I really liked the character journal activity using social networking. Related to this week's topic, it can foster both collaboration and communication, and like the article said, it connected to several learning standards. I think that it would be really interesting to combine this activity with blogging. Students can use blogs to reflect on their learning experiences with the social media project, and they can discuss connections between the text they are reading and their lives. Like the chapter in Reading, Writing, and Literacy mentioned, blogging can help foster a classroom community, and the collaborative and reflective aspects of it could support their learning with the inferential aspects of social media project. They could also provide research sources and give each other feedback in the form of a discussion that does not intrude on the social media page itself.
I love the King/Queen of the Day idea discussed in chapter 3. Obviously in my setting as a high school teacher, it would have to be tweaked. I think it could be a great way to build the classroom community, and it would be an awesome opportunity to spotlight students who have shown exemplary skill at a particular activity or who have something unique to contribute to their peers' classroom experiences.
To answer my question below about the IRA Digital Discussions article, I would love to go into my English classes tomorrow and have them collaborate to create a 3-minute podcast. We are reading House on Mango Street, which has very short, poetic chapters that are best read aloud. I plan to have my students write their own "chapter" based on their experiences in a week or two, and I would love to have them experiment with punctuation and flow while they read their work aloud.
Some things to think about (you don't have to answer all of these):
- How do you think digital storytelling supports students' literacy learning?
- In what ways can online communication support students' ability to make inferences in ways that traditional activities do not necessarily support?
- What potential is there for using social media in your teaching situation?
- On page 31 of Reading, Writing, and Literacy, there is a great list of phrases that help build the classroom community. What language resembles the kind that you do/would use in your classroom? What language do you not use that you could implement to foster a better classroom community?
- The IRA Digital Discussions article lists several platforms that can be used for educational purposes. Based on your current teaching unit (or one you've taught in the past, if you are not currently teaching), which one would you pick if you were to use one of them in your classroom tomorrow? How would you use it?
- In your current/past teaching situation, would you find it more beneficial for students to have synchronous discussions or to have asynchronous discussions online? For what purpose would you use them?
- Are there any questions you'd like to address face-to-face Saturday?
1. Digital storytelling promotes literacy learning in many ways. When they are creating digital stories, students have to use the writing process to create. When reading/listening to another digital story, students are having to use non-literal literacy skills. The article mentioned that students not only read text, but they have to learn to read body language, tone of voice, images, signs, etc. In listening to a classmates' digital story, they are doing just this. They could even comment afterwards, or answer a set of questions about the story.
ReplyDelete2. Students are expected to make inferences while online because, as the article emphasized, learning to read 'between the lines' so to speak, is such a skill. Students must read signs, images, sounds, tone of voice, mood, etc. in order to communicate in any situation effectively. For example, I know that when texting, sometimes I do not understand what someone is feeling or the point they are making from a short text. So I have to take the literal meaning, then try to make an inference based on what I know about that person and what the topic of conversation is, to glean information. It's tough! If we can begin to teach students skills like these while incorporating academics, they would be so much better off.
3. In my class, I just set up class blogs accounts on kidblog.org - I'm so excited to get started! Right now I think we will just be using it to publish some writing pieces until we get used to commenting and such, but we will make our first posts on Monday, publishing stories we've been working on. I'll let everyone know how it goes! I also have a 3rd Grade FB page that I use to communicate with families and I love it! I think they do too because they're getting needed updates and information quickly and easily.
I'm curious to know what social media, if any, other people are able to use? I know in my district sites like Facebook and Twitter are banned while on the network...
I love the idea of having students comment or answer questions about stories told through digital storytelling! It's a good way to help students not only tell their stories, but to have others engage with them about the stories.
DeleteThat can be tough, for sure! I see a lot of the high school drama caused by that. I think it's also a great exercise in teaching students to effectively convey tone in their writing, since digital communications require us to do that even better than ever.
Definitely let us know how that goes!
Hmm. That's a good point. I'm lucky enough to be in a district that doesn't restrict sites that can be used as tools. Perhaps you could set up on a different site where they can still have discussions and make posts like on social media? There are several in this week's readings that might work, although I'd imagine your district blocks a lot of them.
I used KidBlog in 2nd grade and it was great! I am trying to figure out how to use it in kindergarten. I think we are going to use it for personal narrative writing. In shared writing and eventually interactive writing, we are going to caption a picture of a whole group activity to publish for families. Every couple of weeks, for independent writing we are going to caption a picture of each student doing an activity at school. My struggle with implementing it this year is that so many children will require dictation and a great deal of scaffolding with spelling and typing.
DeleteOh I LOVE the idea of inserting pictures and having them create captions for them, Neka. I'll incorporate that somehow too! Thanks for the idea!
DeleteI'm going to ask around and see if there is any way around the block for social media sites....
Ask me in class about sites made especially for teachers.....they provide safe sites for kids to learn how to use social media in educational ways.
Delete- In your current/past teaching situation, would you find it more beneficial for students to have synchronous discussions or to have asynchronous discussions online? For what purpose would you use them?
ReplyDeleteIn 2nd grade, if I had access to a whole cart of ipads or laptops, it might have been cool to do a virtual KWL discussion simultaneously going. For example, I would post on Kidblog with "What do you know about weather? What do you want to know?" and then students would respond individually and then comment on each other's responses. Throughout or at the end of a unit, the students could return to their original comments and answer their own questions.