Another year of school has not only begun, but we are in FULL swing. This year, like many others, I have started a number of activities that I am very excited about.
Even though I 'dabbled' in these a bit last year, we are creating on-line portfolios with the students. This has been ... at times ... a bit daunting. There is always more work to be done in this profession and when we begin to teach new skills ... like on-line portfolios ... well, we (meaning me) have to be on top of that skill before it can be taught. I am always amazed at how much time this can take. :)
Another very cool, exciting, thrilling new activity this year, is participating in the Global Read Aloud. The book that was chosen (or that I chose for my class) is Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass. The foul language in the title immediately has students curious. I considered editing the foul language out while I read the book, then I realized that the author has a real purpose to using it ... it is real life conversation for people. While the language can be alarming at times, I feel it adds a real interest factor for students. As I am a touch concerned that students might get the impression that it is 'okay' to use language like this, I spend time talking about why the author continues to use it. Another very cool part of this Global Read Aloud is that our class has connected to two schools in the United States. One in Westlake Ohio and the other in Austin Texas. We even got to 'meet' our buddy class in Austin today via Google Hangouts. Really neat to see students connecting and curious about each other. Students have also begun to blog about the book. There is much work to do to make certain that they remain safe on-line while they begin to share their ideas out with the world I believe the real world connections will help bring both the book and reading in general to life for the students.
I would love to hear any comments that you might have about this or any of the other blogs !!
Even though I 'dabbled' in these a bit last year, we are creating on-line portfolios with the students. This has been ... at times ... a bit daunting. There is always more work to be done in this profession and when we begin to teach new skills ... like on-line portfolios ... well, we (meaning me) have to be on top of that skill before it can be taught. I am always amazed at how much time this can take. :)
Another very cool, exciting, thrilling new activity this year, is participating in the Global Read Aloud. The book that was chosen (or that I chose for my class) is Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass. The foul language in the title immediately has students curious. I considered editing the foul language out while I read the book, then I realized that the author has a real purpose to using it ... it is real life conversation for people. While the language can be alarming at times, I feel it adds a real interest factor for students. As I am a touch concerned that students might get the impression that it is 'okay' to use language like this, I spend time talking about why the author continues to use it. Another very cool part of this Global Read Aloud is that our class has connected to two schools in the United States. One in Westlake Ohio and the other in Austin Texas. We even got to 'meet' our buddy class in Austin today via Google Hangouts. Really neat to see students connecting and curious about each other. Students have also begun to blog about the book. There is much work to do to make certain that they remain safe on-line while they begin to share their ideas out with the world I believe the real world connections will help bring both the book and reading in general to life for the students.
I would love to hear any comments that you might have about this or any of the other blogs !!