Literacy Project Literally Worked!

As I've stated in previous blogs, I used a classroom blog for my literacy project. In January the administration staff at my school asked me if I would take some of the lowest performing, behavior prone students into a group to work on their reading comprehension skills before CMTs. They basically gave me free rein of what I was to do, so I decided to switch things up and create a novel group where the majority of the discussion was online. Students would respond to comprehension questions online and also get a chance to view others' responses, which I found to be very rewarding for the students. I have to admit, this group was EXTREMELY successful! Especially for the student population involved. They gave their best effort daily, and even had some students released from discipline in the office in order to participate in the group! Honestly couldn't have been more happy with the results of this group! :)

Simply Making a Difference

As my South American Adventure gets closer and closer, I am so lucky to have the love and support from not only my family and friends, but also my colleagues. Fellow teachers have supplied me with a plethora of resources, strategies, and tips. One teacher has shared with me what her daughter is currently changing in Costa Rica. Her daughter's school is part of the World Leadership Schools. This week, she is taking a group of students to Costa Rica to help change lives! How inspiring. I am definitely going to enroll my future school in this program when I return home. What is better than traveling with kids ;)! Here is her daughter's blog, if you'd like to check it out for yourself!

Hicks the Hero

Troy Hicks' text, The Digital Writing Workshop, reconfirmed everything I thought and loved about integrating technology into the classroom. In addition to helping me organize my classroom blog, Hicks has also exposed me to new ways of using technology in the classroom. One use of technology that I had not previously thought of is to use Google Docs for rough drafts of major assignments and projects. By having a working Google Doc with each student, as a teacher, you can explicitly coach students into writing exceptional pieces of work. Saving trees doesn't hurt either. :) Another use of technology I hadn't previously thought of is to have students use their blog as a portfolio. By having students add lengthier, major projects, viewers will not only be able to see the student's blog work, but also what is occurring within the classroom. All in all, Hicks truly helped me envision what is possible within my classroom. Above are my students working on their own blogs!

Wonderopolis

One website that I've recently become obsessed with is Wonderopolis. This website posts a new "wonder" each day. I've already made plans to replace my daily "Do Now" journal entree with one of these wonders at least once a week. Although some are rather silly, such as "Do Rabbits Have Good Eyesight?", others really get kids thinking! When you click on the wonder, you come to a page with information regarding the wonder, suggestions of projects you can implement, and even wonder words! Wonder words are words related to the subject at hand; so for the rabbit wonder, words include eyesight, vitamin, essential, pigment, balanced, placement, predator. These words could even serve as vocabulary words for the day. One other aspect of this site that I love is that other classrooms post on the wonder as well. Through this feature, you can see what other classrooms are doing associated to the wonder. I HIGHLY recommend you all check it out!

Tablets vs. Textbooks

I feel as though this course has exposed me to so many resources that I've been on technology overload. Not only have I created a diigo, twitter, and blog, but I've also created a classroom blog and am currently creating a digital story! I love the idea of creating foundation pieces for the classroom through technology instead of traditional posters and text books. After reading The Future of Education: Tablets vs. Textbooks, I'm still torn. Although I am still somewhat hesitant regarding letting RSS run my literacy centers, I have to admit, it's a change I'd rather be making sooner than later. What's your opinion regarding turning your classroom into technology headquarters? Do you think your students will advance their learning as much as technology tells us it will?

Photo courtesy of  zowchow.com

Dig Deeper!

What I've found when researching/reading anything is that an amazing author often has numerous mediums to share his information. After reading Troy Hicks' "The Digital Writing Workshop", I went surfing the web for more information about him. Not only did I find his amazing blog, but I also found his wiki, and twitter too! Check out his other resources for additional information about everything technology.

Exposure Central

I must say that since I began taking this course, I have really grown as a teacher. Not only have I explored various teacher and classroom blogs, but I have already made the connections (even if it is just following a site/blog) that will continue to help me grow as a teacher in the future. With the upcoming year filled with firsts (including teaching in Argentina), exploring the net and the blogging world has only helped with my endeavors. I've diigo-ed many useful ESL sites along with begun following a classroom blog in Argentina! Just goes to show that the internet really DOES have everything!!

Technology Within Technology

Richardson's chapters three and four only reinforced the idea that we need to expose our students to technology in the classroom. It also reinforced the idea that blogs and wikis can be easily and safely implemented in most classrooms in a variety of ways. I, myself, was hesitant at first to implement a blog within my classroom. Especially being special education, I wasn't sure if it would be successful at all. After reading Richardson's chapters and browsing the web for ideas, I can confidently say that my classroom blog is a success. Some of the classroom blogs that I found particularly engaging and productive were Mr. Avery's Sixth Grade Blog and Ms. Chaffey's 3/4 Grade Blog. I found that both of these blogs incorporated other technology within their blog, which only strengthens the educational use of technology in the classroom. What do you think?

World's Changing...Is Education?

When reading Richardson's text, titled "Blogs, Wikis, and Podcasts", I found myself agreeing to many of his ideas. The overall theme seems to be that "The world is changing around us, yet as a system, we have been very, very slow to react." I completely agree with this point. As an educational system, we are hesitant on focusing on technology and instead, continuing to focus on aspects of learning that are less effective, especially when it comes to standardized testing.


With today's search engines and social media sites, students are being exposed to an extensive amount of knowledge and information that was not as readily available within our own childhoods. Because of this, I feel as though we need to put a great deal of focus into modifying our pedagogy and CURRICULUM to assure that our students are prepared for the world around us. As we have heard and seen, careers are being created around technology. The business world now relies heavily on technological programs in order to run successfully. If we want our students to become successful and efficient adults, we need to start incorporating technology into the classroom.

Another point I strongly agree with is that, "today's students, of almost any age, are far ahead of their teachers in computer literacy." I feel as though many teachers are set in their ways and are not comfortable learning a new skill, such as managing a social networking account or creating a classroom blog. With such accounts and blogs in place, not only will students further their learning (especially at home), but they will also be exposed to creating, managing, and contributing to a technological measure.

When I related chapter 2 to my own school, I felt as though we are on the right track; however, not yet there. Breakthrough Magnet School (breakthroughmagnetschool.org) has a very parent and student friendly website. They even have a website full of student resources that help further student learning at home! Additionally, they have grade level "Peek of the Weeks" that give parents a summary of what is going on within the classroom. Other school-wide announcements can be found here as well. When exploring further, I found that many of the teacher pages/peek of the weeks were outdated, some even from the last school year! I think this is another problem when incorporating technology into the classroom; staying up-to-date on postings!

I compared my school's website to lewiselementary.org. What I found was amazing! Not only was the main page updated almost daily with current news and events, but the teacher notes were extremely detailed and informative as well! This is what all schools need!

Finally, when looking for wikis and blogs, I found that there were none where students and parents could contribute to the information/posts. As Richardson states, critical reading and writing skills, management skills, and collaboration skills can all be refined through blogging activities. Personally, my one concern is how can I incorporate a successful blog into my classroom due to the fact that I work with special education students. I do not have these students daily, or for a specific subject or task. 

How can I create a blog that not only is informative for students and parents, but also helps to work on specific student strengths and deficits for special education students?