We are having a difficult time finding time to respond to all of our comments. Our class schedule is so busy with everything we need to learn and do, that it’s hard to sneak off to the computer lab. However, blogging is such a great tool that allows us to get all of our thoughts down and encourages us to think and learn from others. It allows us to write, discuss, and read about a variety of subjects.
I would like you to come up with one or a few ideas that will help solve our problem! Figure out a plan that will allow us to respond to some or most of our comments.
Here are some things to remember…
- Is your plan going to require students to miss class when we are learning new things? If so, how can we avoid this?
- Think about time, space (in our classroom and in the labs), and resources (you should know what these are since we just studied them). What resources are you going to need to help with your plan? Some resources may include: computers, teachers, parents, students, etc…
- Does your plan work for everyone in our blog group?
- What pros and cons do you see with your plan? These are the good things and the not-so-good things.
- Remember, there is not always one “right” answer when we are problem solving!
I hope that this assignment will get your brains working! Solving problems are often hard because as I said above, there is not always a “right” answer! I know that you are terrific problem solvers though and will come up with some great ideas.
Please let me know if you have any questions! Remember, these assignments only need to be between 5-8 sentences. I say this because I want you to explain your thinking. To truly explain yourself correctly, you need more than 1 or 2 sentences. If you would like to write more, of course!
Good luck bloggers!
Love,
Miss Neville
What about a literacy hour, where the kids respond to comments as part of English? Or what about an RSS feed which goes to all the blogs or the kids' parents, so that they can respond at home where they feel less rushed? The pros of my plan is that it will be much easier and it will not take up much valued school time, and it would be a valuable form of homework. The con would be that not everybody has a computer at home, and not everyone knows how to use RSS/Atom. The con of the Literacy Hour is that it has not been much tested so that the children can improve. And there is still the time management problem. The pro of homework is that it makes kids more responsible and brings the family more into blogging, so they will support their kids' writing. We have seen this already. Parents are really an untapped resource, and once they get this new technology they tend to stay with it.
Posted by: Bronwyn G | February 24, 2006 at 05:51 PM
Miss Neville you raise an excellent point. As, shall we say, non-second graders, we tend to forget the amount of time it takes for the students to compose and type a simple response. We need to be careful not to overwhelm them with well-minded but nonetheless somewhat arduous (from their standpoint) work. I for one don't really feel that they need to respond to every comment (though I know they enjoy getting them). I will try to write my comments in the future in such a manner that they make a response possible, but don't require one.
Posted by: Steve H | February 24, 2006 at 08:53 PM
Daer Miss Neville,
You raise an excellent point. As, shall we say, non-second graders, we tend to forget the amount of time it takes for the students to compose and type a simple response. We need to be careful not to overwhelm them with well-minded but nonetheless somewhat arduous work. I for one don't really feel that they need to respond to every comment. I will try to write my comments in the future in such a manner that they make a response possible, but don't require one.
Posted by: Erick ª¢╚ | March 01, 2006 at 11:30 AM
We need to start having blogging more now so after we finish other computer work we can reply to comments.
Posted by: Cameron | March 03, 2006 at 12:58 PM
My idea for solving the problem is to rotate children from our classroom to the computer lab. Three at a time would be able to go. Some people can go after finishing their morning work. Some people can go during outside time on rainy days. Some people can go during reading workshop. We will need 3 open computers and a student teacher. The bad thing about it is that they might miss headline news. The good thing about it is that we can keep track of all of our comments.
Posted by: Kristen | March 03, 2006 at 12:59 PM
We could do morning work faster so we do blogging. But it might make us do bad work or some students could stay after for blogging. But some parents might think it is a hassle.
Posted by: Christian | March 03, 2006 at 01:00 PM
I think we should blog during reading workshop.
We can meet in groups on different days so we have time to read. On the other days, we could blog!
Posted by: Sahil | March 03, 2006 at 01:01 PM
Plan 1
Mrs. Davis can come in on Thursdays. We are going to talk at the reading table. She can talk to us and tell us what to do. One of us can use the computer and the rest can do what the rest of the class is doing.
Plan 2
Mrs. Davis can come in at outside time. We can go to the bronco lab and do blogging.
Posted by: Brittany | March 03, 2006 at 01:02 PM
My idea is we could take some time off specials, lunch and recess. It will work for all of us. Nobody is going to miss class. For example, if we took time off everything that I said we would have 15 more mins. Wouldn't that be good? It would give us more time but it can take time off other things.
Posted by: Gabe | March 03, 2006 at 01:03 PM
My plan is to add another blogging session. It can be done during outside time one day a week. We will still do Thursday blogging also. The good thing is we will have more time to respond. The bad thing is we will miss our outside time. Since it's one day a week I think it will be okay.
Posted by: Ian | March 03, 2006 at 01:05 PM
We could finish all our work
first and after that we could go to the computer
lab. We could pick three people when they're done with their morning work and then go work with Miss Davis and when they finish blogging they can go back and do the work they missed. We could have little helpers tell us what we missed and what their doing right now. Or we could go do blogging during outside time or writing time. Or we could just use the computer in the class.
Posted by: Mimi | March 03, 2006 at 01:07 PM
I think that adults should type short comments. Kids should respond to comments that are questions. If they have the time, they can respond to other comments. The good thing is kids can respond to more comments. The bad thing is we can't answer as many comments.
Posted by: Emerson | March 03, 2006 at 01:08 PM
Miss Neville,
We could take the people with free time. Or we could use the computer in the classroom to blog. We could also schedule it in the plans. When people do either success maker or CRCT online we could blog. When people are doing reading, writing, or doing free chose we could bolg.
Posted by: Dominic | March 03, 2006 at 01:09 PM
Well Miss Neville,
I have many suggestions. First of all I think we could do it at our free time in class. We could do it at home. Or we could do it for an after school program.
Now that would be fun. We could do it for homework instead of our regular homework. Don't say "Stop trying to get out of your homework" because I'll admit it I am. One more thing we could have it on the weekend.
Posted by: Julia | March 03, 2006 at 01:13 PM
All good ideas/solutions, kids. I will certainly try to modify my behaviour so you have time to answer comments I make.
I am glad you'd give up your recess and lunch for blogging.
Posted by: Bronwyn G | March 04, 2006 at 04:29 AM