debbie deb

Here is my final project: http://dlauread.edublogs.org/

I read aloud to my students every day for 30 minutes after lunch. I actually start this on the very first day of school. To introduce the blog, I will first explain the purpose of this weekly assignment, which is to add more discussion to our very structured textbook series. To show them how to actually use the site, I will log onto my laptop and pull up the blog on my Elmo (which projects images onto my whiteboard). I will show them how to navigate the site, and we will answer one of the discussion questions together. Therefore, they can see the type of quality answers I am expecting from them.

For the most part, I want my students to blog during computer lab or class time. At the beginning of the school year, my school site sends out a parental internet permission form, which will give my students permission to fulfill this online assignment. As far as them commenting on my posts, I am going to add my entire class as subscribers. I will write down their usernames and passwords for them to keep and refer to throughout the school year. This should not be a problem because they have the same usernames and passwords for other online sites that they use, including Study Island; I will use the same to eliminate confusion.

To protect my students’ privacy, I will make sure that they do not replace their generic avatars with personal pictures. Also, they will not be using their last names, but only their first names, when they blog. The only time they will be submitting their full names is on their quizzes, but the quizzes are created on another secure site- Quia. To protect myself, I will follow the same rules. The only personal information about me is my e-mail address, which I release to my students and their parents anyway. Finally, I set the blog so it cannot be searched on a search engine.

My school site is trying really hard to become more technology-oriented. I do not think I will encounter too many problems with setting up and using this site. I will explain the site and assignment to my principal when the school year starts up again.

I am happy with the way my blog turned out. I really enjoy how user-friendly Edublog is because after fidgeting around with the settings for a couple of hours, I was able to customize my blog exactly how I imagined it to be. For example, I was able to take out the widgets that I did not particularly like, and only keep the ones I favored (calendar, archives, recent posts, recent comments); I wanted the site to be clean-cut and easy to navigate for my fifth graders. My favorite discovery, however, was learning how easy it was to customize the header! I noticed earlier that Joe’s 700 blog had a customized header, and I really wanted to make a Percy Jackson one (those are the books that we are going to use in the classroom this school year). I thought it was going to be a hassle, but it was quick and easy to figure out. Overall, I am happy with my blog, and seriously cannot wait to use it soon!

To determine if my students are reaching the objectives that I have defined for them, I will log on at the end of each week to see if they have responded to both my journal questions and whether or not they have replied to two of their classmates. However, I will be grading them on more than just the number of entries. The quality of their entries will be even more important.

This is the rubric that I plan to use:

I am going to use Edublog for our classroom literature blog. I really like how it is simple to use and navigate. Although many of my 5th grade students are technology-savvy, not too many of them have blogged before. With Edublog’s simplistic nature, however, I am very certain that they can get the hang of things rather quickly.

Within Edublog, I am going to include links to relevant websites that will further promote individual thinking and whole group discussion. I am also thinking about including comprehension quizzes generated via Quia for every few chapters read. They will have the opportunity to discuss their reactions to these quizzes within blog posts, which will be great feedback when I make future quizzes.

As a class, we are going to read parts of a novel every day. Throughout the week, I am going to post two questions (one at a time) that relate back to our reading, which my students will respond to. I will not post my questions on the same days each week, but rather, it will depend on where we are at in the story, and what kind of discussion questions arise from our classroom interactions. I will make sure to let them know when the questions are being posted, though.

My students will need to respond to each of the questions in at least a paragraph comprised of 5 complete and thought-out sentences. I will be expecting proper grammar, so they need to make sure they proofread their writing before posting. Along with responding to my questions, they will also need to reply to two of their classmates’ responses. This is where the collaborative part comes in. We are going to have an online discussion about the novel, where they will question and comment on each other’s responses. This way, even the shy students that are hesitant to participate in class will feel more comfortable responding through writing. I will also be commenting on their responses to provoke thinking and encourage discussion. As always, they will need to pay attention to their grammar, writing style, and tone.

After much consideration, I have decided to go with my first idea, which is to build a literature blog. The users are going to be my 5th grade students, and we are going to have discussions on novels outside of our Open Court Reading textbooks. We are going to read the novels as a whole class, and they are going to respond to two journal prompts that I am going to post on a weekly basis. Along with answering my questions, they will also  need to reply to two of their classmates every week.

Novel discussions are so necessary, but often overlooked in the classroom. When students talk about the books that they are reading, it promotes comprehension, as well as interest. However, because teachers have so much material to cover within a school day, novel discussions are cut short, or neglected altogether. Or, students will write their responses in journals, and the teacher simply gives them credit or no credit (as opposed to reading and responding back).

Performance drivers that might prevent my 5th graders from learning with the literature blog include skills/knowledge and environment. Although many of my students are pretty knowledgeable about computers and the internet, some are not. And even those with the technology background probably do not know what blogging is. However, a lesson about blogs should solve that problem. Another performance driver is environment. We only have two computers in our classroom, which means each student has limited access to the literature blog throughout the week. We go to the computer lab four times a week for 30 minutes each, but they usually have to work on another program, such as Study Island. I can always schedule more time for the use of classroom computers during the day, or those with internet access can respond at home.

The objectives are:

• Students will log onto our literature blog two times a week (minimum).
• Students will respond to two novel questions in a 5-sentence paragraph (minimum) every week. Correct grammar is necessary, and they need to proofread their writing before posting.
• Students will comment on two of their classmates’ responses (minimum) every week. They cannot comment on the same person.

The audience for all of my project ideas are my incoming fifth grade students. The tool I plan to use for all of them is edublog. I love how easy it is to set up and use a blog, and I love how it makes learning more interactive.

1. First Idea: My school district uses Open Court Reading and although I acknowledge the benefits of it, it is not my favorite way to teach literature. The program is too scripted for me; I prefer to have open classroom discussions regarding the book, and let my students lead the conversations. As a result, we read novels outside of Open Court- sometimes as an entire class, and sometimes in literature circles (towards the end of the school year). However, I can never devote too much time to these novels due to all of the other things I have to teach, and I am always looking for ways to improve upon that. I think a blog would be the perfect solution. When we read novels as a class, I can post weekly journal questions for them to respond to. When they read in their literature circles, they can organize their own discussion questions while I monitor.
2. Second Idea: Every school year, my students show the least amount of interest in Social Studies (which baffles me because I LOVE the subject!). It’s the worst when we get to the Open Court unit that deals with the American Revolution- their moans and groans still linger in my ear! I think it would be neat to set up a blog where every week, my students take on the point of view of an important person from that time period and write about it. For example, they can pretend to be Thomas Jefferson and describe what it was like to be a part of the Continental Congress and drafting the Declaration of Independence. I also imagine posting up appropriate videos that they can view on their own (during weekly computer lab time), which will further inform their blogging.
3. Third Idea: I love my career choice… except for the parent communication part. I dread parent conferences, and I try to avoid calling parents as much as possible. I would really like to change that for this upcoming school year, and really try to strengthen the classroom-home connection. I think building a classroom blog would definitely help with my goal. I would include information on daily homework assignments, unit projects, and upcoming school events. I think this would also be beneficial to my students. Currently, I allow them to e-mail me with homework questions and sometimes, I have five students e-mail me with the same question on the same day. A blog would be helpful because they can go to the blog and see my answers to the same questions that their classmates had.

Hello! My name is Debbie Lau. I am going to enter my sixth year of teaching 5th grade this September.

1) Even though I’m Chinese, I don’t speak or write the language.

2) I love riding bikes and ride around my neighborhood every night.

3) I used to take hip hop dance lessons when I was younger.

Here's a recent picture of my parents and me at a family wedding.