BookReviews Project Initiator Collaborators Tech Integrationist Learning Objectives Common Core

RebeccaBlackman

JennyDepa DawnJohannsen DanGibson

Usingaquestionnaire,studentswillwriteapersuasivebookreviewof anenjoyablefictionbook.

W1.1Writeopinionpiecesinwhichtheyintroducethetopicorname thebooktheyarewritingabout,stateanopinion,supplyareasonforthe opinion,andprovidesomesenseofclosure. W1.6Withguidanceandsupportfromadults,useavarietyofdigital toolstoproduceandpublishwriting,includingincollaborationwith peers. SL1.1Thestudentwillparticipateincollaborativeconversationswith diversepartnersaboutgradeappropriatetopicsandtexts... SL1.2Askandanswerquestionsaboutwhataspeakersaysinorderto gatheradditionalinformationorclarifysomethingthatisnotunderstood.

Technology Piece

KidBlogAccounts ComputerPods iPadKidBlogApp

MarzanoStrategies:
CooperativeLearningfromClassroomInstructionthatWorks Groupstudentsheterogeneouslytocommentonspecificstudentblogposts. DesignQuestion2#8PreviewingNewcontent DesignQuestion3#14Reviewingcontent DesignQuestion3#17Examiningsimilaritiesanddifferences

LessonSequence:
1. PriortousingtheKidBlogplatform,studentsengagedindigitalsafetydiscussions,

computerpartlessons,andkeyboardingpracticethroughLearning.com 2. Teacherintroducedtheconceptofbloggingbyshowingavideo.(BrainPOPJr.Blog Video) 3. TeacherprovidedstudentswithBloggingrules: BloggingRules 1.NOaddresses,phonenumbers,emails,oranyotherpersonalinformation...THINK SAFE. 2.IfyouarenotsureaboutsomethingASKanADULT. 3.OnlyuseFIRSTnames. 4.Berespectfulinyourwriting. 5.Stayontopic. WeekOne 4. Dayone:(30minutes)studentswereassignediPads.UsingtheAppleTV, studentswereshownhowtonavigatethroughthepostingpartoftheapp.Students createdoneblogpostabouttheirfavoritetrip. 5. Daytwo:(45minutes)Studentswereshownhowtoreturntoapreviousblogpost andedit.Studentseditedtheirlastblogpost.Next,usinganteacheriPadonthe AppleTV,studentswereshownhowtocreateanewblogpost.Theychosetheir owntopicandwroteasecondblogpostoncetheyfinishededitingthefirst. 6. Oncestudentswerefinished,theywereinvitedtotrycommentingonablog.They wereencouragedtolookforblogsthathadfewercomments.Thefocusofthese commentswereonhelpingthebloggeraddmoredetailtowhatheorshewrote. 7. Asaclass,adiscussionwasheldregardingwhatagoodcommentshouldlooklike. Studentsgeneratedmanyquestionswiththemainidea(statedinfirstgradeterms) beingDoesmycommenthelpthestudentwithhisorherwriting? 8. Studentsgaveexamplesofhelpfulcommentsandnonhelpfulcomments. WeekTwo 1. Daythreeandfour:(20minuteseach)Studentswereshownexamplesofother bookreviewsonline,writtenbyotherstudents. Examples:http://www.spaghettibookclub.org/review.php?review_id=7175 http://www.spaghettibookclub.org/review.php?review_id=7000 http://www.spaghettibookclub.org/review.php?review_id=6349 2. DayFour:StudentsandteachercreatedaNoticingschartabouttheexamples. 3. DayFive:(20minutes)Teachershowedmoreexamples. EvaluatedReviews: http://www.spaghettibookclub.org/review.php?review_id=7068

http://www.spaghettibookclub.org/review.php?review_id=8508 4. Studentsworkedwithapartnertoscoreeachreviewusingachecklist.Partners sharedoutwhytheyscoredeachreviewthewaytheydid. WeekThree 5. DaySix:(25minutes)Classdiscussedhowtochooseagoodbook.Theclass createdananchorcharttohelprememberwhatguidelinestheydecidedon. Studentsthenchoseabookfortheirbookreviews. 6. DaySeven:(30minutes)Afterreadingtheirbooks,studentscompleteda questionnairetoorganizetheirthoughtsabouttheirbook.Studentsthenmetwith theteachertohelpimprovetheirbookreviewoutlinesandaddideastothe summaries. 7. DayEight:(45minutes)TeacherpassedoutiPadsandstudentsbeganblogging. Studentsstartedwiththeirsummariesbasedoffoftheirwhatwaswrittenontheir questionnaire.Whiletheywereworking,Teachermetwithstudentsindividuallyto discusstheirsummariesandfocusonwritingthemostimportantpartsofthe beginning,middle,andend.Finally,studentswereshownhowtosavetheirblogsto KidBlog. WeekFour 8. DayNine,Ten,andEleven:(3045minuteseach)Studentswereshownhowto accesstheirblogsasecondtimetocontinueworking.Teachercontinuedmeeting withstudentstoreviseandaddtotheirsummaries.Studentsrevisedandaddedto theirblogs. 9. DayTwelve:(30minutes)Teacherpresentedstudentswithanexampleofafirst gradebookreviewandhighlightedhowtheauthordiscussedhisorherfavoritepart. (http://www.spaghettibookclub.org/review.php?review_id=7828)Studentsdidturn andtalktodiscusswhattheynoticedabouttheblog.Asaclass,studentsshared theirnoticings.TeacherwrotetheseontheSMARTBoard.Studentsfinishedtheir summariesandbeganwritingabouttheirfavoritepartsofthebook,aswellastheir reasoning. 10. DayThirteen:(25minutes)Studentsfinishedtheirfavoritepartsandrevisedtheir summaries.Teacherwarnedtheclassthattheywouldbecommentingonthe followingMonday.Studentsconferencedwiththeteachertohelpimprovetheir reviews. WeekFive 11. DayFourteen:(Twosessions,30minutes&20minutes)Teacherledadiscussion onhowtocomment.Studentshelpedgeneratealistofrulesforcommenting.It wasdecidedthatacommentshouldhaveonethingtheylikedaboutthewriting,and

onethingthereviewercouldfixabouthisorherbookreview. 12. TheteacherthenusedtheGroupPickerinSMARTNotebooktoselectgroups randomly.Thesewerethestudentsthatweretocommentoneachothersblogs. Next,usingtheAppleTVhookedtotheSMARTBoard,theteachershowedthe studentsonheriPadwheretoaccesstheirgroupmembersposts.Studentsbegan commentingonthereviews. 13. Asthecommentsweresentin,theteacherspokebrieflywitheachstudentabout howtheymightcreateabettercomment.Oncethestudenthadcreatedacomment thatfollowedtheguidelines,theteacherallowedittobepublished.Attheend, studentssharedthegoodandhardthingsaboutcommenting.Teacherwrote theseontheSMARTBoardandtheclassdiscussedeachone.

Studentscommentoneachothersblogs.

14. DayFifteen:(20minutes)Studentsillustratedtheirfavoritepartsoftheirstories. 15. (30minutes)UsingtheteacheriPad,SMARTBoard,andAppleTV,theteacher demonstratedtostudentshowtotakeapictureoftheirillustrationsusingtheiPad cameraapp.Teacherthendemonstratedhowtouploadthepictureintotheirblog postsintheKidBlogapp.Studentsthencontinuededitingtheirblogsandaddingto theirideas.

16. DaySixteen:(45minutes)Studentsselfevaluatedtheirwritingusingthechecklist. Thentheyusedthechecklisttoevaluateoneotherswriting.Theyusedthese checkliststowritecommentsfortheauthoroftheblog.Next,studentstooktheir iPadsandbuddywrotetohelptheotherpersonfancyuphisorherblog. Continuation(feedback,assess,&extend) 1. Studentsreceivecheckliststoselfevaluatetheirwriting. 2. Studentsreceivecheckliststopeerevaluateotherswriting. 3. Promotediscussionviacommentsandbuddywritingtoimprovestudentwriting.

Summative Assessment

BookReviewWritingChecklist BookReviewScale

ClassroomScale 4 Mybloghaseverythingin3. Myblogbeginswithanexcitingleadtogetthereaderinterestedin thebook. MyblogusesWOWwordstopersuadethereadertoreadthebook. Myblogtellsthereadertworeasons(ormore)whytheyshouldread thebook. Myblogtellsthereadertheimportantpartsofthebeginningand middle,andleavesthereaderwonderingabouttheend. Myblogtellsthereaderwhoshouldreadthebook. Myblogtellsthereaderonereasonwhytheyshouldreadthebook. Myblogtellsthereaderwhatmyfavoritepartwas. Myblogtellsthereaderwhythatismyfavoritepart. Myblogtellsthereaderthewholestory,eventhepartsthatarenot mostimportant. Myblogtellswhoshouldreadthebook. Myblogtellswhatmyfavoritepartis. Myblogtellsonepartofthestory. Myblogtellswhatmyfavoritepartis. SmartGoal 70%ofourclasswillcreateapersuasivebookreview. BookReviewChecklist Scale Description YES/NO

1 2 3 4 5

Didyoutellthemostimportantpartsofthebook? Didyoutellwhyyoushouldreadthebook? Didyoutellwhoshouldreadthebook? Didyouwriteaboutyourfavoritepart? Didyoudrawapictureaboutthebook?

FinishedStudentExamples

Commenting

Reflection: Ifounditsuccessfultohavestudentsuseapaperquestionnaire priortobeginningtheirblogs.Itgavemeachancetomeetwiththe studentsanddiscussthevarioussectionspriortohavingthem publishthereviewsonline.Italsoallowedstudentstoorganize theirthoughtspriortoputtingthemonline. Ialsofounditusefultoallowthestudentsaccesstotheblogs duringcentertimeinreading.Becauseitwasrespondingtoabook theyhadread,itfitwellwithinthe90minutereadingblock. Overall,Iamenjoyingthisproject.Whileitisnotyetcomplete,it engagesthestudentsandprovidesopportunitiesforcollaboration.

Thebookreviewsallowthestudentstothinkmoredeeplyabout whytheylikeabook.ItgavethemachancetouseHigherOrder thinkingskills.Throughthecomments,studentswereableto collaborateinanentirelydifferentway.Italsoaddedan accountabilitythatisnotnecessarilypresentintheirusualwriting. Thebookstheyusuallycreatearenotpublishedfortheentireclass toseeandanalyze.Withblogs,studentsarereceivingcomments fromatleastthreeotherclassmates.Thisisanextraincentiveto besuretheirwritingisthebestitcanbe. FutureChanges: Inthefuture,Iwouldprobablyintroducebloggingearlierinthe year.Anentiretwoweekscouldbedevotedjusttolearninghowto blogandcomment.Thiswouldensurethatstudentsare completelycomfortablewithbloggingandtheapppriorto beginningtheunitonbookreviews.Thefocuscouldthenbemore onteachingstudentshowtowriteabookreview,andlessonthe actofbloggingitself. Tohelpwithdifferentiationinthefuture,Iwouldhavestudents workinpairstoreviewandblogabouttheirbook.Thiswouldallow studentsofvariouslevelstoworktogether.