About this edublog project

  • Pre-service teachers used blogs to discuss award-winning Newbery books using reading roles creativiely adapted from Harvey Daniel's 'Literature Circles: Voice and Choice in the Student-centered Classroom'. Contact Anne Davis at adavis@gsu.edu if you have questions.


    Note

    These blogs were moved from Manila blogs to TypePad blogs. The author shows up on each post as Anne Davis as a result of the transfer. The original posts were made by students and the instructors Lynne Jordan & Anne Davis. The initials on the post title signify who did the actual blogging of the post.

Reflections

Overall, I believe using weblogs is a neat idea.  I think it is really interesting to see how technology can be used in literature instruction.  I really enjoyed the entire experience.  There were some downfalls about weblogs.  Weblogs are not an ideal way to implement literature circles.  It is hard for us or students to get the "real" feel for what literature circles are all about.  In literature circles you can see emotion behind what people are saying about a book and with weblogs it's just not the same.  The concept behind this project was brilliant.  It was really interesting to put yourself in a "role" while you are reading.  I have never done that before.  You learn a lot about a piece of literature, a book, a poem, etc. when you examine it at different angles.


One suggestion for next semester would be to use weblogs for another assignment.  Although I think this project went really well (at least for my group), I think weblogs should be used for another assignment.  I am not sure of what type of assignment but I am positive you (Mrs. Jordan) can come up with something great. 


I want to take this opportunity to reflect on the time I have spent at Georgia State University in the Early Childhood Education Program.  Wow, it has been a wonderful journey.  I am not sure I could have asked for a better group of girls and guy to experience this with.  I am truly honored to say that I will be a graduate of GSU.  I want to thank all of the instructors who took the time to teach us everything we know.  I will never forget the first day of each semester when you say to yourself "I registered for four classes and I have eight rubrics.  This makes no sense."  Overall, I have had a great time and wish everyone the best of luck in the future.

Bridge Reflection

This experience was a wonderful opportunity for me! Not only did it expose us to a remarkable Newbery Book to use in the future, but it also promoted group-work. I believe that our group was able to share ideas and build creativity for our presentation. I look forward to doing projects like this with my own students in my future classrooms. I hope all of you enjoyed this experience as much as I did!

The Movie-LI

The movie to go along with the book is at this website: http://www.familytv.com/

Weblogs in Science-LI

Weblogs could be used instead of journals in Science as a place for students to reflect on experiments and share reactions and ideas with each other.

A great site!-LI

There are some great lesson ideas for Bridge to Terabithia at this site: http://www.progenypress.com/. One includes a lesson on similies and the other includes some great higher level thinking questions.

Weblogs Rock!-LI

This has been a really great experience and I have learned quite a great deal that I will use in my classroom. Thanks everyone!

Weblogs with Problems Kids Care About-LI

Another coll way to use Weblogs would be to do a class project like Poblems Kids Care About and use weblogs to share what the class is doing with parents, friends, and other teachers and students. It would be a good way to involve the community. 

Weblogs in Math-LI

Students could use weblogs to help each other with math. They could create really cool math problems for each other to solve, solve each other's math problems, share new ways that they find to solve problems, and ask each other questions or for help.

Great Lesson Plan-LI

I found a really great two day lesson plan to accompany this book at this web address: http://www.learner.org/channel/workshops/isonovel/Pages/MollerPage.html


The lesson includes visualizations and character development. You should all definitely take a look!

Family Connection ~ Chapter 13 ~ DN

The last few chapters really emphasize the importance of family....and it's the FIRST time I have seen Jesse's parents actually be kind and supportive to him.  Nevertheless, it reveals how close bonds can be between loved ones. A great example of this is the scene of Jesse helping MayBelle across the creek in chapter 13.


Every student could connect with this theme. Everyone, especially children, have loved ones in which they adore and bond with. Therefore each child can relate to Jesse in this aspect.