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.
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.
These weblogs, as well as other activities, have taught me a great deal about conversing through literature. This experience opened my eyes to the wide range of questions and answers that are used during literature talks. After participating in these weblogs, I feel much more confident conducting literature circles in my classroom. In order to have my students actively engaged and participating, I now know what questions to ask and what answers to accept. Several times when posting, I refered to Bloom's Taxonomy which refreshed my memory and reminded me of the importance of these critical thinking questions. This was an enlightening journey; however, the required number of postings should be shortened.
Thanks Mrs. Jordan and especially Mrs. Anne Davis for your patience and your guidance.
My experience with using the edublog while reading the book, "Number the Stars", has been immensely positive and informative. I learned how to effectively participate in a literature circle and also how to look at other readers' points of view. The book that we were given to read proved to be a great tool to use in the classroom for integrating literature into other content areas. I discovered that the edublog could be a great alternative way to conduct book discussions with the students, aside from the traditional classroom literature lessons. Students would love to work on the computer when sharing their thoughts and findings on various books, which would ulitmately spark motivation.
Overall, I believe that this experience has given me great insight on how I could effectively use this project for literature ideas and content integration in my future classroom. I enjoyed sharing the book with my fellow classmates and commend all of them on their participation and thoughtfulness with the edublog literature circles. I look forward to using this experience as a resource when conducting literature circles in the classroom.
www. loislowery.com
this website not omly talks about this book, but all the other books she has written, speeches she has given, her biography,F.A.Q. section, and a portion where she can be e-mailed.
One of the best sections that I believe students will enjoy is e-mailing the author. Students feel more of a connection to the book if they get an opportunity to make contact with the author.
Page 70---He Needs A Wife---
What does this mean....
During my life this is something said for men who have no organization in their life....
(From the book) "He needs awife," she said, shaking her head, and attacked the old wooden floors with a broom while the rugs aired.
(New sentence) Jason needs a wife because he cannot seem to get things together in his life.
For easy reading, a great way to organize information could be to use the program known as Inspiration!!!
The teacher can either have the students use this program to help outline each chapter, or at least one. This is a great way for the students to organize their work so they can remember what went on in a certain part of the story they have completed. (In inspiration, students are also able to add graphics if necessary.
I wanted to find out what the Jewish New Year was that was mentioned in the book, since I'm not Jewish I'm not all that familiar with the Jewish holidays and customs. I found a website that gave very specific and to the point details about the Jewish New Year, www.everythingjewish.com. I picked this website because I found it to be easy to understand. Here is what the website had to say about the Jewish New Year:
"Rosh Hashanah, which literally means the head of the year, commemorates the anniversary of the creation of the world. It is celebrated on the first and second days of the seventh Hebrew month, Tishri. Depending on the solar calendar, Rosh Hashanah occurs in September or October.
Rosh Hashanah, when all living things are judged, is often referred to as the beginning of the Jewish New Year. However, the Hebrew month of Nissan, in which Passover is celebrated, is the first month of the Jewish calendar.
Rosh Hashanah is actually only one of four symbolic Jewish new year celebrations"
Students and parents could use Weblogs for a way to communicate outside the classroom. If students are having trouble with a homework assignment, they could post their questions on the Weblog. Other students or the teacher could respond to the questions to try to help with the assignment. Parents could make postings to the Weblog to communicate with other parents.
I think that the Weblogs are great and would like to try to use them in my classroom one day. The only problem that I see would be in many of the students not having access to the internet at home and/or training the students and parents in how to use and make postings to the Weblog.
