921-Marcellino,+Deborah

Deliverable #2- Building an edublog into an existing lesson (Originally posted to the EDC 921 blog-Session 4)
 * This lesson builds on a lesson I previously posted on the EDC920 blog. I added the post from that blog below this one, so participants can see the specific goals of the entire lesson and standards addressed.

Deb Marcellino 5th Grade ELA

I would love to showcase the students' media projects through my blog, but know that I have a lot more to learn before I fully understand how to add video, pictures, and PowerPoint, so I will start slowly by having students post responses to their research.

Over the first few days of the lesson, students will read the articles about school bullying that we receive through Google News Alerts. They are required to record facts (causes and effects of bullying and steps to prevent it) on a graphic organizer as they prepare to write a summary of the article.

To integrate the blog into this lesson, students will be required to post their personal reaction to the article they are summarizing. This activity builds upon the Reading Journal work students complete earlier in the unit. (They write personal responses to stories we read about bullying.) A personal response may include the student's inferences, questions, and connections, and helps to deepen understanding of the topic or text.

After writing in their Reading Journal, students are given the opportunity to share, either with a partner or with the whole class. Many times, students return to their journals to expand their writing after sharing with others. Requiring students to post their responses on the blog will allow them to interact with even more students (from my other classes), therefore creating even more collective knowledge.

Another benefit of posting responses to the blog is that kids who are reluctant to share "out loud" may find comfort in expressing their opinions this way.

I will borrow from the rubric for blog etiquette Dave posted to develop a rubric to evaluate student responses. Students will need an initial lesson in how to post a comment before we begin.

I wonder if students will be as honest in their blog posts as they are in their Reading Journals. I wonder if allowing them to post anonymously or using a pseudonym would ensure better quality responses.

I also wonder if it would be necessary, or even feasible given the number of pages that means, to provide links to the articles students read. Maybe I could just have them cite the source at the top of their post.

I am excited about building technology into the "Make a Difference" project. These lessons are definitely still in the planning stages, but I am eager to try them out.

Deb Marcellino 5th Grade ELA Gaudet Middle School, Middletown, RI

EDC 920 Deliverable #2 Integrating a Google News Alert into an existing lesson- Introduction: Last year, inspired by the election and Obama’s “Together, We Can!” campaign, I wanted to help my 8th grade students become more active participants in their community. I created a unit called “Make a Difference” that required students to research a “cause” of their choice, develop a campaign to promote awareness and support for the cause, and present their projects to an open-house audience of parents and teachers. Their projects surpassed my expectations. Students designed PowerPoint presentations, poster board displays, and brochures. They organized drives for canned goods and personal hygiene items for local area shelters. They raised money and participated in walk-a-thons for autism awareness and cancer research. I am currently adapting this unit for my 5th graders. I believe even our youngest students need to be taught the value of promoting positive change in the world. One modification is that instead of researching a topic of their choice, all students will research bullying. Another change is the addition of the News Alert to support their research. The entire “Make a Difference” unit can be extended throughout a trimester, but the duration of this lesson is approximately two weeks (ten class periods). Objectives: At the end of the lesson, students will identify the causes of bullying in schools. They will be able to list bullying behaviors and warning signs that a child is being victimized. They will identify a variety of solutions to this problem. Students will be able to determine importance in informational text (the news article) and write an effective summary. At the end of the unit, students will develop a media presentation for the community audience that promotes awareness of the problem and follows the conventions of the format. Materials and resources: As we only have three computers in the classroom, we will need to reserve the media center for at least ten class periods so students can research Google News Alerts and other online sources, as well as begin to prepare their PowerPoint, brochure, or video. We will use the ELMO projector (not sure what the acronym stands for, but this is my favorite technology tool) to model the lesson.

Standards:

The Reading GLES addressed by this lesson are: R-5-7.1a Obtain information from text features R-5-7.3 Organize information to show understanding R-5-8.1 Connect information within or across texts R -5-8.2 Synthesize information within or across texts R-5-8.5 Make inferences about causes and effects R-5-13 Use comprehension strategies before, during, and after reading text. (For this particular lesson in the unit we focus on Summarizing and Determining Importance) R-5-15.4 – Use evidence to support conclusions

The Writing GLEs addressed: W-5-1.4 Apply a format and text structure appropriate to the purpose of the writing W-5-10 Students use pre-writing, drafting, revising, editing to produce a final product W-5-6.1 Use an organizational text structure appropriate to focus/controlling idea W-5-6.2 Select appropriate information to set context, which might include a hook W-5-6.5 List sources W-5-7.2 State and maintain a focus/controlling idea W-5-8.1 Include facts and details relevant to controlling idea and exclude extraneous information W-5-8.2 Include sufficient detail or facts for appropriate depth

Note: The unit also addresses key technology standards and GLEs for Oral Communication, but this lesson focuses mainly on reading informational text and summarizing key facts.

Pre-Activities:

Overaching question for the unit: What is bullying? How does it affect us? What can middle school students do to stop it?

Prior to this lesson, students will have lessons in reading strategies for informational text, especially determining importance and summarizing. We will read excerpts from books that focus on the theme of bullying and “taking a stand against it.” Students will write reflective responses in their journals after each reading.

Before students research the news articles, they will complete a K-W-L chart to brainstorm what they already know about bullying.

Writing Assignment: The open-ended prompt for the media presentations at the end of the unit is:What are some causes and effects of bullying? What can we do prevent it from happening here?

The summary writing prompt is: Locate a news article online that relates to school bullying. Using specific details and references to the text, summarize the article.

Differentiation: To modify instruction, teacher will guide some students toward articles appropriate for reading levels above or below grade level. Some students will receive additional graphic organizers to record details from the text. Struggling readers may need re-teaching of strategies such as determining importance skills and using prior knowledge.

Assessment: The K-W-L and Reading Journal reflections are examples of informal assessment pieces used to determine comprehension of informational text. We have a Summary Writing for Informational Text rubric which will be used to grade the News Alert summary. The media presentations at the end of the unit will also be graded.

Concerns:

I wonder how much teacher monitoring will be necessary with the News Alerts. I teach ten year olds, so I may have to sift through the News Alerts to find age-appropriate content. I want to give my students as much ownership for their research as possible, so I need to further investigate how to present the News Alerts to them. If I return to 8th grade and want to use Google News Alerts for the original project, in which students working in small groups researched a wide variety of self-selected topics, how do I organize and monitor the content? I noted that Keith Swist, a participant from Fall ‘08, mentions that he established individual email accounts for his students. I wonder if this would be an option in my school for older students.

I am still in the process of adapting this existing lesson for a lower grade level, but this is the gist of it.

Deb Marcellino EDC 921- Deliverable 3

I would like to implement the use of a blog in my classroom practice during the 2010-2011 school year. Blogs are currently blocked by our district technology’s security filter. In __Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and other Powerful Web Tools for the Classroom__, Will Richardson defines a blog as “ an easily created, easily updateable, Web site that allows an author to publish instantly to the Internet from any Internet connection”. A blog is a powerful Web 2.0 tool that will support the home-to-school connection and enhance my students’ critical literacy skills. The majority of our students are already proficient in the use of Web 2.0 tools such as blogs, wikis, and podcasts. Many of my 5th graders communicate through IM, email, and the social networking site Facebook. They download music to ipods and post digital video clips on youtube. Creating a classroom blog will build on my students’ strengths. Integrating Web 2.0 technology in the educational setting is the necessary next step in preparing our students for today’s competitive, global society. Incorporating blog use in the classroom will support the home-to-school connection. As educators, we know how important it is to keep the lines of communication between home and school open. On the classroom blog, I will post important class resources that students and parents can access from home. Students who are absent will be able to see missed assignments, and parents can more easily stay on top of their child’s homework. The interactive nature of the blog will encourage parents to comment on student posts, offering an active role in their child’s learning process. Blog tools such as FlickR ([|http://www.flickr.com]), will allow me to showcase pictures of student work and class activities so parents will have a virtual window into our classroom.

The act of blogging nurtures students’ critical literacy skills. To prepare for today’s global job market, students need opportunities to interact with modern technology, collaborate with peers to build collective knowledge, and reflect on their learning. This excerpt from a Web page [] provides evidence that blogging supports this goal: “The emergence of blogs as a component in the two-way flow of information on the web has opened up exciting new avenues for the educational community. The potential of weblogs in education is almost limitless...blogs are easily linked and cross-linked to form learning communities. They help small groups communicate in a way that is simpler and easier to follow than email or discussion forums. They promote cohesiveness and group culture...Children's involvement with web-sites has to be more than a posting of a few pieces of their work on a third person's static web-site for a non-existent world to see. There is no ownership in that. The school blogs can give children their own soapbox, their own voice. They become habitual writers.”

Students invest more enthusiasm and attention when they write for an audience beyond the teacher so the quantity and quality of writing improves. Through our classroom blog, [|http://marcellinomuse.blogspot.com], students will post responses to literature, submit creative writing, engage in book club discussions and participate in the peer review process. These tasks demand collaboration, interaction, and reflection. Blogging with students supports the district’s goal of differentiated instruction; it ensures that even the most reluctant student has a voice in the classroom.

I suggest Middletown Public Schools institute the use of Blogger software [|http://www.blogger.com] because the service is user-friendly and free. Blogger offers easy to follow tutorials that guide the user through initial set up and adding a variety of tools. Simply creating a free Google email account and password is all that is needed to get started. Only four out of my current 105 students do not have access to a computer at home. This statistic shows that most families have the tools necessary to make a successful transition to blogging. I will provide time at the classroom computers for those few who do not. Using the blog as a primary means of communication will save the district the cost of paper, ink, and toner for printers and copiers. Potential concerns are that students would misuse the blog by posting inappropriate comments and that blogging poses a threat to student Internet safety. Blogger software offers solutions. As the administrator of the blog, I can choose a setting that allows me to moderate comments. I can choose to see comments before they are posted to the class blog allowing me to control what is posted for public view. To address safety and privacy concerns, my blog will be password protected. Access will be limited to students, their parents, and select teachers who are interested in this work. Students will post using first names only or pseudonyms for further security. Any pictures we post will honor the guidelines of the Photo Release signed by parents. Students are familiar with the district’s Acceptable Use Policy and know that misuse of technology will not be tolerated. We can adapt the policy to include guidelines for appropriate blog comments. In her blog, [], Anne Davis, instructor at Georgia State University, addresses this concern. She encourages educators to seize teachable moments when students misuse these tools, rather than neglect our responsibility to include important technology in our instruction: “Sometimes when I see all the stuff that is posted on blogs by teenagers I find myself wishing that someone had given them some guidance. Lots of them are just not thinking. We need to build these types of things into our discussions in our classrooms. I like to think that good teaching about responsible weblog use would help…we can’t reach all but we won’t reach any if we keep burying our heads in the sand and keep worrying about what MIGHT happen. Weblogs give us a place to model really responsible Internet use.”

In closing, integrating a blog into classroom practice supports district initiatives for technology and literacy. My hope is that students will be more engaged in their learning and produce better quality work because they will be participating in authentic writing that reflects real world experiences. I plan to help my teammates launch blogs for their content areas as well. Anne Davis outlines the benefits of blogging with students in this post:[]. Here are a few highlights:  Please check out these additional resources for further evidence of successful blogging in a school setting. Narragansett Elementary School [|http://www.narragansett.K12.ri.us/NES] proves that effective edublogging is possible even with our youngest students. There is even an example of Radio NES, a podcast done by 3rd graders! [|http://weblogs.hcrhs.K12.nj.us/beesbook/] is a blog started as an online discussion forum for high school students reading //The Secret Life of Bees//. This blog demonstrates the potential for increasing academic rigor in the English classroom.
 * Blogs provide a space for sharing opinions and learning in order to grow communities of discourse and knowledge — a space where students and teachers can learn from each other.
 * Blogs help learners to see knowledge as interconnected as opposed to a set of discrete facts.
 * Blogs can give students a totally new perspective on the meaning of voice. As students explore their own learning and thinking, their distinctive voices emerge. Student voices are essential to the conversations we need to have about learning.
 * Blogs foster ownership and choice. They help lead us away from students trying to find what the teacher wants in terms of an answer.

Thank you for your time and the consideration of my proposal.

Deb Marcellino 5th Grade ELA EDC 921-Final Project Unit: Building Community Through Blogging and Poetry Overview: The purpose of this unit is to foster trust and ownership in our classroom through blogging and poetry. When students feel safe to express themselves freely, they produce more frequent and better quality writing. Since poetry is a genre that often reveals strong emotion, it is especially important that students trust each other. The integration of Web 2.0 tools into this poetry unit, encourage student participation and collaboration. Parents, team teachers, and administrators will be welcome to join our blog, providing a real audience for student writing beyond our classroom walls. Guiding Questions: What are the characteristics of the genre of poetry? How does the study of poetry strengthen a community of writers? How does the integration of technology foster student interest for reading and writing poetry? Timeline: This unit will take 4-6 weeks, but the Web 2.0 tools and study of poetry will continue throughout the year. Goals: · Students will understand the characteristics of the genre of poetry. · Students will be able to identify poetic devices in others’ work and use the devices in their own writing. · Students will create and post to our class blog a Web page project that displays their own poems. · Students will comment on the work of others and respond to teacher prompts on class blog. · Students will create a podcast or vodcast and post to our blog. GLEs: Writing: W-10 Students use pre-writing, drafting, revising, editing, and critiquing to produce final drafts of products. W-11 Students demonstrate the habit of writing extensively by writing frequently, sharing thoughts and observations, and writing in a variety of genres (Examples: Journal writing, reading response, reflective writing, etc.) W-1 Students demonstrate command of the structures of sentences, paragraphs, and text W-9 In independent writing, students demonstrate command of appropriate English conventions Reading: R-4 Students demonstrate initial understanding of literary text by identifying and describing characters, setting, problem/solution, and summarizing key plot details; students read widely and extensively (25 books per year) R-5 Students analyze and interpret elements of literary text, citing evidence by making inferences, describing changes in characters over time, identifying narrator’s point of view, identifying author’s message; evaluates literary merit of text R-6 Students analyze and interpret author’s craft, citing evidence by demonstrating knowledge of devices such as imagery, flashback, foreshadowing, symbolism, and figurative language R-8 Students make and support responsible assertions about texts; make perceptive and well developed connections R-13 Students use comprehension strategies before, during, and after reading R-14 Student reads widely and extensively in a variety of genres R-15 Students research by reading multiple sources R-16 Students generate a personal response to reading Oral Communication Standards: Interactive Listening: · Summarizing, paraphrasing, questioning, contributing to information presented · Participation in large and small group discussion · Reaching consensus to achieve a goal Oral Presentations: · Demonstrating skills required in interpersonal, small group, and public exchanges · Providing effective and appropriate feedback to audience and small groups · Using variety of strategies to engage audience · Convey information with a consistent focus ISTE Technology Standards: 1. Creativity and Innovation Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative products and processes using technology. 2. Communication and Collaboration Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others. 3. Research and Information Fluency Students apply digital tools to gather, evaluate, and use information. Lesson 1: Introduction to Poetry Duration: 1 class period-65 minutes Guiding questions: What is poetry? What makes a poem a poem? Goal: Students will access prior knowledge to create a “working definition” of poetry. Pre-activities: Prior to this unit, students will have had experience working with our class blog. They will have had experience posting their responses to my prompts and commenting on each other’s writing. Students will have had several lessons in the Six Traits of writing, comprehension strategies, literary elements, and author’s craft (figurative language, imagery, point of view, etc.) Students will also be familiar with working in Word and with creating Power Point presentations in other content areas. Steps: · I will post the guiding questions on the blog. Students will respond by posting their comments. · I will model posting comment to blog, although students will have had previous experience with this at this point in the year · Writing assignment: Students will post their individual definition of poetry to our blog. Definition must be one paragraph in length and follow the Grade 5 Writing criteria (topic sentence, 3 supporting details, concluding sentence) Writing must follow correct conventions. · Students will have time in class to react to each other’s comments. · Together, we will come to a consensus to create our “working definition” of poetry. We will chart the characteristics of the genre on the wall and add to the list as we complete the unit. Assessment: Blogging guidelines created by students (see my post on Dave’s wiki under EDC 920 final for more detail), Grade 5 Paragraph Writing rubric Lesson 2: Poetic Devices Length: At least 5 class periods Guiding Questions: What are the characteristics of poetry? What literary devices do poets use? What Web 2.0 tools can aid student presentations? Goals: · Students will understand and identify the characteristics of the genre and use poetic devices in their own work. · Students will create a Power Point, podcast, or vodcast to teach the class a poetic device. Steps: · Students will receive a handout or Poetry Vocabulary for their ELA folders. The list includes but is not limited to: simile, metaphor, alliteration, assonance, symbol, personification, allusion, onomatopoeia, rhyme, stanza, mood, connotation, etc. I will also post this information to our blog []. · Using the ELMO LCD projector, I will show students where to find the link to this information. We will review the terms in class, sharing examples of each device. Students have previously studied and applied many of these devices in earlier units about author’s craft. · Working in groups, students will select one term from the above list to teach to the rest of the class. · We will view several model student projects. An 8th grade teacher at my school has students create Power Points to teach parts of speech. I will bring some of these students in to share their presentations with my 5th graders. The fifth graders will follow the same process for creating their Power Points, but the topic will be poetic devices. A few examples of vodcasts and podcasts I will share are: [] onomatopoeia, [] simile and metaphor rap [] personification · We will watch “Podcasting in Plain English”- http://[|www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-MSL42NV3c]. · After viewing the models, students will create their own presentation. The technology teacher will work with students during this part of the lesson. Students have previous experience with Power Point and podcasts/vodcasts (see unit I posted for EDC 920) but will still need support. · Students will have several class periods to draft, practice, and revise their presentation. · Writing assignment: Students will prepare a script for the podcast or vodcast. Writing for PowerPoint will be completed on a template first. · After viewing presentations, students will react and reflect by posting comments on our blog. · Students will take a vocabulary quiz at end of this lesson. Assessment: 5th Grade Writing Rubric, Oral Communication rubric, vocabulary quiz on poetic terms Modifications: Students have choice in this lesson-they choose topic to teach and format to use for presentation. Some students will need extended time or additional support from teacher. I will group students who are “tech savvy” with those who are less proficient. Lesson 3: Where Poetry Hides 2-3 weeks Guiding Questions: Where do poets find inspiration? How do we get a poem started? Goal: · Students will use a variety of sources, including Internet, to locate poems. · Students will identify poetic devices in these published poems and use the devices in their own writing. · Students will use the blog to communicate their own ideas about poems they read, as well as comment on others’ ideas. · Students will establish the habit of writing poetry daily in their Writer’s Notebook. · Students will use the Writer’s Notebook to record observations about the world around them; to start “seeing” the world like a poet. Steps: 1. I will show this video of poet Naomi Shihab Nye explaining that poetry can be found anywhere: []. 2. I will also read selections from Georgia Heard’s //Awakening the Heart//. 3. Students will create their own list of where poetry hides in their Writer’s Notebooks. I will model the process for students using the ELMO LCD projector and my own Writer’s Notebook. 4. Students will select three of their most vivid details from the list created in Writer’s Notebook to post on our blog. 5. Students will comment on each other’s posts. 6. We will make a bulletin board display of these quotes for further visual inspiration. 7. Over the next 2-3 weeks, I will immerse students in poetry. Students will be reading, writing, and analyzing free verse, as well as form poetry such as ode, cinquain, haiku, sonnet, etc. (I will not include all mini-lessons here due to time and space, but if anyone is looking for further ideas, please send me an email; I’d love to share!) 8. Students will visit bookmarked sites, including [|www.poets.org] and [|www.loc.gov./poetry/180] to study poems by classic and contemporary poets. Some of my favorite texts to support the study of poetry are: //Awakening the Heart//-Georgia Heard, //Opening the Door: Reading Poetry in the Middle School Classroom//-Paul B. Janeczko, //Getting in the Knack: 20 Poetry Writing Lessons-// Stephen Dunning, and //Word Playgrounds: Reading, Writing, and Performing Poetry in the English Classroom//- John O’Connor. Assessment: Writer’s Notebook rubric, Blogging guidelines Lesson 4: Favorite Poem Podcast/Vodcast Length: 1 week Goal: · Students will meet the grade level expectations for Oral Communications and address Technology Standards by creating a podcast or vodcast and publishing it on our blog. This is preparation for our Poetry Night performance at the end of the year. Guiding Questions: Why do individuals prefer certain poems? How does making personal connections to a poem deepen our understanding of the text? What is the importance of poetry to our society? Steps: 1. I will share the following Website with students. [] In this project, Americans recite and discuss their favorite poems. 2. We will view several of the videos together. Students will evaluate the presentations using our Oral Communications rubric. We will discuss volume, projection, pacing, eye contact, emotion, inflection, etc. 3. Students will choose a favorite poem to recite for the class through a podcast or vodcast. They may choose a poem from a source they find independently, or select from the Websites we visit together or from the poetry book collection in my classroom. 4. Students will write an entry in their Writer’s Notebooks, explaining their reasons for selecting the poem; they will include personal connections, appeal of author’s craft, etc. 5. Students will practice reciting their poem out loud, trying to memorize it. 6. When ready, students will record their poem in a podcast or vodcast and publish on our blog. 7. We will share all presentations, and students will comment on classmates’ work on our blog. 8. We will discuss what we learned about each other through these podcasts/vodcasts. Assessment: Writer’s Notebook rubric, Blogging guidelines, Oral Communications rubric Modifications/ Extensions: Students may work with a partner on the podcast/vodcast. Some students will need help selecting a poem or graphic organizers to prepare it. As enrichment, students could look into posting their work on the Favorite Poem Website. Lesson 6: Publishing Student Poems Length: Ongoing Goal: Students will publish original poems on our blog. Guiding Questions: How has our definition of poetry changed throughout this unit? How have the Web 2.0 tools enhanced our communication skills? Steps: 1. Students will create Web pages to display their poems. 2. They will add artwork, photography, music, etc. that reflect meaning or mood of the poems. 3. We will post links to student Poetry pages on our blog. 4. As always, students will comment on each other’s work. Assessment: Expressive Writing rubric-(poems will be evaluated for evidence of poetic devices); Web Page rubric; Blogging guidelines Modifications/Extensions: I will post several online publishing opportunities for students. Once students are comfortable sharing their work with our class and parent members of our blog, they may want to try reaching out to a larger audience.