Wow! My head is reeling with all that was presented today in class. I want to do it all, but know that it would probably be best to start slowly and build.
I've been working on the idea of 'class community' for most of my 28 year career, but I love to find new ways to do it. Many of the activities presented in class, from collaborative poems to cue card closure, would work well with fourth graders. I love the idea of implementing various modes of learning and communication in these simple lessons, but the impact is really quite powerful. I think blogging will be a useful tool, here. Taking the lead from Kelly (thanks!), I know my fourth graders can handle it if her first graders can.
One idea I had for my project was to turn my class into an e-zine community that would serve as our vehicle for much of our language arts curriculum. I think this gives real purpose to what we do in the classroom and would allow for team building in an authentic way. I have to do more thinking about it, but I'm leaning in that direction.
One thing I thought would be an obstacle is looking less so after today's class. I lamented the fact that we have to share a laptop cart with several other classes, but now I realize it's not all about the "techie" stuff. We can easily use paper-pencil for brainstorming/prewriting activities and utilize computers when necessary. We always have my computer that can be hooked up to a projector if we absolutely need it when a lab is not available.
There's always a way!
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You are so right! It does seem like LESS of an obstacle than before. Technology can be so overwhelming, but I feel like I can do more with my students and it won't push me over the edge mentally. Enlighten me...what is e-zine?
ReplyDeletegreat ideas. i really like the pre-writing activities as well. they are excellent displays of both ways to utilize new medias as well as how to give an introduction to new tech medias. while we were in the mac lab and we arranged ourselves in order of birth date. from there, bill mentioned how that activity could be used to introduce both flashbacks and hyperlink reading. i have never thought to use people as the subject when trying to describe online literacy.
ReplyDeleteDru,
ReplyDeleteYou are so right about the sequencing. Such a powerful tool - and all I ever used it for was to make up different groupings. I love how you can also use it to clarify confusing plot lines in print or video texts. One little technique and so many possibilities!