Elementary classes getting together

Terry Smith and I have been in contact and I am working on gathering interest from my 4th grade staff to partner up with his for the writing portion of 1001 tales. We also mentioned the possibility of getting our kids together with video conferencing for a more intimate "face to face" interaction. We ares till working to see if my school videoconferencing equipment will mesh with his classroom equipment but where there is a will there is a way. I would love for my kids to 'meet' Terry's. Most of my kids, coming from the very wealthiest segment of Dominican society, know a lot of New York and Miami where most of them have second homes or family living there. However, they do not know kids from Missouri (I didn't know anyone either until I met Terry-thanks Terry), so it would be good to see and hear from kids from the "heartland" of the U.S., where Latin culture is not as prevalent. I am certain Terry's kids probably have a lot of misconceptions about how our kids live, where they live, etc. and getting together through videoconferencing would be a very powerful experience on both sides of the camera for our kids. Anyway, I am back today after celebrating Dominican Independence Day yesterday (27th of Feb.), so I will get started talking to my teachers.

Tips on Tables in Wikispaces: A Word to the Wise

From a Skype chat transcript with Cindy Barnsley of Australia, who is talking with Mira in Serbia and probably right now emailing Ed in Shanghai to start the next 1001 Tales workshop cycle for the high school level:

Tables in wikispaces are a bit annoying, but working without them would be worse still. Things to be aware of (they're easy once you know):

1. To add a column or row, just click inside a cell adjacent to where you want to insert a new one.

You'll see a one vertical, and one horizontal, circle with an X in it (meaning "delete), and on each side of that circle you'll see left/right arrows (add column left/right) on the horizontal, and up/down arrows (add row above/below) on the vertical one. Use those to add or delete rows or columns.

2. IMPORTANT: I learned this the hard way. You CANNOT copy a row or column and paste its content into another row or column. It will foul up your table. Unfortunately, it seems you can only enter text into a cell one at a time.

3. IMPORTANT: Clicking "return" or "enter" to start a new line WITHIN a cell will not work in tables. So you have to make a new row every time you want to start a new line. Not a biggie, but best to know now instead of frustrate later.

4. GOOD STUFF: You CAN embed widgets (html stuff like podcasts, clocks) and files (photos, whatever) inside table cells. That can be handy.

That's about it for tables.

Hope that helps. --Clay

An Experiment: Podcast "Read-aloud" to Scaffold Insight

The Native Speaker podcast is part of the plan that emerged during the Skypecast with Chris Watson (also in the player below).

Comments and ideas--show tough love!--welcome. Chris, Michele, can you folks post your own as well?

If you download it to iTunes, by the way, you can click on "Chapters" to see markers of different sections of the story. The book, by Lee Chang-Rae (reverse it if you're Anglo), is available.

I'm sure he doesn't remember, but Chang-Rae was my teacher in a creative writing course at University of Oregon back in the '90s. He was unknown, writing this book, at that time. His advice to me? "Okay. Now cut loose and take risks."


Click here to get your own player.

HS "Team Meetings" in the Skype Faculty Lounge....

....or in the comfort of your own underwear--ah, the joys of virtual space.

Michele, Chris and I plan (I think) to do regular Skype conference calls every...er...Saturday 1p (Chris Hawaii) / Saturday 4p (Michele Denver) / Sunday 8a (aargh--Clay, who is not a morning person, Seoul). I can record for possible podcasts since we bushwhacking this trail first.

I think we need to learn to talk in terms of UTC / GMT. You? Who wudda thunk.

All comers are welcome (Chris, I invited Bruce. You tech folks can come too :) )

Podcast Part 2: More Conversation with Chris Watson

[From the Podcast notes on iTunes:]

Chris Watson, HS English teacher at Punahoe High School in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA, and Clay Burell of Korea International School in Seoul, Rep. of Korea, discuss the following topics in relation to their cross-world classroom collaboration on the 1001 Flat World Tales wiki world-wide writing workshop:

• Student publishing process
• Effective student blogging
• Diigo
• "This I Believe" podcast project
• Informal Prof Devt through Skype
• Using Library Thing for English classes

1001teachers: Chris Watson, part 2: Language Arts and the Read-Write Web


Click here to get your own player.

Eureka? A Solution to the Workshop Management Problem, I Think...

I just posted this on the HIGH SCHOOL 1001 Tales wiki discussion board. Short version:

1. The workshop for this cycle is closed. Participating schools are Seoul, Arapahoe, Hawaii, and New Brunswick (Michele, Chris, Chad, and Me). THIS IS FOR HIGH SCHOOL ONLY. Other teachers in Middle School and Elementary, coordinate away and godspeed :P We're into week 2 of the writing process, and 131 students from four schools feels like the limit, coordination-wise. All other high schools planning to come in can collaborate in their own cycle based on their own time-frames. (And the door is open for interaction with the current students in some way. Thoughts?)
2. The student writing links should not be edited by teachers or students anymore. There are three columns of 44 students. Each student can be assigned two students from the other two columns. Give the table a look and tell me if you think this works. We still need to coordinate which students are assigned to which rows. I vote that students do their own row this week, and go down one row for the next two students with each following week. Odds are, by the time the workshop is over, they'll get a good spread of feedback. Thoughts?
3. This means that the peer assignments will be self-regulating from now on, if you agree. Otherwise, I see management issues continuing :( Thoughts?
   

Here's the msg from the discussion board:

Hi All,

I've reformatted the table for easy, self-regulating editing. The three columns allow each student in one column to peer feedback to two students from other schools.

Since we're now into the workshop, it makes sense to me (do you agree?) to close this workshop for this cycle. All future schools can collaborate with each other on their own time-frame in March or later (see the 1001teachers.wikispaces.com wiki for the Coordination Schedule, and find contact info for other schools there).

SO: INSTEAD of entering 50 or more names to the student link table, just assign your students to give feedback to the students in their own row this week (it's Monday, Feb. 26), in the row below them next week, the one below that the following week, etc.

If you can see a better system or want to disagree, please do! :)

I'm just trying to make this manageable. That's the one slice that needs an efficient solution.

Thoughts?

Clay

Coordination and Rotating Peer Assignments: Logistics

More: Chris and I discussed in the podcast how students should peer review different writers every week. I'm seeking a way to make it a self-running process, so we don't have to assign that every week.

I'm groping toward a solution, but could use help.

Michele D (Denver) and I originally paired students by ability groups: same-ability for one partner, and either +1 or -1 (in Vygotskian terms--"Zone of Proximal Development" and all that) for the other.

As new classrooms join, though, I don't see that being very possible. You?

My first groping (ouch) was just now: I added a lettered column "a-ff" to designate each row. I figure we might be able to say: week 1, do your own column and the one below you. Week two, etc.

But there are problems with that. Each column has different numbers of students in it. Maybe we should reformat? Thoughts?

I also numbered each student, 1 to 131. That gives us another option, since no number is repeated.

I don't have a good "logic puzzle" brain for these type things. If any of you do, I'm keen to listen. Because right now I have to assign the next teams for my students.

Learning is messy....

But this is so interesting.

Thoughts on Irresponsible Students: Three Strikes Policy?

More on the "Hall of Fame and Shame." The idea is this:

When students are assigned a writer to give feedback to, and find that the writer missed the deadline, I've directed my students to enter that person's name, school, and date in the "Hellooo?" table. I don't mean to be harsh, but I do mean to be real world: if students can't cooperate and be responsible, I vote we teach them a real world lesson by removing them from the project. Cooperative learning's dark side.

Otherwise, all others suffer headaches. Not fair. They'd be fired in the real world, so why not here? Let them do textbook exercises while everyone else connects to the world.

Similarly, with the "Your feedback made me ANGRY" column: two strikes and you're out? What do you think?

More positively, for the "You're a feedback STAR" column, I say bonus points for final project grade. Thoughts?

And what about the "You're NICE, but NOT HELPFUL" students? How deal with them?

I guess this all boils down to: how do we assess for cooperative learning/teamwork in this thing?

Thoughts? I'd say 10% of the final grade.

Oof! Trouble with Tables on Wikispaces (HELP!)

Oi vay. The good news, then the not-so-good news:

Good:

1. In the past two days, the number of high school students in the 1001 Tales workshop has grown, with the addition of Hawaii and Canada to the pre-existent Denver and Seoul, from 107 learners to 131!
2. I just added the "Peer Feedback Hall of Fame...and Shame" to the HS page (comments welcome).

Not-so-good:

1. The new additions from Canada and Hawaii to the table was formatted wrong, and it took a good 1.5 hours to re-format. I know wikispaces tables are lame at this point, so here are some tips:
1. add rows and columns by clicking in a cell and then clicking the formatting arrows that pop up.
2. new rows are miniscule, but they're there. Tab from the end of a row with data in it to get into the nearly invisible row, and when you start typing it will expand.
3. copy and paste of columns doesn't work. You have to enter info one cell at a time.

If you find that a table is messed up and you can't fix it, don't save it. Just cancel the edit and try again, using the directions above.

All that negativity aside, it's totally cool that we've grown so much in less than two weeks. Learning is messy :)

1001 Reflectors Podcast 1: Improving Peer Feedback in Writing Workshops, with Chris Watson

This is part one of a talk with Chris (more to follow). The following is from the iTunes podcast notes. Since this is an enhanced podcast, with timestamp and chapter headings, you may want to download it to your iTunes or other podcast aggregator. Happy listening!

Chris Watson, HS English/Language Arts teacher at Punahou High School in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA, joins fellow 1001 Flat World Tales collaborator Clay Burell of Seoul, South Korea, for a discussion about how to improve the tact, quality, and confidence of students giving peer feedback to other student writers during writing workshops. The first of a two-part podcast with Chris on the 1001 Reflections podcast series. Produced by Clay Burell for Beyond School and the 1001 Flat World Tales wiki/blog/"blook" k-12 world writing workshop. See Chris' excellent edublog, WatsonCommon, as well. Great stuff!


Click here to get your own player.

Checking in from Missouri

Hi All,

My 9-10 year olds have left stories for the King, and we're awaiting our first contact with other story writers. In the meantime, I think we'll focus on the King. In what image is this being? How might he/she look? Perhaps we will allow our imaginations to roam free and bring some possible physical features to the King. One of my students has already inquired if the King likes kids.....hmmmm. Good question. Details to follow.

Terry