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

Using Cell Phones in the Classroom: Unsuccessfully!

Cell phones are a constant issue in educational settings. Even though it is clearly written in the syllabus and a campus wide policy that cell phones are considered a distraction, the use and often abuse of digital devices is an ongoing struggle. I've gone back and forth on how to address the fact that devices are almost like an extra appendage for many of our younger students. They simply cannot understand why it isn't appropriate to take and post selfies during a lesson. Asking them to stow devices deep into their backpacks is akin to cutting off their pinky finger.

As I continue to incorporate more technology into the learning environment, I decided to find ways to transform cell phones from personal use to an educational platform. One Digital Tuesday, the day I reserve  technology exploration, students paired up with smart phone owners to research educational apps and other tools. I demoed several examples and then teams were asked to explore the following free resources depending on the device: The Best Educational Apps (Android) through Edudemic and The 55 Best Free Education Apps For iPad through TeachThought.

Students were asked to review the descriptions of several apps with the option to download any apps that might be of interest. The groups were then asked to report back to the class with examples and recommendations of educational apps. I was looking forward to this lesson because it was an opportunity to infuse their interests (cell phones!) into the educational environment. However, the lesson did not flow as intended including lack of WiFi strength in the classroom, lack of interest in using devices for learning, and the disparity in technology between students.

While this particular lesson was not executed as planned, I am not giving up on using cell phones for educational purposes. It will depend on the activity as well as access to technology. In the future, we are hoping to receive COW access (Computer on Wheels) which I believe will be a better venue to explore apps. They can then opt to download the apps for their own use outside of class.

Quill: personalized and interactive grammar lesson for emerging writers

I am always on the look out for alternatives to traditional direct grammar instruction. In today's Effective Writing classes, students explored the web-based tool, Quill. The program provides a personalized and adaptive learning environment for students with engaging and relevant lessons. Students can be in control of their own learning by following the features or join the instructor's online classroom. The classroom gives instructors the option to plan and recommend lessons, track student scores and manage profiles. Did I mention this is a free tool!

Especially for emerging writers, revision is often and regularly resisted. Students find the revision process tedious and uninteresting. However, quill.org turns revision into a game. The passages are high interest and students are told how many errors they need to find, turning this into a search puzzle, while honing in their revision skills. Overall, quill is a great tool to get emerging writers engaged in the revision process. 

Presentation on Blogging to Faculty

Last week I presented on the benefits of blogging for emerging writers at our faculty staff meeting. (Stay tuned: At the end of this term, I will provide a summary evaluation of this project.) At the meeting, I discussed the process I took in selecting a blog site. Determining I would need a certain level of management and protection support, I decided to upgrade with Edublog, allowing me to have complete control over each student blog including posts and comments. In addition, I was able to enter each student dashboard to problem solve as needed. While it did take more set up time than I had intended to spend, in addition to a complicated log in process, the paid management benefits outweighed these disadvantages.

The best outcome, which I will discuss in a future blog, is the way students, especially struggling writers, engage with their and other student blogs. They were able to design and personalize the look of their blogs which would not have been possible if we had just one class blog. This gives them a sense of ownership. Tuesdays have been the only day in the week where I have to ask students to leave class because they are so engrossed in their blogs. If an instructor is looking to blog in class, there are free options. However, due to the demographics of my particular class, having management and authorization abilities made Edublog the right choice.