Grades K - 2 This week, students learned how to use and care for an iPad and how to use the "30Hands" app, which helps them create mini-stories that in a way that improves their reading and writing development. They also focused on finding new ways to brainstorm ideas about different topics to write. Students used "Hot Topic" sheets to record their ideas and topics. Students also focused on stretching the words to hear the sounds to explore different ways to learn to spell words. They were excited and inspired by the bubble gum book and the fact that they got to chew gum during writing time. (Don't worry--all the gum is accounted for and is stuck to an art project on a big poster. )
They also worked on labeling pictures in the stories they started on previous days. Students began to realize that stories are not just one page, and that they take more than one day to write. Teachers noticed that students were becoming more thoughtful about planning, even adding topics to the "Hot Topics" page. Pre-made, stapled blank books helped to draw out the message across the pages. The students were asked to focus on a "small moment" story using the strategies learned so far, and thinking through the stories to include a beginning, middle, and an end. We used the book Wilfred Gordon McDonald Partridge to help with the concept of using memories as ideas for stories. Students engaged in scientific study every day. They used the iPads to take pictures and orally report what they discovered during a nature exploration activity. Later, students explored nature and science by planning and carrying out experiments as they investigated snails ... Our focus question: Do land snails crawl on rough or smooth surfaces? Students collected data, then wrote about the data they collected and responding to the focus question. |
Grades 3 - 5 During the first week of the workshop, our 3rd-5th grade students used many techniques to expand their writing skills.
They studied the traits of good writing: ideas, word choice, voice, and sentence variety. They expanded their sentences and worked together in small groups to share suggests for revision. Students were able to use many different types of technology software to write and share their works. For many of their projects, they used Edmodo to share their writing with teachers and with each other. Edmodo allows all of the readers to give helpful feedback to one another; this has made the delivery of feedback easier, more productive, and more fun. Students also used Pic Collage and Photobooth to create a personal dictionary by taking photos that illustrated the meaning of different words. Students learned new revision strategies, and they used thesaurus.com to find new words that expressed just the right meaning for their writing projects. Each student worked on expressing ideas clearly without losing the enthusiasm and personal flair of his/her unique "voice." |
Grades 5 - 12 During the first week of this two-week workshop, students and teachers in the 5th-12th grade classroom immersed themselves in the world of technology and writing.
Participating instructors used a teachers' reference book, Texts and Lessons for Content-Area Writing, to guide the students (and themselves) through learning and exploration with online resources. Each day, students worked in small groups with their assigned mentor teachers to strengthen their writing, digging deeper to establish their stances and perspectives. Together, teachers and students explored the world of Google Docs as a platform to develop their writing, to share their writing with online response groups for real-time feedback, and to research the web to find evidence to support their thinking. |