Okay, it’s different actually doing it…
I cannot believe I haven’t posted anything new is such a while, but have barely had time to poke my head up as well.
It has been an amazing 2 weeks with my 7th and 8th
graders on the blog. As a group, and as individuals, there work has
really gotten better. Some students have improved dramatically, even
over the traditional paper versions of the assignments that they used
to hand in to me (in those old, old days of last month). Some of them
have really jumped into their responses to the science articles they
are reading, which has always been the point of the assignment.
They are also posting comments to other students’ work as well. There
is still much work to do here. Many comments have been good and
constructive (even if critical). Some are still in IM/text message
speak. I have tried to do little moderating to give them a chance to
connect with each other in this new venue, but this is clearly a place
where I need to add some instruction.
I hadn’t anticipated all of the changes in my thinking and my practice
that this has necessitated. How much (if at all) do I participate in
the conversation? How do I administer the grading? Since the students’
work is anonymous, I could post the grades to the blog directly, but
wasn’t prepared to do this.
I am very interested to hear others are doing.
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