Sometimes its really hard to concentrate when I'm reading, because the reading content starts me thinking about how I could possibly use this stuff with the kids at school. Then the mind starts wondering and I have to start all over again. Just the whole idea of using a blog with children never really seemed like anything that I would want to do, until I started reading the book the other night. One of the ideas that made reading difficult was, figuring out a way that I could use the suggestion about contacting a children's author and having dialog between the students and the author. Barbara Joosse is a local author that has written many books for children, and has even been to our school for an author visit. I think it would be fun to have the students pick different books by her and, using the blog ask her questions about the different books that they have read. You can visit Barbara at:
http://www.barbarajoosse.com/
Another thought I had would be to collaborate with another elementary librarian in the district or neighboring district. We could have the students in one grade, say 4th grade, read some of the same books. It would be fun for the students have a blog where they could post their thoughts about the books and see what the students in the other school thought. They could contrast and compare their thoughts. Maybe they could even conduct a pole to see which books the boys like best vs. the books that the girls liked best....or worst, as a kind of conclusion to the project. This would also be a project that the parents could look in on if we wanted them to, so they could see what we are doing. Maybe they would have their own opinions.
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Wanda, do you have more than one fourth grade in your building? You might want to try to set up a dialogue between the different classrooms as a trial run before connecting with other schools. At the high school level during our literature circle units, we were going to try to set up a blog so that the students that were reading the same book, but in different sections could still discuss it. So, you could work out the kinks and then branch out even more.
ReplyDeleteI also like how the readings give examples for how technology can be used at all levels (it went from AP Calc to 5th grade once). There are several concrete examples to contemplate.
I really like your idea of students blogging with an author. What a great way to make the book "real" by being able to ask questions of the author. One of my favorite parts of some books is when it has a Q&A with the author at the end. It often answers questions I had while reading the book. This part is not included in many books though :(
ReplyDeleteEmily's idea of setting up a book discussion among different classrooms is excellent but if you do not more than one grade level why not have the students blog. Like you said in one of your posts, students may be too shy to comment in class so blogging may make participation easier for the shy one!
Wanda, it sure sounds like you have some great ideas. I think the kids would get a kick out of being in touch with the author of a book they love. I also like the book review/discussions with different classes or schools in the same grade level. I know a lot elementary school LMS's cover more than one school in a discrict, so that would be a great way to connect students in the same town that they may be going to school with together sometime in the future.
ReplyDeleteWanda, I am glad you had so many great ideas after reading the articles and chapters this week. You do bring up a good point, I often feel like educational reading suggest unique opportunities, but little guidance as to how to actually go out and make it happen. That requires the educator to almost think outside the box and pursue things on their own, much like you have with this local author. The best educators are the ones who are innovative and whose classroom does not look exactly the same year after year. I strive to have my students doing different things and providing new experiences and to have an expert in an area come in is one way to do so. I applaud your enthusiasm at wanting to go beyond the regular routine.
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