Hi Kelli, I can see where it can be difficult to get your students excited about writing. SeeSaw seems like such a good app for students to use because it allows for a lot of creativity. As with any new app I can see where it can take some time to just learn how to use it. It sounds like the kids enjoyed using the app and I like the idea of having an option to record themselves as well. It really sounds like you have developed a solution to your problem of practice!!
Hi Kelli, I really like the app you chose to help you with your struggling writers. 4th graders are very motivated by technology but also knowing that you and possibly other students will see their posts. It seems like even though you are still deciding how this will fit into your classroom, the students are enjoying it so far and I find it is always better when students feel as though they have had a hand in the process. My only advice would be to find a good group of other teachers as a resource with that app so that once the excitement of the new technology wears off, you can find new ways to use it that will keep your students engaged in it. I started Edmodo with my students 3 years ago and find myself having to come up with new ways to use it or incentives for the students to stay excited and motivated with it.
Great job and I hope you get through this last week before vacation with minimal exhaustion!
It looks like there is a commenting feature on SeeSaw. Have you thought about having students comment on each others work? I'm a HS teacher and don't know what grade level you teach, but maybe you could also have students pick their next book based on what their classmates said about it?
Kelli - very precise and tidy presentation on Blendspace, and a good solution to your problem of practice. You took on a big challenge, trying to find a technology-based solution with limited resources, and it sounds like it worked very well in spite of the 1:4 ratio.
Your description of the kids "staring off into space" during free choice reading time" was frustrating just to listen to! Stefanie's project focused on choice as a means of engagement and motivation, and so it must be frustrating when you provide almost limitless choice in reading and writing and the kids don't respond.
SeeSaw is not an app I was familiar with, but you seem to have made excellent use of accommodations with it, using the voice not just as an alternative but as part of the peer feedback process. I also think that your "next steps" sound very cool - using journal entries to span subject areas, and as a way to respond to class-wide readings.
I can see how the editing and revising is an issue. I'm certainly a member of the "grammar police" and also very OCD when it comes to editing. But when I see major news outlets publishing online articles with improper tenses and spelling errors, I sometimes have to wonder: am I just being OCD about editing? Is there a REASON for it, or am I the only one who cares?
Well, I *DO* care, and I *DO* think it's important. But perhaps the blog/journal entry is not the best place to work on those skills, since blogs and journals are, by their nature, transient and "off the cuff". Maybe one solution could be to define a spectrum of writing: on one end are types of writing which can contain errors, and at the other end is finished work, which needs to be edited many times before it is "presented" in the right forum. This brings me to my "shoot the moon", 10x suggestion for you, which is that perhaps the students could use SeeSaw as a "testing bed", but have some other site, platform, or area where they put finished work. Something formal, and live, which can be accessed by the whole school or even the public.
It sounds as though you were already approaching this with the math procedure writeups on multiplication. I found it really interesting that - although the students wanted to get THOSE "just right", they were less thorough about editing and polishing their writing pieces. Perhaps if you could examine WHY they feel differently about these two types of presentations, you might get a clue about how to inspire them to become better editors of their writing.
Overall, it sounds like an excellent approach that has already met with a lot of success and has a lot of room to grow - great work, and thanks for sharing!
Kelli, Your presentation was very well done and it looks like your project was effective for the first go-around! When you talked about your need for a more formative way to check grammar and spelling for students, I thought about a few suggestions. 1. If it is not your true focus, you can probably let it go for now. I agree with Doug that unless it is an important part of the exercise, then having students use Seasaw may not be as beneficial as programs that outline mistakes. 2. I believe, getting kids excited is more important in writing than grammar at the elementary level. In our writing curriculum, we use the entire first unit to focus on the writing community and coming up with ideas for them to write about. We read A LOT of mentor text from various famous children's authors, such as Patricia Polacco, to give kids ideas. 3. If it is your focus, you could utilize a space like Google Docs because it does spell check and students can collaborate to proofread each others' work.
My next step idea for you would be to set up Nanowrimo accounts and set word count goals with your students. The great thing about this website is that students can add to their word count goal as they write, and any type of writing counts. You can even make it a competition if your students are up for that. We did it this year and competed with local elementary school for the most words typed. It motivated the students enough to show up for weekly writing meetings and write at home. Some students even wrote 12,000 words over the month. The buy in is that if students reach their goal, whether it is 500 words or 50,000 words, they will get their books published, including their own cover art. The only drawback to this is that the competition runs just for the month of November, so you would have to get kids interested pretty early on. We found that the students who had home support in writing and those that had a clear plan for a story did much better. Then the students have two more months to edit and revise their work before it is finally submitted. This would help in your need for grammar and spelling work.
Hi Kelli, I can see where it can be difficult to get your students excited about writing. SeeSaw seems like such a good app for students to use because it allows for a lot of creativity. As with any new app I can see where it can take some time to just learn how to use it. It sounds like the kids enjoyed using the app and I like the idea of having an option to record themselves as well. It really sounds like you have developed a solution to your problem of practice!!
ReplyDeleteHi Kelli,
ReplyDeleteI really like the app you chose to help you with your struggling writers. 4th graders are very motivated by technology but also knowing that you and possibly other students will see their posts. It seems like even though you are still deciding how this will fit into your classroom, the students are enjoying it so far and I find it is always better when students feel as though they have had a hand in the process. My only advice would be to find a good group of other teachers as a resource with that app so that once the excitement of the new technology wears off, you can find new ways to use it that will keep your students engaged in it. I started Edmodo with my students 3 years ago and find myself having to come up with new ways to use it or incentives for the students to stay excited and motivated with it.
Great job and I hope you get through this last week before vacation with minimal exhaustion!
Hi Kelli,
ReplyDeleteSeeSaw looks pretty cool. I'd never heard of it.
It looks like there is a commenting feature on SeeSaw. Have you thought about having students comment on each others work? I'm a HS teacher and don't know what grade level you teach, but maybe you could also have students pick their next book based on what their classmates said about it?
Kelli - very precise and tidy presentation on Blendspace, and a good solution to your problem of practice. You took on a big challenge, trying to find a technology-based solution with limited resources, and it sounds like it worked very well in spite of the 1:4 ratio.
ReplyDeleteYour description of the kids "staring off into space" during free choice reading time" was frustrating just to listen to! Stefanie's project focused on choice as a means of engagement and motivation, and so it must be frustrating when you provide almost limitless choice in reading and writing and the kids don't respond.
SeeSaw is not an app I was familiar with, but you seem to have made excellent use of accommodations with it, using the voice not just as an alternative but as part of the peer feedback process. I also think that your "next steps" sound very cool - using journal entries to span subject areas, and as a way to respond to class-wide readings.
I can see how the editing and revising is an issue. I'm certainly a member of the "grammar police" and also very OCD when it comes to editing. But when I see major news outlets publishing online articles with improper tenses and spelling errors, I sometimes have to wonder: am I just being OCD about editing? Is there a REASON for it, or am I the only one who cares?
Well, I *DO* care, and I *DO* think it's important. But perhaps the blog/journal entry is not the best place to work on those skills, since blogs and journals are, by their nature, transient and "off the cuff". Maybe one solution could be to define a spectrum of writing: on one end are types of writing which can contain errors, and at the other end is finished work, which needs to be edited many times before it is "presented" in the right forum. This brings me to my "shoot the moon", 10x suggestion for you, which is that perhaps the students could use SeeSaw as a "testing bed", but have some other site, platform, or area where they put finished work. Something formal, and live, which can be accessed by the whole school or even the public.
It sounds as though you were already approaching this with the math procedure writeups on multiplication. I found it really interesting that - although the students wanted to get THOSE "just right", they were less thorough about editing and polishing their writing pieces. Perhaps if you could examine WHY they feel differently about these two types of presentations, you might get a clue about how to inspire them to become better editors of their writing.
Overall, it sounds like an excellent approach that has already met with a lot of success and has a lot of room to grow - great work, and thanks for sharing!
Kelli,
ReplyDeleteYour presentation was very well done and it looks like your project was effective for the first go-around! When you talked about your need for a more formative way to check grammar and spelling for students, I thought about a few suggestions.
1. If it is not your true focus, you can probably let it go for now. I agree with Doug that unless it is an important part of the exercise, then having students use Seasaw may not be as beneficial as programs that outline mistakes.
2. I believe, getting kids excited is more important in writing than grammar at the elementary level. In our writing curriculum, we use the entire first unit to focus on the writing community and coming up with ideas for them to write about. We read A LOT of mentor text from various famous children's authors, such as Patricia Polacco, to give kids ideas.
3. If it is your focus, you could utilize a space like Google Docs because it does spell check and students can collaborate to proofread each others' work.
My next step idea for you would be to set up Nanowrimo accounts and set word count goals with your students. The great thing about this website is that students can add to their word count goal as they write, and any type of writing counts. You can even make it a competition if your students are up for that. We did it this year and competed with local elementary school for the most words typed. It motivated the students enough to show up for weekly writing meetings and write at home. Some students even wrote 12,000 words over the month. The buy in is that if students reach their goal, whether it is 500 words or 50,000 words, they will get their books published, including their own cover art. The only drawback to this is that the competition runs just for the month of November, so you would have to get kids interested pretty early on. We found that the students who had home support in writing and those that had a clear plan for a story did much better. Then the students have two more months to edit and revise their work before it is finally submitted. This would help in your need for grammar and spelling work.
Fantastic project! I am inspired by your work.