Thinking about writing about writing

I should be working on my Master's course about teaching writing. Honestly, I should have been working on this course a lot more than I have been. I don't know what's wrong with me. This should be my course. I should have a lot to say. Writing is something I've been reading about and thinking about and presenting about on a fairly regular basis for the last 4 years. But every time I sit down to work on this course, I get distracted and while I'd like to blame my obsession with the Lizzie Bennet Diaries, I should point out that while I've finally closed the YouTube window, I'm still checking Twitter every few seconds to see if Hipsterhood or God re-tweeted my last tweet.

That part of my brain that lives to justify every bad choice I make tells me that these distractions are central to my thoughts and ideas on writing. The Lizzie Bennet Diaries is a brilliant, multi-modal retelling of Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice" using social networking sites like YouTube, Twitter, and Tumblr (I've been trying to come up with a way of working it into my Language Arts program, but I just can't seem to make it work for Grade 5). And Twitter has changed the way we communicate and use language to tell the story of our lives. But that part of my brain is too closely allied with the procrastinating part of my brain to give it much credence. "So just close Twitter!" you say. But then I might miss something interesting, or exciting, or even relevant (like this website for spelling - which is the topic of the post I'm supposed to be writing for my course's online discussion forum).

So I decided to come here and ramble for a bit. Empty my mind of all the miscellaneous drivel that's clogging it up right now. Hopefully then, I'll be able to focus and write a properly worded, analytical, thought-provoking 15 sentence article on why I think invented spelling is a critical part of figuring out how to use the rule-laden written form of the English language.

Or maybe I'll just go check out one of Wil Wheaton's shows of interesting people playing a board game together...

What to do with a blog

I love blogging with students. In my experience, few things get students more excited about writing (and other ways of representing). I've recently been asked what my students do on their blogs and I thought a running list might be helpful. So, here's a list of things your students can do with a blog:

1. write about themselves
2. create an avatar for their profile picture (Clay Yourself; Otaku Avatar Maker) 
3. book reports/reviews
4. movie reviews
5. how-to videos
6. PowerPoint presentations
7. photo stories
8. respond to questions posted by the teacher
9. reflect on learning
10. share hobbies and interests
11. write stories
12. write about subjects that interest them
13. explain how to do something
14. posts from the point of view of a character in a novel
15. discuss current events
16. share drawings and other artwork

Blogging with Grade 2

In the last month I've started using Kidblog with the Grade 2 classes at my school. It is so exciting!!!! They get so excited to write for their friends and even more excited when they get comments! They seem to view comments as currency. I will never forget the student who said to me, eyes shining, "Miss!! I'm rich! I have 19 comments!!!" Several of the students have even continued blogging at home.

Responding critically to text

Sometimes, however, comments can backfire. When a student sees that some students have received more comments than they have, they can get discouraged. In these cases, I have found it very rewarding to have conversations with these students about why they think their classmate's post received more comments than their post. Seven year olds are capable of analyzing their own work and, with guidance, determining how to make it better. We've discussed the importance of choosing a good title, having an interesting first sentence, staying on topic, organizing writing so it makes sense to the reader, using font styles and colours to attract the reader's attention, and applying appropriate spelling strategies.

Responding to art

We have also used the blog to respond to art. In celebration of the 100th day of school, the Grade 2's used a website to make a picture using 100 snowballs. We saved these pictures to our computers, then uploaded them to the blog. Each student then viewed each other student's artwork and left them a comment - a sentence stating something specific that they liked about the picture, and another stating one thing they could do to make it better. It took a little practice, but they left some great responses and learned how to give and receive feedback from their peers! A skill, I think, most of us could use a little practice on.

Prezi

I first heard about Prezi a couple of years ago. I was facilitation a workshop on using Kidblog, and one of my participants mentioned it as an interesting tool for students to use in the classroom. I meant to check it out then. I really did. I just never got around to it. I say that about so many things. There is just so much to learn and explore!!! I actually forgot all about it until last spring - one of the presenters I saw at the CSSE conference used it in his presentation (I didn't realize that's what it was at the time). Then I participated in a workshop about a month ago where presenters used it and I thought to myself  "I've got to check this tool out."

I signed up for an account right away, but it was only when I was asked to present at a Teacher-Librarian workshop in my School District that I got around to it. I'm presenting on Kidblog again, but I only have 20 minutes and it's a different audience than my last one, so I decided to re-tool my presentation and figure out how to use this Prezi-thing. It's pretty neat, and easy to figure out, although I'm a little concerned that I'm going to make my audience a little dizzy. I could figure out how to change the order my little circles were shown, but not their location around the hub. I'm pleased with how it turned out for my first try, but there are a few things I'd like to tweak. Maybe next time.

As far as usefulness in a Grade 5 classroom, I don't know if I would recommend it. Using it to greatest effect might be a more suitable task for junior high or high school students. I need to think about it some more before using it with my Grade 5's, but I think I will introduce it to my Grade 7 classes. If we have time, it might be a useful tool for them to use when preparing their project presentations.

So, here's my first attempt - 21st Century Writers: Kidblog and Wikispaces

Kidblog and Edmodo

I've been using Kidblog in my classroom for 3 years now and I absolutely LOVE how blogging engages kids in writing and representing and communicating. I don't think I truly understood the impact having an audience has on writing. I've always permitted my students to do whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted on their blog - within reason. We spend considerable time discussing what's appropriate and what isn't and I insist they treat our blog as an extension of our classroom. Other than that, they are free to use it as they see fit. I will often give them assignments on the blog as well and that opens up many opportunities for discussions around purpose and presentation. I've also been pretty tight with security. Like many people, I am wary of online predators, and we have many discussions about what we can do to stay safe online.

I think I'm ready to start taking more risks, though. I would like to open up my students' blogs to a wider audience and see what happens. I wonder how parents would feel about that? I think rather than dive right in, I would rather partner with one other class, somewhere else in the world, and have them share each others' blogs and see how that goes. I think it would also be really neat to create a story together with this other class using a wiki. Hmmmm. I need to start looking into that.

The first new thing I'm trying this year, though, is Edmodo. Our blogging space on Kidblog has turned into more of a Facebook type space than the "real" blogging I would like them to do. A friend of mine raves about Edmodo and has used it with much success in her junior high classes, so I thought I'd give it a whirl. So, my students have been told that their blog is a space to publish polished pieces of poetry and prose (sorry, got caught up in the alliteration) and that we would be using Edmodo for more social interactions and class discussions. I haven't played with it much myself yet, so I'm still not sure of all it can do, but it certainly appears to provide lots of opportunities. I've already posted a quick message to my class and 2 polls - simple "yes" or "no" questions about technology they have available to them. I'm excited to learn about what it can do right alongside my students.

Today, in the computer lab, I briefly introduced my students to Kidblog and had them start typing up a poem they had written in Language Arts. I was planning to introduce Edmodo as well, but we ran out of time. I quickly mentioned to them that if they wanted to check it out at home, they would have to go to the Edmodo website and that the group code they would need was in my Kidblog post. I didn't really think any of them would check it out just yet, but when I logged in tonight just to see, I discovered that 2 of them had. They had both left messages and one of them had even posted a picture and changed her profile pic!!! I so love seeing this kind of initiative!

Teachers and Researchers

I just got back from spending 3 days at CSSE 2012 - a national conference of educational researchers. I was invited as part of a panel of teachers and researchers to talk about my use of digital technologies in my Language Arts program. I was so focused on my part of the presentation that I don't think I gave much consideration to what I was going to get out of it apart from the experience of presenting my work to a larger audience. Turns out it was one of the best professional development experiences of my career so far and certainly gave me a lot to ponder.

As a classroom teacher, I haven't always had the most positive view of academic research. It often seemed so removed from the "real" classroom experience that it had little value to me and my practice. However, after spending a few days attending presentations and talking with a lot of researchers, I've come to the realization that I'm mostly just jealous. Most education researchers were classroom teachers. They know what it's like in there. But by moving to a more research-oriented stance they have the opportunity to do what I wish I had more time to do - reflect.

Teachers are all researchers. We spend all day gathering data from our students about what they can do and where we need to focus our instruction and attention. We use that data to plan our classes and help our students grow and learn, to figure out what works and what could use some tweaking. The complaint I hear most from teachers isn't about kids or parents or administrators, it's about time. We know that in order to analyze our data and become the most effective teachers we can be, we need more time to reflect, but by the time we get through a day in the classroom, attend meetings, make phone calls, assess student work, and plan what we do next, the time just isn't there to take a good hard look at everything we're doing and analyze its effectiveness or to search through the education research literature to see what the "experts" are saying. Not unless we wanted to live at school, like a lot of our students think we do!

That's why the research side of education is so important. Researchers are able to reflect more deeply on classroom practice than a lot of classroom practitioners have time for. But the most important lesson I've learned from my forays into the academic world of scientific research is that all teachers, to be really good at what they do, need to be researchers too. I think that the best way to improve education for our students is to build bridges between researchers and teachers, to open those lines of communication and have more dialogue and more partnerships between them. How do we make that happen?

Build Your Wild Self

Just came across the website http://buildyourwildself.com/. Considering that several of my students were talking about what animal they would be on Friday, it seems like the universe is handing me a way to build on their interests. I think I've just found the topic of their next assigned Kidblog post. I'm going to have them design their own wild self and then write a paragraph about why they chose each part. Now, if only Kidblog would let me post the assignment!