Sally Phillips on Technology Integration in the Classroom
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Monday June 19, 2006
Blog #5 "You've Got Mail!" In the Classroom
I had barely read the first column of an article titled, "The Write Motivation," by Dennis Rowen, when I realized that this might be a way for my students to accomplish many goals of our course in a way that would be exciting, and easily accessible to them.
Description
Dr. Rowen suggests a strategy for improving writing skill across the curriculum. His idea is that students be given opportunities to communicate with various people outside the classroom who can contribute to what the students are learning. This communication can take the form of
e-mail, instant messaging, and conferencing. According to Dr. Rowen, there are many sites already in place where students can communicate with authors and characters, as well as publish their own stories. Another suggestion is to contact experts in the fields you are studying and invite them to participate in this exchange of ideas with students. ePALS is a website that teachers can use to connect students in other states and countries. The search tool allows teachers to put in keywords to search for students with similar interests of her students.
Findings
Dr. Rowen begins with two facts that all teachers probably know. 1. Students usually will take great care in producing any work that they think will be seem by others (beside the teacher!). 2. Students love using the Internet. I am not sure how far down in grades this goes, but high school teachers know how much students like to communicate electronically. The suggestion was to combine these known facts with the curriculum that you are teaching. Dr. Rowen describes a variety of successful projects that he had done, or was aware of. The exercises provided students with opportunities to enhance their writing and editing skills, as well as opportunities to publish their work. The ePALS program allowed students to ask questions of students in other countries and compare cultures. One of the most interesting conclusions was that it seemed that these students were far more willing to accept peer editing than students who were not involved in a similar project. The enthusiasm for this project spilled over into other classroom activities. Students continued to work cooperatively evaluating the work of each other.
Reflection
It took me forever to write this entry because I kept stopping to look up things on the Internet that might work for me in my classes. One of the things I was thinking about doing with my Housing & Interior Design class is simply to send out a blanket letter to people in all related fields requesting their participation with my students. It would give students the opportunity to ask questions of people in the field. One of the course objectives is to learn about different careers in Housing and Interior Design. What I can envision is that my students may establish a bond with these volunteers, which could possibly lead to some on-the-job training. At the very least, I would hope that my students might get to shadow them for a day.
In my Apparel Development class my students are younger and not very focused on a career. I have looked at the ePAL sight and decided it would simply be a good experience for my students to communicate with someone in another county. They could exchange information about school, dating, recreation, families?and maybe even talk about clothing. The benefit would be that they would be working on their writing skills. There were not groups specifically in my area, but I think just a general open discussion about teenage stuff would be rewarding. Of course, I would have to set up some guidelines and have a few quicky lessons and exercises on writing in complete sentences. I was delighted to read this article. I just hope that it will be possible for students to use their WCPSS email addresses. We?ll see?Posted at 12:54AM Jun 19, 2006 by PHILLIPS, SALLY in General | Comments[0]
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