Standard+4

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** Standard 4 ** **The teacher knows how to teach**. The teacher understands and uses a variety of instructional strategies, including the use of technology, to encourage children's development of critical thinking, problem solving, and performance skills.
 * __Evidence 1: Social Networking-[|Twiducate]__**

Rationale 1: As adults, we understand the importance of making a good "first impression," but do the students even understand what a "first impression" is? Today's young adults are making their first impression via cyberspace in lieu of face-to-face encounters. It is our responsibility to expose students to blogging etiquette to ensure that they continue to develop socially and intellectually. The young people of today have little value for proper writing and communication formats, yet, because their first impressions may very well be via the media, it is more critical now than ever that they exercise the proper techniques and formats.

Over the years, I have noticed, and been very concerned with, the lack of eloquence in our students. As recent as five years ago, I enjoyed working with the students writing newsletters in my 6th grade Computer Applications class. They embraced the opportunity to use their creativity skills and wrote some wonderful, insightful, and, often times, compelling articles. Each year, however, it became apparent that the students were not equipped with the basic writing and communication skills I had seen from previous students. Where was the ball dropped? I don't know. What I DO know is that I was no longer able to include one of the most fun, engaging lessons in my curriculum because I simply did not have the luxury of time to teach the students how to write a complete sentence.

I knew I needed to work with the students on their writing skills within the confines of my curriculum centered around technology. Two years ago I added a unit on blogging in my 6th, 7th, and 8th grade classes. I experimented using the district's website to initiate students, but quickly realized I couldn't begin to keep on top of it as much as I needed to, being that it was a public forum for parents as well as the students. It would usually be two days before I could sit down and peruse the postings, and in light of the inappropriateness of so many of the postings, I needed a more private forum.

I chose to use the free website, [|Twiducate], as a blogging forum. I had also experimented with [|Kidblog] but I prefer the simplicity of the layout of Twiducate as well as the user-friendly platform. It's a secure site, and students are only able to post to other students within their own classroom. The teacher has the option of restricting student's rights to simply posting and I am able to delete any posts that are inappropriate. The one drawback is that they are allowed to post without prior approval, which Kidblog offers, so there have been times when something senseless slips by me. I've learned, though, the more often you do it, the better it gets once the kids get the silliness out of their system.

The progress the students have made has been amazing and quite fun to watch! By the end of the semester, they understand the importance of writing a complete sentence as well as how to respond to a post in a thought-provoking approach. Having the students self-assess their own work has been a valuable tool in the way that they become more enlightened of their own writing style and they learn how to recognize errors and correct them before posting the comments.


 * __KSD__**


 * 4.K.3** The teacher knows how to enhance learning through the use of a wide variety of materials and technological resources (e.g. computers, audio-visual technologies, videotapes and discs, local experts, primary documents and artifacts, texts, reference books, literature, and other print resources).

The YouTube video, __[|Blogging in Plain English]__serves as a wonderful introduction which explains the basics of blogging. We begin the new semester with a unit on blogging and continue practicing the essential communication skills throughout the entire semester.. While there are many platforms available for blogging, including our district website, I prefer to use [|Twiducate] as a common meeting area for each class. This website is user-friendly and has controls in place for the teacher to monitor and assure privacy within each classroom that is set up.


 * 4.S.1** The teacher carefully evaluates how to achieve learning goals, choosing alternative teaching strategies and materials to achieve different instructional purposes and to meet student needs (e.g. developmental stages, prior knowledge, learning styles, learning differences, and interests).

An important component of self-development is the ability to self -assess. If a person has any misconception of their ability, they will find it difficult to make any necessary changes or improvements; on the other hand, it's important that they recognize their strengths, as well. Prior to the unit, I choose an article from [|TweenTribune] and ask the students to write a paragraph about the article. I provide the students with the Blogging Essentials worksheet I have made (link to document follows) to use as a checklist when they blog. When they have completed their blog, I assess them using the rubric below: When that is completed, I ask them to self-assess their work using the same rubric. It is so interesting to compare the two-it amazes me how some students overlook the most obvious eliminations from their own writing even when they have a rubric right in front of them!






 * 4.D.2** The teacher values flexibility and reciprocity in the teaching process as necessary for adapting instruction to student responses, ideas, and needs.

The self-assessment serves as the most effective tool to help the students evaluate their work, and the more we practice this type of exercise, the better they become. We make an attempt to blog once every two weeks, alternating between an assigned topic of interest from me and a personal choice of the student. We will also have students assess each other as well as post comments to other students' posts. This can be very challenging in the fact that the kids struggle to remember that they are not texting-they are to write complete sentences that directly relate to the topic at hand.

For the students that clearly struggle with the basic mechanics of writing complete sentences, I offer after-school assistance as well as communicating my concerns with their Language Arts teacher.