Among my goals for this summer was to decide which platform to use for student blogs and to explore wikis. During the school year I posted about how my attempt to begin blogging with my 6th and 7th graders did not work out because not all of my students were 13, the requirement for Blogger. Later in the spring I heard about Kid Blogs via Sara Kajder's discussion of her book. I had briefly looked at the site at the beginning of the summer, but hearing her mention it again at the Boothbay Literacy Retreat was a good reminder to look into it more seriously. I figured the best way to find out would be to sign up, so this morning I took the plunge. My initial thoughts are: I love the easy set up for classes, the privacy/safety settings with school integrations in mind, and it is free. However, they look pretty blah. When looking at the design templates, it looks like there are only two. One of the other participants at Boothbay had also mentioned her concern that students might think that a name like Kid Blogs could put a quencher on their motivation for blogging. Creativity with design is one of my favorite components of blogging, and I would hate for my students to miss out on this.
With Blogger, on the other hand, there are many positives. It is where I have always blogged, so I am very familiar with it. It would save me a lot of time because I have already figured out a lot of the tricks and stay up to date on new changes via the Blogger in Draft blog. It also has privacy settings available for free, which is what originally shifted me toward Blogger instead of Edublogs. It is also my hope that some students will want to continue their blogs after they leave our school. Even if their parents decide that they would like them to keep their blogs private initially, it would be as easy as clicking a button on the control panel and their blog could be live if they wish. Having it on Blogger would be a little bit easier to network with other bloggers that share similar interests, as compared to Kid Blogs.
The one downside that I can think of right now is that there has been an increase in spam comments on my blogs. That is the reason why I ended up switching my setting to having all comments approved by me before posting. Yet, I do not know that this is really that big of an issue because before any student makes the shift to go live, I would use it as a teachable moment to be cautious with this transition. It they prepare to make the shift when they are already leaving my classroom, then a potential scenario would be to have a parent meeting to discuss blogging safe guards with the students and parents.
I feel confident with the decision to follow through with Blogger for my 8th graders. If I decide to start blogging with my younger students at some point in the year, I am glad that I know about the Kid Blogs option.
On the wiki front, I have been grateful to get some hands on experience - the best way to learn. One of my classmates in my YA class set up a wiki for the course, and Sara Kajder set up a wiki for Boothbay. Wikis seem very easy to navigate, especially coming in with a blogging background. The one drawback that I was not previously aware of was that if a couple people want to write on the same page at the same time some people lose their input, as only one person can edit at a time. When we would be in a setting where all students would be on at the same time in any given class, this could be a nightmare. For now I am planning on focusing on getting the blogs up and running. The main reason that I wanted to explore the wikis was for on-line book club discussions. I will keep wikis in mind as I approach the first book club. However, I might decide that blogging meets our on-line discussions well enough. If Blogger had threaded comments, it would be an even easier decision for me to just go with the blogs.
Showing posts with label Sara Kajder. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sara Kajder. Show all posts
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Friday, July 2, 2010
Boothbay Literacy Retreat - New Technology Resources
One of the benefits of the Boothbay Literacy Retreat was Sara Kajder's technology sessions. Two of the tools that she showed us that I am most excited about are Storybird and ZooBurst. Both are means to create digital books, providing art work as a scaffold. I am excited to integrate them in to my writing workshop; I can imagine students really enjoying them.
Here is a quick example of a project that I did using Storybird. I look forward to exploring with it more in the future:
This I Believe... A Brief Snapshot of Some Literacy Beliefs on Storybird
Here is a quick example of a project that I did using Storybird. I look forward to exploring with it more in the future:
This I Believe... A Brief Snapshot of Some Literacy Beliefs on Storybird
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Adolescents and Digital Literacies
Because I am interested in technology and literacy, I was very excited when I heard about Sara Kajder's new book Adolescents and Digital Literacies: Learning Alongside Our Students. Not only did I recently read the book, but I also participated in two of the three on-line discussion groups hosted by NCTE and loved the opportunity to talk about digital literacies with others in the field. While I was sad to miss the last session, I was glad that it and the first two are available on NCTE's Ning.
In the beginning of the book Kajder explains the purpose of it, "This book is less about 'translating' these new technology terms (which will be outdated and obsolete before this book appears in print) and more about how we work as English teachers to navigate a changing landscape--and how we lead our students to do the same. [...] It isn't about the tools. It is about reading, writing, communicating, and pedagogy" (3). A recurring theme throughout the book was examining the types of literacies that students do outside of school, and reexamining the type of literacies that we, as English teachers, value (10).
The book begins with a copy of NCTE's Adolescent Literacy brief, and Kajder links back to the brief often throughout the book. Each chapter of the book begins with quote(s) about technology, and there were so many that I loved. For example, I could not help but smile when I read Alan Kay's quote, "Technology is only technology for people who are born before it was invented" (13). In addition, there are many examples from different classrooms about integrating different technologies into classrooms. I appreciated that the classrooms were from diverse backgrounds with different levels of access to technology.
Once again, this is one more reason to be excited for Heinemann's Boothbay Literacy Retreat! My final thought (for now about the book) is an excerpt that I underlined and starred with the comment, "excellent point" in the margin. Kajder's comment embodies why I integrating technology is so fascinating and vital, "what keeps me firmly rooted in valuing and learning new literacy practices is that I want all of my students to be literate in the dominant media of their time" (37).
In the beginning of the book Kajder explains the purpose of it, "This book is less about 'translating' these new technology terms (which will be outdated and obsolete before this book appears in print) and more about how we work as English teachers to navigate a changing landscape--and how we lead our students to do the same. [...] It isn't about the tools. It is about reading, writing, communicating, and pedagogy" (3). A recurring theme throughout the book was examining the types of literacies that students do outside of school, and reexamining the type of literacies that we, as English teachers, value (10).
The book begins with a copy of NCTE's Adolescent Literacy brief, and Kajder links back to the brief often throughout the book. Each chapter of the book begins with quote(s) about technology, and there were so many that I loved. For example, I could not help but smile when I read Alan Kay's quote, "Technology is only technology for people who are born before it was invented" (13). In addition, there are many examples from different classrooms about integrating different technologies into classrooms. I appreciated that the classrooms were from diverse backgrounds with different levels of access to technology.
Once again, this is one more reason to be excited for Heinemann's Boothbay Literacy Retreat! My final thought (for now about the book) is an excerpt that I underlined and starred with the comment, "excellent point" in the margin. Kajder's comment embodies why I integrating technology is so fascinating and vital, "what keeps me firmly rooted in valuing and learning new literacy practices is that I want all of my students to be literate in the dominant media of their time" (37).
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Can't Hardly Wait!
Kylene Beers, Robert Probst, Nancie Atwell, Sara Kajder, Linda Rief, and Chris Crutcher all at one literacy and technology retreat!? Oh, and did I mention it is offered through one of my all time favorite publishers, Heinemann? I could hardly contain my excitement just thinking about the possibility of going to the Boothbay Literacy Retreat, but today as I clicked through my web registration it is hard to believe that I will actually get to go.
All the pieces are coming together. As if the conference wasn't enough to be excited about, I will fly into Boston to spend a couple of days with my sister who has been living in Massachusetts for the last three years while her husband did his medical residency there. Then she will take me to the retreat in Maine and pick me up. Next, it will be time for her and her family to drive cross country to move back to the Pacific Northwest. On the way we will be able to see another one of our sisters in Iowa, as well as our 1 year old niece that we have only been able to see one other time! I have never had a chance to drive cross country either.
There is so much to look forward to. The only downside is that I, of course, will miss my girls and husband. I think I will be gone about two weeks total. My mom just reminded me that a couple of summers ago I helped out with an institute for two weeks in the summer, and I survived being away from my family. I will, however, make sure to spend a lot of time with the girls before going on my trip.
It is still hard to believe that I actually get to go. I will make sure to have writer's notebooks with me to document my experiences. I am certain the experience will inspire many WN entries that I can later share with my students. I will definitely be posting a lot about this experience.
*Note: Even though I do not have reviews/comments on my blog about each of the literacy leaders who will be at the retreat, I have books from each one (Sara Kajder's new book is the latest addition to my professional development library, and I will be posting about it soon). I have loved every single one. It is great to recognize all the names and have a reason to be excited for each one.
All the pieces are coming together. As if the conference wasn't enough to be excited about, I will fly into Boston to spend a couple of days with my sister who has been living in Massachusetts for the last three years while her husband did his medical residency there. Then she will take me to the retreat in Maine and pick me up. Next, it will be time for her and her family to drive cross country to move back to the Pacific Northwest. On the way we will be able to see another one of our sisters in Iowa, as well as our 1 year old niece that we have only been able to see one other time! I have never had a chance to drive cross country either.
There is so much to look forward to. The only downside is that I, of course, will miss my girls and husband. I think I will be gone about two weeks total. My mom just reminded me that a couple of summers ago I helped out with an institute for two weeks in the summer, and I survived being away from my family. I will, however, make sure to spend a lot of time with the girls before going on my trip.
It is still hard to believe that I actually get to go. I will make sure to have writer's notebooks with me to document my experiences. I am certain the experience will inspire many WN entries that I can later share with my students. I will definitely be posting a lot about this experience.
*Note: Even though I do not have reviews/comments on my blog about each of the literacy leaders who will be at the retreat, I have books from each one (Sara Kajder's new book is the latest addition to my professional development library, and I will be posting about it soon). I have loved every single one. It is great to recognize all the names and have a reason to be excited for each one.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)