The Write Weblog

Diligence, Dialogue & Donuts!

It was fun celebrating last week. We celebrated you, our students. You have been so diligent and you always come in to the lab ready to blog! Your writing continues to improve and you are soaring with your thinking. We wanted to take a little time out to just enjoy some special treats and have a little time to talk and enjoy each other's company. The donuts were delicious! The dialogue was great! Your manners were exemplary! We were so happy Mrs. Hooper could join us in the KCAASE station! For those of you who don't know, the K Station is the technology trailer where great things are always going on. This week Mrs. Meeler is conducting the Quiz Bowl about current events in that very station. I can't wait to hear the winners names. I can't wait to hear all the participant's names because you know, you are all winners!  I can recall  when we had the very first one at J. H. House. I am glad that the tradition continues. You are the smartest, the coolest, and  the best thinkers ever!

Dear Ashley

Dear Ashley,

This post is just for you! We heard about your accident and we are so sorry! We have been thinking about you all week! Have you felt all that love and good wishes coming your way?  We heard that you had to be in the hospital over night but now you are recovering. That is good news!

Our weblogging group is not the same without you and everyone has sent you a "Get Well Post!"  We really look forward to your return!

Take care of yourself......

Love,

Mrs. Davis, Mrs. Meeler, & all the Blooming Webloggers

Student Voices Matter!

Students, never doubt that your voice matters. The "Dear Teacher-To-Be" posts that you wrote were outstanding. Those posts show your personality. They are honest and sincere.....written from the heart. It is  obvious that you care about the topic. I am so proud of you! You made a difference with these students who are studying to be teachers. I just wish you could have seen the Georgia State students' faces as they were reading your posts.  It was awesome! I want to share a few of their posts that they made on their new weblogs.

Sara plans to take Ashley's advice to heart.......

Today I got to comment on a fifth grade student's weblog. Ashley made a post to me, a Teacher-To-Be, with some ideas for what she thinks makes a good teacher. She used the phrase "less talk, more action" to tell me that students are much more eager and excited to learn in a fun environment. I will definately take Ashley's advice to heart and apply it someday in my own classroom.

Bethany agrees with Adrieana about working with partners........

Adrieana, my fifth grade student, said that she liked when her teachers allowed her to work with a partner when doing an assignment. She also enjoys going on fieldtrips and particularly enjoyed going outside in the woods with her class to learn about nature. I agree that working with a partner or in groups is a great way to facilitate effective learning. Field trips are also good because they allow students to actually experience what they are learning about.

Alex is going to do her best not to disappoint Jhonathan.....

I really enjoyed to read the advice that Jhonatan gave me. I take them very seriously, and I am impressed by his thinking skills. I am going to do my best to not disappoint him.

Jovanna is amazed  and excited after reading  Paulina's post......

Paulina, I am amazed at the wonderful and very encouraging advice you have given me. I am very excited about becoming a teacher and it is students like yourself that make me want to teach even more. You must be a very smart and responsible young lady. You have made some great tips for future teachers and I appreciate your advice dearly. Thank you so much and continue to be thoughtful and caring of others. Have a great year! I hope to talk to you again. Miss Ebanks.

Christen loved that her own philosophy was reflected back from Patrick, a student she does not know.....

I just read a blog from a child, Patrick, giving me tips on how to be a good teacher. I was amazed at how smart and tech savvy this children are as I read their blogs. My favorite tip from Patrick concerned respect. That has always been my number one rule: respect me, and I will respect you. I loved that my own philosophy was reflected back from a student that I do not know. 

Crystal discovers  good advice from Juan.....   

One student, Juan, suggested that teachers allow their students "free expression." He talked about how students should be able to say what's on their mind. Great advice, Juan! I left him a comment, thanking him for writing his post for us teachers-to-be.

Nakia   plans to take Marcos' advice to heart......

After reading Marcos's post, I learned that having fun with the students and giving them breaks sometimes is very important. Also Marcos mentioned some activities that he does in his class that are both fun for the students and help them learn at the same time. I really will take Marcos's advice to heart when I start teaching.

Cara appreciates seeing things from a fifth grader's point of view. In this case, Alejandra's entry......

After reading Alejandra's entry, I saw that she has some great tips and ideas to share. I found out that to her a good teacher must be prepared, rewarding, and know how to relate to each student in his or her classroom. Alejandra gave an example of one of her teachers that fits into each of the categories she listed, and it was neat to see it from a fifth graders point of view. Since I eventually plan on teaching fifth grade, I took Alejandra's tips as useful information that I will be sure to use when I get my chance to stand up in front of my own class. 

Wow! Doesn't that make you feel good? Your voice is evident in these posts. Keep on making your voices heard! We have much to learn from you.

Blog to persuade!

I don't want to spill the beans but I can't help it. Ashley went the extra mile and illustrated her idiom. What a great illlustration!  All of your idiom stories were fun to read!

Next we're headed to persuasive pieces. You are really going to have to put your shoulder to the wheel and do some good thinking! I know you will rise to the occasion!

Boys and girls, I want you to know how proud Ms. Meeler and I are of you. You come in each week and get right on task and are becoming fine bloggers. You find good topics to write about and are writing thoughtful comments that help each other.

On another note, I saw some of the wonderful comments you wrote to Mrs. Halloran on her blog, Counselor's Corner. At last count, I saw 59 comments about her problem with her face. I love J.H. House students! You're the best! You are displaying some of those good character traits that Mrs. Hooper is always writing about on the Principal's Quest. If you get a chance, travel over to those blogs and leave a comment. You can also leave a comment on this blog. I am always glad to hear from you!

Remember your homework....

1. You're thinking of three things you feel very strongly about or would like to see changed. These ideas can be about anything in your life from school to home to friends, to neighborhood or to the world!
2. Choose one idea and provide specific details. List reasons to support your opinion.
3. Think about how you can get your readers' attention and get them interested in your topic. That means you need a good lead!
4. How are you going to end your persuasive piece to leave your readers as convinced as possible by your ideas?

Other things to keep in mind:

1. audience
2. organizations
3. big names
4. purpose
5. definition
6. examples

We are at the beginning of this process of learning how to write a good persuasive piece. We're going to have fun as we learn and I have a feeling that you all are going to become persuasive bloggers who make a difference!

As always, I can't wait for my favorite day - Thursdays! I get to blog with the best! Have a great week!

Happy New Year!

We are going to start the new year off right by having fun with language!  I can't wait to see you in about an hour or so!

Write to engage

Did you know that writing can be used as a tool for learning? a tool for convincing? a tool for thinking? a tool for communicating? a tool for many engaging-type activities?

Yes, writing is hard work but the reward of seeing your thoughts take form into a good "think-piece" is fantastic.

Think about all you have learned here at school since the beginning of the year. You know that your  ideas, thoughts, and opinions are most important! I want you to take  some time to reflect and think about what we are doing in this blogging group and what you are doing in your classrooms. What questions do you have about what you have read, heard, experienced, or seen? Good questions can lead you to good starting points......

• for extending your learning
• for helping you get rid of confusion
• for probing into new areas and for making you a better thinker and writer
• for making connections to build on what you already know and what you are adding to your learning

You know, I've had lots of questions in my head lately about you. Guess what! Often my own questions lead me to writing a post that helps clarify my thinking. In a previous post, I attempted to answer this question: Who says elementary students can't blog?

I wrote about how we felt when we got a reply from a teacher in Chicago and discussed how receiving comments was a nice way to start the day. Then I went on to explain what you do during our blogging sessions. Wow! The list was long and I felt so proud of you. That long list includes:

• proof-reading
• reading comments
• responding to comments
• searching
• sharing
• browsing news sites
• reading
• learning
• editing
• thinking
• selecting topics
• categorizing
• writing

Now, I know you do even more but my point is that I was telling a story to answer the question that I had used for the title of my post: Who says elementary students can't blog? It helped clarify my thinking and and at the same time let me share what we are learning with other students and teachers. Isn't that amazing?

Now you think of a good question that revolves around something you are learning, something you think would be worthwhile to share with others. Think of a good question that you could ask so you can write an thoughtful piece to share with others. Think of a question that would engage others to think about what we are learning and then maybe even add ideas to help us learn.

Ready! Set! Blog!

Good morning, students!

1. Remember, the very first thing you want to do start browsing the current events resources to select your article for our next session. Try to select a category that you have not yet reported on, if possible. Try different sites so you can begin to learn the different resources. Let me know if you need help.Print your article and place it in your folder.
2. Browse through this weblog and make a comment using one of your "Comments Starters" sheet from last week. Be thinking about other comment starters that you would like to add to our list. Share them so the group can collaborate.
3. Make a new post and add your assignment from last week.
4. Take time to read your comments, answer them, comment on your friends' weblogs. Notice new links on your weblog to Mrs. Hooper's blog, Mrs. Halloran's blog, and all of our third grade teacher's blog. You might want to comment on one or more of them.

Review of last session

Two weeks is a long time to wait to meet again but I am sure all of you had a great break! I hope you got lots of rest and had a good time.

First, a quick review of our last session.....

• You wrote some delightful introductions. I liked them so well that I posted them on this weblog for others to read. I'm sure our readers will understand why Ms. Meeler and I are excited about this group!
• We talked about how you would be taking charge of your learning in this group. You will tell the story of what you are learning and what it means to you.
• We discussed how you will use Bloom's Taxonomy to "bump-up" your thinking. This will be a challenge that will make you "sharp as a tack". The blue ribbons with key words from Bloom's Taxonomy have served many students at J. H. House. I'll have to take a picture so we can share these with others. We have huge ribbons with detachable key words under each level. The levels are knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation. I'm going to show you a fun way to remember those words. We're going to do a skit that follows the letters... KCAASE! I hope I have some "hams" in this group. Hey, you will begin to realize why we named the technology trailer the K-Station. It will all fall together and we are going to have a whole lot of fun as we learn!
• You had the opportunity to preview student blogs created by former JHH students. It was so cool walking around hearing your comments. Plus, you all were toggling away between the blogs and Microsoft Word so you could copy and paste relevant posts. Isn't that a super way to take notes?

  So, I'll see you in the morning! Can't wait!