I was able to incorporate my first current event blog with my students last week. I gave them a specific article, read through it with them, and helped them to understand what it meant. Then we decided that we could form 3 different opinions. Students could agree with the actions taken, disagree, or be uncertain about their opinion. I had a blog template that I asked them to follow, and I stepped through the first paragraph with them.
Surprisinigly almost all of the students embraced the idea and easily took off. I did have to remind students that a comment such as "That's stupid" or "Hey Buddy" was not an approrpriate comment. I feel like I am meeting both of my goals of introducing real-world problems as well as improving their critical thinking skills.
Right now, I have not forseen any other problems. This week I am going to be out of town at a workshop. I am going to have the students attempt to work on a new blog without my help. They will still follow the blog template from last week, but I won't be there to walk them through the process. Then I should have a good indicator if I need to readjust anything.
*** This Email was sent by an educator at Riverside High School in Western Line School District.
6 comments:
Kim: I like your idea of giving the students three different reactions to the articles. That gives them enough guidance without doing it for them. Also, sharing what kinds of comments should not be posted is a good idea. Then you can't have a student honestly say, "I didn't know". I hope your assignment goes well while you're gone!
I like the idea of giving students choices as well. I think it is a great way to give students a starting point and get them thinking. What does your template include? Guidelines are very helpful when teaching how to give appropriate responses for any age!
Kimberly - It sounds like you are off to a great start! The guidance you are giving your students for their blog responses is right on track. I was wondering if you have any problems with students writing like they would write a text? Sometimes I find that they want to use some of the normal acronyms such as; LOL, OMG, etc. Sometimes I feel that text messaging almost reverses some of the things they have learned in writing.
Making sub plans for a whole week can be very difficult. I hope your project continues to go well while you are away. I think your template should really help. I also hope you enjoy your conference!
Hi Kim--such exciting news. I love your idea of the choices--this gives students a structure to follow--and I think they are going to learn to love debating current events topics--what a relevant, interesting way to learn about their world--develop a sense of responsibility for keeping abreast of news--and to showcase their thoughts.
Ideal way to develop both written and analytical skills.
Susan
Well my workshop was cancelled, but I still had the students work on their blog without my help. Most students seemed to work well, while a few acted as if they had never heard of such ;) As for my format, I have them write at least 2 paragraphs. The first sentence has to include where they found the article, including a hyperlink. The next 3 sentences are used to tell what the article is about and briefly describe anything the blog reader may not understand about the article. The 2nd paragraph is to describe the student's opinion about their article and/or a solution to the problem.
I think this is such a great idea. Awesome job! I also love the idea of giving them three choices. Students need a lot of guidance when completing a new type of assignment. When I am doing something new, I also model how I would like them to respond, and I assume most of us do. So forgive me for the obvious opinion statement. I just wanted to stress how important I think that is. I know a few teachers who assume students know exactly what teachers expect and they become irritated when students do not perform as they had hoped.
Developing students' writing skills in different formats is essential for them to become 21st century learners. We want them to become lifelong learners and I truly believe that they will enjoy these types of assignments. Also, as Susan stated, their analytical skills are being honed as well.
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