Karen+Post+and+Replies

Early Adopter: Inquiry & Design Challenge
My Destination Postcard:

Students need to learn to effectively post and reply. This skill can be used across various websites and the content of the posts can be a variety of subjects/disciplines. Students will have to learn to understand and comprehend without non-verbal cues or tone of voice, have valid replies that add to the ideas, disagree politely, evaluate feedback, and ask for clarification.

Name: Karen Ferraro >> >> Other resources: >> http://kidbloggersclub.com/ >> http://kidbloggersclub.com/category/writing/ >> http://kidbloggersclub.com/category/tips-and-tricks/ >> https://sbisd.edmodo.com >> http://groups.diigo.com/group/sbisd-early-adopters
 * =====Campus: Frostwood =====
 * =====Grade Level: 2 =====
 * =====Discipline: LA (LA to start but could be used in others eventually) =====
 * =====Topic: posts and replies =====
 * =====Focus Question: How will discussion skills improve through the process of learning to create posts and replies?=====
 * When can Edmodo posts/comments be used in lessons?
 * How can we evaluate comment quality?
 * How can we maintain quality?
 * How can I instill the importance of discussions so that it will be used by students across disciplines and areas - Edmodo, blogs, FWE library Edmodo group - not just our class Edmodo group?
 * Resources:
 * Who else is thinking about your topic?
 * Everyone on my campus is thinking about discussion skills, although not necessarily in written form.
 * Kid Bloggers Club - http://kidbloggersclub.com/tips-for-keeping-a-blog/
 * Example blog resource list - http://kidbloggersclub.com/kids-blog-list/
 * Kid Blogger Network - http://kidbloggernetwork.com/blogging-tips/blogging-basics/
 * Who else is grappling with this element of practice?
 * The teachers on my campus are grappling with it, but in an oral discussion form.
 * What are they finding?
 * Students need to work on listening to others and building on other people's thinking instead of just saying their own opinion.
 * Kids need guidance, ideas, suggestions, and examples.
 * How are they sharing?
 * Posts of Kid Bloggers Club give ideas, example, and feedback for bloggers to use that is oriented towards kids. However, these are generally geared toward older kids. On the right column there is "What Topic Interests You Most?" that helps find posts specific to topics.

Working on the Work >>>>
 * ===== Activity: =====
 * 1) Individually, design a student resource, activity type, or mini-challenge to try in the classroom over the next month to test. Then, get feedback from partners.
 * 2) Try out resource, activity type, or project during the month(s), documenting plan, process, execution and reflection and collect student work samples.
 * include component="pageList" hideInternal="true" tag="Ferraro" limit="10"

>> To have my kids be able to appropriately post and reply in a discussion in a valid way. >> >> Finding time academically -What am I not teaching to teach this? >> Regulating/deleting/monitoring posts/comments >> >> Other teachers - Megan, Kelly Edwards >> >> pictures, created materials >> >>> Let students reply to a post, listen to discussion skills in group discussions
 * How are you prepared to //Walk the Walk// this year? How will your journey reflect //action research// ?
 * Identify your Goals & Objectives
 * What Obstacles/Problems do you anticipate?
 * What Strategies will you use to overcome these obstacles?
 * What resources and materials will you share via our EA wiki and learning community?
 * Data Collection:
 * Pre-assessment - //how will you determine the base-line of your students in your target area//?
 * Action Research Assessment and Evaluation:
 * How will you measure success? By the posts and replies the kids produce
 * How will you know if you have succeeded? Determining the quality of the replies and determining whether the quality/discussion skills were worth the time dedicated to the lessons.
 * What will you collect as evidence of success? Edmodo


 * Mining the Effort**
 * What artifacts of your personal learning have you been collecting?
 * This wikispace page!
 * What process shifts do these suggest in your practice?
 * Starting with the curriculum and finding technology to accomplish a goal, instead of finding a way to fit a certain piece of technology in


 * What artifacts of student learning have you been collecting?
 * Edmodo, pictures of anchor charts, flipcharts
 * What process shifts do these suggest in their practice?
 * Seeing technology as a way to express ideas and not just a way to get information

How is your journey like that of a storyteller? Of a researcher?
 * An Opportunity in Overalls **
 * As a storyteller, I'm on a journey with unexpected problems along the way to get to the goal.
 * As a researcher, I'm using the students' work and understanding to test and modify what I am doing. Every lesson is a test with unknown results and the data can be used to design the next test.

What question did you start out to find answer(s) to?
 * Focus question: How will discussion skills improve through the process of learning to create posts and replies?
 * What tweaks, edits, modifications have you made to your focus question?
 * making my idea smaller and more step-by-step
 * What question(s) remain?
 * How do find the time to monitor student responses?
 * How do I find the time to teach all the skills necessary for students to be successful without getting behind in the curriculum?
 * What new questions have surfaced as a result of your exploration this far?
 * How do I more effectively get students to see online posts as discussions?
 * How do I get students to understand how to post for a wider audience - an audience who may not know the same information or have the same prior knowledge?

As a researcher:

What are you measuring?
 * What patterns are surfacing?
 * Students respond to the author of the post, but do not see the other commenters as part of the conversation. They still don't see it as a cohesive conversation.
 * What themes are emerging?
 * Students are wanting more peer feedback, but are still unsure how to how to do that. They don't want to be negative and don't really understand "plus-ing" each other, so they need more guidance of how to provide feedback.
 * What does your data suggest?
 * Students need specific information on how to give feedback and to see the posts and comments as a "whole" conversation.

As a learner:
 * Where have you allowed yourself to be vulnerable in this process?
 * being unsure of the outcome, doing lessons that might fail
 * How are you allowing yourself, your professional learning to be 'seen'?
 * I haven't been doing anything special to be seen. I let my teammates know what I'm doing and I talk to the EA cohorts from my school. I haven't been conscious enough about being seen.
 * In what way(s) have you found the courage to be 'imperfect'?
 * I feel like what I'm doing won't hurt the kids even if lessons don't all go well. It is a process for my students as well as me.
 * What //a-ha!// moments, elements of a 'spiritual awakening'/"breakdown" have you experienced? What might these insights suggested to you?
 * Technology is not the goal. Thinking is the goal but technology can be the vehicle.

What story is unfolding from your research?
 * Blogs are a conversation.
 * Kids need to learn to "plus" each other.'