Category Archives: my classroom

The Fuel Cell Video Game Project

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Fuel Cell Game Screenshot
I have a significant number of students working in Gamestar Mechanic to develop the “media component” of an environmental essay project. I have been modeling my own essay with students every day — pulling out paragraphs and making observations about my strategies — as a mentor piece, and I have been doing the same with the media pieces. My own essay is about fuel cell technology. Yesterday, I worked on, and then finished, a short video game about fuel cells that I shared with my students yesterday.

What I pointed out to them is how I used the text of the game (in the form of the introductions, rules, and even text messages within the game itself) to reflect the “stance” of my essay that fuel cells are a good idea and need more investment and research. I’ve really been pushing the ways to marry the media project with the argumentative stance of the essay, so that the two work together to create one single powerful message.

Interested in playing my video game called Fueling the Fuel Cells? Give it a try.

Peace (in the game),
Kevin

 

What They Are Creating: Glogs, Games and Slideshows

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Media Choices Essay Project

As my students start completing the essay portion of their Science-based Persuasive Essay Project, they are shifting into working on a multimedia component. The other day, we chatted about the various technology tools we used this year in class — Glogster, Bitstrips, Gamestar Mechanic, podcasting, Photostory 3, and a few others. While they were not confined to the tools we used (I made it clear I was open to other ideas), they have to choose some way to create a companion media piece to their essays.

Yesterday, I did a quick survey with the classes, to determine the choices they were making. I find it interesting that so many are choosing Glogster (57 percent), although I don’t find that surprising, given their use of it during the year. They really do enjoy that site for its multimedia functions, and it allows them to mix video, photos and text together in a visual way. Gamestar Mechanic (25 percent) is the second highest choice, and I will be interested to see how the games turn out. I’ve been coaching a few students about how to represent ideas from their essays into their video game creations. Although I do not teach Powerpoint (14 percent), I am not surprised a few have turned to that old stand-by.

Another interesting point is that not a single one of my students decided to use Bitstrips for making a comic about their topic nor dipped into digital storytelling. I’m fascinated to see how the projects will develop, given my Tuesday deadline for everything to be done and handed in — the school year is just about done.

Peace (in the survey),
Kevin

 

 

The Choice of Student Essay Topics

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I try to build as much choice as I can into our Persuasive Science Essay Project that is now underway to end the year. They get to pick their own topics and they get to choose the type of multimedia project they want to create as a companion piece to the essay. What I can’t quite change is the five-paragraph essay format, because that is its own line item on our report card/standards-based progress report. I’m not quite sure why that is (I argued against the standard being written that way and instead, I wanted more flexibility for longer pieces of writing).

Still, I am teaching in that framework, providing a clear path of organization for them while trying to leave as much wiggle room for them as possible to develop an argumentative, research-based essay that gives them voice. Today, I will begin talking about the multimedia component and as they finish up their essays in the next day or two, they will be launching into that component of the project to end the school year (yikes! not much time left).

I love the range of topics that my students have chosen for their essays, and I am appreciating how the research part of the project is really providing them with a level of depth and understanding. There are some that continue to struggle with an opening paragraph, and formulating enough ideas for a long essay. But others are writing non-stop during class time, sharing their pieces with classmates and asking for advice and revision ideas. This is the time of year when you start to see all of those lessons from the year start to unfold in a more natural way, I think. They understand that this is the last piece of writing they are doing this year and most want it to be one of the best.

Peace (in the writing),
Kevin

PS — this is the site of last year’s science-based essays.

 

Inside The InstaGrok Research Tool

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One of my weaknesses in teaching is clearly research. I admit it. I’ve certainly taught research skills, and have students use research in writing, but I have never been all that comfortable with figuring out the most effective ways to get my students using the Internet for solid background knowledge gathering and evidence to use in their writing. Partly, it is me. But it is also the ‘wild west’ nature of Search Engines, and the lack of focus that Google and Bing and others bring to the table for young writers.

Still, with the shift of our state into Common Core, which has a huge research component to it, I know I can’t let this part of the curriculum slide. I need to teach them basic research skills. It’s as simple as that.

So, when I heard about InstaGrok, I was intrigued. It is billed as an online research tool for students, which focuses search content, but still brings in video, images, websites, information and more.  (Plus, the site creates an interesting interactive quiz area, where students can test their expertise). And what is best of all — the site archives and collects notes that students want to remember and use in later writing. Last week, I set up a classroom account in InstaGrok (in a matter of minutes) and after a period of “playing around” with the site, I had them working deep on an environmental essay project.

So far, so good.

By setting up a teacher account (which is free, as is the entire site … at least for now) on Instagrok, I can get a bird’s eye view of the research being done by my student, and even glimpse inside their journal, where they are collecting notes. I can pop in, as I did over the weekend, and get a sense of each student’s progress on the project, and notice areas where I need to do a little more one-on-one teaching, or checking in with them this week. And the students are loving InstaGrok, too, and some are using it at home, showing their parents.

instagrok screenshot

 

instagrok screenshot2
Peace (in the research),
Kevin

 

 

Sharing Student Work: Digital Life Glogs

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digital life posters

I was fortunate to be asked by my National Writing Project colleagues Gail Desler and Natalie Bernasconi to contribute a few pieces of student work to their emerging site around digital citizenship and digital life. The wiki site — entitled Digital ID — is becoming another great resource to share with teachers and students around the teaching of using technology in meaningful and thoughtful ways. My sixth grade students contributed a few Glogster posters to the developing section around student-created work.

Gail and Natalie are really curating a site with value, particularly around lesson plans and resources, and an overarching theme of empowering students with technology in a way that gives them agency to make informed decisions about their digital footprints and lives. This is a theme that I have been trying to articulate with my students all year, too. I love how they lay out their rationale for creating the site and provide a framework for understanding that is easily adaptable by teachers. Those reflective stances put the activities and learning goals in context.

Check out Digital ID for more information and for more resources.

Peace (in the sharing),
Kevin

 

Progress Made by Young Writers, or Looking at Data

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Since the start of the year, I have been tracking data regarding my students’ progress on open response questions. It’s a little convoluted because of our standards-based reporting, but there is a rubric that I developed and use all year, with a “grade” of M (meeting expectations), P (progressing towards expectations), B (beginning to show expectations), and N (not meeting expectations). I shared some mid-year data here before, and I guess I should state: the data here is only one tool that I use, and it does not address how I work individually with my students as writers, who do more than take open response assessments for me.

Anyway, here is what the data looked like in September, when very few were meeting the expectations of sixth grade. Most students, in fact, were in that progressing range, which is natural.
Literature Open Response Sept11

Here are the results of an open response from two weeks ago. Notice the large shift in categories. I also notice that I still have a chunk of kids in the lower categories, and not much time left.
Open Response may 2012

Peace (in the data),
Kevin

 

The Wishing Tree

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(this is not our tree but an example of one)

I am so thankful for our art teacher. As our school grapples with a serious bike accident involving one of our sixth graders, many of us teachers and students have felt rather helpless about how to help the family and the student, and ourselves. But this weekend, after hearing the news, our art teacher went out and bought a Japanese Wishing Tree, and launched a project yesterday to channel our energy in a positive direction.

And now, in school, students and staff are making notes and origami cranes to our student on our Japanese Wishing Tree, which will be delivered to the student in the coming days. The tree is a way to channel some of our concerns and fears and hopes for our student and to come together as a school community in a constructive way.

I’ll be writing my note today.

Peace (in hopes),
Kevin

 

Trying Out InstaGrok for Student Research

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We’re moving into an environmental research project as we shift towards the end of the year, and I know I need to do more to help my students with the research component. I am going to try using InstaGrok with them. This search engine/information collection site seems pretty nifty, and if nothing else, shows how researchers need to collect and then use information in their writing (this assignment is a hybrid of essay and multimedia composition).

At the site, teachers create a class code that students can sign up with (no email required), and then search queries and more can be archived in a document journal, complete with hyperlinks to articles, etc. Check out InstaGrok:

Peace (in the sharing),
Kevn

 

Why I Wish I Was on Facebook

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http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_KzpWpBTx4yQ/SNaABCNXplI/AAAAAAAAAjQ/sLLQqJiP66s/S240/Worry.jpg

I’ve spent more than my fair share of time here, railing against Facebook on many levels: privacy enfringement, ownership of content, use by kids under 13, and just the fact that it is shifting people from an open platform (the web) into yet another closed garden (hello, AOL). And I have tried to remain true to my convictions: I’m one of the few in all of my circles of friends with no turf on Facebook.

But this weekend, I find myself wishing I was on Facebook.

The reason? One of my students has been seriously injured in a bicycle/car accident, and he is in serious condition in the hospital. While our sixth grade teaching team has been in contact with the family, I wonder how the rest of my students are doing, and I know (from past experiences) that they are likely talking and processing the accident on their networking space. For the first time, I wish I were on Facebook so I could help them with that process and keep track of how they are all doing on this extra-long weekend, and be part of their discussions as a steadying force.

I acknowledge that the thing that Facebook does well is connect people together, particularly around tragedy. It offers its users a chance to grieve and connect, and get support. Whether it be a huge event, like the aftermath of a storm, or a smaller event, like a bicycle accident (which, of course, does not seem small to us), the space has its value, and I find myself wishing not only were I on Facebook but that I were friends with each and every one of my students.

As it is, tomorrow will be difficult as we head back to school. We’ll have our Crisis Emergency Team ready early in the morning for students and staff that need time and space to deal with the accident, and we will be talking a lot about how to stay positive for our student and how to try to make sense of unexpected tragedies that befall our lives. Most of all, we’ll be together as a school community — as a sixth grade community —  and I will be there with them and for them, as I am sure their parents have been there for them all weekend.

What I wonder is: have they been there for each other on Facebook this weekend, too? I can almost guess the answer: yes.

Peace (and prayers for my student),
Kevin

 

 

What They’re Writing About

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How to Wordle

We’ve just completed our expository/informational writing assignment, which allows students to choose topic of explanation and then write through the steps in clear, organized, logical writing. I’m always interested in what they choose as topics, as it can be serious or fun, or even imaginative. The word cloud above captures some of the topics of the assignment.

This year, I shifted away from our narrative paragraph writing as I continue to make moves towards the new frameworks in our state, influenced by the Common Core. Next year, I’d really love to make this kind of assignment a more of a Maker’s Fair, with video tutorials on how to do what they are showing us to do, incorporating technology into the assignment in a meaningful way. I didn’t have my act in gear this year, but next year …. for sure.

Peace (in the explainin’),
Kevin