921-Riley,+Joanna

Book Club Blog With Student Interaction

I started a blog for my 5th and 6th grade book club that I would like to see eventually become one of the main communications tools for the club. I am excited about testing this blog out with the students in the fall because, like we have been discussing, there are so many positives for the students. For example in sessions 1 and 2 we learned that students tend to refine their thoughts more and make sure they are producing quality work when they know it will published for all to see. I also hope that the book club blog will be a way for all students to express their opinion freely. I am sure that we have all remarked how students are way more likely to text or email things that they might be to shy to say out loud to someone. Hopefully that student who is too shy to share their opinion might find an outlet in blogging it instead. Another positive to the blog that I see is that communicating through a blog will set the club apart from the same school work they are used to, and like session 3 said, hopefully changes the dynamic of teaching that goes on with the book club. One potential trial I can see with the book club blog is administration. I can almost bet that my principal would be against it so I need to have a dynamic presentation set when I approach her with the idea. I will definitely go back to Anne’s ideas from session 2 about the teachable moment and show different examples of how this blog can be that moment in the classroom. I will also make sure to include examples of other successful edublogs like Barbara Cohen’s Duck Diaries. And of course I would present administration with a dynamic permission letter home to parents. This letter will “include a description of the technology, how it will be used, [and] what security measures have been put in place” (Richardson 13). Another possible misstep in the blog process would be if the students in the club do not have access to the internet at home. I would have to make sure that there were times available in the library where students could use the Internet to post on the blog. The unlimited future for the book club blog would be that eventually all book club communication and book discussions would be through the blog. This way the number of students who could join the club would be limitless. If 93% of students are already on the internet then let’s give them a place to refine their critical thinking skills and share educated thoughts with their peers.

=Deliverable #3 Administration Proposal=

This school year I would like to implement a book club blog to communicate with our students. A blog is a safe and exciting way to implement more technology into the curriculum and it allows students to share their thoughts and receive feedback from their peers. This book club blog will be a collaborative learning tool to enhance the depth of our students’ learning. The first example I would show administration is Will Richardson’s video so that they can have a better idea of what a weblog is and the uses for the classroom. [] Then I would show them Anne’s blog as an example of what I think one of the best blogs in education looks like. http://itc.blogs.com/thewriteweblog/. Looking at her blog I can present to the administration what a blog can do for our students and I can address their security issues. The last example I would show them would be the blog that I have already set up. Instead of showing them someone else’s work I would want them to see what the Lane Lions Book Club Blog would entail. This way I can walk them through the security features and show them how students can post on the blog and how I would interact with them. The last example I would show the administration would be the letter from page 15 of our text book. I would modify it for this blog and for our students but I would show it as an example of what I would be sending home to parents to explain the blog to them and to gain their permission for their child to use the blog. Since the blog will be run by myself and another tech savy teacher I do not see any issues with using a blog technology wise. One roadblock that I do see for students, though, is not all of them will have internet access at home. For those students who do not we will have 3 computers open the first 15 minutes of lunch in the media center that I will supervise for those students who need to post to the blog from school. The biggest issue that I can foresee with the blog is that our students do not have an email address to post to the blog. If the technology department is not open to the students receiving email accounts then I will be creating one for each student using gmail which is also a free service. Parents will be then notified of the account and password for their child and have to sign their permission for the email address. The only other issue that will come up with the book club blog is if a parent does not give their permission for their child to participate in the blog. Myself and the other moderator will have to handle this on a case by case basis so that a student is not left out due to parental permission. We will personally talk to the parent to make sure they understand the blog and the security that is in place and if permission is still not given the student can still share their thoughts at book club meetings.
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I am suggesting that we use Blogger for the book club blog because I am very familiar with the program and it has been successfully used by other schools for educational blogs. It also has great privacy settings so we can only allow students in the book club to post and I can review all posts before they show up on the blog. It is a very easy program to use for the students and they will be able to share their thoughts with little effort. It also has ease of use for the administrator of the blog which is important because I can add in later widgets and podcasts as the blog grows. My long term goal is to see the book club blog grow in popularity and to see the students’ learning experience enhanced by this technology. Eventually I would like to add a media center blog where any student and staff member can post a review of a book they have read.
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=__Final Project__= __ Introduction __ This lesson will be team taught with myself and the 5th grade classroom teacher. The students have to complete a research project on an assigned Roman god or goddess in pairs. The classroom teacher will hand out a graphic organizer of questions they are required to answer such as what was their Greek name, did they have any special powers, etc. I will discuss with the students research skills, creating a wiki with PBwiki, and creating a podcast and then help them implement these into their final product. __ Pre-Activities Day 1 __ Our pre-activity will be a wiki and podcast discussion. Questions will be discussed such as what is a wiki, what are they good for, and we will look at examples of wikis. Students will already have some background knowledge from previous discussions on wikipedia and using it as a source. I will be pulling examples from wikipedia and http://www.teachersfirst.com/content/wiki/. We will then have a discussion on could we use a wiki for this project. I will then show the students the wiki created for their class project and we will discuss how to add content to it. __ Pre-Activities Day 2 __ Students will be given an introduction to podcasting. We will look at examples such as Cheshire public library podcast page and I will record and play back a quick podcast for the students. Time permitting I will let a few students try it out too. Days 3-5 A brief review and discussion will be given on appropriate sources for this project. Students will already have background knowledge on appropriate sources. Students will then be handed their graphic organizer and spend the rest of day 3 and day 4 researching. Day 5 is included for those students who need more time but some might be already moving on to the wiki. Day 5-6 After students have the appropriate information recorded in their graphic organizer they will begin adding content to the wiki. Those students who are done early will begin on their podcast. Day 6-7 By day 7 all students should begin recording their podcast. Higher level students will write and record a short scripted play of their character. Other students will be required to record facts about their Roman god or goddess. Day 8 A catch up day if needed and all projects will be due by the end of class time. Day 9 Today will be the viewing party and we will view our wiki and listen to our podcasts in the computer lab. __ Extension __ If all goes well with the project I would also introduce video blogging to the students and show then some examples. The students, in the classroom, do an end of year project where they dress up and have a Roman feast. With parental permission we could also record this as a videoblog and even set it up as a guess who I am game. __ Assessment __ Students will be graded with the following rubric: __ 5th Grade Roman Gods and Goddess Wiki and Podcasting Project Rubic __ __ Wiki __ _____ 5 points. Teamwork. All team members worked together in a collaborative manner. _____ 10 points. Research. Appropriate sources were used and correctly cited. ____ 10 points. Criteria. All assignment criteria is met. _____ 30 points. Content. Wiki content is well organized, answers appropriate questions on graphic organizer, correctly summarizes and cites sources used, and is free of grammar and spelling mistakes. __ Podcast __ _____ 5 points. Teamwork. All team members worked together in a collaborative manner. _____ 15 points. Organization. Podcast script is organized well and uses appropriate and intelligent language. _____ 25 points. Podcast. Podcast is recorded with loud and clear voices, contains required information, and is entertaining. .