This past Friday I had the great opportunity to attend TheMichigan Association for Computer Users in Learning (MACUL) conference in the
lovely city of Grand Rapids, Michigan. It was a great entry point into the
world of teacher education conferences yet to come in my career as a continuously
evolving educator. I was pretty daunted by the list of presenters for the final
day of the conference, particularly since so many of them seemed interesting to
a newbie teacher like myself; I didn’t want to miss out on something good to
take back to my placement setting and my future classroom wherever that ends up
being.
Upon reflection I felt as though two of my sessions were
ultimately related to one another: writing and making it authentic for the
students in my classes. The first session I took advantage of was Fostering Authentic
Writing through Digital Feedback. The presenter talked about how he uses
platforms like Google Docs, forums and blogs to ask students to be reflective
about their writing in addition to utilizing their functions to be a place of
conversation about students writing both with the teacher and their peers. He
walked us through his process of commenting on papers and how digital feedback
can offer a chance to expose students to hyperlinks and embedded rubrics that
allow them to continue growing in their paper writing throughout a course. I
really want to experiment more with Google Docs during the remainder of my
student teaching, particularly because of the ease of sharing and editing
papers. All in all, this session reminded me of feedback practices I should be engaging
in while commenting on student papers:
- Quote students work directly in my comments if it’s great/noteworthy (This also helps them see how quotes are embedded in text instead of just “floating”)
- Comment on the piece of writing as a reader not an evaluator (As a reader…)
- Personalize comments with two positives and one suggestion (I wonder if…)
These comments by their teacher and peers help students to
make changes and alterations to their writing in a way that makes it authentic
to them as a writer. I hope my students will come to see the benefits of
feedback offered digitally and how it can help them with their writing on a
multitude of levels.
The second session was entitled Friday Night Lights,
Classroom Style. The basic idea presented was creating opportunities for
authentic audiences in which students can share their writing both locally and
on a global scale. David Theune, a high school English teacher, created this
idea merely 500 days ago in which he asked parents to come into the classroom
to hear students read their writing, ultimately sharing it and having it
evaluated by someone other than their teacher. This expanded into other
projects such as having students research local non-profits and voting on the
best non-profit to receive a monetary donation from each class. Possibilities
for other audiences include peers, younger students in the district, and the
student’s personal choice. His enthusiasm was awesome and he really inspired
the group to think about what we need to accomplish in our curriculums and then
ask ourselves “who could be the audience?” This is something I want to continue
thinking about because I think my middle school students both now and in the
future are stuck in a rut of writing for the teacher because I’m the one who
delivers the final grade and determine if they did something “right” or not. I don’t
like the way this is and hope to change my student’s outlook to take charge of
their writing whether they are sharing it with a parent or across the nation
via an online platform.
At the end of the day I was pretty inspired about changing some
ways I present and organize my content for students. I have started to think
about my content area in a new light: utilizing digital feedback while
constructing assignments that can be conveyed to authentic audiences for my
students to consider. I don’t really want my students to think about and write their
papers just to please their teacher and to get a good grade but to have English
class become an experience for them that can relate to their lives both inside
and outside of the classroom. I hope to continue thinking and researching how
other teachers have been able to make these opportunities available in their
classrooms.
Also, can we take a second to note how I’m seriously lagging
in the Twitter professional networking game? If you’ve also been inspired to
tweet, network, and connect after MACUL find me @kelseystrait
Kelsey,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your blog post because I got to learn about sessions I was not able to attend. I really like the idea of using google docs to not only make comments, but make comments that allow students to visit other online resources to receive more information. This would also save a lot of paper and other resources in the classroom by providing links to rubrics and other items students would need for support. I can see myself using this in the science classroom, as well.
The second session you mentioned (Friday Night Lights) also sounds really interesting! Using outside audiences is something I would like to incorporate into my practice. This would really allow students to showcase their work and take ownership over their learning. I think providing parents the opportunity to be the audience would also extend learning outside the classroom. These are all really great take away points, Kelsey. Thanks for sharing!
-Rachael Malerman
Way to jump into the “world of teacher education conferences” with both feet, Kelsey. I, too, was a little “daunted” by the list of presenters. But I found Andy’s talk, Fostering Authentic Writing though Digital Feedback, useful. I really liked how, from the outset, he created a warm environment in the room, e.g., playing soft music and greeting us at the door. This was, I suppose, his way of creating an “authentic” classroom environment. I also liked how he began with an opening writing activity. His “Scale of Concerns” presentation was interesting. He seems to have identified some writing “problems,” on both the global and local scales. But I wonder how indicative these patterns really are on both the micro and macro levels. For he currently teaches special needs students at a mid-sized high school in Central Michigan. How representative are some special needs students at one local high school of the “global problems” he claims to have identified? He appears to have made a global generalization based upon his educational experiences in one locality. Nevertheless, I found his feedback template and reflective learning blogs most useful in fostering authentic writing through digital feedback.
ReplyDelete#MissingFounders. It sounds like the trip itself was fantastic for you! I'm starting to find new and exciting uses of Google Docs in my classrooms and I can only imagine the value that they would have in regards to commenting on student work! I'm not sure about you but I can type considerably faster than I can write. I wonder if you think Google Docs has more value to an English teacher than teachers of other disciplines? It seems that there may be more possibilities at the very least.
ReplyDeleteAs far as the second presenter, I really like the idea of the audience! There is certainly less writing in a history classroom; but the students have done some work and I think it might have gone over much better if they had an audience such as this presenter was suggesting. Who do you think the audience would be for your middle school students? Do you think you would target a different group of people if they were high school students? It sounds like you had a wonderful experience at the conference (imagine how much better it would have been if I had been in the car) and I'm glad you walked away with some ideas to use in the classroom. I certainly learned some things reading your blog post!
I'm going to jump in on the Twitter thing here (partially because we went to all the same presentations - ha). I didn't realize either how big teachers were with Twitter! I have a personal Twitter that I use mainly to keep in touch/share links with friends, but this conference persuaded me to create a professional Twitter to keep up with this growing information source. I'm still building up my Twitter network, but I agree - it sounds like a good resource!
ReplyDeleteKelsey,
ReplyDeleteI found it very informative to hear about your experience and your session on authentic writing. I, too, am journeying into the world of digital feedback and I really like the idea of showing students how to access, create, and use hyperlinks, as well as model digital feedback by embedding quotations in an authentic way. I have created a google group for my five classes. After reading your post, I now have a couple strategies that I can start using with it immediately, so thanks! I really like the notion of commenting on students' writing as a reader and not as an evaluator. I'm intrigued to find out how students will respond to this change in feedback. And, if they'll see in-class writing as more authentic if my comments read in a more dialogical manner instead of as an assessment of their writing.
Kelsey, I'd like to hear more from you about using Google Docs in the classroom. What were the baseline assumptions that the presenter was making about access? Did the presenter discuss the guidelines he establishes with students regarding feedback: how often, how quickly? Does the use of Google docs automatically mean homework? I'm struggling to figure out how to make a Google Site more functional at my school while integrating it into a classroom that has minimal tech.
ReplyDeleteI really like the idea of giving feedback digitally through to students on their work using things like Google software. I can see it being a lot faster, efficient, and timely. I also see the potential in it being so much more effective by linking additional resources to the feedback so students can get support immediately. The only potential issue I see is with using it for mathematics. As much as I would love to have students type out their work (it would also eliminated trying to read messy handwriting which is a plus), I have yet to find an efficient method or platform for typing math. Was there any other software or platforms that the presenter suggested?
ReplyDeleteKelsey,
ReplyDeleteReally interesting stuff here. Your two big lessons (effective digital feedback and writing for an authentic audience) happen to be part of my teaching goals for the past year few years. Honestly, if you can focus on these two things as you grade papers you will be way ahead of the curve.
Google Docs has been a total game changer for me for all of the reasons you mentioned and more. I encourage you to look at some of the add-ons which allow you to, for example, embed audio feedback and codify comments that you use over and over. Wherever you're placed next year, make this a priority and you won't regret it; in fact, a bunch of teachers will probably follow your lead!
Thoughtful stuff as always. Good luck with the rest of the year.