Lesson Plan Integration

Kidblog.org
Amy Harger

Context: (What is the purpose? Name which content and ISTE NETS*S (Links to an external
site.) standards this assignment most addresses.)

The purpose of this plan is to integrate technology into a 5th grade writing unit about
poetry through the use of a blog. Kidblog.org provides an opportunity for students to create a
blog in a safe place- only approved people can see the blog, and the blog is teacher moderated.
It is also a straightforward way to blog with all the focus on the writing, without all of the
complicated web design aspects of other sites. On the blog, students will post their poetry as
they create it, as well as create a digital archive of their own poetry inspirations. This will create
an online portfolio of their work while creating an interactive platform for students to read and
gather inspiration from other students work. Students will also record themselves either
speaking(audio) or performing(video) their poetry.

ISTE standards:
Communication and Collaboration: Students use digital media and environments to
communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and
contribute to the learning of others.
a. Interact, collaborate, and publish with peers, experts, or others employing a
variety of digital environments and media

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.5.6
With some guidance and support from adults, use technology, including the Internet, to produce
and publish writing as well as to interact and collaborate with others; demonstrate sufficient
command of keyboarding skills to type a minimum of two pages in a single sitting.

Rationale: (Write at least one paragraph providing a rationale for having your students use this
resource. Why are you teaching students this tool? What will they be using it for? How does it
change the nature of the task? You might consider referencing the SAMR model)

Blogging and having an online authors presence is a great tool for students to share
their work with an authentic audience, and provides many opportunities to learn digital
citizenship skills. One barrier in student engagement with writing is that they may feel as if their
writing has no purpose if they feel like theyre only writing to earn a grade, they will probably
have little motivation- all of which is extrinsic. However, posting on a blog creates an awareness
that real people will be reading your poetry, and encourages students to do their best work. This
builds students intrinsic motivation as well as pride for their work. Blogging is also a great
introduction to some aspects of digital citizenship. One day could be spent teaching students
what a positive online blogger and commenter presence looks like. Creating a blog also creates
an interactive portfolio that students, teachers, family, and community members also have easy
access to.
 Creating a blog for poetry meets the Redefinition category in the SAMR model. Blogging
student work creates learning opportunities that would not exist without the technology. For
example, with a blog, students can not only easily publish their own work, but also easily see
other students works and review and comment on them in real time. With a blog, you can record
video or audio of yourself performing your own poetry, or share recordings of other poets
performing- which would be impossible with a traditional written poem anthology.

Teaching your tool: How will you teach your tool? Create descriptions and a daily schedule for
each day, unless you can accomplish it in one day. You must use multimedia to teach your
students how to use the tool, such as screencasts, documents with images, podcasts, videos,
links, etc.

To teach my tool, I created a walkthrough of how to access the website, log in, and
create blog postings. I would provide that to students so they have a guide as they figure it out
themselves. I dont think it is an effective use of instructional time to directly teach the tool.
Because the website is fairly straightforward with an intuitive design, students should be able to
figure it out by themselves or with minimal directions. Because I wont have to teach the tool,
instruction time can then be used to teach how to be a digital citizen-I would teach students
online blog posting etiquette. This would include- what language to use (not text speak), and
what comments are positive and purposeful vs negative or useless. It will also include online
safety instruction, such as what personal information is safe to share online.

Day 1: send out the walkthrough to all the students. Students will all sign in on the first
day no matter where they are in the editing/revision process so that I can ensure all students
are able to sign in.

Day 2: Students will be completing poems and submitting them at varied speeds, so
today will be a digital citizenship mini-lesson. I will cover how to make positive comments on
other peoples posts, as well as how to be an effective blogger- such as not using text speak,
having a clear title, and using keywords to help other people find your posts easily.

Supports: What teaching aid will you provide for your students to reference (example: students
who need extra support, students who were absent)? How will you provide more challenge for
those who need it?

I created a walkthrough of how to use the website that I could share with students who
were absent for instruction. The students can then reference the guide to log on the first time or
anytime they have trouble. Here are two youtube links I would also provide if students require
more assistance. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBqHwrRfVJU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=km_yVPeKz-o

For those who need more challenging work, I would assign them to be peer
reviewers/commenters. They would read other students work as they posted, and provide them
with positive and constructive feedback (generally two glows and a grow). Students will also
be encouraged to search the web for mentor texts and from a collection of poem inspiration, as
well as commentary on the poetry.

Submission: How will your students submit the assignment?

 Students will submit their assignment by posting to the blog. Each poem that they submit
will be tagged with their name as well as a theme and poem type. The teacher can monitor all
submissions made by students for evaluation. A positive of using this method is that students
can submit work as they finish it for review, and then easily edit their poems as they receive
feedback. This eliminates the hassle of the teacher having to review 30 poetry anthologies all at
once!