We are looking for elementary classrooms at all levels to participate in this writing workshop. The project will last about a month and we’ll set up small grade-level based groups to create collaborative groups for our peer editing process (following the planning process we started last year). If the suggested time frame doesn’t work for you, feel free to start your own workshop later or earlier in the year – our goal is to bring together teachers that would like to embed collaborative writing and authentic audience into their classroom experiences.
work collaboratively with peer reviewers around the world
follow the writing process to build an understanding of your selected style of writing
utilize a wiki for writing, editing, forum discussion, and revision history
understand how to connect information through hyperlinks
create and embed multimedia elements to bring a story to life
Here in Bangkok, I’ll be working with one of our fantastic grade 4 teachers, Sonja Merrell, and we’ll be using the workshop to build our understanding of persuasive writing. Sonja and I worked together last year as well and found the project to be a great venue for establishing authentic audience and for really grounding students in the writing process.
One of the best things about doing this project for the second time with the same teacher is that we’re able to make the improvements we thought about during our reflections last year. Looking back at our reflective conversation, I’m pleased to note that we do have a class blog up and running and students are very familiar with the web 2.0 world: writing for a global audience, commenting on others’ work, and looking for connections within our network of learners.
Our plans are to ensure that we have a clear and consistent focus on the concept of persuasive writing through a slightly revised layout of our pages and by providing a checklist for students to follow. Hopefully the improvements we make this year will lead us to other ideas for next year’s project! I love the fact that the learning is never done and these projects are so easy to evolve and revise that we can keep making them better and better.
We would absolutely love to have you join this project with your class! Fill out the online form and you’re in! All materials, resources, rubrics and related information can be found on the wiki. Feel free to leave questions here or on the discussion tab of the wiki.
Yikes. How can it possibly be February 2009 already? What happened to January? And for that matter, what happened to 2008? I know “time flies” and all, but this is ridiculous!
The last five weeks have been pretty much a blur especially because I’ve been stuck with a case of never-ending bronchitis, that seems to be finally, miraculously, slowly, ending just this week. I actually had that moment of suddenly feeling better on Friday. You know the one: you stand up, blink, swallow, and then realize you suddenly feel kind of good. In fact, you remember that this is what you used to feel like all the time before you got this illness. It’s a pretty good feeling.
At any rate, along with the coughing fits, sneezing, runny nose, and general malaise, I have also been extremely busy this past month, which explains where the time has gone (and why I haven’t been posting as often as I usually do). Here’s what I’ve been up to:
Thankfully, Jeff and I are partnering up on this course, so although we’ve been super busy getting things going, two heads have certainly been better than one! We started out with a one-hour introductory session after school in late January and had our first full-day session on the last Saturday in Jan (watch the archived uStream footage here). Thanks to Clarence and Chris whose fabulous guest appearances definitely made our 7-hour Saturday session even more engaging and practical than Jeff & I could have done on our own!
So far, teaching the course has been an excellent experience. We have 50 ISB teachers participating on campus (plus 5 new ISB teachers joining us virtually) with the widest range of understanding and ability levels possible. Seeing as I’ve never taught a formal graduate-level course like this before, it has been such a steep learning curve for me. I’m so conscious of the fact that we have learners at all different levels, that we need to keep everyone engaged, but not stressed, and that we need to model best practice in all of our interactions throughout the course.
Of course the fact that all 55 participants are my colleagues makes this even more interesting… And not to mention adds quite a bit of reading to my Google Reader account.
Participating in the K12 Horizon Report Advisory Board
Along with Lucy, Judy, Julie, Westley, Alan, Karen (and quite a few other educators whose names I recognize) I have been participating in the process of creating the K12 version of the annual Horizon Report. After I got over the shock of being invited to be on the Advisory Board, I realized just how exciting (and challenging) this experience would be. As much as I love envisioning the future, I’m not sure I have a real grasp on the nitty-gritty of exactly how we’re going to get there. And that’s pretty much what this report is all about.
We started off with sharing our thoughts (via a wiki) on upcoming trends in technology and which of those would be applicable to education in the Horizon Report time-line structure. I found myself much more easily able to envision 1 – 2 years out than the extended 5-years out, but I’m not sure why. I guess what happens in 5 years depends on what happens in the preceding 4 years… Either way, it was definitely the most authentic use of a wiki I’ve seen in a while, and it was absolutely fascinating to see what others on the Advisory Board see in our future.
Unfortunately I was not able to attend the face-to-face session in Dallas a few weeks ago (one of the few disadvantages of being an international school teacher), which sounds like it was a real highlight of the Advisory Board process. It certainly would have been interesting to meet all of those visionary educators in person. We’re now on to the voting stage, in order to select which trends will have the greatest effect on education in the next 5 years. I definitely don’t feel smart enough to continue hanging out with this bunch though!
Guest Speaker at Apple’s Think Ahead Roadshow in Bangkok
One of the perks of being an Apple Distinguished Educator is speaking at Apple events in your region. This will be my first time presenting at an official Apple event (aside from the ADE Institute) and I’m really looking forward to it. I attended a similar roadshow in KL a few years ago and remember being impressed with how many different international schools were represented in the audience.
I suppose you could say I’ve sipped the Apple Kool-Aid, but I have to say, I spent the first 5 years of my teaching experience in a Windows school, and the following 4 working with Macs. In comparison I would generally say I spent well over 50% of my teaching time troubleshooting those Windows machines – none of which I am doing in an all-Mac environment now. I can focus on the teaching and learning bit, without wasting so much time on the “making the computer do what we know it should be doing” bit. Yeah, that’s probably why they asked me to do the session next weekend…
Returning to Qatar Academy in Doha for a 3-day consultancy visit
Thanks to Julie and the administrative team at QA, I’ll be heading back to Doha next week for my second visit in two years. This time around I’ll be working with the Senior School (middle – high school) on building an understanding of 21st century learning. It looks like I’ll be delivering 3 plenary sessions to the full faculty (The 21st Century Learner, The 21st Century Educator, The 21st Century Classroom) and then working with individual departments to plan authentic units of inquiry which naturally embed technology. Thanks to all of Julie’s hard work, QA will be 1:1 next school year and this is the kick-off to the practicalities of working in a 1:1 environment.
Delivering the grade 4 Common Assessment on Influence
Last December, I worked with our grade 4 team to develop a common assessment for their first social studies unit of the year, Influence. We spent several afternoons designing an authentic assessment task that followed the Understanding by Design process and utilized technology tools (wikis and VoiceThread) that are developmentally appropriate and fit naturally into the assessment task.
After we returned from our semester break, I had the extremely stressful challenge of making sure that each class had access to the laptop carts for the duration of the final assessment (oh, how I dream of being 1:1). Juggling several classes, dealing with the bizarre slowness of our internet connection over the past month, and facilitating the delivery of this common assessment pretty much ensured that I was on fast-forward every single day.
In the end, I must admit, I’m quite happy with the assessment. The task was at the right level for the students, the technology was a natural fit for the task, and the students had a taste of a project based learning experience. I’m looking forward to getting some valuable feedback from the teachers so that we can revise and improve the assessment while the experience is still fresh in our minds.
Is that all?
Now I know that’s barely scratching the surface of what so many others manage to do on a regular basis (I’m not writing a book or earning a PhD… yet…) but it definitely kept me busy for the past few weeks.
How do you cope with being overwhelmed for an extended period of time and actually manage it all without shutting down?
One of the most interesting aspects of my job is figuring out how to best support teachers – everyone is at a different comfort and experience level with technology, and most are uncomfortable admitting what they don’t know. Building individual relationships with new colleagues, as well as getting to know team, department and faculty dynamics are a critical factor to my success as a 21st Century Literacy Specialist (or as a Technology Facilitator, for that matter).
Towards the end of last year I realized that I was able to make connections with a number of individual staff members, and therefore help shift those teachers through projects at every grade level. But, I realized I still wasn’t starting the shift with any groups of teachers. Most of the teachers were at different grade levels and didn’t regularly cross paths with the other teachers I was working with. The momentum was with individuals only.
As powerful as that momentum had been, I started to realize that teachers truly appreciate support and common goals with their team. If they can try something new with their team members, they have a built-in support structure that fits easily into their daily practice of teaching and learning that also conveniently slots right into the existing infrastructure of the school. Plus the added benefits of a safety-net: everyone participates, everyone helps, everyone agrees that this is the path to take. Convenience, comfort and accessibility are all be strong benefits to working through the process as a team.
So, this year I started my quest to find a team at ISB that would allow me to be a mostly-silent, but always willing to help, member. Luckily the wonderful and welcoming grade 4 team allowed me to join, sit in on their weekly team meetings, and offer my two cents when appropriate. It has truly been a valuable learning experience.
Working with an entire team has helped me understand each individual member of the team better through their interactions with others. I also have a deeper understanding of their needs for curricular support, as well as the challenges they are facing in their classrooms. I hope that, by being there for them, they also see me as a productive and contributing member of their team. I try to offer ideas that will streamline their daily tasks, help engage their students, and add a digital literacy component to their units of study.
One of the most powerful experiences has been over the past week and a half while the team has been discussing their current social studies unit, Influence. The team had previously decided on their Enduring Understandings and Essential Questions, but were not sure how they wanted to assess student learning.
As a member of the team, I was part of all of the discussions about how the unit went last year, struggles and successes, ideas for improvement, concerns and how it all fits into the bigger picture of student learning in grade four. Because I had all of that background, I was able to share an idea for a final assessment that (hopefully) will meet the needs for this unit, adding in a 21st century-style approach, and also take into consideration time factors, other units of study that need to be completed, technical resources, and teacher and student comfort level with technology tools.
Without being a participant in all of those discussions I would have only had a one-sided view of the need at hand, and certainly would not have been able to put the curricular needs of the unit into the context of the entire grade level. Just stepping in to offer my ideas for a quick 10-minute discussion once in a while would not have prepared me to truly meet the needs of the team. I have also been able to spend dedicated time with some of the team members and our Curriculum Coordinator to fully flesh out this unit so that it meets the needs of the teachers and the students. Now this unit will be part of the grade 4 curriculum for years to come.
To truly collaborate with teachers, I am starting to believe that we, as resource people, need to be part of their team environment. I can certainly work individually with teachers to help them with their specific classroom needs, but to make any major shifts in the thinking of the school or to effect change in the curriculum, the collaboration needs to come at the team level.
What do you think? How are you best supporting your teams or departments at your school?
When I arrived at ISB last year, one of the first major projects I started with two of our wonderful grade 5 teachers was student blogging (um, and did I mention that we started blogging at the same time as participating in Chris Craft’sLife ‘Round Heredigital storytelling project?). I had come from a middle school position where every student in the school (grades six – eight) had their own individual student blog and was ready to continue that experience here.
What I didn’t know was that none of the teachers or students really had any experience blogging prior to my arrival (oops!). So, while they (both the teachers and the students) were absolutely fantastic at going with the flow and experimenting, I realized quite quickly that individual student blogs may not be the appropriate “first step” into the world of web 2.0 – especially at the elementary level.
So, over the course of last year I started to figure out an easier, more approachable, entry into participatory writing and reading online. I started with a grade 3 class, whose teacher, Betsy, was so flexible and ready to learn with me that we had so much fun getting this started with her students.
After that much more successful, and far less stressful, experience with Betsy’s class, I knew it wouldn’t be long before another teacher wanted to try something similar. And, just as I expected, my amazingly collaborative colleague, Sonja, approached me at the very beginning of this year to start a reading and writing project with her grade 4 students.
We started off much the same as last year’s grade 3 class, with one important difference: we focused on the importance of quality commenting before we gave the students their usernames and passwords for the class blog. We spent several lessons exploring our blogging buddies blogs, learning how to write an appropriate and fair comment, and building our understanding of blogging as conversation.
Interestingly, as soon as this class got started with their collaborative blog, more and more teachers have been asking me to help them set up a blog with their class. Just this week, I helped another fourth grade teacher, Kristen, set up her class blog and was amazed at how quickly her students were able to pick up the basics. At this point, I’ve got the introduction to blogging organized into five lessons (slightly revamped from last year’s version):
Lesson One:
For our first lesson we spent some time examining other quality blogs, looking mostly at Anne Davis’ excellent Blogging: It’s Elementary WebQuest (just for the blog links, mostly). Each table group had a chance to look at one of the blogs listed on the process page and followed a Visible Thinking routine called: See, Think, Wonder. Each time we had a focused discussion at the table groups (starting with the question: What do you see?) we came back to the full-class and shared our observations, thoughts and wonderings. This was a great way to help students understand the basics of a blog and the concept of blogging as writing.
At the end of this first lesson we developed a list of things we know about blogs:
Blogging is free
People can leave comments on a blog post
People can see other people’s comments on a blog post
If you are the author of a blog, you can edit or delete anything on the blog as long as you have the correct username and password
A lot of blogs have things in common: pictures, comments, links, dates, archives, calendar, videos, opinions, recent posts, author’s name, conversations
A blog is like a website EXCEPT that blogs invite conversation, opinions and ideas while websites usually just tell their ideas without any feedback
Even though many blogs have the same features, they have different information
Authors put links on their blog because they think their readers will like them
Blogging is like a conversation with other people – some people you might know, some people you might not know
Bloggers want their reader’s opinions
Everyone in the world can see our blog
Blogging is reading and writing
Lesson Two:
For our second and third lessons, we watched two public service announcements from the US. We start with a PSA called the Bulletin Board to focus on online safety:
We watch the video all the way through once, then have a “turn and talk” moment to see what we understand about the video after the first viewing. Next we watch the video very slowly, stopping at every event to check for understanding. Again we have a “turn and talk” moment for students to share their revised understanding. Finally, we watch the video all the way through and share what we’ve learned. We start creating a class list of questions we can ask ourselves before we post and things to remember about staying safe online, which will be finished after watching the second video during lesson 3.
Lesson 3:
This lesson focuses on responsible behavior and discussion is prompted by the PSA called The Talent Show:
We follow the same procedure as the second lesson, watching once all the way through, then stopping to ensure understanding and finishing with a full run through. At the end of this lesson, we complete our class list of questions to ask ourselves before we post anything online. Here is what grade 4 developed:
How will this affect my reputation (what people think of me)?
What will my friends or family think about me after they read (or see) this post?
Could someone find me (in real life) based on this information?
Who is going to look at this, and how are they going to interpret my words?
Is this inappropriate, immature or bullying?
Could I hurt someone else’s feelings with this post?
Would I say this to the person’s face?
What could be the consequences of this post?
What will I cause by writing this post? Be culturally sensitive.
Would I want someone to say this to me?
Do I have a good reason/purpose to do this?
Is this something I want everyone to see?
We also make a quick list of safety and responsibility tips to help us remember to follow the blogging guidelines outlined in our permission slip. Here is what grade 4 came up with:
Only post things that you would want everyone (in school, at home, in other countries) to know
Think about the future – what will people think a few days, weeks, months from now, if they read your post;
Don’t share personal information like: last name, mom’s maiden name, address, telephone number, password, birthdate, username, passport information, license plate number, picture of your face, full name of yourself or your friends
Choose a complicated password for others, but easy for you to remember
Think before you post
Use only your first or an avatar (made up name that represents you)
Don’t talk to strangers. Get a parent or an older brother or sister to help you.
Only say nice things about other people.
Treat other people the way you want to be treated.
If you think you will regret it, don’t post it
If you wouldn’t say it to a person’s face, do not post it online
Use appropriate language and good grammar and spelling
Think about your readers feelings (embarrassing) when you post online
Be culturally sensitive
Only post things that you can verify are true (no gossiping)
Lesson 4:
We usually model the process of writing a good comment, and then create a comment as a piece of shared writing with the class. After this process we develop our own list of quality comment characteristics. Here is what one grade 4 class came up with:
Constructive, but not hurtful
Think about the author and their purpose for their post before leaving a comment
Comments are always related to the content of the post
Personal connections to what the author wrote
Answer a question, or add meaningful information to the content topic
Follows the writing process – it’s like a mini piece of writing.
Use a comment sandwich: start with a positive, add constructive feedback, then finish with a positive.
Make your comment sandwich thick and tasty! Lots of meaningful, meaty thoughts that relate directly the content of the post to keep the blogger satisfied!
I love the idea of creating a comment sandwich – having the visual for the students has been extremely powerful, and focusing on commenting as part of the writing process has improved their commenting considerably (not as many “good job” posts as we had last year).
Lesson 5:
Once students are comfortable with the process of leaving meaningful comments, and have returned their parental permission slip, we introduce them to the actual process of writing blog posts. The basics of logging in, creating a new post, putting your post in the category for your name, and submitting for review. Usually we have the first post be a short introduction to the student.
I love the fact that having a category for each student makes it appear as if each student has their own blog (by listing the name categories in the sidebar) and that no posts will be published until the teacher can approve them after moderation. Such an easy and safe way to begin blogging!
That’s it! That’s how we’re starting to set up class blogs in grades 4 and 5 at ISB. So far we have 6 different classes set up:
I’m sure this is just the beginning! Most of these classes have already decided that if and when students are ready, they will be given the option to have their own individual blog.
Our next steps:
One thing that we still need to work out is how to embed the practice of blogging into the daily routine. We work with laptop carts – four per grade level, 12 laptops per cart – so teachers do not have 1:1 access and often have to schedule specific time with the carts. The organization and pre-planning necessary to naturally and easily use the tools can be cumbersome and frustrating for some teachers. Right now we’re thinking about using a rotational strategy – allowing small groups to use the laptops each day for regular reading and writing online.
Anyone have any thoughts on how to introduce blogging to elementary students? Or how to make rotational blogging and commenting practical and realistic for our teachers?
Mac Youngin by shapeshift
Playing on the Computer by fd
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Over the past few weeks, one thing has really stood out for me: Just like 
What I didn’t know was that none of the teachers or students really had any experience blogging prior to my arrival (oops!). So, while they (both the teachers and the students) were absolutely fantastic at going with the flow and experimenting, I realized quite quickly that individual student blogs may not be the appropriate “first step” into the world of web 2.0 – especially at the elementary level.
After that much more successful, and far less stressful, experience with Betsy’s class, I knew it wouldn’t be long before another teacher wanted to try something similar. And, just as I expected, my amazingly collaborative colleague, 
Hi! My name is Kim Cofino. 
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