I am continuing to blog with my third graders on the topics of Ellis Island and The Statue of Liberty. These topics have been great for us because they transcend from our reading unit, to social studies to history and even geography. We are continuing to use the HOT blogging framework. So far we have made a trial run through these steps:
1. Bolster Background
Students last week researched facts on both topics and posted them on the blog with the link to where they found the facts. We talked in small groups about the facts and discussed verbally what they meant.
2. Prime the Pump
At this stage I posted questions I wanted the students to answer using the background research or their own knowledge from our classroom reading. Students got to make a choice whether they would be posting about Ellis Island or The statue of Liberty. Making a small choice like this gave them a great deal of ownership and buy in.
3. Make Multiplicity Explicit
Today, we all logged into the blog and responded to one other person who chose the same topic. Students were given the directions to tell two more facts they knew and then ask a question about one thing they are still wondering about the topic. I found that some students had really great questions for each other.
Our next step- continue the Conversation.... will be for students to find the answers to their classmates questions and continue to post to each other as we learn more about these two topics. In class we will also continue to read fiction and non fiction titles about both The Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.
I am finding that blogging seems to be very motivating. The students like to search the Internet for facts and have also learned how to cut and paste, use search engines, scan information, and are continuing to work on their typing. This unit in my room has incorporated so many skills and so many subject areas. It continues to be a good thing for my students and they continue to be engaged so I am very impressed!
I am going to try and un-password protect the blog so everyone can see what we have been doing. When i figure out how to do this, you can find us here: http://hollon.wordpress.com
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I was able to see your blog. I love the background color. I like how you have set up your blog into assignments where the students post comments. I also like your topic ideas. I love the idea of having them look up information on the internet to share. I usually have my students do a report on Australian animals. But maybe I could do something similiar to what you did with Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty.
ReplyDeleteThanks. I think that it has gone better than I thought it would. I have done one "assignment" a week and done it with a small group each day. This has helped me to be able to teach them a little more about what I expect them to do. It has continued to be very motivating, and I am excited because the students are learning not only about the subjects we are disucssing, but about a lot of little "technology things" (copying and pasting, searching, critiquing research and articles you find, synthesizing and summarizing information, using multiplie tabs on the internet... etc.) that you don't usually teach in the classroom. I can see a huge jump in confidence on the computer and in their abilities on this type of assignmnet from week to week. I also like that they, in a way, are guiding their own learning and I don't have to ask all of the questions, just those to get them started. I have even had a small group do this with a substitute, and it went well- so I know that they are understanding!
ReplyDelete