Where do I begin?
As I jump in with both feet, I will admit that this attempt to become more tech savvy is largely driven by my need to fulfill a class requirement. On the other hand I am very excited by the possibilities I can envision, both personally and professionally. I have already found some exciting tools and ideas that I am eager to try. Look for my students artwork to appear at
Artsonia in the coming school year.
So why blog and why now?
"On many levels, it seems we are falling more in danger of becoming irrelevant in our students' lives. And so this remains the central message of this book: In order for us to prepare our students for what is without question a future filled with networked learning spaces, we must first experience those environments for ourselves." This quote from Will Richardson in his book,
BLOGS, WIKIS, PODCASTS And Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms pretty much sums it up for me. As a teacher and parent of two middle school aged children I want to do what I can to stay relevant for them and for myself. So here I go. I'm taking a giant leap off the end of the read/write web dock. Watch for the splash! :)
Got advise for a beginner?
After reading the story of "Rainbow Fish" by Marcus Pfister my first graders proceeded to create their own rainbow fish. We discussed illustrations as well as the use of patterning and cool colors as we began. Students began by drawing their fish using basic shapes to form the body, fins and tail. Then they were asked to add a face and to fill the body with scales using a repeating curved line that was layered row on row. We talked about where fish live and what types of things might be seen in their habitats. The kids were excited to start their backgrounds and were asked to include a couple pieces of seaweed along with anything else that they thought would fit the scene. In this project the scales of the fish were painted with cool colors of watercolor. The seaweed leaves were also done in watercolor and the background was colored with crayon. The last step of the project was for Rainbow Fish (teacher example) to share one of it's glittering scales with each of the other fish. The kids were excited to find just the right spot to "tuck in" their special scale to complete the project.
" The Little Prince
