and share their thoughts. I found myself trying to give time to anyone that wanted it. This certainly slowed down the progress of the project a bit.
What was exciting to me is how riveted they were to the movie. Now, to be honest not all of them were 100% invested but the majority were. Also, you have to understand that we were doing this the last few days before their mid-winter break where attitudes and focus tend to be a bit lacking. Yet, most watched, weren't talking during the video, and had something to write when it was time. What was also interesting is that many had side conversations but about the topic!!! They were truly interested in what was being said. In addition I could hear "wow"'s and sighs in reaction to what they were seeing. Also, after day two there were quite a few students who asked when we would be watching the movie again. When they would have a chance to learn more. YES!
The last question I asked them on day two was, "Do you want to know more? Why or why not." I thought this would be a really telling way to find out exactly what they were feeling at this point. How interested are they? After looking the papers over the vast majority of all the students wanted to know more.
This week I am off of school for mid-winter break. I plan to focus on the video I collected so far including the pre-interviews. Also, preparing everything for launching the blogs when we return. So, even though I am on break... I am still working!
We also started watching "An Inconvenient Truth" by looking at clips I had pre-selected for them to view. I also had some questions before hand for them to write about. This is the phase of the project where they are writing by hand rather than on the computer or in the blog. I really tried to focus my questions on feelings and thoughts. Such as, "What kind of reaction do you have to seeing where the level of CO2 is going to be when you are 60 years old?" Many of them had very strong feelings. Also, in this portion of the project they were only able to discuss through traditional means- by raising their hand to share or if I called on them. They were many students who wanted to respond and share their thoughts. I found myself trying to give time to anyone that wanted it. This certainly slowed down the progress of the project a bit.
What was exciting to me is how riveted they were to the movie. Now, to be honest not all of them were 100% invested but the majority were. Also, you have to understand that we were doing this the last few days before their mid-winter break where attitudes and focus tend to be a bit lacking. Yet, most watched, weren't talking during the video, and had something to write when it was time. What was also interesting is that many had side conversations but about the topic!!! They were truly interested in what was being said. In addition I could hear "wow"'s and sighs in reaction to what they were seeing. Also, after day two there were quite a few students who asked when we would be watching the movie again. When they would have a chance to learn more. YES!
The last question I asked them on day two was, "Do you want to know more? Why or why not." I thought this would be a really telling way to find out exactly what they were feeling at this point. How interested are they? After looking the papers over the vast majority of all the students wanted to know more.
This week I am off of school for mid-winter break. I plan to focus on the video I collected so far including the pre-interviews. Also, preparing everything for launching the blogs when we return. So, even though I am on break... I am still working!
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
And We're Off!
Today we officially started the project. Students began by taking the survey which went very quickly. They had a little trouble with the last question, "do you like writing, why or why not?" because they were not sure if that meant writing on the computer or by hand. I responded by saying it was writing in general. Also interesting is that they asked what a blog is to be able to answer the first two questions of the survey. I didn't give them much information on what a blog was. I said it is like an online journal where someone writes their thoughts. This seemed to be enough for them to answer.
I love the online survey tool! It was great to be able to immediately see the results question by question. I can't wait to get more in depth with it. I do think I'll upgrade to the premier edition so that I can filter the results.
We also started by watching the beginning of "An Inconvenient Truth". We stopped and the kids responded to questions about what they saw by writing in their journals by hand. Then we discussed a little bit about what they wrote. There seemed to be a genuine interest in learning about global warming. Also, they wanted to know more about how it works. I think tomorrow we will look at some other sources of information to help explain global warming before we go back to the movie.
I love the online survey tool! It was great to be able to immediately see the results question by question. I can't wait to get more in depth with it. I do think I'll upgrade to the premier edition so that I can filter the results.
We also started by watching the beginning of "An Inconvenient Truth". We stopped and the kids responded to questions about what they saw by writing in their journals by hand. Then we discussed a little bit about what they wrote. There seemed to be a genuine interest in learning about global warming. Also, they wanted to know more about how it works. I think tomorrow we will look at some other sources of information to help explain global warming before we go back to the movie.
Sunday, February 3, 2008
More planning and we're off!
Upon thinking about my survey situation more I have decided to include a question about the classes that students are enrolled in. This will allow me to filter my data after the surveys are completed by those special classes. I think this is going to be the best approach. No matter what I need to collect data about my subgroups as this is something I am very interested in studying. The survey will be the first step in moving forward.
I have also done a lot more planning this week. I did not even realize until today that our Mid-Winter break falls next week. Yikes! That raises an interesting question. Do I start the kids on blogging before the break, or after? With the problems that could arise I have decided to wait until after break to start the kids with their accounts and to actually blog.
This week I will focus on introducing the idea of global warming and the movie, "An Inconvenient Truth." This will be the phase where students are writing by hand and not through the use of the blog. We will share feedback and comments through whole group discussion. This portion will be videotaped at it will be my comparison to the times when students are blogging their responses.
In addition I finally have a long term scope for the project. It really helped to get this in place. (thanks Gaoming for the suggestion) Now I can proceed forward methodically. By knowing now how much time I have and when I should be doing what will ensure that I accomplish what I need to. In addition I think it will give me some flexibility as I go through.
One more goal to accomplish this week will be to interview students individually prior to them blogging. We could call these the pre-blogging interviews. Logistic-wise I have figured out that I will need to do the interviews during lunches this week. This will allow me to get a quiet environment where I am not taking away from class time or my teaching. I will invite a handful of students each day and tape whoever chooses to come. I think the kids will be eagar to participate (hopefully).
WOW! Well, this is going to be a big week. I am really excited to launch the discussion of this really important topic. I can't wait to see how they react and what kinds of conversations are created. It is also fun to think about how it will be so different when they are blogging!
I have also done a lot more planning this week. I did not even realize until today that our Mid-Winter break falls next week. Yikes! That raises an interesting question. Do I start the kids on blogging before the break, or after? With the problems that could arise I have decided to wait until after break to start the kids with their accounts and to actually blog.
This week I will focus on introducing the idea of global warming and the movie, "An Inconvenient Truth." This will be the phase where students are writing by hand and not through the use of the blog. We will share feedback and comments through whole group discussion. This portion will be videotaped at it will be my comparison to the times when students are blogging their responses.
In addition I finally have a long term scope for the project. It really helped to get this in place. (thanks Gaoming for the suggestion) Now I can proceed forward methodically. By knowing now how much time I have and when I should be doing what will ensure that I accomplish what I need to. In addition I think it will give me some flexibility as I go through.
One more goal to accomplish this week will be to interview students individually prior to them blogging. We could call these the pre-blogging interviews. Logistic-wise I have figured out that I will need to do the interviews during lunches this week. This will allow me to get a quiet environment where I am not taking away from class time or my teaching. I will invite a handful of students each day and tape whoever chooses to come. I think the kids will be eagar to participate (hopefully).
WOW! Well, this is going to be a big week. I am really excited to launch the discussion of this really important topic. I can't wait to see how they react and what kinds of conversations are created. It is also fun to think about how it will be so different when they are blogging!
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