Blogging Rubric

While going through my RSS feeder, I found another great tool from Free Technology for Teachers. It is a rubric for grading students participation on a blog. http://docs.google.com/View?docid=df8b89sj_324h7b58tgq

I appreciate that the rubric encourages students to be critical readers and thinkers as well as creative thinkers. Additionally, students are held to a high expectation for the quality of their entry. While these might be typical areas on the rubrics that many of us have been using forever, the area "community of practice" is specific to the world of blogging. As someone who has not created a rubric for blogging before and would not have known where to start, this rubric is a lifesaver.

I could certainly see myself "tweaking" this for my History Day blog this year.

Extra Thing C: Tools for Readers

Librarything.com



What an interesting website! When I read the introductory information on this site, I wasn't too sure about it. Why would I need to catalog the books in my home library? I certainly don't have that many books. I tend to borrow books from friends, family, and the public library. I have even started borrowing books from students so that I can read the Twilight series! So a catalog isn't something I would necessarily pursue.



But then I read about the social networking aspect of the site. I could find readers who have similar book lists. I can read their reviews/feedback to get ideas for my next great read. As cool as that sounds, I usually get my book suggestions from friends and family.



So...how can I use this site? The "local" tab is AWESOME! I entered in my zip code and searched a 25 mile radius of my home. In one column, venues were listed. They ranged from public libraries, to UM libraries, to unique speciality book spots like "Once Upon a Crime". There is a second column that lists upcoming events. In this list I discovered Common Good Books. That store has a TON of readings and other events. It is a book store in St Paul owned by Garrison Keiler. Definitely something that I want to check out because it seems to specialize in local authors. VERY COOL! commongoodbooks.com

Thing 6: Online Collaboration Tools

I have discovered that conferences are a great time to work on "things" for MILI! The article "Marking work in Google Docs" gave me some ideas.

I tried google docs as a tool with the other teachers on my team without much success. There were a lot of problems with the "invitations" that I tried to send out. This was very disheartening to me because I wanted to collaborate with my team in creating meeting agendas. I had pretty much given up on google docs.

This article gave me hope. I would like to give google docs another try with history day. I don't think I will involve ALL students, but I would like to make this option available for the students who are highly motivated and driven. That is what I have learned about history day: there are some tools that I need to make available for ALL students and other tools need to be saved for those students that really connect with the project. With google docs, I could involve other teachers in the review process. Groups could work on their projects and then share them with me, Jeanne, our gifted and talented coordinator, language arts teacher, etc...it would allow them to receive lots of valuable feedback. Something worth piloting this year! We'll see how it goes:)

Thing 4: Online Productivity Tools

When looking at thing 4 I decided to focus in on the first Blog Prompt:
Which customizable homepage did you choose? Why did that one appeal to you? Will you make it your permanent home page?

I strongly believe that I-google is the way to go in the world of customized home pages. It has made my life so much easier and I get done with routine tasks (like checking email and blogs) so much faster. It truly is a productivity tool. I started one in MILI last year and I can honestly say I use it every day!

I played around with some of the other tools mentioned in the directions for this "thing" but I feel the google products work very well for me. I am a big fan of google calendar and use that as my assignment calendar on my teacher web page. One tool that I thought was interesting was tinyurl.com There are certainly times that a web site has an unbearably long url and this tool helps to shorten it up. Might be nice for when I send websites to colleagues that I think might be of interest. However, I know myself well enough to realize I will probably forget all about this site...

One thing that I NEVER forget is my Igoogle page. MILI participants will hear about hundreds of tools/strategies/sites. I would strongly suggest that a customized home page is something everyone tries and sticks with for future use!

Thing 3: RPC and Dribbling Lessons

I remember being very overwhelmed with the RPC and Dribbling Lessons last year. This year when planning my first research project of the year I focused in on what was most important in achieving my objectives. I decided to focus on the gathering step. I wish I would have remembered the Condensed Version because it had some really great suggestions for speeding up the research process. I ended up condensing things on my own, but it would have been nice to have the guidance of the Condensed Version.

I am always looking for new resources that can be used both by me and my students in studying a unit or in doing research. factmonster.com has some potential in teachig about world religion. I was thinking it might provide some good introductory/anicipatory set material and/or it might also be good for providing closure at the end of the unit. Factmonster has a GREAT area about famous people. I will definitely show students this site when it is time to chose history day topics since the theme this year is The Individual in History. I especially like the "women of influence" subcategory. Looks promising...

Teaching research has always been a bit of a challenge for me. I know where I want the kids to go, but I don't always know how to get them there. Tools like the Big 6 and the RPC have helped give the structure that I need to guide my students in their research. I always struggle in finding powerful resources for my students, especially when looking for sources about Ancient History. Jeanne has always been great about helping me track down what I am looking for. I often go to Language Arts teachers for their help in planning research, too. I think one of my strengths in planning research projects is that I know I can't plan it all myself. I use collaboration to fill in some of the areas where I am weak.

Collaboration was KEY to me this week as I was out from school on Mon and Tues. Jeanne was able to pick up where I left off because we actually planned this unit together! What a relief for me. Of course, now I owe her bags and bags of chocolate!

new blogging tool

First of all...I am in love! Free Technology for Teachers is an awesome blog.  It can be found at freetech4teachers.blogspot.com If you have not checked out this blog, you need to do so immediately. Add it to your RSS reader ASAP!  The latest treasure I found on this blog is a new blogging tool called onsugar.

Here's what the blog author had to say:

OnSugar's integrated quiz feature makes it an attractive blogging platform for teachers. Teachers can post up to 20 questions in a multiple choice quiz. As a part of each quiz teachers can include an explanation of the answer choices. Posting a multiple choice quiz can provide students with a great opportunity to do a self-assessment of readiness for a test.

 I tried out the quiz making feature of this blog and thought it was fantastic.  I will certainly be using this as a review activity before a test.