Hemingway~Helps Students Analyze their Writing

Hemingway is a free online tool that helps students analyze their writing. By simply pasting a passage or essay and "edit", the program highlights parts of student writing that use passive voice, adverbs, and overly complex sentences. It gives a count of how many sentences are included and out of those, how many of those could confuse readers without revision. I've done a similar activity using highlighter pens for students to identify patterns in their own writing. However, this program provides students immediate and easy to follow tips on how to improve trouble areas, making it an ideal learning tool for emerging writers.

Students often neglect or resist the revision part of the writing process. For their final essay this term, students were asked to copy their essays into Hemingway to check for readability. It was clear that all papers require a revision process. In the future, I'd like to use this tool for "virtual peer" editing.

Following Blogs for Reading Development

In my Reading Fundamentals class, low adult readers identified and followed blogs while practicing reading strategies taught in the classroom. This was a popular activity especially among the young students who tend to enjoy digital dialogue. Students completed a blog template each class for 2-3 blogs they followed including: summary, evaluation, and how the student would comment. Some students subscribed to blogs and posted their comments. This lesson weaves together Oregon Standards for Adult Learner and new GED requirements. The lesson is as follows.

Digital Tuesdays in Reading

What is a "blog"?

"Blog" is an abbreviated version of "weblog," which is a term used to describe web sites that maintain an ongoing chronicle of information. A blog features diary-type commentary and links to articles on other Web sites, usually presented as a list of entries in reverse chronological order. Blogs range from the personal to the political, and can focus on one narrow subject or a whole range of subjects.

Many blogs focus on a particular topic, such as web design, home staging, sports, or mobile technology. Some are more eclectic, presenting links to all types of other sites. And others are more like personal journals, presenting the author's daily life and thoughts.

Objectives: Digital Tuesdays will be a time for our class to explore digital literacy through blogs. Readers can improve their skills by following frequently following blogs they find interesting by learning about reading components including the main idea, supporting details, using strategies and building vocabulary.  In addition, In addition, digital literacy skills are particularly important in preparing students for the 2014 GED, college readiness and the 21^st century marketplace.  

Activities will vary throughout the term but the primary purpose is to select at least two blogs to follow and evaluate.

To get started: http://www.findingdulcinea.com/guides/Technology/Internet/Blogs.pg_01.html#01

Tips: Look for a topic of interest, something you would like to learn more about or something that you already have some familiarity with. Read on a variety of topics. 

Student Shared Interactive Online Resources to Improve Reading Comprehension

I started a weekly technology class for Reading Fundamentals, a lower reading level for adult learners, to prepare students for the new online GED, credit level classes and the 21^st Century Digital economy. Each week I offered new tools to explore while enhancing comprehension and vocabulary development. During the last Tuesday of the term, I asked students to search and online site to and share with the class. The purpose of the activity was to: 1) allow students practice searching for educational online tools; 2) find tools that meet their specific learning needs; and 3) compile resources to keep skills up over the summer break.

Students embraced this activity and found a plethora of tools. We then projected each site to share and interact as a group. The following sites were found to be the most popular:

http://voicethread.com/about/library/ (Neat feature: Has a video library with a wide range of topics.)

http://dynamo.dictionary.com/ (Range of academic levels, subject areas, test preparation and a writing coach program)

http://my.hrw.com/nsmedia/intgos/html/igo.htm (Graphic organizers to help brainstorm, organize and visualize ideas. Good organizers for readers.)

http://www.funbrain.com/brain/ReadingBrain/ReadingBrain.html (Variety of educational games including Mad Libs!)

http://www.aasd.k12.wi.us/staff/boldtkatherine/readingfun.htm (Good mix of grammar, punctuation, reading strategies/skills.)

http://www.vocabulary.com/ (Range of vocabulary development quizzes and practice.)

http://www.vocabularycoach.com/vocab_DefinitionFirst.aspx (Provides a variety of quiz styles to build vocabulary.)

http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/web_games_vocab.htm (Language Arts games primarily for younger readers.)

Blogging for Emerging Writers

Blogging is an authentic way to prepare students for the 21st Century Digital Economy while developing writing skills and building confidence for emerging writers. I have been reading up on the benefits of blogging in the classroom but wasn't sure if I had the time required to set up or monitor posts/comments. Because I committed to increasing the use of technology in the classroom, I decided to make it happen this term.

There are many resources online about the benefits of blogging including the advantages and disadvantages of different tools. (Here is a good resource to describe the benefits: Benefits of Classroom Blogs)I decided to select a site that would give me both management and privacy right options based on the demographics of my students.  Edublog provides a paid service that gives educators a wide range of options so I went with this service. Set up did take time since I decided to create each student's initial blog site including username, password and link. In addition, I had to set up the class blog which is what all student blogs connect back to, much like the mother ship. Once the blogs were set up, students could then individualize the sites by changing the background, design and text on their blogs. They learned how how to navigate between their dashboard (a very confusing concept for many) to view their blogs.

Each Tuesday students logged into their blogs and posted an essay about a controversial topic we discussed in class or a themed blog. The themed blogs were intriguing. For example, several of our students share an interest in cars. They posted their own reviews including pictures about a car of the week or a mechanical issue. Another student is a motorcycle fanatic. He posted about the do's and don'ts on the road including sub-culture norms and expectations. Otherwise, students were able to select a controversial prompt from their journals and go deeper into the topic. Students also visited and wrote comments on other blogs to keep the digital dialogue going. The blog is going away next week but you can check it here: https://effectivewritinglane.edublogs.org/

This is what I observed:

1) Confidence: Low writers fully embraced blogging. The spelling tools helped them feel confident. They were able to write about a topic of their own choice/expertise.
2) Engagement: It was difficult getting students out of the lab after class was out. Typically, my young group of students started to pack up 10 minutes early, but on blogging days, I couldn't get them to stop! They were that engaged.
3) Computer Literary: Students not comfortable with computers were at first frustrated with even having to create a blog but in the end, they built up their digital confidence and felt proud about the accomplishments.
4) Pride: Yes, pride...students felt proud of their blogs.
5) Ownership is another intrinsic value that came out of this project.
6) Immediate feedback: Students loved receiving immediate comments from me when they published a new post.

The benefits far outweigh the set up time and management components.

Here is a link to common themes since I needed to educate myself through this process as well:
http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2013/03/a-short-guide-to-terms-commonly-used-in.html#.U4ynrvmshcY