Students in our relatively newly formed poetry club have been excited to share their passion with others since the group's formation. I thought that Poem in Your Pocket Day on April 27 provided a great opportunity to connect this group with others, both outside and inside DPMS, who share a common passion.
Upon entering school on April 27, random students were greeted with inspirational and wise poems posted to their lockers. Poetry Club members spent weeks scouring the web, searching for poems that they felt would speak to the student body. Most students enjoyed this fun surprise. I especially enjoyed hearing stories throughout the day about students who personally connected with the randomly placed poems. Poetry has power to speak to everyone in different and meaningful ways!
During the day, Poetry Club members also had the opportunity to do what they loved the most: share their poems with others who enjoyed poetry equally as much. I set-up two Google Hangouts with middle schoolers from Vero Beach, FL and Mayville, WI. After brief introductions, students took turns reading their original poems. Time for Q&A afterward gave students a chance to talk about music, books, video games, and school activities.
During both sessions, DPMS students begged to "Hangout" with these students again. Despite geographical distance, poetry has the power to connect even the most diverse groups of people.
The winter storm headed our way wasn't going to stop a group of seventh graders who had been preparing for this day for almost three weeks. Today was poetry slam day, and these students were anxiously waiting to share their poems with other seventh graders from Hillsborough Middle School in New Jersey. After all of the writing, electronic sharing, commenting, and practicing, it was time to finally meet this other group of seventh graders with whom they had been working since the project's beginning.
The project idea blossomed this past fall when I connected with HMS's wonderful technology specialist, Mary Ellen Davis. We began brainstorming ways in which we could connect our students throughout the year across various grades and subjects. When we both discovered that our seventh graders studied poetry in November, it seemed like the perfect opportunity for a collaborative project.
At DPMS, I turned this activity into what we call a "stretch." Stretch activities are created for our advanced students who benefit from more acceleration than what is offered in the regular classroom. Prior to this project, each ELA teacher identified a group of students who either expressed interest in writing poetry or who displayed exceptional writing talent. Once identified, students met in the library during part of their ELA class periods to work on specific poetry activities designed by me, our literacy coach, and our talented and gifted teacher. Students completed this work in addition to the work that they were still expected to complete in their regular ELA classes. All participating students were required to write at least five original poems from the bank of activities that we shared with them.
Once their poems were complete, it was time to share. Using Voicethread, students shared slideshows of their poems to a collaborative DPMS/HMS group. Voicethread was the perfect platform for allowing our students to communicate asynchronously with the HMS seventh graders. Students were expected to provide either text, audio, or webcam comments on at least two poems from five different students. The feedback that they received helped them revise their poems in preparation for our slam.
The final part of this project was the best part: the slam! While participation was optional, most students elected to perform a poem of their choice. To prepare, we watched several examples of slam performances and discussed the importance of movement and voice inflection. On the big day, we rearranged our library to look more like a cafe, dragged our TEDx stage out from the back room, and served cookies and hot chocolate. These students deserved a reward! Through Google Hangouts, DPMS and HMS students took turns performing their poems.
At the end, a winner was chosen from each school using a shared Google Form. HMS students awarded Tyler's performance of "The Crossroads" as their favorite.
Our students were buzzing with excitement after I announced the winner. Some students enjoyed this experience so much that they decided to band together and form our school's first ever poetry club! I can't wait to see what they create next!
Have you ever dreamed of writing your own novel? For a creative group of seventh graders, their dream may become a reality. Ten students from Mrs. Lambert's ELA classes will meet in the LMC every Tuesday to participate in NaNoRiMo. During the month of November, these students have set goals to write a specific amount of words with the hope of finishing a novel by the end of the month.
To kick off NaNoRiMo, and to help our students think critically about their writing, we Skyped with author Margo Sorenson. Margo began by sharing various tips for our writers. She especially focused on how to create strong characters, the planning process, and the elements of an engaging story. She even shared some of her first and final drafts to remind students about the importance of revision.
Students had many questions to ask afterward. This was a great opportunity to learn some trade secrets from a professional writer! Students wanted to know things such as how to come up with names for characters, where to find story ideas, and Margo's biggest struggles as a writer. After our call ended, students were buzzing with excitement about what they learned and about finally diving into NaNoRiMo.
Stay tuned for updates from our NaNoRiMo group during the month of November. I look forward to seeing what these exceptional students create.
Our 5th grade students have been learning about different types of animals in Science. As a culminating project, students worked with a partner to research a vertebrate of their choice. To share the interesting facts that they learned about their chosen animals, students used the iPad app Book Creator to write and illustrate non-fiction books about their animals. Not only was this a great way for students to teach others about different animals, but this project also connected with their recent Language Arts unit where they studied different elements of nonfiction writing.
In addition, students learned a little bit more about "app smashing" as they were encouraged to use other apps such as Comic Life, Skitch, and Pic Collage to design some of their pages. All final products were uploaded to the students' Google Drive where they were shared and viewed by others.
View some of our students' work by clicking on the links below.
Our 5th grade students have been busy this past month writing poems. To help them understand the importance of using imagery when writing poetry, students used Haiku Deck to create a visual presentation of one of the poems that they wrote. I love Haiku Deck because students can create professional looking presentations with stunning imagery. There is no need for students to use outside sources when looking for images; Haiku Deck has an image search built right in. The results: students were able to create a visual slideshow of a poem that really highlighted the imagery that they included. View some of their examples by clicking on the links below.
You may have heard the giddy rumblings coming from the 7th grade wing of the school early this morning. Our students (and teachers) were eagerly awaiting a visit from author Kashmira Sheth. Students were especially excited about this visit since many of them had already read her books Boys Without Names and Keeping Corner during their Read Around the World unit. In fact, one of our students was so inspired by her writing that his additional research of this author helped him discover that she lived soooooooooo close....Madison, WI! After a few email exchanges between Kashmira and Mrs. Wilson, she graciously agreed to drive to New London and share her stories with our students.
During her very inspiring presentation, Kashmira shared a bit about her background. She was born in India and moved to Ames, Iowa to attend the University of Iowa. She spoke of her experiences moving to a new country and the culture shock that she faced.
Her background and past experiences helped her develop the stories that she shares in her novels. During her presentation, Kashmira explained how she was inspired to write each of her novels.
Next, she discussed the writing process. She explained to students the importance of drafting, editing, and revising. Students were able to see her actual drafts and edited copies. The time it takes to revise each book varies, but regardless of that fact, revising is an essential and significant part of the writing process.
Then, Kashmira shared an important piece of Indian culture. She asked a student volunteer to model a traditional sari. Most saris are six yards long, but some can be as long as nine yards.
Students were absolutely fascinated with her presentation! It was awesome to be able to connect what they were reading in class to the real stories behind the fiction. To wrap up the presentation, Kashmira posed for pictures with students and signed copies of their books.
A very special thank you to Kashmira Sheth for sharing her stories and visiting students in New London. It was a fantastic day.
I am very excited to share that I have officially written my first article for an educational publication. I wrote an article entitled "A 21st Century Model for Teaching Digital Citizenship" which is being published in the February issue of Educational Horizons magazine. This article is all about how I teach Integrated Technology and my philosophies about teaching topics such as Internet Safety, Cyberbullying, and Copyright. You can read my article in full text on the Educational Horizons website until February 12. Let me know what you think:
As semester one comes to an end, I have mixed feelings about the group of Integrated Technology kids who will leave me. While I will miss working daily with this great group of kids, I also want to celebrate how far they have come and the exciting work that they have done!
As a fun culminating activity to challenge them to think about how technology will affect the future of education, I used this idea from Jessica Johnston. Students first created a Voki of a student who attends school 50 years from now in the year 2064. Imagining what a student living 50 years from now would share, students considered how technology will make learning different from the way students learn today. The second step was to create a fake text conversation between themselves and this student of the future using iFakeText. Upon completion, students saved the fake text file and shared their results via Edmodo.
Below you will see some examples of my students' creativity. This activity forced students to really think about how technology impacts our lives and how it will impact future generations. Thanks for a great semester!
The library was dead silent last Friday as 5th graders from Mr. Wegner's class wrote steadily and diligently on their own blogs. The only sound audible was the tapping of keys as students eagerly typed drafts of their latest Language Arts writing piece. What got these students so excited and engaged in their writing? It was not only the knowledge that they would be sharing it for the first time with everyone on their own blogs, but it was especially exciting to know that they were also publishing for their writing partners in Mrs. Castonguay's class from Canada.
Each student from Mr. Wegner's class created his or her own blog using Kidblog and was then paired with a student from Mrs. Castonguay's class. During the course of the remainder of the school year, students will be using their blogs to post writing drafts and other thoughts for feedback from their writing partners. The goal is that students not only receive feedback on their writing from a source outside of their classroom walls, but that they also learn how to safely develop a digital connection under the guidance of Mr. Wegner and me.
It has been an exciting beginning! We look forward to watching the students grow as writers and developing a digital connection with their new friends in Canada.
In honor of Halloween, we have a special treat for you- some scary stories written and produced by our eighth grade students using GoAnimate for Schools. After learning about the elements of horror story writing, they wrote their own and produced them into the videos below.
The 5th graders in Mrs. Dachelet's classes have taken their writing to a new, creative level by publishing their stories using Storybird. After learning how children's books are written and structured, and viewing several examples, they wrote stories of their own and used Storybird's publishing tools to share professional-looking projects with the world. Many of the students used the collaborate feature to write and edit stories together. View some of our students' highly creative stories below.
To reinforce their understanding of the characters and events from the the book The Indian in the Cupboard by Lynne Reid Banks, 5th graders in Mr. Wegner's class created character scrapbooks using Biteslide. Their scrapbooks had to portray events that occurred throughout the story from the point-of-view of a chosen character. View a few of our students' creative examples below.
Where would you like to go on your next vacation? Let our 5th grade tour guides help you with your decision. Each student selected his or her dream vacation spot. Next, they used what they learned about persuasion to create a video using the free online video editor, We Video, that convinces others to go to their destinations of choice.
Want to get some inspiration for your next vacation? Watch their videos below.
Eighth graders in Mrs. Koshollek's Language Arts classes turned a traditional research paper project into something 21st century by creating videos using Microsoft's free software PhotoStory 3. Students created a Top 10 list of facts based a research topic they choose from an assigned 20th century decade. Using PhotoStory, students were able to highlight the most significant events from their research and create a multimedia presentation that combines images, text, and audio. See some of their examples below.
Fifth grade Integrated Technology students are excited about sharing their knowledge of Internet safety through their very own blogs! Working collaboratively with schools in Somers Point, NJ and Bethel, CT, students from each school will be writing blog posts following various lessons on Internet safety. They will also be reading one another's posts and adding comments to create a virtual discussion about these important topics.
We would love to hear what you think about our blog posts as well. View our blogs by going to http://kidblog.org/IntegratedTechnology/ and http://kidblog.org/KaburuYoungBlog/. You can view students' individual blogs by choosing a name from the list on the right. Please leave the students comments as well. They would love to hear what you think.
At the end of the project, students from each school will be creating Internet safety public service announcements and exchanging them with one another. Stay tuned for a future post sharing their creations.
