Green Stream

Scribe Posts

Darren Kuropatwa is an educational blogger from Canada. He is a high school math teachers. A link to his blog is on the sidebar. Some of you have visited his blog and looked at his class blogs that he references on the sidebar. The students in his classes have done some amazing things. Darren created the idea of the scribe post. The students have taken that concept and really gone with it over the past few years. The initial assignment is simple and I will share it with you right from a post by Darren:

Write a brief summary of what we learned in class today. Include enough detail so that someone who was away sick, or missed class for any other reason, can catch up on what they missed. Over the course of the semester, the scribe posts will grow into the textbook for the course; written by students for students. Remember that as each of you write your scribe posts. Ask yourself: "Is this good enough for our textbook? Would a graphic or other example(s) help illustrate what we learned?" And remember, you have a global audience, impress them.

Now for more details check out his entire post, Distributed Teaching and Learning. Ms. Ricketson and I think this would be a great challenge for you to undertake. We believe you can do some incredible work and help others and yourself in the process. Take a look and then we'll talk in class.

the scribe by roen's photos

The Art and Aspirations of a Commenter

I believe in the power of a free exchange of ideas. I also recognize that words or access to some information can be of harm to others, intentionally or unintentionally. As a commenter, I therefore aspire to participate responsibly in the great online conversation by:

• treating all bloggers with respect.
• seeking first to understand what is being said.
• celebrating another's accomplishments. • using school appropriate language.
• rephrasing ideas in the blog that made me think, made me feel, or helped me learn to let the blogger know his/her voice has been heard.
• commenting specifically and positively, without criticism. If I disagree, I will comment appropriately, politely stating my perspective.
• being mindful always that I may be a role model to my audience, especially if they are younger than I. • making no reference to, link to, and/or giving access to any information that may be inappropriate for a school setting.
• asking at least one question in my comment with the hopes of continuing a conversation and deepening thinking.
• using a triple check before submitting any comment: Would I be happy to have my mother read this comment? My grandmother? My favorite teacher?

The above was written by Lani Ritter Hall who cares about students and teachers and is a frequent commenter on many of my student blogs. She is a National Board Certified Teacher. Lani is a retired school teacher who currently contracts as an instructional designer for online professional development for Ohio teachers and online student courses with eTech Ohio. She is a busy lady and makes a difference in a lot of peoples' lives.

We'll talk about this in class! Be thinking about her words.....   

Say it in your own words!

Say it in your own words!

When writing and discussing what you have learned from various sources, including blogs, it is easy to make the mistake of using others’ ideas, words, or images without clearly acknowledging the source of that information.  This practice is called plagiarism!  You can learn to avoid plagiarism by making sure you credit others’ ideas, facts, quotations, etc.  Another way to avoid plagiarism is by paraphrasing, or restating a text in your own words.  This is a good way to test your comprehension. View a powerpoint on identifying plagiarism, and then view a powerpoint that helps you practice paraphrasing.  Another great resource on successful paraphrasing is provided by Indiana University’s writing tutorial services.  Check it out!

Water, Water Everywhere!

Hi everybody!  I spent some time rereading some of the water blogs that Mrs. Davis included on the Green Stream blog, and it made me realize that water touches our lives in so many ways.  Did anyone see the incredible photos of the eclipse on the WaterWired blog?  Did you wonder what they had to do with water?  Think tides.  Even the moon plays a part in our world of water!!  Check out more about moon tides

Reading the blogs made me especially aware of the fact that safe drinking water is probably our most precious commodity (something that my dad used to say when I was about your age!!), and if we don’t do more to protect it, it may someday be gone, which doesn’t speak much for the proliferation of the human race.  One of the scariest things I read was that diseases caused by unsafe drinking water and poor sanitation are among the world’s most serious public health threats, accounting for nearly 80% of illnesses in developing countries and killing millions of people – mostly children – each year (WaterWired blog).  Roughly 1 billion people around the world don’t have fresh drinking water!  In some places in the world, people spend several hours per day fetching water, something that we take for granted (On Water blog).

As you know, our team 9-3 is going to be involved in an interdisciplinary project that focuses on our local watershed.  So, how can we relate the world of water to English 9?  I am anxious to hear your thoughts.  I have some ideas, but I would love to hear yours!  As you brainstorm, think in terms of something that you could create -- something educational, informational, inspirational, etc. --using text, images, etc.  Think outside the box and share your ideas by posting a comment!!