Post #3

As I continue to learn about new digital tools through our graduate school class, in the back of my mind, I am always considering how I can incorporate these tools into my own classroom.  I think technology enhances the education we are providing our students, but it should also be used to keep students engaged and interested in what they are learning.  As a seventh-grade reading and writing teacher, I often have students who resist reading and writing, so anything I can do to get them engaged will help with my ultimate goal of teaching them.

We are currently working to write editorials in class.  However, one obstacle I always face is getting the students to pick new, innovative topics that they are truly passionate about, as opposed to the typical “Why we should be allowed to chew gum, eat candy, etc.” or “Why we shouldn’t have homework,” etc.  Therefore, I turned to Youtube, as it “provides input for many students who are visual learners” and showed my students the following video (Schrum and Levin 80):

I modeled for them how I used this contemporary video to spark some great editorial topics.  After viewing this video, I told the class that I would use this video to inspire an editorial about not wasting so much money on holiday decorations in these difficult economic times.  The students loved this, as it was an interesting,relevant video and I was able to write a realistic editorial from the video.  For homework one night, I even assigned the students to watch a news broadcast, read the newspaper, read news articles online, or peruse Teachertube.com or Youtube.com to see if they could identify possible editorial topics using technology.  Some of the students came up with great topics after using technology: Should there be restrictions on population (after reading about the 7 billionth child being born), techniques for preventing childhood obesity (after reading an online article about the harms of candy corn), etc.  Using videos can generate much better topics, and thus better final pieces, for my students’ editorials.

As suggested by Richardson, I have accessed the New York Public Library’s photo gallery to use to help students generate ideas for writing or whole writing pieces (105).  While this is definitely a great improvement over simply telling the students what they can or should write about, another step I would like to take is to use Flickr which has the “ability to start online discussions about the images you post by adding comments under any particular photo” (105).  I currently do an activity like this in-class, where I place photos and alphabet grids in manila folders.  The students record as many words as they can about the picture.  After30 seconds, they pass the folder to another classmate who adds more words, passes, and so on.  Then the folder is returned to its original owner, who then uses the words collected to create a writing piece.  I love this activity, but by enhancing it by using Flickr, we are able to reach people “beyond our classroom walls,” as the students could work to help people in other classes, other schools, and other states, etc. to improve their writing by contributing valuable ideas and comments to the posted photos (Richardson 6).  I hope to soon immerse myself in Flickr and become comfortable enough myself that I can use it to help improve my students’ writing. 

Richardson, W. (2010).  Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms.  Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Schrum, L. M., & Levin, B. B. (2009). Leading 21^st-Century Schools: Harnessing Technology for Engagement and Achievement. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.