Creating a classroom podcast has been one of my dreams for a very long time, and this summer, I was determined to make it happen. I searched the internet for other classroom podcasts to get inspiration, but interestingly enough, didn't find very many out there, and wondered, why ever not? There are so many rich benefits to having students create a podcast. For one, it integrates so many of the Common Core standards, beginning with writing . . .
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.2.5--With guidance and support from adults, use a variety of digital tools to produce and publish writing, including in collaboration with peers. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.2.4--Tell a story or recount an experience with appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details, speaking audibly in coherent sentences. . . . and here was the standard that came as serendipity for me, which especially validated my idea for a podcast on top of all the others, and I only happened upon this after my students and I finished our first podcast: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.2.5--Create audio recordings of stories or poems; add drawings or other visual displays to stories or recounts of experiences when appropriate to clarify ideas, thoughts, and feelings. And this is only the tip of the iceberg in terms of how many standards this touches on, and of the learning experiences that students gain from creating a podcast. I knew, before diving into the world of podcasting, that my students would be able to have a very rich, very deep opportunity to communicate in a way that would extend beyond writing a first draft of a story, editing, revising, and posting it on the classroom's bulletin board at Open House. They would be able to share with a much wider audience, with friends, family, and with people outside of school. I also knew, with this new and cool technology that children typically have never dealt with, that they would be extremely motivated to read and write. I have made it a condition in my classroom that no writing can be shared on a podcast if it does not demonstrate all the qualities of good, polished writing, as agreed upon in our class rubrics. I also have made it clear that students may only share their writing on a podcast if they can read their pieces fluently and with good expression. The interest in writing stories, not to mention the amount of time my students have practiced reading their own writing, has increased tremendously. This year, I hope that students will be able to write and share about anything they are learning, ranging from social studies, science, art, literature, music, and anything of personal interest to them. I get giddy just thinking of all the possibilities that come with integrating this technology with countless topics! And above all, I find that podcasting has been so very gratifying for me and my class this past week. The children worked beautifully together, encouraged one another, and had fun as they learned. And perhaps, most powerful of all, they have been given another way to make their voices heard. Have a listen to Room 17's PhoenixCast here, and comment below to tell us what you think! PhoenixCast Episode 1 In this episode, the students of Room 17 explore the theme of friendship. Featured here is the poem, "Could We Be Friends," by Bobbi Katz, and children's responses to the question, "What do you look for in a friend?"
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A favorite way to practice spelling in my classroom as part of Daily 5 - Word Work is called Spelling Scribble. Simply draw a random squiggly shape on paper, making sure any loops in the shape provide enough space to fit several words. Then, inside each loop, write the same spelling word repeatedly inside each space. A cool example of brain-based learning that incorporates art to engage the mind. Our beloved Room 17 mascot, Eddie the Otter, is alive and well, and I never would have guessed how deeply he has endeared himself to my students. I thought of giving a brief update about our furry friend, because he has become such an integral part of our community. I first introduced Eddie as a cute little friend who could motivate my students towards good behavior. Eddie only stays with students who work quietly, follow the classroom rules, and are kind to others. If I forget to give Eddie to a student in the morning, I will undoubtedly be asked by someone in the class, "Who gets Eddie today?" Now into our 151st day of school, the children are still excited to receive Eddie as their desk buddy. Of course, Eddie dislikes unfocused behavior, disrespect, too much talking, and loud noise, so he will occasionally leave a student if he observes any of those things. I later expanded Eddie's role in our class to include writing in a fictitious journal about his daily experiences at school with us. Students reflected on his feelings in response to a variety of things that happen during the day. This is a great writing minilesson that teaches the diary format, and is a highly interactive activity in which I and the students literally share the pen when writing sentences, words, and adding punctuation. We end up editing a lot as well and helping each other with spelling. Here is sample we wrote from Eddie's point of view: January 17, 2014 What became fascinating for me was how the students began to exercise some empathy when they reflected on how Eddie might feel sad, happy, anxious, or excited about certain events. Things got really interesting one day, several months ago, when a student told me during class, "Ms. Long, so-and-so told me that Eddie hates me!" I promptly took Eddie away from the student who said these mean words. As a teacher, I try not to get upset when things don't go smoothly in my classroom (sometimes easier said than done!), and instead look for a way to turn it into a positive learning experience for me and my students. The next day, I told the class that Eddie was very unhappy that someone had put mean words into his mouth. "Eddie is in our class to help us, to be a kind friend, and to encourage us and make us feel comfortable here." I explained that Eddie would be going on a long vacation to the Monterey Bay, away from Room 17 (okay, I had actually tucked him away in a safe, secret place), and wouldn't be coming back for a couple of weeks. My students listened intently, and were aghast at this news. We proceeded to write a farewell "postcard" from Eddie's point of view, which went like this: February 6, 2014 One girl actually came to me later that day when school was dismissed to say, "Can you tell Eddie I miss him?"
The revelation then hit me: Eddie had become real to these children. We are almost near the end of the year, and Eddie has long since returned to us. The children know the rules well on how to care for Eddie if they want to be his guardian for the day. I see children cuddle with him while they read, prop him up on their desks to show him "listening" to a lesson, and make him wave good-bye to me at the end of the day. He helps the children remember kindness and compassion for others. I am indebted to our otter friend for all he has done for me and my students. In a room full of educators, Maya thanked them with this message and reminded them that she wouldn’t have achieved so much if not for the rainbows in her life.
And her beautiful spirit still soars. Rest in peace, Maya Angelou. To all mothers out there, all my warmest wishes for a wonderful and blessed day with friends and family! Although I am not a mother myself, I truly appreciate how much heart and soul the mothers at Fairburn pour into the lives of their children 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Today I also pay tribute to my own mother, who has helped me in countless ways ever since I started teaching. She has tutored my struggling readers, taught cursive lessons, and drilled the kids on times tables. She's done just about everything from teaching full-out math lessons to sweeping the floor and sharpening the pencils. As a mother and a former 2nd grade teacher, she has kept me grounded and given me so much practical wisdom. She kindled my interest in teaching in the first place. Thank you, Mom! This past week, my students made greeting cards in honor of their mothers. The project involved writing portrait poems, which are composed of a few similes to describe a person. After drafting their poems and copying them onto plain white index cards, the children drew and decorated the letters M - O - M on three separate pieces of colored construction paper with oil pastel. They glued the letters onto white art paper which had to be folded into thirds to make a trifold greeting card. Because I know it's very difficult for young children to measure and fold paper into thirds, I measure the paper for the students ahead of time -- pinching the paper at every third section, allowing students to fold it more easily themselves. Here is my sample (front and back): Thanks to the fun teacher blog, Simply Skilled In Second, Room 17 was able to dive into the new year with a thoughtful and colorful activity, the 2014 flip flap book. Essentially a booklet made of different-sized overlapping pages, this flip flap book encouraged the class to reflect on highlights and favorite memories of last year and to think about resolutions for the new year. I started off introducing the idea of new year's resolutions with a read-aloud I found on YouTube of the children's book, Squirrel's New Year's Resolution by Pat Miller (I was so thankful to have this video, since I didn't have my own copy of the book on hand). After the read aloud, we made a list of our new year's resolutions on the Smartboard. Among my favorites were, "I resolve to use my iPad less," "I resolve to practice more piano," and "I resolve to read more!" Students then recorded their new year's resolutions in their flip flap books.
This blogging teacher and mom articulates precisely the same approach I take when supporting my students in their writing development. Read her article here in Imagination Soup:
In Room 17 we listen to a lot of music while we work. We write about it, talk about it, and even dance to it. I have been thrilled that this year's group of second graders has proved quite enthusiastic about listening to classical music--I would say, more so than any other year I've taught. I first noticed it sometime at the beginning of the school year. I had set my iPod one morning during math time to one of my favorite albums, "Voice of the Violin," which features the incomparable violinist, Joshua Bell. I have played this album for my students in years past without them making a single comment. Imagine my delight and surprise when several students started shushing others who were talking and saying, "Ssshh!! Quiet, I want to hear the music!" A few others asked me, "Ms. Long, what is that music? I really like it!" My students have fallen in love with one piece in this album in particular - Dvorak's "Song to the Moon" from the opera Rusalka. Who'd have thought, in a youth world of Beyoncé and Bieber? The kids keep asking me to play this track on my iPod over and over during worktime. I don't mind in the least, I love it too (as well as the violinist!) (-; Spurred on by my students' interest in classical music, I began to think of
I'll be perfectly honest, I was never a fan of Halloween. However, as I teacher, I capitalize on the idea of Halloween as much as I can and use it as an opportunity to spice up my instruction and pique students' interest. One of my primary vehicles is through literature, and I shared some of my favorite books, both funny and spooky, in a previous post. I also include poetry as well, and during the month of October Room 17 had fun memorizing and reciting the traditional "In A Dark, Dark Wood" and "I'm Not Scared!" by Karen Baiker. Practicing these poems develops fluency in reading and confidence in speaking in front of an audience. Something wonderful happened a couple weekends ago when I happily rediscovered some material from my old lesson plan files. It was a copy of an excerpt from Shakespeare's Macbeth, the witches' chant "Double, double, toil and trouble." I used to give this to fourth graders to memorize, and I thought, why not try it with my 2nd graders? I gave a very brief and general summary of the Macbeth story, and concluded by sharing film composer John Williams' rendition of "Double, double, toil and trouble" from the movie "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban." You can listen to this catchy and delightfully wicked song here: We later used this goodie from Shakespeare as inspiration for writing our own recipes for magic potions. Besides this piece of music, I draw on other music that has long been associated with Halloween, including "Danse Macabre" by Camille Saint-Saëns and "Toccata and Fugue in d" by Johan Sebastian Bach. "Danse Macabre" was a particular favorite this year, and we had a devilishly good time doing some impromptu writing while listening to it. We even got to dance to it, thanks to our wonderful dance instructor, Ms. Devon Wall, who taught us how to freeze into all sorts of marvelous shapes with our bodies based on a broom, a trick-or-treat bag, a witch's hat, and a jack-o-lantern. Of course, there must be visual art in the mix. Students used chalk pastels to make spider web drawings and the following week, pumpkin patch landscapes with oil pastel: We wrapped up our Halloween funfest by making origami ghosts. They were deemed "simple" on the YouTube video where I learned it, but was quite a bit more complicated for my 2nd graders. Even so, they still found it engaging and, despite a bit of frustration, seemed determined to get all the steps down. Thankfully, I had two parent volunteers who were able to help the children with the trickier folds. The bubbling excitement from the students from all these activities is quite contagious. It almost made me like Halloween . . . almost!
I only just now discovered National Day on Writing, the United States' national celebration of writing which first took place on October 20, 2009. How cool is that? The celebration invites Americans to consider the role of writing in everyday life. Here are a few witty student responses to the question: Why do we have to write today? For a more detailed list of student answers, visit Edutopia. These are brilliant!
This month in Room 17, we're currently learning how to craft spooky stories. We've been practicing "snapshots," parts of a narrative that describe characters, objects, and settings with rich sensory detail. And this afternoon, we delved into how to craft an engaging lead, or beginning that can hook an audience into reading the rest of the story. Here were a few examples from my students, followed by the specific writing technique they used: "My eyes opened. It was a gooey, squishy, smooth jello monster." (snapshot) "'Ahhhhhhhhhhh!" screamed Nicole. "Help!"' (dialogue) "Shablaam!! Show dashed through the ice outside and cracked my window." (sound effect) "In the dark I saw a one-eyed monster." (snapshot) "Ding, dong. 'Who is it?' I asked. 'It's me,' someone said in a scratchy old voice." (dialogue) "My heart was about to pop out of my chest!" (feeling) These story leads are quite a dramatic improvement from "One day . . ." or "Once upon a time . . . ." We had Author's Chair after our writer's workshop and many of my children were so enthusiastic about sharing the different writing techniques they used, it was impossible to squeeze them all in. Can't wait to see what else these young writers create with their imaginations. |
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