Originally this post wasn't intended to be about the #blogamonth Feburary topic of Creating a Culture, but it turned out to be a post about creating a culture of digital learners. Enjoy! If you would have asked me last week if I was willing to give up control of my classroom to the students, I would have said of course! I am an avocate of allowing students to take the lead. But a few things have pushed my thinking since then... Am I really willing to give up control? Really? The above twitter conversation was sparked by Cat Flippen's (@Catflippen) keynote at the UGA Digital Learning Conference. As I read it, I nodded my head in agreement, asking myself, "Why is it so hard for teachers to let go of control in their classrooms and what does it take for them to change?" But I was quickly faced with the truth that I wasn't as progressive as I thought. The idea that truly challenged me was from Eric Sheninger's (@NMHS_Principal) book Digital Leadership: Changing Paradigms for Changing Times. We all know that we are teaching a new generation of digital natives. But the characteristics of these types of students wasn't as clear to me until I read the list of qualities of a digital learner that Sheninger includes early in his book. He explains the ways that digital learners want to obtain information or function vs how the traditional teacher wants to spend the lesson. Sheninger writes: Digital learners prefer parallel processing and multitasking, but many educators prefer linear processing and single tasks or limited multitasking. I am guilty of this! Just last week, we were working on essays on Google drive and when a student asked me if she could share her essay with a friend in the class, I told her "No. Not until you have finished drafting. You still have a few key parts to include." Well, granted, even though this student really did have more work to do on the essay, I am now asking myself, why not? Why couldn't she have shared it and gotten feedback even though she wasn't done writing yet?
Real writers do this! I do this as a writer - I am always seeking feedback at every stage. I consider myself a "digital learner" like them - wouldn't I want the ability to share my work when I wanted instead of having that be controlled by the teacher? So today, I took a different approach. I offered for my class to openly share their essays on Google drive with anyone else in the class for feedback. I allowed students to move around the room, not limiting who they work with specifically, which I was doing before, too. Did they gravitate toward their friends? Well yes...but were they on task? Yes...even some of the more easily distracted students. They were discussing ways to help each other revise and fervently leaving comments. Were they sharing with multiple students? Yes, which provided each student multiple perspectives of feedback. The moment I knew it was working was when I heard a shy voice speak up. There is a sweet girl in my class who is a strong student, but she is very quiet. When I conference with her about her writing, it is very hard to get her to respond even when I am praising her work. But today, her voice lept over the noise as she talked across the room to her friend, giving her friend advice on how to revise the essay. I know I had a shocked look on my face as I glanced up to see who was talking. She was embracing her role as editor and providing feedback, not just through the digitial comments, but out loud. Something had changed. Mission accomplished! In the back of my mind, I was a little irked at the noise in the room. My inner teacher wanted to tell the class to be quiet and focus on what they were doing. My inner teacher wanted to stop conversations from continuing that seemed to be off topic. When I listened closer, students were talking about the events they are writing about in their essays. My inner teacher needed to be shhhhhushed today. She needed to embrace the fact that digital learners need a different environment to thrive in. It’s my job as a teacher to create that environment and ultimately create a culture tailor-made for these digital learners. I still feel like I have a long way to go, but at least I know where I'm headed! Try This Tomorrow! Ask yourself if you are still holding onto control in some areas, and if you can continue to loosen your grip. What simple change can you make to quiet your inner teacher voice and let students function more like digital learners? My question to you is this... where is the balance between good classroom management and allowing students the freedom to learn the way they want to as digital natives? When (if ever) do you let your inner teacher come out to set boundaries and control the classroom noise, activity, etc? Also, how do you ensure that students aren’t just sharing with friends and everyone plays a part in this digital experience? Please share your thoughts below! __ Allison Petersen @alcp
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This memoir essay idea was inspired by @kdwashburn's Writer's Stylus course. This course and Kevin Washburn's other course Architecture of Learning have informed many of my teaching methods. During the Writer's Stylus course, teachers write a This I Believe essay. This writing was key in developing my voice as a writer in so many ways. So now, I have students use it as a platform for sharing. The idea originally comes from NPR's This I Believe radio broadcasts, which you may be familiar with. The website has hundreds of This I Believe essays on it to pull from. So here's how I structure this unit. I teach seventh graders, but it is easily adaptable to any age level. Standards:
1) Mentor Texts: We read and listen to multiple examples of This I Believe essays from the website. Some of them have recording included. Kevin Washburn calls this "Acquaintance and Analysis" where students have an open discussion about what they like about the writing style. This gets students thinking about HOW this type of essay is written. Great Mentor Text: I Believe in the Beatles by Macklin Levine 2) Qualities of a This I Believe Essay: In small groups, students make a list of qualities that define this style of writing (memoir/narrative). We combine these small group lists into one class list to refer to as students write. This helps students to define the style of writing that the essay requires. Looking for Qualities of TIB essay Assignment 3) Pick a Memory: This is often the hardest part of this essay, yet the most crucial. Students need to pick a very vivid memory th base their essay on. This memory drives the belief by having students explain what they learned from this unique event in their lives. It is very hard to write this essay by starting with the "I Believe" statement because that statement should come from the story itself. So, I have students brainstorm several story choices and then narrow their idea down to a very specific part of that story that they remember clearly. 4) Structure of the Essay: I explain to students the basic structure of the essay to give them a framework. This still allows them a lot of freedom with paragraphing and style choices.
6) Modeling: I have my own This I Believe essay that I am crafting along with them. I model for them how I structure my essay (using short paragraphs) and how I incorporate “Show Don’t Tell." I find a place in my own essay to expand sensory imagery and show them my thinking process by writing in front of them. 7) Coaching: Feedback is a vital part of the writing process. This is where I am sure to meet with each student to conference and coach them on how well their essays match the structure framework and push them to think about each element. I limit this essay to no more than 700 words to force a concise approach to the story. I often coach them on how to cut irrelevant details or how to make their I Believe statements symbolic. We also discuss areas of the essay to add Show Don't Tell. 8) Audio Recording: Since the original This I Believe essays are broadcast on the radio, I wanted to add an audio element to this essay. We have a classroom set of Chromebooks, and I needed a web based tool where students could record the essays, so I found Audioboo! I contacted them on twitter, and once I let them know I was an educator, they extended the audio length to 30 minutes instead of three minutes. Bingo! Bonus: Students can also do this on their cell phones using the Audioboo app. I had students record the essays, and then use the embed code to paste the recording into their blog posts. Just like the examples we read for the mentor texts. This year's blog posts with the audio included 9) Publishing & Reflection: Students published the This I Believe essays to their blogs - check them out here. This allows for students to comment on and read each other's blog posts and share their work. It becomes a great time for reflection to see how each student approached the challenge of explaining their belief in a different way. Try This Tomorrow! This could be a great way for you to incorporate Memoir/Narrative writing into your class this year. Please let me know if I can provide more details for you. Check out the resources below! Resources This I Believe Essay Dropbox Folder: Includes mentor texts, assignment sheet, power point, revision checklists, etc.
Essays with audio included Looking for Qualities of TIB essay Assignment More 7th Grade Student Samples: From our blog last year. Please feel free to share with your students as mentor texts. A Dog's Life: This is my This I Believe Essay written during Writer's Stylus about Aspen, my bulldog. There is no "I Believe" statement because I decided to remove it at late stages of editing. ___ Allison Petersen @alcp |
About AllisonAllison is an K-12 Instructional Coach. Her goal is to empower educators to grow continually. Recent Posts#5Tips4LMS Series
Cast a Vision Create Momentum A Problem and a Solution HIGHLIGHTED POSTS Re-Center on Vision Letting Go of Control The Power of Positive Feedback Inspiring a Love of Reading Turning Ideas into Habits The Truth About Writing This I Believe Essay Quiet Leadership Qualities Thinking About New Ideas Goals Provide Focus The Power of Twitter Use Storify to Organize Tweets Build a PLN Categories
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