Student Writing Reflection Part 2 - Analyzing Creatively

Sometimes, it is nice to change-up the way we reflect on our writing or thinking. A word cloud is one visual way to do a more creative analysis. Wordle is just one of those word cloud tools.

1. Select and Copy your writing
2. Go to Wordle.net or another word cloud program
3. Click on "Create"
4. In the first box, paste in the text you copied from your writing
5. Click on "Go"
6. Adjust the color, language preferences, layout, etc. 
7. You can now either print it, take a screen shot of it to use elsewhere, or post on a blog or website.
     7a. To post on a blog or website, you'll need to save to the public gallery (bottom of the page)
     7b. Once it finishes, scroll to the bottom, select and copy the HTML code
     7c. In your blog post or site, make sure you have enabled HTML editing.
     7d. Paste in the HTML code
     7e. Add any additional thoughts

Student Writing Reflection Part 1

Now that you have taken a close look at and discussed your student writing, take a few minutes to do a quick write about what you've observed. The following are some guiding ideas :

• What does it show about their understanding?
• What does it show about their writing skills?
• What is the connection to the rest of their academic/intellectual growth?
• What does it show about your growth in teaching writing and/or social studies?
• What does it show about their challenges?
• What does it show in a positive way?
• What would you do differently?
• What would you make sure to do exactly the same way?
• Other observations

After the quick write, we'll be using a tool to analyze what you see.

Follow That Blog

For those of you who would like another way to access the blogs from from your colleagues and/or new blogs you may find, there is a way to do this by setting up an RSS reader to collect any new posts from blogs you select.  You can find information on RSS (Real Simple Syndication) and how to set up an RSS reader on the SMUSD website in the Technology Department blog Personal Learning Networks (PLNs) under the title Keeping Up With Your Reading.

Blog Like You Mean It!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/barnett/2836828090/

Writing an Effective Blog Post

Yes, this post breaks some of the rules ;-)

Appealing Title

• Include a keyword that applies to your message
• Capitalize the Key Words in Title

Share Your Opinion and Be Honest

• Write what you think, not what you think someone else wants to read
• Do so professionally

Include Links if Applicable

• Point of Reference - article, web site, etc. you are talking about.
• Resources

Make it Easy to Read

• Bullet points
• Short paragraphs - Several short paragraphs are easier to read than long paragraphs
• The first sentence of each paragraph should make your reader want to read the rest.
• Headings
• Avoid overuse of bold, italics, colored text, etc. You don’t want to make it visually uncomfortable to read

Don’t Cut and Paste from MS Word

• Formatting can change and may look different in different browsers

Short Posts are Okay

• Make it easy to read. It isn’t supposed to be an essay

Proofread

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Examples

Practical Theory

The Thinking Stick

Creating Lifelong Learners

So What Do You Think About That?

http://www.freefoto.com/download/04-04-7/Computer-Keyboard

Writing an Effective Blog Post Comment

Be Specific

• compliments, questions, adding new information

It’s Okay to Disagree

• It’s OK to be critical, but be respective and constructive about it by offering an alternative

Provide Context

• Explain what part the post you’re responding to

Make a Point

• “Great post”, “Thank you”, and “Well said”  don’t add to the conversation

Keep it Short

Proofread

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Example Blog Posts

Dangerously Irrelevant

Free Technology for Teachers

Edutopia

A Few Last Links for the Year

First, I want to say "Congratulations" to everyone for putting together and presenting some great lessons to end this first year of the project. What a great resource of lessons for everyone to share.

I also wanted to add a few links to your collection.

1. Lesson Writer - This site allows you to input your own text and then create vocabulary, comprehension, writing activities, and more from it.

2. Creating an interactive cloze text - To create a CLOZE activity, you could just delete selected words in a document. This site is a screencast tutorial that shows you how to create a CLOZE activity in Microsoft Word that's interactive.

3. Microsoft PowerPoint SlideFest - This is a humorous set of video tips from Microsoft on how to/how not to create effective PowerPoints. Be sure to preview them carefully. You may not want to use (in their entirety) with kids.

4. History Buff - History Buff has primary source documents showing how events were reported in their time.

5. History Tours - History Tours is a wiki source for Google Earth files. They won't open if you don't have Google Earth installed.

Thanks again for teaching me along the way. I'm looking forward to next year!

Adina

Technology Tools Livebinder Part 2

Foundations of American History – Technology Tools Part 2 – Febr