Hola everybody!
POSTED AT 05:39 PM

rocky

Last night's meeting of our Bloggers Network was great. We had fun, helped each other try things out, and had more fun! We need to come up with a new name for ourselves so leave some suggestions in the comments area. For our next meeting, let's work on using images on our blogs. That can mean uploading a Usericon or using pictures and/or clip art in our entries. I found this one and it made me think of one of our members' blogs--Mr.Kitty, meow! Check this link out-- Maukie --YOU'LL LOVE IT!!!

2nd Grade Weblog
POSTED AT 01:04 PM

rocky

Here's an example of a 2nd grade blog Room 209. These students are posting about their learnings--poems, synopsis, etc. Take a look. I think it's a good model because once we introduce students to blogging via commenting, we can, when we ourselves are ready, move students along to posting. It can be in groups or in pairs, and it doesn't have to be daily. As a matter of fact, a class blog can involve both--students posts and teacher posts with students commenting. Anyway a teacher wants to run her blog is the way to go! So, check it out...

Elements of genre
POSTED AT 03:09 PM

rocky

Looking to get your students to articulate elements of a genre?
One of our 5th grade teachers wanted her students to dig deeper into the criteria for a narrative--here's what she did:
• She decided to present her class with an anchor paper that received a score of 1 (on a scale of 1-4).
• Using the overhead, the teacher led the class in reading the piece.
• A discussion followed about why the class thought the paper scored 1. Students were able to articulate that the paper was missing key elements: the setting was not described, the flow of events did not make sense, the setting was abruptly switched in an ackward way with no logical purpose, there was no dialogue, and the characters were not developed.
• The teacher asked students to give a few examples of how they might revise the piece, keeping in mind the genre elements discussed.
• Students offered several examples which the teacher, using her editing marks to model revision, applied to the achor paper.
• The teacher gave pairs of students a copy of the anchor paper and asked them to revise it, keeping in mind the genre elements discussed.
• Finally, students shared their revised papers with other groups and then some shared with the class.

This was a very successful way for students to understand how elements of a genre function to create quality writing. And, when students worked on their next writing task, a personal narrative, they were able to work effectively using a Criteria Chart to guide them through the stages of the writing process.

Mozart Concept Question Blog
POSTED AT 10:54 PM

rocky

Once again, Mozart Concept Question Blog is doing some cool blogging! Check out their Valentine's Day couplets!

Happy Valentine's Day everybody!

Welcome Jonquil!
POSTED AT 09:48 PM

rocky

Hello and welcome to Jonquil's Journal Journey our newest BlogClassSharedJournal member. Jonquil is a teacher of English as a Second Language who teaches outside of the United States. Here's hoping that Jonquil will post and share with us about her experiences. Check out Jonquil's site and leave a comment!