Flat Stanley Blog

How will you know if this site is helping your users reach the objectives you’ve defined for them?

To reprise the objectives stated in the A is for Analyze post, this is what I want users to be able to do as a result of participating in this project – so when I see the following, I will know that the site, Manner’s Miners, is a success:

• The teacher builds and maintains a Weebly website.
• The teacher manages a Weebly blog by: posting prompts, reviewing student posts, approving or deleting student posts.
• Students build and maintain a Weebly website.
• Students add features and content to their website in response to teacher’s prompts.
• Students compose paragraphs in response to their teacher’s prompts, in compliance with California writing standards for fourth grade.
• Students post their paragraphs on the teacher’s class blog.
• Students post meaningful comments in response to their classmates’ blog posts.

To more descriptively say what I’m looking for:

• I will know that the site is effective when I see posts from the partner school in Scotland and when I see the site grow and change as the teachers and students become more comfortable with the Weebly platform.

• A successful learning site will also show evidence of user growth as posts improve technically and in content quality. I will be looking for evidence that students in Scotland and Students in Rocklin have learned something from each other that they would not have learned without this collaborative project. I know that the students are engaged and having fun because I have observed them, and I know what fun looks like. I am looking for evidence that what they are doing is meaningful.

• We prepared for the telecollaboration by practicing with faculty and staff, and a partner class at our own school. The results to date are encouraging. All of Ms. Manner’s students responded to her first prompt, as did most of the students in our partner fourth grade class. Ms. Manner’s students then posted comments in response to those responses, so we are confident that students are “getting” the cycle of comment and response.

• We are also encouraged by the good internet behavior students have demonstrated in the tone of their work. We  have been pretty lax regarding writing style in order to get the words flowing. We do plan to gradually ramp up the rigor of the writing standard. Ms. Manner will design the rubric and introduce it to the students. I have suggested that she use RubiStar.

• Ultimately, I will know that this project is successful if other teachers want to give it a try. Teachers believe other teachers. If Ms. Manner is successful with her site and blog, she will share that success with her peers. I can’t think of a more powerful advocate than a satisfied customer; likewise, if the project does not go well the tom-tom’s will be beating out that message! Ms. Manner’s students’ success is her success, and  mine!

Flat Stanley Blog

How will you introduce this to the class?

Ms. Manner and I introduced the website and blog project to the class as a part of the Flat Stanley collaboration we have going with a second grade class at Biggar Primary School in Biggar, Scotland.

• We talked about the purpose of the blog which is to document elementary school life in Rocklin, California for students in Scotland.
• We reminded students that the class blog is school work so we expect them to use their best writing skills when they post in response to the teacher’s prompts.
• We explained that in order to stay internet safe students will not post last names.

What do you have to do to get permission from the powers-that-be at your school?

In order to make this project happen, I needed permission from my school principal, Mrs. James.

I built a demo class website with a blog and links to password protected student sites, and presented it to Mrs. James and Ms. Manner.

Mrs. James approved the project and asked that Ms. Manner and I ensure that students and parents sign the Rocklin Unified School District Internet Use Agreement and that students’ websites be password protected. She also asked that Ms. Manner monitor all blog posts.

Flat Stanley Blog

What tools (or combination of tools) will you use to support the site?

I have a Weebly Pro account and was invited to be a Beta user for Weebly for Education. Weebly allowed me to invite colleagues to participate. Ms. Manner accepted the challenge and now has a free class website and 40 free student accounts. I coached her as she built her site. Our School website Contact Teachers page is linked to Ms. Manner’s new site.

What customizations will you need to do your site?

• I added a link to msmannersminers on our school website and Ms. Manner added a link back to the Twin Oaks website to her Home page.
• Ms. Manner built a page with links to each of her students’ password protected sites.
• Ms. Manner built a class blog page and set the posting parameters to review all.
• Because she used her personal email to open the Weebly account, she is not using the Weebly Contact form on the site. She has posted a link to her school email on the Blog page and on her Field Work page.
• The location pin on the Google Map element is set to our school’s address.

Are you happy with how well it turned out?

Yes, I am happy with the way the site turned out. Ms. Manner has:

• Selected an attractive California theme for the site
• Added hyper-links to relevant websites
• Made two blog posts and students have responded
• Reviewed and allowed those student responses to be published
• Uploaded pictures to the photo gallery
• Taken her class on a field trip to Coloma with their Flat Stanley’s … photos and essays will be posted after spring break!
• Ensured that each student built a password protected website
• Ms. Manner independently added the Field Work page to the site

Flat Stanley Blog

What do you want users to be able to do when they visit the site?

Users will be able to view the class website and post comments on the class blog.

Is this a recurring effort or a one-time project?

This is a recurring effort. This group of students will participate in the Flat Stanley Blog project through the end of the 2009/2010 school year. If Ms. Manner deems the project a success, we will begin again with her class next year.

Flat Stanley Blog

Who are your users?

My users are a very experienced fourth grade teacher (who has been a cautious technology adopter) and her 32 students; nine and ten years old. My teacher friend approached me with the project idea.

All of the 32 students have access to the internet at home, although we are not convinced that all of them are supervised. One student is a special needs child; wheelchair bound with limited ability to use a keyboard and mouse. He is intellectually able and does have a full time aide who happens to be very computer savvy.

All K-6 students visit the computer lab at least once per week. Teacher and all students are familiar with Microsoft: Word, Publisher and PowerPoint.  Students also have access to our school website which has a page of links (Twin Oaks Links for Students) that support a broad range of topics. We visit at least one of these links weekly, often supporting what students are learning in Social Studies or Science.

All of these students have seen our new library blog. Several of them are featured in the videos and several have posted comments (Twin Oaks Library Blog).

What do you want them to be able to do as a result of using your website?

• The teacher will be able to build and maintain a Weebly website.
• The teacher will be able to manage a Weebly blog by: posting prompts, reviewing student posts, approving or deleting student posts.
• Students will be able to build and maintain a Weebly website.
• Students will be able to add features and content to their website in response to teacher’s prompts.
• Students will be able to compose paragraphs in response to their teacher’s prompts, in compliance with California writing standards for fourth grade.
• Students will be able to post their paragraphs on the teacher’s class blog.
• Students will be able to post meaningful comments in response to their classmates’ blog posts.

Risks and Safety Measures:

• Blog participants and their parents will sign the RUSD internet use agreement.
• Blog posts will be submitted with first name and last initial only.
• Blog posts will not go live until teacher has reviewed and approved them.
• The teacher will address any inappropriate submissions with a measured response that could include expulsion from the project.
• The blog will be closed for comments at the end of the school year.

What have others done that is similar?

• John Miller’s students have been writing in response to various prompts this school year  http://mrmillersblog.com/2010/03/17/thegoldenstate/
• Here is a wonderful Elementary School blog nominated for an Edublogs award … http://tamakips.blogspot.com/
• And another … http://www.classblogmeister.com/blog.php?blogger_id=137121
• And another … http://classblogmeister.com/blog.php?blogger_id=293538

What performance drivers might prevent them from learning with this tool? (skills/knowledge, motivation, environment, incentive)

Skills/Knowledge -

• • Teacher is learning both website design and blog management … that’s a lot!
  • Teacher and students will use the time before the Flat Stanley’s arrive to visit established classroom blogs.
  • Students will need some time to get used to using Weebly.
  • Teacher and students will need to learn how to manage multimedia files on the school shared drive.
  • Teacher and students will need to be able to move multimedia files from the capture device to the storage device.

Motivation -

• • I am not worried about motivational barriers.

Environment -

• • We have only 30 student workstations in the computer lab and there are 32 students in the class. Two kids will have to work in the library each session. Teacher and I must ensure that those students get the coaching they need.
  • There are only 2 student computer workstations in the classroom. Teacher will manage equitable access.

Incentive -

• • Teacher is taking on a big project which, if successful, will bring lots of positive attention. I need to support her so the extra work and the inevitable hiccups do not become a disincentive for her.

Wiki Lesson Plan:

5^th Grade Students respond to a writing prompt to prepare for California writing assessment.

The teacher will post a writing prompt on the Wiki and each student will write a paragraph in response.

Paragraphs will be evaluated using the California writing assessment rubric.

Activities:  Schedule at least three computer lab sessions to get this project started.

1. Teacher will build the Wiki and populate it with demo materials
2. Teacher will write a design document which will include:
   1. Terminal objectives
   2. Supporting objectives
   3. Practice items
   4. Test items

1. Visit the computer lab to introduce students to the new class Wiki on the class website, and the writing project
2. Have students visit sample Wikis
3. Discuss the rules of civil discourse on the class Wiki
4. Have students respond to a sample post
5. Teacher posts writing prompts
6. Students compose their responses to the prompts
7. Visit the computer lab to post responses
8. Teacher reviews and approves posts
9. Students comment on each other’s posts

The cycle starts again!

Learning Outcomes:

• Students will be able to compose paragraphs in response to their teacher’s prompts, in compliance with California writing standards for fifth grade.
• Students will be able to post their paragraphs on the class wiki.
• Students will be able to upload multimedia files to the class wiki
• Students will be able to insert hyper-links to meaningful related material
• Students will be able to post meaningful comments in response to their classmates’ wiki posts (they will read like a teacher and comment like a friend).

Risks and Safety Measures:

• Wiki participants and their parents will sign the RUSD internet use agreement.
• Wiki posts will be submitted with first name and last initial only.
• Wiki posts will be held for review by the teacher, after which they will be approved.
• The teacher will address any inappropriate submissions with a measured response that could include expulsion from the project.
• The Wiki will be closed for comments at the end of the school year.

Blogging Lesson Plan:

4^th Grade Students document Flat Stanley’s travels in Rocklin, California for Students in Scotland.

One of our 4^th graders has a cousin who is a teacher in Scotland. This teacher requested that her young American cousin inquire about Rocklin, CA students collaborating with her students on a Flat Stanley project.

Our partner class in Scotland has sent Flat Stanley to us and we will post photos and text to share Stanley’s activities in Rocklin with them.

Activities:

1. Visit the computer lab to introduce students to the new class blog on the class website, and the Flat Stanley project.
2. Take photos of Stanley and various groups of students in the following settings:

• Our Classroom – various class activities
• The Lunchroom
• PE class
• Music Class
• Recess
• Principal’s office
• School Office
• Nurse’s office
• Computer Lab
• Library
• Flag Pole
• Outdoor stage
• Morning Arrive at school
• End of day – leave school

1. Ask Mrs. Ditman (computer Tech) to help students download photos to the shared drive & print small black & white versions of the photos to use as writing prompts.
2. Distribute photos to students and have each child write a paragraph describing where Stanley is in the photo.
3. Schedule at least 3 visits to computer lab to teach students how to post photos and paragraphs on the blog, and to allow time for responding to each others’ posts.

Learning Outcomes:

• Students will be able to compose paragraphs in response to their teacher’s prompts, in compliance with California writing standards for fourth grade.
• Students will be able to post their paragraphs on their teacher’s class blog.
• Students will be able to post meaningful comments in response to their classmates’ blog posts.

Risks and Safety Measures:

• Blog participants and their parents will sign the RUSD internet use agreement.
• Blog posts will be submitted with first name and last initial only.
• Blog posts will be held for review by the teacher, after which they will be approved.
• The teacher will address any inappropriate submissions with a measured response that could include expulsion from the project.
• The blog will be closed for comments at the end of the school year.

1 – Site – Blogging About the Web 2.0 Connected Classroom  http://web20classroom.blogspot.com/

Learned? – I learned that there are teachers with a lot of experience having, what seems to be, great success using the interactive web in their classrooms.

Thread – THURSDAY, MARCH 4, 2010 – Morale…Get Some! I just found your Blog and I am so excited … it is so important to find a community of like-minded educators to help keep  the sight-lines high. Times are beyond tough in California schools right now … we are all  just trying to focus on the moment … on the difference we can make with our students and colleagues today. With pink-slips looming it can be easy to fall into useless rumination … my PLN is a lifeline – it keeps me out of the morass …

Likes/dislikes – I liked the great links on the site (writing tools!)

Continue? – Yes- added to G-Reader

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2 -Site – Blue Skunk Blog   http://doug-johnson.squarespace.com/

Learned? – Johnson’s Multiple Creative Abilities (with apologies to Howard Gardner); Multiple Creative Abilities … what a wonderful way of thinking … Johnson talks about expanding the way we think about “creativity” … “We should also be asking not if a student is creative, but how a student is creative.”

Thread – Guest post by Gary Hartzell: Naming our profession … my post …What a wonderful Blog! I am an elementary school Computer Tech working in tandem with our District Librarian and our school Library Tech. We do spend a lot of time selling our support services to our teachers … The most powerful promotional materials we have are beautiful student artifacts; the products of successful collaboration among kids, teachers, librarians and  lab tech. As another reader put it … we don’t care what they call us … we are just happy that they do call us! March 10, 2010 | dlditman

Likes/dislikes – More great links and like-minded people …

Continue? – Yes … added to G-Reader

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3 – Site – Student and Teacher Blogging that Succeeds

http://ideasandthoughts.org/2008/07/17/student-and-teacher-blogging-that-succeeds/

Learned? – I learned that many people know that Blogging is not for everyone … “just because something is easy doesn’t mean it will stick …” The author and the contributors were all over the board in experience and perceived success. They have a lot of insight into what can sustain a bogger

Thread –  March 11th, 2010 at 8:22 pm – Thanks for the conversation and all the good advice! I have  just started a library book blog for my students and you all have given me a lot of good strategies for keeping it vital. The kids love it now … but it’s new … I need to sustain their Interest and my own and build a learning and sharing place, not the school message board! You are right … reading is the foundation …

Likes/dislikes – I liked the conversation … this is more about sharing strategies than sharing links … this blog also allows video and audio responses

Continue? – Yes

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4 – Site – 21^st Century Teaching and Learning   http://mpbreflections.blogspot.com/

Learned? – Wow … I loved the Google Lit Trips … this is another wonderful tool and strategy sharing site

Thread – This was just a general discussion about how great Google Earth is …
Dana said… What a wonderful resource! Thanks for building such an inspiring Blog … I’ll be adding you to my Google Reader! March 11, 2010 7:02 PM

Likes/dislikes – I like the slick look of the site and the in depth posts.

Continue? – Yes

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5 – Site – Smarthistory: The Blog http://smarthistory.org/blog/

Learned? – I learned that there is a wonderful art history text online. I would have enjoyed this as an undergraduate!

Thread – I joined a discussion of a video post of Michaelangelo’s Moses … Dana Says:
March 12th, 2010 at 10:33 pm This is my first visit to Smarthistory and the blog. I found you on the Edublog Awards, and I’m so glad! I enjoyed this post … the authenticity of this man’s love for the subject is so engaging.

Likes/dislikes – I liked everything about the blog and the site. The aesthetic is pleasing, it’s well organized, easy to navigate and the quality of the posts is impressive

Continue? – Yes

Hi All,

I am the computer tech at Twin Oaks Elementary School in Rocklin, CA.

This is my 5^th year in the position.

My job is a lot of fun … I get to do all this & more …

• See all the kids … K-6
• Web designer and webmaster
• Support teachers using Aeries, GradePro, Renaissance, Pearson products, Datawise, MS Office suite, computer lab projects, etc.
• Unofficial campus photographer & videographer
• Smart-room hardware triage

My BA is in Art … I decided two years ago that pursuing an EDTEC MA would be a better investment than pursuing a full teaching credential … good call, I think …

My experience with wiki’s and blogs is largely limited to the work we have done in the COMET program. Bob required that we blog on the 541 website we built … I did not maintain mine beyond the duration of that class. I have contributed to blogs when required, and I do read a lot of them voluntarily (I’m a Google Reader fanatic).

I built a reading vodcast & blog for my school kids as my deliverable for 700A, and they LOVE it! I’m a new convert … I believe in the power of blogs to make learning meaningful and fun for kids and grownups!

Guess which is not true …

1. I used to work in a flower shop on Ventura Blvd. (Studio City) … Eddie Van Halen & Valerie Bertinelli were regular customers.
2. I own a reader’s copy of Salman Rushdie’s, The Satanic Verses … remember that history buffs?
3. I had an arteriogram and have seen the blood vessels in my heart on a monitor … LIVE!