My friend Courtney and I were given the challenge to update EDU 743. Our first real discussion took place in my classroom after school. We were talking about ways and means to experience writer's workshop in a format that would be a little different than a threaded discussion. Something she said reminded me of my blog from 2007 and I leaned over to the computer and shared what I had done for a class back awhile. Right away we thought of the possibilities and got more and more excited! We decided to begin blogging with each other while working out the finishing updates to the course work. NEVER in my wildest dreams did I think the blogs of EDU743 Summer B would be so highly creative! I am so excited with what I have seen, read, and heard from you (the reader). The other instructors in the course are equally excited!
To give you a small background, in summer of 2007 I was STRUGGLING with a technology course I was taking. I had the choice of 3 assignments and had tried hard to complete the first two and failed miserably. With my spirits at their lowest low, I attempted the 3rd and final assignment.....blogging! I never would have thought that 2 years later I would even think of guiding someone else though the maze of technology for an online writer's workshop!
As the class comes to an end, I am sure many of you will close up your blogs and move on. I think I'll leave mine open for you to come by and visit sometimes...please say hi if you stop by...
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Good Things come in Small Packages
The Kids at the pool
Hanna
Hanna enjoys her new family and home- we love her!
Smile and the World Smiles with you
Hanna, we love you!
Friends
Bittie - I miss you--you are forever in my heart- and Sasha who doesn't know she is a cat.
The Big Rig!
Greg finishes up on the driving course at the Maine Truck Driving Championships
Our little boy!
Jordan Matthew
Growing up
The first day of Kindergarten, Haliey Alexa waits for the bus.
Future Dreams
On the Road with friends Phil and Betty. We will be RVers one day!
Beautiful!
I took a picture so I can remember what the flowers look like while they are still alive.
Second Graders and Me
Class of 2017
Its hot, hot, hot
Yes, It really does get above freezing in Maine
Future Computer Geek
Jordan Matthew discovers the WWW
Karen,
ReplyDeleteGreat idea! I think this was the perfect assignment for the course! I plan to continue to update mine as well. I have enjoyed doing it and wanted to thank you for your help!
As we were talking about in our discussion (prek-2), blogging would be a great way to model Writers' Workshop for this kids.. maybe doing it with another class and showing the students via SMARTBoard or ELMO. I did pen pals with my friend's class in South Carolina. I think doing pen pals in the form of blogging would be so exciting! I am planning to talk to her about it soon!
Karen,
ReplyDeleteThank you, thank you!! I really enjoyed blogging and will be keeping mine up as well. I really liked the format and I agree, it made the class more rewarding (which was nice during the summer) than just discussions. I found myself looking for others new post and curious about what was going to be said!
I am going to try to do this within my classroom as well. Being the only technology literate teacher at my grade level, may make it a hard sell, so I am going to show them mine and see the possibilities!! Keep your fingers crossed!!
I am mulling over in my mind using a blog as a means for some of my upper level readers to respond to their reading. Like maybe calling it, "Read any good books lately?" and having them blog about what they are reading rather than some of my other reaing response activities. Any thoughts?
ReplyDeleteI like that idea. Maybe it would get other readers to read in order to write on the blog as well. It would also allow students to get a preview of a book they may be interested in. You could also have the students create reviews of the books they read and give it a rating of whether it is a good book and if they would recommend it.
ReplyDeleteI am thinking of a format that would simply allow the kids to post the name of a book they have read along with 2-3 sentences telling about about their favorite part. If they are the first to 'review' the book they would begin the post and if it has been read by others they would simply comment. I think this would be very exciting for my upper level readers and an enticement for the rest. When I create the blog, I will email the url for feedback...Karen
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