ED 700 Blog  

In order to introduce this site to the class and protect student privacy, I will do the following in a series of lessons:

• View videos on internet safety
• Students will sign internet safety sheet and obtain parent permission.
• Review rules for group work
• How to login
• Spend some class time practicing how to use the edit page button to add text to discussion
• Practice changing font, using toolbar and spell check
• Show students how to comment on the announcement page
• This website will be used along with class instruction that will model the different writing strategies that we will be using.

I am still working on the best way to have students login to the site. I have sent an email to our Edtec department for any ideas. I have seen some blog examples on line where the students use 1 email address. For example, I could make an email address and call it mcbrideskids. Everyone would use that email address when they collaborate and post on the site. Students would have to remember to post their name(s) when they post on the site.

Implementation of the website would need to be approved through our school principal. I do not see any problems with getting this approved for use.It is still a work in progress and I am sure that when I actually use it, there will be some changes I will need to make.

I feel like my site is still a work in progress. As I try it out during the school year, I am sure that there are some changes that will need to be made. I did a few edits to my previous posts to narrow down the goals of my site. What troubled me was not being able to go back to the ADDIE model and reworking it.  When I did my ED 544 project, I felt the ADDIE model was something that constantly needed to be altered during the design process. I found myself adding little bits here and there and then going back to the design phase again. What I learned from setting up the site is to remember to stick to my goals. I found myself wanting to add and add, but had to remind myslef of what my primary objective was. I also learned that google sites is very versatile. As my comfort level grows and grows, I like it a lot more!

Students will be evaluated based on a criterion referenced evaluation to determine how well they are performing.  Students will be graded against a rubric to determine the levele of proficiency. They will be evaluated several times throughout the school year. Writing samples will also be collected to show if students have improved.

Students will be evaluated on the following rubric:

I will be using Edublogs to develop my site and will use the wiki plug in to allow for collaborative writing and editing. I may go back to a google site template if it doesn’t seem to fit well. I would like to customize the pages so that the groups could have their own section to collaborate ideas and write. Some other customizations are links to the following:

•  Rules for publishing on the site
• Examples of writing pieces
• Online thesaurus
• How to use spell check
• How to upload an image
• Grammar check rules
• Editing checklist
• Shelfari Widget to display books we are writing about

The site will be designed to meet the needs of the third grade students. The instructions will be clear, the layout will be simple and the navigation must be easy. The way the site will be used will change throughout the year. Ultimately students will write reviews of books on their own and add to reviews written by others. Initially, the process will be modeled by the teacher with supports. Eventually as the year goes on, the supports will be less.

When users visit the site, they will first be grouped in collaborative groupings. Each group will be able to post ideas about the prompt. Once ideas are posted, the group will take those ideas and write a paragraph. Later as the year progresses, students will still brainstorm ideas in groups but will use those ideas to write individual responses or reviews. More towards the end of the year, they will respond to prompts and write their own reviews. They will eventually add on to the reviews written by others.

Collaboration will take place when students brainstorm ideas and then co-create a paragraph together. Eventually students will collaborate and add to the reviews of others.

ADDIE Post #1-Analysis

The goal of my site will be to engage students in literacy and writing. Through reviews from their peers, I hope to help them develop an interest in different genres of books and also work on sharing ideas and forming opinions through writing. They will begin by responding to pieces of literature in groups. The audience will be a diverse group of 22-25 third graders that consist of high achievers, special education students, English language learners and struggling students. Writing and reading skills vary from first to third grade. Coming into third grade they have some basic word processing skills and most have used the internet. Most of the third graders enter with basic writing skills.

 As a result of my site, I would like the students to be able to share ideas about books while also working on writing strategies. Smart learners are never alone and it is important for students to listen and hear the ideas of others and use that knowledge to confirm or form their own opinions. The performance barriers that may prevent students from learning are the following knowledge/skills barriers:

•  Computer typing skills
• Accessing and entering information into an online site
• Lack of experience with response to literature
• Lack of experience with forming evidence based opinions

 Because this will be a new type of response for this group of students, I will need to break the project up into steps. The end goal will be for the students to create reviews and recommendations on their own. The year end goals will be the following:

• LWBAT write a written response about a book that is on the bookshelf. The response must include an opinion and evidence to support that opinion. The response must be 7-10 sentences.
• LWBAT write a written response to another students post. The response must add to the post that was originally written and have 7-10 sentences.

Classroom Blog for Third Graders

In one of the example blogs there was a shelfari widget. I would like to use my blog to get students interested in certain books that would be on the virtual bookshelf. I could put some of my favorite books up to get students started. I would like the students to write reviews or recommendations on the books that they have read. There would be steps to guide them. The goal would be that the students would add to the review and not just repeat what the other person wrote. I would also like to use it for students to respond to specific literature pieces.

Learning Network for Third, Fourth and Fifth Grade Teachers

We have interactive whiteboard technology at our school. I would like to create a network where teachers at my school could contribute and add ideas. There would be a page that is specific to the Promethean Board. There could also be a page that had ideas for classroom netbooks and how to integrate technology into some of the content. I would like to set up examples to start the discussion and maybe embed some tutorials into the blog.

Teacher/Classroom Blog for Third Grade

I would like to do a blog that would showcase what students are doing in the classroom.  I would really like to explore the idea of students doing podcasts and filming some of their science experiences with our live crayfish and snails. Students would do the filming and I would set it up on the blog. They can share their learning on the blog.

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