August 16, 2011
ADDIE: Implementation
I would introduce this to the class by starting with discussion about newspapers and newspaper articles. We would first work on thinking about the components of a newspaper and explore quality newspaper articles in class. I would then discuss with them what kinds of news sources we have available at school to learn what is going on at school. The conclusion would be that we have no place to find out information. And through these activities and discussion, I would introduce the idea of having a class newspaper and hopefully there would be some buy in that way. I would show my students the news categories I have created on the website and see if there are any additional topics they think would be useful to students at our school and make adjustments necessary. After showing my students all the examples I constructed, I would introduce them to the rubric I made so they can see how it affects their grade as well.
As far as logging into the site, students who would become “editors” will eventually earn the rights to login and edit the pages, but to begin with only I would be the only person kind of adding the articles students write so I can teach students how to use Google Sites. Although I want all students to collaborate and contribute to the newspaper, I don’t think I want everyone to be able to edit it. I want students to earn the responsibility of becoming editors and I want them to be reliable students. As far as protecting the privacy of students, I made the site private to those I add to it. So, I don’t mind if any student, parents, or staff want to be added, but I want them to have to be logged in when they write comments so we can see who is leaving them to protect everyone using the site. I don’t want an anonymous, mischievous students to get any cruel ideas and post horrible things to their classmates.
If I go back to my STEM (science, technology, engineering, math), they would probably encourage me to start a class newspaper, if not a school newspaper, because we lack that currently. As of now, students have no way to find out information quickly in an organized way. I think the only issue we might have is requiring students to login to view the site because not every student has an email address, and sometimes that is because of parent request. And that is fine as far as the article contribution since I would have set editors posting the information, but even viewing it could be an issue without an email address. So if that became a problem, I would then make it where anyone with a link can view it.
ADDIE: Development pt. 2
I am pretty happy with the way my class newspaper, developed on Google Sites, turned out. At one point I thought it would be better to use Edublogs because I thought the “page” portion on that site was like a Google Site page, but it’s not so I stuck with a Google Site because I thought it organized my assignment better. I like being able to have categorical pages that students can write for (opinion, school news, book reviews, etc.). I was overall striving for my class newspaper site to look simplistic in design because there is going to be a lot of information on it and I didn’t want to overkill with design and information. I think that the design of Google Sites is more simplistic in look than Edublogs, so that helped me with my final decision.
I also got way more adventurous with using my Google Site on this project. I built my own theme for my site so it would be unique and the colors and design that I preferred. I also miraculously figured out, by playing with settings, how to remove the listing of individual blog posts under each of the categorical pages in the sidebar (hope this makes sense). That took me quite some time, but I was happy when I figured it out because I didn’t want my sidebar to be a mile long throughout the school year. Overall, I grew much more comfortable with using Google Sites.
ADDIE: Evaluation
I will be able to tell if the class newspaper, “The English Gazette,” is meeting the objectives I set based on the first month based on what I see my students produce. I essentially stated that I want my students to practice making newsworthy articles all while having a place for them to help build a rapport, so I can judge their articles based on a rubric I created on the “Submitting an Article” section of my Google Site. Here, I show students through a rubric what my expectations are. Since I am a single subject teacher, I have up to 170 students in a school year, so for management purposes, I set a minimum of only 3 article contributions to the class newspaper and expectations of what I see in a newspaper article. The rubric will also help me understand who needs help with their articles so I have the opportunity to reteach. This is a rubric that I want to perfect as I actually launch the project and evaluate how my students perceive the project. I figured the first month of starting this project would be when I can see what additional supports will be necessary and what I need to teach to help students be successful with the assignment.
I can assess whether students are building a rapport with one another by reading and evaluating the comments that they leave on each others articles. Another way I can assess whether it is helping build a positive rapport is observing team time when students are working on collaborative pieces. Essentially, I’d have my “editors” of the newspaper mark down who is turning in articles and have them keep a collection of articles so I can grade them and add them to their English grade. I don’t picture the English Gazette as being the focal point of our class, I was thinking of dedicating one collaborative day a week for students to work on our newspaper with the expectation that they would continue their work outside of the classroom.
August 10, 2011
ADDIE: Development pt. 1
I plan to use Google Sites to run my class newspaper. I imagine students submitting their articles, topics, pictures, etc. that they want to contribute to the class newspaper by e-mailing me through a class newspaper email address I create. Later, as students demonstrate responsibility and interest in the class newspaper, I’d give select newspaper editors the ability to access articles and post them to the Google Site.
I don’t really see any big customizations needed unless you count linking the site to my class website. I also plan on organizing the newspaper through different pages/topics: Give your 2 Cents (discussion board), local news, world news, student news, book recommendations, & cool links.
ADDIE: Design
When users visit our Class Newspaper website, I want them to read articles and feel encouraged to discuss them through comments on the particular articles. When users visit the site, I want them to feel compelled to have an opinion about the topics being discussed and feel encouraged to contribute. When students visit the class site, I want them to feel informed not only about school events and issues but also about the world around them.
I want students to collaborate in a variety of different ways. First, I want them to collaborate with articles that are contributed to the class newspaper. I want students to work together to develop topics and write articles they feel their classmates would enjoy reading. I picture giving time in class for students to throw out article ideas/topics and developing their ideas with their peers. Secondly, I picture students collaborating by actually discussing the articles and topics through commenting and replying to each other’s comments on their submissions. Thirdly, I plan to have a section on the google site that is simply a discussion forum where self generated topics are posted and students have the ability to voice their ideas, concerns, and opinions. Lastly, this is collaborative because as time progresses with this assignment, I would imagine “hiring” editors and etc. (aka reliable students) to help run the newspaper by literally posting, organizing, and maintaining the class newspaper. I eventually want to work to it where I essentially supervise it, but don’t necessarily have to do all the “hard work” of posting, but instead can just comment and contribute with my students.
ADDIE: Analysis
I am choosing to do the first topic I created, a class/school newspaper through a Google Site. The users of my class newspaper would be English students grades 6-12 (I am unsure of my assignment next year), but likely a middle school student. The purpose of this assignment would be to encourage students to extend learning outside of the classroom while getting to know their peers through writing and sharing meaningful articles about t the school, students, and world around them. I want students to interact with each other intellectually and build good rapports with one another and I feel that a collaborative class newspaper could help do that.
The concept of a class newspaper is not new, many teachers have created class newspapers, but I haven’t personally known anyone who has created one online through a Google Site. The difference between this concept and traditional class newspapers would be that this methodology is paper free, easier to manage, and easier to update in a timely fashion. Students can submit articles to me, and I can update the “class newspaper” in a matter of minutes.
The performance drivers that might affect my students from learning could be motivation. Although I want to make this class newspaper interactive and interesting through discussion on “discussion boards” and through interesting articles and topics, some students might not be motivated to contribute to the class because they are not interested in the topics being discussed. Students might also lack the skills/knowledge of how to properly write an article or reply to a discussion topic, so formal etiquette would be important to teach from the beginning. Perhaps that could be the first assignment for the newspaper: submitting articles/information about about newspaper writing and online etiquette. Another issue I have depends on the computer situation of whatever school I end up at. The last school I worked for had a one to one ratio of netbooks, but there could be a concern for this assignment if the site I end up working for does not have an abundance of computers.
The Objectives:
-Students will collaborate with other students to create written contributions to the class newspaper.
- Students, through collaboration and discussion, will practice positive social interactions with each other.
- Students will write published, written pieces to contribute to the class newspaper.
-Students will develop and research “news worthy” topics to contribute to the class newspaper.
-Students will demonstrate discussion skills through class generated discussion topics on the Google Site.
-The teacher, with the help of a few reliable students, will update the class newspaper on a weekly basis in order to motivate students to visit the class newspaper.
August 2, 2011
Final Project Ideas…
Since I have no definite classroom next year, the first topic will relate to a job I interviewed for and might get, but the other two are just general English/classroom ideas…
1. The school I applied to is an online charter school, so I wouldn’t have a formal classroom but instead would mainly communicate with students online through a program similar to adobe connect, through e-mail, phone calls, etc. I would only have in person contact with a student if they chose to seek one on one help with English and didn’t want to use online means. One of the biggest concerns the school has is that students struggle building a rapport with the teacher and other classmates since they aren’t reporting to a formal school each day. I was thinking it might be nice to start something similar to a school news paper where students can contribute interesting articles, school events, personal accomplishments, and editorials about the world around them. Basically, anything that they consider news worthy. Then, students can view the newspaper and leave comments about particular articles…hopefully starting up some meaningful conversation. Even if I did not get this particular job, I think this idea could be applied to any teaching position because often times we run out of time in class to have personal conversation about the world around us and this would be a great way to continue the conversation without deducting class time. To be sure that the content on the blog is appropriate, students could submit articles to me for proofing and then I can add them to the blog.
2. Writing blog. It would be awesome to document how students’ writing evolves over a school year (or to see if it doesn’t!). A student blog meant strictly for writing assignments might be an interesting approach to see how student writing changes/improves. I see this blog used for less formal writing, like daily journals, but also used for the formal writing process: brainstorming, drafting, editing, revision. Students could put their rough drafts of an essay on the blog and then fellow students could comment about what is going awesome in the essay and what might need improvement. This blog would also be useful for all genres of writing: narrative, persuasive, response to literature, summary, etc.
3. What works? This would be a blog about what works and does not work in the classroom. I could discuss and show lesson plans that I want to do in the classroom, followed by an explanation of how it worked in my class, continued with what I would do differently next time or how I could better enhance the lesson. I imagine having examples of student work and assignments. I also think it would be nice to discuss classroom behavior strategies I’ve used that have worked and ones that didn’t work. Overall, it would be a blog that chronicles my trials and tribulations as an English teacher. It would be a great way to keep track of the strategies and lessons that worked or need improvement for my classroom.
July 26, 2011
Guess my lie :)
Hello, I’m Vanessa and I have taught English for four years and will hopefully be entering my fifth year of teaching in the fall– you know how pink slips go. I’m really enjoying my time off right now though 
1. I secretly wish I was a Math teacher.
2. I hate cherry tomatoes.
3. I sometimes carry cat treats in my purse with the intention to feed stray cats.
Neon Museum, Las Vegas
