We Are Bloggers

When I was first planning out an informative writing unit for my students this year, I wanted it to be different than what I had implemented in years past.  I wanted to create a writing unit that was more engaging, to offer them the opportunity to write with real purpose and to have them write for an audience that was bigger than just their classmates and me. I wanted to find a way to draw all of my writers, including my most reluctant ones, completely into the fold.  I wanted every single student to be ALL IN on this.  I knew firsthand what blogging had done for me as an educator and realized that it could provide the same experience and benefits for my students. 

With so much technology being integrated throughout our curriculum to enhance student learning, digital citizenship has become a part of our daily conversation. Digital citizenship skills are being explicitly taught and practiced on a regular basis to ensure its safe and responsible use, but more importantly, students are beginning to develop an understanding of the true impact of their words, particularly those posted online. I remind students often that technology must be used for the greater good - that technology should be used to empower learning, communicate effectively, collaborate globally and create passionately. These conversations and practices have certainly paved the way for the journey my students and I are about to embark on.  

We began our informative writing unit using mentor texts to analyze and evaluate different text structures - descriptive, sequential, cause/effect, problem/solution, and compare/contrast. Students will be applying their knowledge and understanding of these text structures as well as complementary text features, as they create their individual blog posts for topics of their choosing (with my approval, of course), giving them a voice to the world.  The plan is to assign students a new blogging challenge to be posted every other week. Students will also be required to read each others' blogs and post thoughtful comments and/or questions. Parents and teachers, as well as the entire world, are encouraged to read students' posts and comment on them as well. I will be moderating all posts and comments to ensure the safety and integrity of our blogs.  

Well, here we are, folks... Week One of transforming students into bloggers, of transforming students into teachers of future generations because that is what our words become - thoughts and ideas that shape the future.  We are excited to begin this adventure and to present the world with our voices.  Stay tuned for an announcement about our first published posts in the coming weeks.  
      

Students learn how to set up their blog accounts

Kids As Peacemakers

Following our study of the middle east region, students began an in-depth exploration of the historical and current events associated with the the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

At the outset of this project-based learning (PBL) unit, students were advised of the guidelines as well as some of the challenges they might encounter and the potentially biasing role of word choice.  Learning how to identify and work toward mitigating biases has been at the forefront of this learning experience. Students have been presented with a variety of resource materials, points of view, and “what about” questions in an effort to offer resources that do not inherently prejudice the students’ thinking. Students are beginning to develop the skills needed to distinguish between reliable and questionable source material. Throughout their investigation and research of this conflict, they have been encouraged to use a FACT-PERSPECTIVE-NARRATIVE-YOUR TRUTH process to help them analyze and make sense of their research and become responsible consumers of information. 

Students have had the opportunity to explore this conflict from the perspectives of both parties, considering how their own lives might be similar or different from the lives of young people living in the area. At one point, several students were discussing the impact that the conflict has had on the day-to-day life of both groups of people. It was an interesting discussion to observe, particularly when they compared it with the impact of other challenges currently happening around the world and throughout history. Critical thinking + global mindset = WOOT! Another segment of this unit allowed students to participate in station rotation explorations, which included investigating the economic challenges, standards of living, military power, the effects of nationalism, analyzing an historical timeline (including maps) of the conflict in this area. These activities proved to help students deepen their understanding of the conflict and was where it all seemed to come together for them. 

This week, we moved to the next phase of the project. Students were assigned to one of four political parties (there is one conservative and one moderate party each representing both Israelis and Palestinians). They have been asked to adopt (for purposes of this project) the perspective of the political party to which they were assigned. The PBL essential question: Can peace be achieved between the Israelis and Palestinians?  Each party is working on creating a plan and proposal for lasting peace in the region; one which offers a two-state solution that establishes permanent borders between the countries of Israel and Palestine. Evidence, gathered from research, will be presented by all sides at the peace summit, as the four political parties try to reach consensus. Watch out, world. These students are determined to create a viable plan for peace. 

The peace summit will take place here at school later this month. Ms. Kosakowski, our digital literacy specialist, has graciously offered to record each class' summit with the hope that we'll be able to share them with parents soon thereafter.  Stay tuned. 

Introducing Flexible Seating

Your children and I are very excited to introduce our new learning space, now complete with flexible seating.

As you can see, a classroom with flexible seating looks different than a traditional classroom that uses only desks and chairs.  Flexible seating options like buoy stools, swivel stools, balance ball chairs, stand-up tables, counters, floor tables, bean bag chairs and knee/floor pads offer students a variety of choices for seating options. The goal of flexible seating is to offer students choice and opportunities for movement and to help them find the type of seating that allows them to achieve maximum engagement, increased productivity and optimal learning. Choice seating is designed to be flexible and may change throughout the day depending on their needs or the type of work they are engaged in.  While there are many different options for seating, you will notice that all options (sans beanbag chairs) still allow for a table-based workspace for students.  Traditional desks are still available for students that desire or require more structured seating. 

So far, transitioning to our new learning space has proven to be a success in that there has been a marked increase in productivity and engagement, not to mention the fact that students are thoroughly enjoying the freedoms that come with choice and needed movement while learning.  

I want to take this opportunity to offer a special thank you to the P.T.O. and their Teacher Wishes grant program, as this endeavor was funded in part by their organization. On behalf of the children who are reaping the benefits of our new, 21st century learning space - THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH FOR YOUR SUPPORT!

Students assembling some of our new materials.

Working hard and enjoying their new space. 

Students celebrating the arrival of some of their new materials and the large empty boxes in which they were packaged.