Thursday, November 21, 2013

Literacy Online Update - 13 November 2013


Kia ora tātou,
Week five already and if my social media streams are anything to go by a large number of educators are right in the midst of reporting.  This can be a very onerous, stressful time, and can also be a very rewarding, celebratory time.  If you are finding it onerous and stressful, please try to connect with someone who is celebrating.  Maybe involve your learners in your feelings around reporting.  Acknowledge your role in reporting and ask for their feelings about their year.  I always made a habit of encouraging learners to complete their own reports discussing their strengths and challenges. I learnt so much in conversation with the learners about how they rate themselves.  It was often only through these one to one conversations that I was aware of the impact of teacher and peer feedback on each individual.  I wish you all the best as you complete reports for the year and urge you to reflect on the incredibly powerful impact you have on your learners.
I found this great post by Room 9 Einsteins, St Clair School, Dunedin and I want to share this wonderful clip - Austin's Butterfly: Building Excellence in Student Work - Models, Critique, and Descriptive Feedback What an incredibly powerful clip showing the power of critiquing.  I wonder how we could use this to shape our journey? I wonder how we model and encourage this critiquing? I wonder how we can create an environment of open, honest critiquing, which is timely and allows for many drafts, right across the curriculum?
I would love to hear if any of you experimented with one word since my last update? 
This week I would like to share wordsift for you to experiment with. I have used wordsift to sort the words in this update!  You then have the ability to sort your words, alphabetically, common to rare and more… How could you use this tool with your learners? 

Blog posts to check out:
Can we see reading comprehension in the brain?  A team of researchers at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, have developed a new way to view reading comprehension in the brain, and in the process highlighted a new angle for testing comprehension that isn't skewed by a student's background knowledge.
Watch. Connect. Read.  This is the blog of a K-5 teacher-librarian who works diligently to put the right book in every child's hand. She believes book trailers are one way to connect readers with books.  How could you encourage or empower your learners to create and share book trailers?
Poetry Box: A New Zealand Poetry Page for Children This is Paula Green’s blog.  She visits schools; review books and writes stories in secret. She visits schools and likes working with students from Year 0 to Year 13.
The fourth dimension is a wonderful blog by Pernille Ripp.  The post I am linking is How to get boys reading perhaps but I would thoroughly recommend this blog for a great “explore” and one well worthwhile following.
The lost art of writing an email is well worth checking out.  I think the onus is on us to continually model and empower our learners to be literate across all mediums in which they write. 
I chuckled away last night as I watched the Seven Sharp’s Is handwriting dying last night. There is ALWAYS a place for handwriting!  I’d never want us to return to the ways of the past but would love to hear how you keep the art of handwriting in your programme!
Other links:
The latest Enabling E-Learning Round up is out!  This is well worth checking out when you have a moment.  There are so many discussions to participate in in the VLN.  The literary progressions matrix is well worth a look.
Have a great week.
Check out the ICTs in English update for some more wonderful links and ideas. 
Ngā mihi nui
Anne Kenneally
Literacy Online Facilitator
CORE Education

No comments:

Post a Comment