21st Century Writing Workshop

Can I be in Mrs. Bogard’s classroom?! I absolutely LOVED this article and am completely inspired to try something similar to her work with my students. If this format can’t inspire and motivate my “I don’t have any good ideas” writers to create something amazing, I would be astonished. How motivating! And I’m already scheming up ideas on how I can purchase a Livescribe Pulse Smartpen. Fund-A-Need, PTO money, our Ted Kooser Endowment Fund. I have to have at least one! I can think of about three students that this would save, even though I know everyone will want to use it.

Thinking to the phases of story writing, planning out a story is the first step and a very important one at that. Below is a graphic organizer I created for a unit called Authors as Mentors.

 

Our stories in this unit have five pages and it seems like the kids never have all the parts required of them no matter how many times I remind them. I like the idea of structuring the unit with a graphic organizer which lists on each page what information they should draw and then eventually write about. The site I used was Popplet. This site was easy to navigate, easy to create an organizer, and would be easy for a student to draw quick sketches in or upload their own photos with a click of the button. 

Integrating new literacies into my classroom would be refreshing to both my students and myself. Allowing them to create writing without a piece of lined paper and a pencil would immediately engage students in a meaningful and novel way. Production would increase, my constant motivation could subside, and Writer’s Workshop would change from a dreaded time of the day to a much anticipated subject. I’m excited to learn more ways to incorporate technology into writing and explore the different ways to support student learning.

 

Screencast

So I really like the idea of a Flipped Classroom. Students get the material prior to the lesson, ideally at home the evening before, they get some practice and prior knowledge on the subject, then we work on it more in depth the next day in class. Ideally, the perfect concept. Realistically, not all students have access to computers at home. I love the idea for higher grade levels because those students may be able to use computers at school during independent time. The only way I could think to use this with my students is if I checked out the mobile lab and they watched the instructional video during literacy work stations. But that kind of defeats the purpose of getting this information outside of school. I'll have to think more on that issue...

After messing around with several web-based tools, the one I liked the most was eduCanon. I loved the idea of saving time by using an instructional video already created. We have been working on mastering compound words so I searched youtube for a kid-friendly video and found a great one. All I had to do was add questions and wah-lah! An interactive, engaging lesson that took me less than 15 minutes to finalize. Here is the link to that lesson:

www.educanon.com/public/68763/197135?cn=s

This is a great review or could even be an introduction before the skill is taught if and when I determine my students all have access to a computer. Again, I love this idea and plan to explore more of these FREE services for my classroom.

Digital Citizenship

 

It’s imperative to teach young children how to effectively use technology in order to enhance their learning. However, with the use of technology also comes the teaching of how to use it effectively, appropriately, and safely. Below are three areas I feel are most crucial to incorporate into first grade curriculum.

1. Sending an Email: (Relationships and Communicating) Each Friday I send the students’ parents an email in an effort to communicate our current curriculum, important dates, and any other pertinent information regarding school events. As I was reading over the Digital Citizenship curriculum, I realized I can teach my students how to create their own newsletter to send to their parents. This way students are learning how to send emails and communicate with their families what we are doing in the classroom.

2. Staying Safe Online: (Internet Safety) Navigating the internet is a challenging task for young students. Educating them on how to choose appropriate internet is overwhelming, so that’s why I always appreciate suggestions on how to teach my students. The stoplight activity lesson was creative and a great way to help students understand the importance of thinking about which sites are appropriate for them. This lesson could be adapted to fit into our animal research unit easily. I like the idea of creating a Symbaloo page with different pages all on animals, but some not appropriate for students, whether too difficult to read, or sites with opinions or falsities on animals. These sites can then be sorted into “safe” sites or sites not appropriate for young students.

3. Using Keywords: (Information Literacy) I think this skill is extremely useful to begin teaching students. Using keywords to search online can provide students with many opportunities for learning. If used effectively, students could extend their learning beyond the curriculum using the internet as a way to research a question or learn more about a specific topic. Many times students will ask questions that I can’t answer and I always look it up online. Teaching them the importance of keywords will yield the best results for their inquiries. This easily lends itself to our animal research unit, but really could be taught and applied in any subject area that students have questions on.

It’s imperative to teach young children how to effectively use technology in order to enhance their learning. However, with the use of technology also comes the teaching of how to use it effectively, appropriately, and safely. Below are three areas I feel are most crucial to incorporate into first grade curriculum.