Lesson+Comments+Week+6

Here is a page for our Comments for Week 6- Collaborative Online Lesson

Arielle Book Hi Arielle – I like you used a wiki for my second lesson. I really liked how you, along with your class, explained the rationale behind creating wikis. By explaining the rationale behind wikis students are now working on a valid assignment, understanding the importance of 21st Century Web 2.0 tools, knowing that they are not just completing busy work. I also liked how you tied in your previous lesson to this lesson. Great job on the second lesson! -Mike

I like the idea of using a Wiki for your students to share their information. I have not tried using a Wiki with my class yet, but I think it would work great with middle school students. - Jodi

Arielle, You have picked a great topic. One topic which I lack in. It seems like your lesson will help to further students understand of an important part of our world.~ Stephanie

Anthony Caferella

Jenelle Crocker

Jenelle, I love the e-pals idea, I have been toying around with the idea myself but have not taken the plunge as of yet. I again love the lesson idea of incorporating Christmas traditions into your lesson that really is a cool topic that should interest all of your students. I also like how in your feedback form students you have them answer questions over e-mail. You could also create a classroom Blog for them and have them post feedback as a class then you can see everything all in one place and students can play off one another’s comments so you can see the big picture. Other than that I have no suggestions. Great job. Eric

Hi Jenelle – Kudos to you for taking such a risk with 5th grade students with setting up email accounts and talking to students from around the world. I really like your lesson idea and the fact that you are not only willing to branch out of the classroom, but out of the country as well. While your lesson is good in the fact that you will constantly monitor the progress of your students, what I like most about it is the fact that your lesson has the potential to extend well beyond your class. If students are creating relationships with other students from around the world, you have opened up the possibility of those students carrying on that relationship and friendship beyond this assignment. Great lesson! -Mike

I think students will love communicating with other students using e-pals. This is a strategy that I would like to try with my 8th grade students. They love using Gaggle to chat with each other, but this would open up new avenues for them to communicate with students outside the walls of our school. - Jodi Mitts

Jenelle, I have used e-pals in the past and my students really liked it. I agree with Mike in that it is great that you took the time to set up the emails for all your students!! I find it takes SO much time and does not always pan out the way I would like it to. I like how you have incorporated traditions in your lessons...it draws all students in. Great lesson!- Arielle

Jenelle, E-pals is an tools I hope to intergrate in the future. I think it would be a great idea for students to understand the world around them. So many students ask questions about different cultures and using E-Pal would be a great way to enlighten the students.- Stephanie

Michael Cintorino

Michael, Great lesson, I love the Progressive era and may have to steal this idea for my US History class. Incorporating a Class Wiki is great for the students in terms of collaborating and keeping each other honest. I see nothing wrong with this lesson. I think you r students will love this and I believe student feedback can be invaluable to the process. Good Job Eric

Michael, I really like how your lesson brings two different class periods together. This type of online collaboration is exactly what is required of NET-S standards. The students' use of the wiki will be invaluable to both classes. You also provide them with an authentic audience of their peers. Could my 5th grade students also visit the site? :) They need to exposure the muckracking, and the novelty of high schoolers creating this page would engage them in the learning. Great lesson, as always! - Jenelle

My students usually create political cartoons from the Progressive era, but I like the idea of students working collaboratively to create a Wiki. I think this is a valuable lesson that students will enjoy. - Jodi Mitts

Stephanie Best

I love that your students will be creating a Podcast! This will be a great resource for you with future students. I'm sorry, but I can't remember what your week 5 lesson product was. Will this Podcast carry over from that lesson? Or will students be required to research new and/or addtional information? - Jenelle Stephanie, I like the idea of Podcasts in your classroom. Like Jenelle says, these can be used in the future for other classes. This holds your students responsible to more then just you and could produce better work!-Arielle

Jodi Mitts I am happy to see you provided a resource to help them create higher-level questions. Does Costa's list have sentence starters and/or examples? Having your students create the questions also adds interest and engagement into the activity. A question came to mind as I read your plan: Will you continue to monitor this chatroom after the assigned one class block? Or will you only grade "live" chat conversations? One benefit of online discussion is that students have time to develop strong responses. I wonder if your students would feel rushed with only one class period. I think your students will really enjoy this chat experience from beginning to end. -Jenelle

Hi Jodi – I like how your students are creating their own higher level questions and making this a true authentic assessment. Not only does creating their own questions make this an authentic assessment, but it if the students truly know what they are looking for they should be able to locate the information a little easier; nothing gets lost in translation. I have never used Gaggle before; I would be interested to hear how that works, although I do not think we would be able to use it at our school because anything dealing with “chat” is blocked by our servers’ filter. Nice job with the lesson. -Mike Jodi, I think your lesson would be great for my gifted students and regular students alike. It is great to have them create higher level questions. Students are able to create their own questions and become, as I am trying to teach my students, independent learners. I would like to use Gaggle too, but am not sure if it is something that my county blocks. Good lesson!-Arielle

Eric Posthumus I have a few questions regarding your week 6 lesson, and I'm sure they are a result of my own lack of knowledge with Interest Groups and Action Plans. Maybe you can explain them on an elementary level for me.... :) Will you be providing a list of Interest Group topics for your students to choose from? Are the students going to use your class blog or set-up their own? Do they need examples of authentic Action Plans to get them started? -Jenelle

Hi Eric – Your lesson is very similar to the final project that I have my seniors complete prior to graduation. I had some similar questions as Jenelle, but I will read what you write back to her to save some space. I liked a few parts of your lesson and may “borrow” them. I really liked how you posed the idea of how would the students get people to join their cause. To be able to do this, students not only have to know about their cause but must have a passion for it. Students must understand the strengths of that said cause and be able to expose those strengths in a way that would attract others. I also like that you are making them point out what level of government they would need to seek out for this cause. Sometimes our students lose site of the whole concept of Federalism and do not realize that there are certain things our State or National Governments have no control over and that it is not up to that respective level of government. Nice job with the lesson! -Mike

Great Questions, sometimes I take for granted that not all the details are known bnut just floating around in my own mind. Q1. Yes I provide a huge list of real interest groups and talk about many of them while going through the unit in class. Q2. Students will be using their own Group Blog that they created and we will all be following eachothers Blogs online through Aggregator sites. Q3. I use to do this project in previous years using a paper protfollio that studnets turned in but went digital last year so I do show examplars to my students of past projects and Action Plans so they have a solid idea of what I am looking for.