Internet Workshop and Blog Publishing

First off, I just want to say how extremely EXCITED that I am that Kelley Wilson is MY intern teacher! We spent a lot of time on Friday talking about her Pirate Unit and the articles/workshops that she has worked on with Dr. Frye! Mrs. Wilson is so passionate about everything she does, and I am so stoked that I will be able to watch and participate in the Pirate Unit myself with all her wonderful 4th grade students!!

Now, about the article….I loved it. It is a rather lengthy article, but it includes so much helpful and beneficial information that is important to read it all! Technology and introducing the internet and how it works are GREAT ways to help with the Social Studies content. I believe that this engages the students so much more. Having the unit structured in two units (1. Assisting students on how to use internet resources to gather and organize material, and 2. Having students display, share, and publish their work.) Blogs are important to children because they allow for students to share their work to others besides just the teacher and other classmates!

Social Bookmarking by the teacher is another very important thing. The teachers need to search and find child-friendly websites that the students will be able to comprehend. You can also go back and see the information that each site offered. It is also crucial to find activities that match the content and goals/objectives that you are wanting your students to learn. Including a “navigational” strategy allows students to become familiar with “moving” around the internet. Internet workshops are the way to go because they are all inquiry based! When possible, teachers should model what process of internet workshop with their students. Then students all share their information after they have done their research.

Blogging is key to may activities and units. Blogging allows students to practice their writing, while also sharing information with their classmates. Young students love it when they know their work is going to be seen by others, and this is a type of motivation for them. I saw first-hand the “I” poems that this article talks about. Mrs. Wilson had her 4th graders write “I am” poems on Blackbeard, and it went very well. This article gives several websites to go to that allows students to record and video their poems.

The examples of students poems and artwork at the end of the article are so cute and just show what the finished work can look like after the end of an internet workshop!

Arrrr!

I am so excited to start the unit on pirates.  The article made me very anxious to start reading all the books and learning more about them. When I was in my 4th grade class, the ONE day that we have gotten to go, they were talking about Blackbeard and I was like “We’re going to be learning about pirates soon!”. I think the whole concept of pirates is just extremely interesting, and I am excited about learning creative and beneficial ways of introducing it into my classroom so that my students will be just as excited to learn about them too!

So much depends upon….

So much depends upon

a box of memories

made with love

by a mom and dad so great

for a bond so strong.

Meaningful Pictures

So, you may call me cheesy, but this is one of the items I chose for my pictures. My parents (well, basically my Mother) made this for me about a month or two ago. It’s a shadow box with mine and Hunter, my boyfriend’s, names on it. In the middle is a ring that Hunter got me. It is the first ring that he gave me, so my Mom put it in the middle. Yes, I know, it may seem all corny, but I love it and I love things like this! Hunter and I have been dating for almost 4 1/2 years. He is my very best friend. We are both from the same hometown, however he goes to NC State so we do not get to see each other on a daily, or even weekly, basis. He has been such a HUGE part of my life and has been by my side through everything, and I am so very thankful that God put him into my life. He’s a keeper!

I also chose to take a picture of a few of my candles. There’s nothing real significant about them, other than that I collect them. I LOVE candles. If you ever want to know of a present to get me for, say Christmas or my birthday, this would be perfect. I usually do not even burn them. I just like to have them around because they look very appealing and dainty. Also, you can see that they are all purple. Yes, I am a girly-girl.

Brown Angels, Love that Dog, and All the Small Poems

Love that Dog: This is, by far, one of the cutest, most honest books I think I have read. This is written by a little boy, Jack. I feel that all the comments he makes about poetry in the beginning and middle of this book are true statements as to how young children feel about poetry. All of the ideas that are in this book about how poetry is written and other things are things that I think many, many children also think. They do not understand what poetry is or what makes something poetic. They are also ashamed of their work because they do not think it is “good” or correct. Jack is so honest. I also love the fact this book introduces Walter Dean Meyers.  I think the thing that made me smile most about this was that by the end of the book, Jack was more of a fan of poetry. He read poetry from Walter Dean Meyers and then decides to invite him to his school. He is so excited when he hears that this famous man is coming to his school, and I think that this whole experience really changed his view on poetry.

Brown Angels: I love the fact that this is written by Walter Dean Meyers who we got to know a little about in Love That Dog. We got to read some of his real, full poems. One of the major things that stuck out to me were the pictures. When a picture is placed beside or around the poem, it creates a visual image. You understand the poem more and get more feelings out of it. Two of my favorites were “Prayer” and “They”. These two poems just seemed to mean something to me, and I found myself smiling while I was reading them

All the Small Poems and Fourteen More: One of the first things that I realized and noticed about most of these poems is that they are written about small things. For example, “Grass” and “Pie” are two things that one would think would be hard to right about. I think that this book of poetry just shows that anyone is capable of writing a poem about anything at all.

Notebook Know-How pages 15-34

When reading this, I wanted to stop at each thing I wanted to blog about, but then I figured I would never get through reading it. I have found this book to be so beneficial so far! I like to write myself, but there are so many children out there who do not, and that is why I find this book so interesting. All of the many tips and ideas it gives are wonderful. I remember in elementary school, when we did not have anything to write about, we used the “Writing from a Word.” I think this is a great idea to help get students engaged in writing. The example in the book was the word cows. This is simple, yet can turn into a decent post in their notebook. The idea that I like even better is “Lifting a Line.” It is true that students will write an entry and not elaborate enough on a certain part. Mrs. Buckner uses highlighters to have her students go back and highlight a line that they wish they could have talked more about. Then, this single line turns into its own entry. I think this is so neat! Not only does this allow students to elaborate on a previous post, but it requires them to go back and reread what they have already written.Another thing that I liked is giving the students the “Best List.” Most children are going to be excited to write about something exciting that has happened or something that they love. This is an encouragement to writing. Kudo’s to Buckner for the way she uses these notebooks!

History of My Name

History of the name Adrienne:

My parents debated between the name they gave me, Adrienne, and the name Amber. Obviously, Adrienne won! There’s really a funny reason that I got this name, and I don’t think many other people were named this for the same reason. During the year I was born, 1987, there was an actress named Adrienne on the TV Soap Opera “Days of Our Lives”. This wasn’t her real name, but the name of her character. My parents both liked the name and thought that it wasn’t very common at the time, so they gave it to me! I didn’t use to be all that fond of my name, but it has grown on me as the years go by! People come up to me all the time and say “Yo! Adrienne!”. It used to annoy me, but now I have just gotten used to it.

The real, literal meaning of my name means dark, rich and wealthy.It also means from Hadria. It originated in France. It is most commonly used as a girls name. I love the wealthy and rich definitions, but I am a little saddened by the one that says it means dark. That does not really match my personality or who I am at all (or at least I sure hope not!) Out of 4,276 women, 394 have the name Adrienne. This actually surprises me, because I only know a few other Adrienne’s, and out of those, only about two are spelled the same way!

Another interesting fact: My last name, Kinder, is German and means child! I believe that it is ironic that I want to be a teacher to little children, especially Kindergarten!

Hot Blogging

I really felt like this article gave great examples of different types of blogs and the many benefits having a blog allows. It makes it extremely easy to understand for someone who is wanting to make their own blog, but have never had any experience with one. I thought it was good that they used as an example having a blog to show off other students work. Whether it is a picture or poem or whatever else, when students are able to share their work they become more interested, especially in the lower elementary grades. This means a lot to them. Also, blogging allows students questions to be answered by other students, so everyone is benefiting from participating in this. Parents can also use these in that teachers sometimes post classroom assignments and other things going on in the classroom so that the parents can be informed as well.

Notebook Know-How

1. My overall impression of the pages 1-15 was very positive. It really goes into great detail about the many reasons that keeping a notebook is beneficial for children to use.

2. The purpose of a writers-notebook is to allow students to write down their ideas and feelings onto paper. They can write it down and go back to it, meaning they won’t forget. It allows to them practive writing AND reading and excelling in the two.

3. My goals as a teacher of writing will be to have my students feel that they can write freely with little limitations. When students are allowed to write what they want, they are more comfortable with writing, and this also enhances their reading abilities as well. The two go great together, and you really can’t have one without the other.

4. The chapter about launching the notebook is a great example for teachers as a guide in helping their students in starting a notebook. When the teacher was talking to the students about different stories, she was jotting down their ideas. This helped the students become more comfortable with writing in their own notebooks.

5. The organization of the notebook is very important. It is important that teachers let their students write about what they want to, and not giving them limitations. When writing like this, no drafts need to be made, because it is whatever flows through your mind. There is no right or wrong answer.

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