Project RITE

The students have finished with their first novel. For several weeks now they have been using the blackboard tools to interact with their web pals. Students created a personal homepage that included them selecting a picture to put on their homepage. They also were able to describe themselves and share websites they enjoy accessing. They also have been using the discussion board as well. We have been able to post journal topics and questions for them and their pals to discuss with each other. They have enjoyed this process. Furthermore, their proficiency with the technology has been progressing as well. We started our second novel this past week. Students will continue using the blackboard tools to discuss this novel as well.

We started at the middle school Jan. 4th to work with one eighth grade class using the blackboard technology to facilitate discussion. At this point, the students have been introduced to the novel that they will discuss using these new technologies. We are obtaining net ID’s for each middle schooler. In the next week or so, we will have an orientation with the middle schoolers introducing them to Blackboard and all the options they have. We will have them set up home pages for their pals to view and also start using the journaling tool.

We are meeting with the teachers at the local middle school this coming week to give them copies of the first book we plan to read. At that point we can think about planning a curriculum and how exactly we intend to incorporate the collaborative tools and what types of activites the group wants to do with them. Of course, part of our preparation will include familiarizing the teachers with the Blackboard tools as well.

Having just returned from the NCTE conference recently it was interesting to see the various ways technology was used in the classroom to enhance learning. So we are in the early stages of planning– still getting ready for January.

The Web Pen Pals project does not officially start until January, when I will teach the Literature for Adolescents course to pre-service teachers who will become “web pals” with local middle school students. As pals, both groups of students will read the same young adult novels and then use the Blackboard chat, discussion board, and journal tools to “discuss” the literature they read with each other. Both groups of students will read Avi’s Nothing But the Truth, possibly Norma Fox Mazer’s Silver, and a young adult novel of choice. In the past, the web pals have met online in secured chat rooms to discuss young adult literature; this upcoming semester will be the first time we’ve used the Blackboard tools. I use Blackboard to organize the course, and when I realized Blackboard had a chat tool, I wondered why I had not considered using this tool. Keeping track of and troubleshooting the secured chat rooms had become time-consuming, so I’m hoping using the Blackboard tools will prove to be more efficient. I do realize, however, that the “chats” between the two groups of students become less like the kinds of online chats the students may be used to, as the Blackboard tools don’t really mimic such tools like AOL’s IM. But the point of this is to see how to facilitate good discussion about literature, so I imagine the space we use shouldn’t matter so much. Or maybe it will. We’ll see.