Jul
24
Final Project
July 24, 2007 | | 20 Comments
Process of how I started: At first, I came to class all gung ho about doing something on iphoto gallery. Then I wanted to work on a delicious account for my students. After reading and reflecting on the social bookmarking section of Will Richardson’s book, I decided that isn’t what would work for me because I didn’t want my K-1 students getting into other links that may connect to mine. By Tuesday, I realized making a blog page for my Title 1 families and to use it like a web page, would be the perfect fit for me.
What I do In Title 1: I teach reading recovery type lesson plans to Kindergarten and First graders on a one to one level. The lessons are very consistent by using Rigby Leveled books. Each session the student chooses a leveled book they have already read. We read for fluency and to practice good reading strategies. We then do mini lessons to teach reading strategies by using magnetic letters. For writing, we work on comprehension skills by having the student reflect on the reading. The student then picks a new Rigby leveled book to read. The writing responses are called Think abouts. Think abouts are a tool that we use for students to make sense of their reading by reflecting and connecting with what they are reading.
What? I will create a blog page for my Title 1 parents and students to access at home.
Why? To establish a collaborative and interactive blog page to help parents see what projects and books their child will be reading and working on. I would like to have web links for my students to access at home.
How? I will create a blog by opening a new blog page and first I would like to establish a few web links for my students to access. I will also have my students write and posts their “Think abouts” of their stories they are reading that week. I am hoping the parents will read their child’s “Think about” and make comments back to them. Here is the connection to my Title 1 blog. title1mrspage.edublogs.org
Change: Along with sending home an individual notebook to each parent on how their child is doing, I will have the blog page available for parents to view. It will show what story the children are reading and what writing strategy the children are working on. It will also have web links that are great resources for parents and students to access.
Collaboration: While I have been here at class this week, I have collaborated with several wonderful educators that have helped me achieve a good start on my blog page. It was nice to be able to talk with other teachers at my grade level to bounce ideas off and process all the information we have learned this week.
I am hoping to involve the parents by having them check to see what their child is working on as well was reflecting back to their child’s work.
Comments
Create a free edublog to get your own comment avatar (and more!)20 Comments so far
Sounds like a great project. It could be great to save your newletters (if you make one) in .pdf format and post it to your blog. You might want to check out Bob Sprankle’s Room 208 blog to see how he did this with his class. Unfortunately, Bob is no longer a classroom teacher. He has left his work online for people to continue to learn from.
Joyce.
I will have to fool around with del.icio.us a bit to see what ways people can connect with my teacher account. I think I have to add people to the network that connects automatically, but I’m not sure what happens with my “fans.”
Good luck with your blog. Anything that can help us connect better with families is a great thing.
Enjoy the rest of your summer!
Theresa
Hi, Joyce -
It was fun working with you and sharing ideas. I loved the way you have already started your blog with a picture of the book! I haven’t figured out how to do that yet. Have a great rest of the summer!
Nancy
I think you’ve come up with a good way to connect with the parents of your Title I students. Who knows, you many really be on to something and they may be more excited by the blog than any newsletters you could possibly send home. Good luck with this. Thanks for sharing.
I really think that this is a great idea. I like how you have in mind the notebook as well as the blog pages. I think it is really important for parents to be informed and you certainly are doing that.
Kids like anything to do with the net. Having them post to the blog and all seems a great way to encourage them to read to to write.
Great idea.
hi, Joyce, isn’t it amazing how much we have been introduced to just in one week. I’ve done this 3 times since June and each time I thought there would be some overlap, but there never was. There is so much to learn. What I find interesting is that a person can take one of these courses and become an tech integrator doing this cool and sophistocated stuff. It’s so impressive to be in company with teachers who welcome the opportunity to adapt practice. Your families will be impressed too. You are communicating and including them in student learning. Well done! Laura
Your blog is a good way to communicate with the parents of your students. I think it would fun to read student responses (the Think Abouts) as comments to the posts for the books. Including the cover of the book will help parents recall the story (if your students take the books home to practice fluency). Maybe the children could take turns retelling the stories orally and you could scribe and post their retellings. That’s another great comprehension skill that could be incorporated in your blog! Parents are always thrilled to see their children’s work so using student work (possibly identified with aliases or a code) could be a hook for parents to visit your site. Good luck, Joyce! As a former first grade teacher, I look forward to following the books the children are reading. Baby Bear is always well liked! –Karen
Joyce, your blog shows that you have learned how to manage categories, widgets and all the intricacies of designing a blog. I think you have indeed selected the best tool for you to start with this year. Like many of us you may need to figure out how to limit the audience of your blog, particularly with students receiving support.
As you get more “great sites” to share you may want to setup a del.icio.us account that is just for your teaching.
Your enthusiasm was fun to watch and I know you will bring a great energy to your teaching year.
Cathy
Hi Joyce,
Your Title 1 blog is a great way to get both students and parents involved in literacy. The parent involvement is huge because they can continue the conversation at home about the books that the students read at school and students hopefully can transfer some of what they have learned from the school environment to the home environment.
Good luck!
LOVE the Al Gore video – We just did a “Talkin’ Trash” expedition which we continue this Fall (recycle, reduce, reuse) and I will share this with the kids – they’ll get a kick out of it too – that robot sound an awful lot like Homer Simpson!
I have tried various reading journals over the years (ELA teacher, secondary), and neither I nor the kids have been satisfied with the results. Your “read abouts” are an excellent way to make connections, enhance reading comprension and enjoyment. I hope to try the on-line approach to reading response journals this year as well. Although eary in our text Richardson does give some negatives of using blogs as journals, I think the interactive nature of them will really help the process of kids making connections with the text and each other. The parent communication piece of this is brilliant as well. You really embraced the content of this class. Jeni
Hi Joyce
What a great way to use the blog? I love how the internet and all these tools should make communicating with parents so much easier. I wish my son’s teachers would do somthing like this!! I did find one thing a little confusing and I know that blogs move your posts down as you add more but your welcome to this blog is at the bottom – I knew to look there for your first post but most parents may not – just something to think about.
Hi
I really like the idea of your Title 1 resource site and I had to laugh as I read your first paragraph as my project went through the same process, starting with one idea and each day we learned something new, the project changed with that new idea….. I agree that one of the grat things about the blog is the ability to have an instant web site that can be used to share resources and make that connection with parents. good luck with it all
I’m thinking that in essence, the “think abouts” will now be done at home? Or just available for home viewing? Is it possible to sent home the whole book (one a week?) for parental reflection probably this would be too unyielding but wouldn’t it be nice!
Joyce,
What a great project! This should help remove the walls of school and provide a great extension for your students to follow up on the work you do in the classroom when they get home. Getting parents on board with what is going on in the classroom is so important. This project will take a huge step forward in opening lines of communication with your student’s parents.
Best of luck on your project.
Joyce
I am also trying to involve parents in my blog. The blog becomes valuable when it is shared by many. I hope you get a chance to share it with your parents so they know how to access it and encourage them to use it.
Good luck,
Steve
Hi Joyce
I don’t think Eliza shared the idea with you, so I’m going to pass it on. She had suggested for me to find podcasts of read alouds and post them on my blog. The idea could apply to your page as well. Good luck.
Joyce,
I think that your idea for a Title 1 blog is a great idea, especially for the parents! If you can get parents and students discussing the books, you may even get more parents involved in reading with the kids at home. Wouldn’t that be great? Good luck with it!
Hi Joyce,
I think your blog is a great idea! It can get students using the computer in a collaborative way, and it can also be a resource for both parents and teachers!
I learned from Eliza’s blog that you can make a static home page, so that when anyone accesses your blog, they will see that page first. I don’t know how to do it yet, but I want to do it so that when anyone gets into my blog, they will see “Welcome to the MSBA book club blog” with a little bit of info about it first…rather than just seeing the most recent post. You may want to do that too, since you will have a lot of parents accessing your blog. I will let you know how to do it as soon as I figure it out myself!!!
It was great sitting beside you! I have really enjoyed getting to know you this past week! And thanks for all the great website links you shared with me that I can use with my daughter! Good luck with your blog! And I hope that your road gets a high speed internet connection soon! Now that you’re “high tech,” you’re going to need it!
Take care, and have a great year!
Julie
This is a great way to get the parents involved. I love the “think abouts” — what a great way to put it. Good luck with the blog!
Joyce
GREAT Job! You have learned so much this week! You are a real do-er! I love the idea for this blog. It may take a little time for the parents to catch on, but if you show the kids, they can help their parents how to get involved. You have lots of great feedback and ideas here! Enjoy and thanks for your enthusiasm all week! Happy Teaching!