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Introduction to IP: Crash Course Intellectual Property #1

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Empowering Students to Express Themselves

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Empowering Students to Express Themselves

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Write your story, change history - Brad Meltzer

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Writing a Personal Narrative for Kids - Episode 8: Publishing for Kids

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Creating with New Google Sites and Student e-Portfolios | 2019

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Copyright and Creator's Rights Explained

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Copyright and Creator's Rights Explained

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(OLD VERSION) Copyright and Fair Use Animation

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Students are introduced to copyright, fair use, and the rights they have as creators. Students first watch a video of young writer who talks about posting and protecting her original work online. Students then learn key vocabulary terms that will help them conceptualize issues surrounding creative work and copyright.

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Thing 16: Digital Notebooks & Portfolios for Students - Cool Tools for School

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INTRODUCTION What is a portfolio? “A student portfolio is a compilation of academic work and other forms of educational evidence assembled for the purpose of (1) evaluating coursework quality, learning progress, and academic achievement; (2) determining whether students have met learning standards or other academic requirements for courses, grade-level promotion, and graduation; (3) helping students … Continue reading Thing 16: Digital Notebooks & Portfolios for Students

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Watch: Build a Portfolio with Google Sites - a free video lesson from Applied Digital Skills.

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"When one teaches, two learn." This quote from Robert Heinlein has resonated with me throughout my 28 years in education. In my career, I've employed a variety of instructional strategies, but a constant has been my desire to connect with my students to help them-and me-learn and grow. Educators must continuously reflect on improving our practice to ensure that our students join us in becoming lifelong learners. Modern edtech tools are making a huge impact on what my students and I are able to accomplish; technology is helping us to make the connections that allow us to learn and grow together.

From Lesson Planning to Assessment, from Remediation to Enrichment, Edtech is Advancing to Meet the Needs of Students, Teachers and Parents

Today, I am working with my students to encourage them to engage with their learning in increasingly meaningful ways. Using a portfolio system allows my students to self-assess their progress and to reflect on their learning. Learning is made visible and my students are empowered to take responsibility and ownership. I am able to use portfolio data to intervene and offer guidance, and students can access help as soon as they need it. Digital portfolios are providing new and better ways to have conversations about learning.

I teach German, but I also facilitate a coding class. When designing the "Creating with Code" course, I came across several tools that I've also incorporated into my German classes. All my students use a variety of tech resources to do everything from assessing listening comprehension, to creating their own content through coding. I'm constantly interacting with my students to see which resources are working for them, and which are not. Gone are the days of standing at the front of the classroom; today I am striving to make our classroom a collaborative place, where students are engaged and empowered (See image at right, courtesy of the author).

Each of my students has access to a personalized learning portfolio via FreshGrade, a digital platform that makes it easy for us to capture evidence, assess it and reflect on it. By using a portfolio system, we are able to view data on a continuum, rather than just a grade in the grade book. Students reflect and comment on their learning and I provide feedback. Narrative feedback has proven far superior to traditional grades in facilitating and communicating academic achievement. This portfolio tool allows all of us-students, parents and me-to have an ongoing conversation about their learning and gives students ownership in that process.

Narrative Feedback and Ongoing Conversations Build Relationships and Facilitate Achievement

I work within a system that requires traditional grades, but my students and I are making a shift. Although students are required to receive a letter grade at the end of the semester, our focus is on the detailed feedback we share throughout the semester. We work together to evaluate the data in their portfolios to determine which learning targets are being met, and which ones may need additional work. Students no longer ask if an assignment is for a grade, or if they can have bonus points. Instead, by placing the focus on learning, students ask for help or for additional resources to advance their learning. They even submit evidence to their portfolios without being asked, because they want to show what they can do!

In our coding class, when students upload evidence to their portfolios, I ask them to respond to prompts about their work: "What were the challenges you encountered and how did you overcome them?" and "What will you do differently next time?" I respond with guidance, encouragement and more questions. Engaging with my students in this way has resulted in powerful conversations both online and in our classroom. We are forming connections that help to create a safe learning environment where students are encouraged to make mistakes. Our class motto is: "Fail Forward." Through self-assessment and reflection, students are living up to this slogan and making significant progress.

My German learners upload videos, documents and other benchmarking assignments to show progress. Students are able to compare their skills from the beginning of seventh grade, to the end of eighth grade. When the focus is on proficiency, students can gauge their progress rather than focusing on the outcome of one overarching assessment. With this strategy, we are able to collect detailed data to better support the learning process and to facilitate the transition to high school.

Initially, incorporating student self-assessment and reflection did come with some hesitation from my students because they quickly realized that having to reflect on assignments instead of "just doing it," was harder than simply receiving a grade. They soon came to the realization that the process required something new from them, namely, their engagement and ownership when it came to their own learning. Now my students have embraced this process and tell me that they are learning more because they don't have to worry about grades.

Learning Targets, Self-Assessment and Reflection: a New Language for Communicating about School

Focusing on self-assessment and narrative feedback wasn't just a change for students; it was a shift for parents, too. Though every parent has access to their student's digital portfolio, the reality is that many parents still want to see a traditional grade. However, through the use of portfolios, I have been able to encourage more parents to look past a grade and really understand the work their child is doing. As a bonus, the digital portfolio platform that we use offers resources for parent reflection questions. Parents can use these prompts to engage in positive and appropriate ways with their child's learning. For many parents, this is a very different experience than what they knew as students themselves, but our conversations are connecting us-home and school-in new and productive ways.

"Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better." - Maya Angelou

Through the implementation of self-assessment and reflection using digital portfolios, I've seen a complete shift in my classes from a teacher-centered to a more learner-focused environment. As a teacher, it can be difficult to step back and trust the process of students being more involved in assessing their own progress, but I am convinced this is a change that represents what is best for students. My students are engaged with the content and through posting their evidence items, they can point to their increasing proficiency. For me, I can reflect on what is working in my practice, and what's not. It is important for me to model this habit of self-reflection for my students. If we want to continue to grow as lifelong learners, self-assessment and reflection are crucial steps. I am grateful for the opportunity to join my students on a learning journey; we are striving to know better and to do better as we grow and learn together.

For more, see:
A teacher of German and coding at Pizitz Middle School, Kathy "Frau" Rogers (@FrauRogers) is a lover of learning, and is committed to meeting learners where they are. She continually strives to improve her practice through providing students with dynamic, actionable feedback to help them make progress in learning.
Stay in-the-know with innovations in learning by signing up for the weekly Smart Update .

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How to Use Digital Portfolios to Empower Student Ownership of Learning

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"When one teaches, two learn." This quote from Robert Heinlein has resonated with me throughout my 28 years in education. In my career, I've employed a variety of instructional strategies, but a constant has been my desire to connect with my students to help them-and me-learn and grow.

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A portfolio for learning is often a short-term capstone project that will be assessed summatively. At the end of the year, students put selections of their work into a portfolio so a teacher can assess their learning. This is often a showcase portfolio, or a sample of students' best work.

A portfolio as learning typically has an extended timeframe. This is often formative assessment, but students will also self-reflect and assess themselves. These process portfolios promote student reflection and ownership of the learning process.

On blending elements of positivism and constructivism, Barrett says, "In order to approach a balanced solution, we must envision a solution that makes it easy for students to maintain their own digital archive of work, where they can capture a large number of examples and add their reflections and notes in an ongoing way."

The answer can be found in using different portions of the portfolio for different purposes, or in having students keep separate portfolios. So be crystal clear about your purpose, as it impacts how you design your portfolio.

2. Select Tools to Empower Students

Adding to the portfolio should be easy. It could be in your learning management system. I prefer my high school students to select the tool for their capstone portfolio. Here are some popular choices:

In their electronic notebook: Perhaps one of the best ways to incorporate a process portfolio is within shared notebooks using OneNote or Evernote. The new OneNote Class Notebook allows teachers and administrators see work in a process portfolio. Students can also keep a page linking to their best work.

Personal website: My older students select from Weebly, Webs, Wix, or Google Sites to build their personal portfolio website.

One-page collection: Sometimes students just want to link to their work published in other places. In this case, a tool like Strikingly, Glogster, or LiveBinders may be used. One of my former students created a one-page wiki for this purpose.

Student blog: My eighth-grade students blog on a private Ning, so their portfolio is a blog post with links to their other blog posts that completed different tasks. Many teachers are using this method on Edmodo, KidBlogs, Edublogs, Ning, or other class blogging tools.

Paper: Some teachers prefer some or all of the portfolio on paper. With private student work such as journal entries, this is often a good idea.

Whatever the tool, select it with your purpose in mind. Share sample portfolios from previous classes. Use templates to help students start. They should focus on selecting the work, so help them on the format.

3. Select a Variety of Content

In addition to print media represented by text and photos, you can use videos, screencasts, hyperlinks to student work, audio recordings, and annotated photographs. If you use only text and photographs, you're missing the authentic student voice you'd get from audio and video. Students struggling as writers could record a video journal as part of their process portfolio.

4. Empower Portfolio Review and Publish to an Audience

There's a reason elementary hallways are lined with student artwork-students love an audience. Privacy should always be protected and age-appropriate safeguards should be considered, but we know that an audience for final work improves engagement. As part of revision, portfolio review might include students themselves, teachers, peers, other teachers, parents, or a global audience. Review and feedback should allow a student to grow and change.

When considering publication, online is the obvious choice. But if this isn't allowed for individual students, teachers can share screenshots on the class blog. Students could also publish part or all of their work in a protected online space for parents to see.

5. Know Your Timeline

You can do portfolios at a certain time of year or over a long period. If you're doing them throughout the year, make sure students organize themselves to put their portfolio in a place where they can reach it any time they need it. (Students often need to be reminded about putting their work in their portfolio.)

I have my students do their eighth-grade portfolios over a six-week period after they learn the keyboard. My high school students built their personal portfolio website in ninth grade and updated it again in tenth grade. Many of my students use these websites after they graduate from high school.

6. Empower Metacognition

How can your students reflect on their work (or think about their thinking)? Are there ways to ask metacognitive questions? There are many resources on metacognition because it's so critically important to learning, and this level of reflection should be incorporated into any portfolio of student work.

For example, a writing portfolio may have students select different pieces that demonstrate how they've learned to use voice during the school year. As they write about how they improved in this ability, they're reflecting on how their thinking evolved. Metacognition lends itself to the process portion of the portfolio.

7. Relate Portfolios to Other Coursework

In Identifying Critical Content, Deana Senn, Amber Rutherford, and Robert Marzano discuss the importance of effectively cueing critical information. One of the concepts they discuss is the advance organization of content, a term coined by psychologist David Ausubel to describe helping students understand the content of a section before it is introduced.

For a science portfolio, you could introduce a unit on water quality by informing students that they'll be preparing a section of their portfolio where they'll explain how water quality can be assessed. They can write their opinion beforehand while quoting the data and charts from their learning. In this example, you've told students what will be covered so they can begin with the end in mind. So at the beginning of a unit, you can share what type of evidence they'll be collecting for their portfolio, and you can relate standards to outcomes more clearly using portfolios as advance organizers.

8. Don't Overwhelm Students

How can you share your rubric and assignment for a long-term portfolio project without overwhelming the student? It can be upsetting to give students the entire portfolio assignment at one time. If you hand out all portfolio requirements at once, assure students that you'll be guiding them section by section. You can instead give students the portfolio assignments as needed during the year.

9. Link Paper and Electronic Portfolios

How will you relate online and offline portions of the portfolio? Consider linking them with a QR code. This makes it easier to grade the paper portfolio and see the online work without having to type a long hyperlink in your web browser.

10. Consider the Portfolio's Longevity

How will you help students preserve their portfolios for future use? They often don't consider their need for the work they've done until they're applying for jobs or want to find it later. With many schools deleting data over the summer, we promote student ownership by letting them take their portfolios with them. When the portfolio is created in an online space, students should save the files and burn them onto a CD or DVD.

11. Engage Teachers in Effective Portfolio Use

How will teachers learn and share best practices so that portfolios are implemented effectively? While perusing the Inter/National Coalition for Electronic Portfolio Research, I came across a finding from Clemson University (PDF) that one of their university's essential areas for improving portfolio use was "increased faculty support/buy-in." The Clemson paper notes, "Unfortunately, much of what has been done in the name of programmatic assessment has failed to engage large numbers of faculty in significant ways."

This emphasizes the importance of involving teachers in successful portfolio implementation.

Speaking From Experience

In my opinion, the best portfolios are part of the learning process. Students reflect on their work and learning. Two important aspects of teaching-metacognition and advance organizing of content-can be done powerfully through portfolios. Students can also have an audience of reviewers and readers. If done well, the final product can further their academic career or get them a job. A well-done portfolio is an essential tool in 21st-century learning. In my classroom, portfolios are essential, powerful means of learning and leveling up.

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11 Essentials for Excellent Digital Portfolios

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A portfolio for learning is often a short-term capstone project that will be assessed summatively. At the end of the year, students put selections of their work into a portfolio so a teacher can assess their learning. This is often a showcase portfolio, or a sample of students' best work.

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Technology Solutions That Drive Education

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Technology is allowing students to express themselves in ways never imagined. One way to get students to think about the learning process is to have them create portfolios, which not only lets them exhibit their understanding of deep content for others to see, but also encourages them to reflect on their own progress and growth over time.

Digital portfolios are gaining ground. They can be edited continuously, they follow students from grade to grade, and they are easier than ever to create and maintain. Google Sites can get students started with building electronic portfolios. It's free to anyone with a Google account, and the built-in tools make it easy for students to use content directly from their Google Drive with just a click of a button.

Here's how to get started with a Google Domain account and site templates:
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Create a Google Site.

Visit sites.google.com and click the "Create" button.

Name the site and click the "Create" button.

It's best to use a name, such as "mrs.jones.grade5.website." It has to be unique enough to not have been used by someone else, but simple enough for students to remember.

Add pages to the site.

Maybe students need categories, such as English and science, or maybe they are working on a project with set milestones. Either way, it's important to be clear what the portfolio is for and why students are doing the work.

Publish the portfolio template.

Click on the gearshift icon in the upper right and choose "Manage Site" from the list. Scroll down to see a section with a button that says, "Publish this site as a template."

Click the button and name the template. This is the name students will see when they search for the template. Make it personal to the class. Hit the red "Submit" button.

Guide students to the Google Site.

Have students visit sites.google.com and click the "Create" button. On the next screen, guide them to the link "Browse the gallery for more."

Prepare to publish.

Find the class template from the list that comes up and ask students to select it. The students also will need to name their websites. Try to come up with a naming convention common to all students that makes sense to everyone.

The students now have their own portfolio website built on the template. They can share it with their teachers and add permissions for other students to collaborate with them. Encourage them to personalize their sites by changing the themes, colors and fonts.

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How To Make an Electronic Profile for Students Using Google Sites

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Technology is allowing students to express themselves in ways never imagined. One way to get students to think about the learning process is to have them create portfolios, which not only lets them exhibit their understanding of deep content for others to see, but also encourages them to reflect on their own progress and growth over time.

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Lesson Activity: Introduction to Build a Portfolio with Google Sites- Applied Digital Skills

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Watch: Introduction to Build a Portfolio with Google Sites - a video lesson from Applied Digital Skills that is free of charge.

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Jake Marcionette was just 12 years old when he started cold-calling literary agents hoping to land a deal to get his book published. The young author's tale about the hardships of middle school life goes on sale this week, and he's already at work on a sequel. Jim Axelrod reports.

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So, it's the end of your writing unit, your students have worked their tails off on their work, and you know they need some way to get their writing in front of eyes other than yours. Writers write for a million reasons, but most don't write just to be graded. Let's be real, though: coming up with creative ideas for publishing student writing can become exhausting.

Maybe you find yourself resorting to the same poetry cafe or gallery walk every year and are looking to mix it up, or maybe you're looking for a list to give your students to choose themselves. Whatever the reason you're looking, this post is here to help.
Here are over 50 ways your students can publish their writing at the end of your Writing Workshop unit.
Publishing Ideas for Any Genre

Here's a list of ideas you could throw at the end of most units for publishing student writing, regardless of genre.

1. Create a Class newspaper: Have students paste their writing into newspaper templates on Google Docs (group documents work well for this). Here are some newspaper templates you could use. Have students print, staple, and deliver newspapers to teachers that request them.

2. Create "Waiting Room Magazines:" Have students create "magazines" of writing in groups for teachers to have outside their classrooms on Parent/Teacher Conference night ( could use the newspaper templates for this). Students select their writing to include, table of contents, and whatever else they'd like to include.

3. Create a BLOG newspaper, send link to reading classes and parents.

4. Have poetry cafe during class where students read writing to each other in small groups

5. Hold an Open-Mic event at school one evening where students read writing. Bonus: turn it into a fundraiser for the school or another organization

6. Partner with a local cafe to hold a student open-mic event

7 - 11. Send anonymous student writing to...

Another class

An elementary/middle school school

Armed forces abroad

A local elderly people's home

12. Have students publish writing on a class blog

13. Have students publish writing on social media

14. Arrange to post student writing on a school website

15. Host a Book Tasting, but with student writing!

16. Have students create websites featuring their projects-could be done in groups or individually

17. Have students create E-Books

18. Encourage students to submit to the school literary arts magazine -if there isn't one...

19. Print your own bound, class literary arts magazine

20 - 24. Encourage students to select and submit to an online or print teen literary arts collection:

25 - 28. Encourage students to select and submit to a writing contest:

Looking for ideas to get students sharing EVERY day? Check out my 30 ideas for share-time for Writing Workshop. It's free! You can download below:

Project Ideas for Authentic Publication

Here's some writing project ideas with authentic publishing methods set up from the beginning:

29. Partner with a local food store or restaurant and have students taste and write descriptions of products. Ask the store to choose the best descriptions to display (I had a teacher friend that did this once and it went amazingly!).

30. Have students write, revise, and post real reviews to Amazon products

31. Write a script for, record, and post Youtube videos -could be for narrative, informational, argumentative or poetry!

32. Write a script for and publish podcasts-create a class channel! Here are some ideas for creating podcasts in the classroom

33. Hold a "Democracy Party": students address and stuff envelopes sending their argumentative letters to people who can do something about their claims

34. Student-Led Conferences: Have students write an argumentative piece about the progress they have made that semester, using examples from their writing. Include the piece during parent/teacher conferences

35. Scary (or other..) Story Contest: Students read stories they've written along a theme during class. Put a fireplace on the projector, turn out the lights, and hand out feedback sheets. Have them sign up for the order so it goes smoothly during class.

36. Walk down Memory Lane: Have students write stories that are tied to memories around the school. Post these stories in those areas during an open house or conferences

37. Hold a mentor shout-out day. Students write about their mentors or role models, and then invite them to class on publishing day to read them out loud.

38. Write and illustrate children's books for a local daycare or preschool

39. Create a collective School Guide giving tips and information for incoming students to the school. Publish on the school website or give to school to provide copies to students.

40. Family Memoirs: Have students interview and write memoirs based on family member's or mentor's story. Invite these family members in for a day to read the stories.

41. Class Project: As a class, brainstorm and vote on a problem students care about, create a multi-faceted project to address the problem (could be a combination of speeches, Youtube videos, letters, websites, etc.)

42 - 45. Have students email or send letters to...

Government officials

Celebrities or idols

Penpals

Someone important in their lives

Easy, In-Class, Publishing Ideas:

If those ideas seem to be more involved than you're able to do for this unit, here are a some publishing ideas you could do within a class period to celebrate and circulate your students' work:

46. Musical Chairs -students leave their writing on their desk, students walk around until music stops, they read and provide feedback.

47. Skill Posters -have students print their favorite paragraph of their writing. Students annotate the skills they demonstrated in the paragraph, and then glue it onto an anchor chart that highlights the skill they did the best (for example: "Attention grabbing sentence")

48. Most Highlighted Sentence -Have students read each others' writing, highlighting their favorite sentences. The last student to read a students' writing copies the best sentence and writes it on a piece of paper, then tapes it around the room or in the hall.

49. Gallery walk -students share, speed-dating style. Half the class stays in one place, the other half rotates. Give students pre-set minutes to take turns sharing their writing. This is a great way to get 100% engagement for the class period

50 - 53. Google Slide Excerpt -Students paste their favorite piece of writing on a class Google Powerpoint (you may want to chop it up into groups, or just have them do it individually...), with their name or no name. Have students add pictures, decorations, etc.

Share powerpoint in groups, partners, or as a whole class.

Print them and post them around the room

Have the slides cycling on a projector during downtime in class or during an Open House

*Non-tech version: Have students write their favorite sentence from their writing on a colored piece of paper and allow them to decorate it and post around the room.

Throughout-the-Year Ideas:

Finally, here are some ways you can set up opportunities for students to publish their writing on their own to be read at any point in the year.

54. Have sheet protectors up on a wall of your classroom, one for every student. Allow students to add and swap out their writing (or perhaps writing from a favorite author!) throughout the year

55. Ask school administrators for permission to read 1-3 sentences of powerful student writing every day during announcements. Students could have the option of submitting their own or being nominated by classmates.

56. Have each student maintain an individual website with their writing throughout the year, acting as a portfolio.

If you try one of these out, let me know in the comments below! And if you have other ideas, I know we'd all love to hear them.

Enjoy!

You may also be interested in:

My Slam Poetry Mini-Unit takes students through brainstorming, drafting, planning, and performing a meaningful slam poem, all in a week. It's the perfect chunk of lessons to add slam poetry into a poetry unit, or to fill a week with engaging, meaningful content for students.

Want even MORE slam poetry lessons? This Slam Poetry Unit Plan includes a full 3 weeks of lessons similar to this one, taking students through drafting and revising multiple poems with a student-planned performance at the end. It uses a variation of this lesson plan to help students prepare for their performance at the end.

You'd probably also like this Peer Conference/Feedback lesson plan. It's good to use for ANY type of writing and designed to lift both student's academic conversations and writing. Swoon.

20 Ways to Help Reluctant Writers in your Classroom -a list of ways you can make your classroom more friendly to students reluctant to write, as well as trouble-shooting ideas for students who refuse to write.

Teaching Writing Pinterest Board -My spot to collect all the most useful resources I can find for teaching writing-if you like this post, you're sure to like this collection.

ELA Resources Pinterest Board -A collation of engaging, best practice resources for ELA teachers.

My Teachers Pay Teachers Store -I've taught writing to grades 6-8, 10, and 12, so that's my store's specialty!

Finally, want some ideas for getting students sharing EVERY day? Check out my 30 ideas for share-time for Writing Workshop. It's free! You can download below:

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50+ Ideas for Publishing Student Writing | Teacher Off Duty

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So, it's the end of your writing unit, your students have worked their tails off on their work, and you know they need some way to get their writing in front of eyes other than yours. Writers write for a million reasons, but most don't write just to be graded.

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Prompting Revision through Modeling and Written Conversations
Students create a checklist outlining what effective writers do, revise his or her own writing, and engage in a written conversation to help peers with the revision process.
Cut up, Cover up, and Come Away with Ideas for Writing!
Students rework their forgotten/abandoned drafts by cutting and covering up selected words. By creatively manipulating text, they explore portal writing, a strategy for envisioning a new story or story direction.
Writing for Audience: The Revision Process in The Diary of Anne Frank
After reading or viewing The Diary of Anne Frank, students will make connections between audience and purpose and revise a journal entry with an outside audience in mind.
The Houdini Box: What Did Houdini Hide? Writing Creative Endings
Students are encouraged to understand a book that the teacher reads aloud to create a new ending for it using the writing process.
Teaching Audience Through Interactive Writing
Through interactive writing, students work together and then independently to create invitation letters for a group of their peers and their families.
A Picture IS Worth a Thousand Words: Using Infographics to Illustrate How-to Writing
Students write step-by-step instructions on topics of their own choosing. Then using Piktochart, students create their own infographics to illustrate their instructions.
Writing Workshop: Helping Writers Choose and Focus on a Topic
Students engage in writing workshop, using a timeline to focus in on and write about a specific event.
And in Conclusion: Inquiring into Strategies for Writing Effective Conclusions
While drafting a literary analysis essay (or another type of argument) of their own, students work in pairs to investigate advice for writing conclusions and to analyze conclusions of sample essays. They then draft two conclusions for their essay, select one, and reflect on what they have learned through the process.
Peer Edit With Perfection: Effective Strategies
Students take a fresh look at the revision process and help one another polish their written work through a peer-editing strategy that is simple, systematic, and constructive.
Weekend News! A Weekly Writing Activity
On Monday mornings, you're likely to be asked, "What did you do this weekend?" In this lesson, students respond to this question in a self-assessed writing assignment about their weekend adventures.
How-To Writing: Motivating Students to Write for a Real Purpose
It's not easy surviving fourth grade (or third or fifth)! In this lesson, students brainstorm survival tips for future fourth graders and incorporate those tips into an essay.
Reading and Writing About Whales Using Fiction and Nonfiction Texts
Students will have a whale of a good time in this lesson in which they use fiction and nonfiction texts to write a letter to an online scientist.

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Implementing the Writing Process - ReadWriteThink

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Prompting Revision through Modeling and Written Conversations Students create a checklist outlining what effective writers do, revise his or her own writing, and engage in a written conversation to help peers with the revision process. Cut up, Cover up, and Come Away with Ideas for Writing!

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Give Your Students the World! Give them a Global Audience!

Part of your Dynamic Classroom Should Include Going Global!

Bring the world to your students, and bring your students to the world. It's also our job, as teachers, to give students a global audience. It is so easy now to allow students to publish their work online for the world.

It's amazing how much this will change the quality of what they publish. As soon as they get their first comment, a shift has happened.

[Tweet "Give Your Students the World! Give them a Global Audience for Their Work! #shakeuplearning #edtech #edchat #gsuiteedu"]

I'm on a bit of a mission! Everywhere I go, I ask this question, "How many of you allow your students to publish for a global audience?" The result...very few hands go up if any. The reality is this is a real-world skill and can be a very important and authentic learning experience for students of all ages. What's holding you back?

Publishing for Authentic Audiences

When I taught middle school writing, I would try to teach my kids how to write for different audiences, but they knew that I was the one that would be reading and assessing their work.

I can hear them now, "Why am I writing to an audience of NASA experts? Miss Bell, aren't you the one reading it?" They never really took the idea of the audience seriously-that is until I gave them an authentic audience. The moment I allowed them to publish online, it gave new value to their work. Every student should be publishing their work online, not just writing-everything, and at every grade level!

Protecting Students v. Depriving Students

The opportunities for students to publish their work online are almost endless. I still can't believe how many school districts do not allow students to share, communicate, collaborate, and share their learning online.

Not too long ago, a senior English teacher contacted me about blogging in the classroom but needed a platform recommendation that could only be accessed by students and teachers inside the district. What's the point of that? Seriously, seniors that aren't allowed to share beyond their school? This is ludicrous! This is depriving students of authentic learning experiences that they need in order to be a part of the twenty-first-century workforce.

Please, do not misunderstand me, I believe protecting students is of the utmost importance, but depriving students of critical learning experiences in the process should not be the cost. There are many resources that allow students to, "Go global," without any unnecessary risks to privacy and safety. If we just keep blocking everything, our students will never gain the valuable skills they need to navigate this ever-changing world.

[Tweet "If we just keep blocking everything, our students will never gain the valuable skills they need to navigate this ever-changing world. #edtech"]

Publishing for Intentional Audiences-Not Just Public

Now publishing for the world can take many forms, and I think it's important to note that we should be publishing for an intentional global audience. Yes, a Google Doc can be made public, but I think the audience piece of that is the most important. Just because it is public (or has a link) doesn't mean that people will find it, and it definitely doesn't guarantee that the intended audience will find it. The intended audience should not have to search to find student's work. We need to be very intentional about where and how we publish, and to give the audience a way to comment, give feedback, or interact in some way. Depending on the type of content and intention, we need to publish with purpose. You could use a blog to allow students to publish lots of different types of content, allow for comments, and share that link with the audience.

The hashtags #comments4Kids or #kidtweet offer a great way to share with like-minded educators on Twitter who could offer feedback or share with their own students. Publishing student videos to YouTube, including a good description and tags, will help students' work be seen and discovered by audiences. Or maybe use a blog or website creators like Blogger, WordPress, Google Sites, Weebly, or Wix to have students share their work, even create online portfolios to showcase work throughout the year.

Not sure where to find your audience? Ask your PLN on Twitter, Facebook, etc. Let's come together to find ways to make this work!

Tools for Publishing Online:

Bring Your Students to the World!

Every student should have the opportunity to publish for a global audience on a regular basis. Find ways to flatten the walls of your classroom and allow students to publish their work, their writing, their videos, their projects, their creations, or even a full e-portfolio online. This will change the quality of their work and help them build a positive online presence.

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Technology is not a magic solution for education. It is an opportunity! An opportunity to shake things up, to connect and grow, and to create dynamic learning experiences for our students!

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© Shake Up Learning 2022. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog's author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Kasey Bell and Shake Up Learning with appropriate and specific direction to the original content on ShakeUpLearning.com. See: Copyright Policy.

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Every Student Should Publish for the World!

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Bring the world to your students, and bring your students to the world. It's also our job, as teachers, to give students a global audience. It is so easy now to allow students to publish their work online for the world.

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Students will be able to use electronic devices to publish their writing. Students will be able to distinguish between various electronic publishing features (such as fonts, spacing, and inserting pictures) and appropriately use these features.

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Polish and Publish | Lesson plan | Education.com

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Do your students struggle with basic formatting as they publish their writing? In this lesson, students will be guided through the process of basic formatting such as using fonts, spacing, and other features of electronic publishing.

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School Mate® Publishing offers the perfect way to make writing and drawing fun for your students - turn them into published authors! With our fast and easy student publishing program, each student submits 2 pages of original writings and illustrations to publish one combined classroom book. Best of all, there's NO COST TO YOUR SCHOOL!

1. Best Value

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Motivate your students and see a visible improvement in their work.

The publishing process is fast, easy, and fun. Plus there is no cost to you (the teacher) or your school.

Program supports differentiated learning and can supplement any curriculum.

Students Excel

Students learn about the classroom publishing process.

Students take ownership in the book, do their best work, and gain confidence in their skills.

Students are excited to work as a team.

Parents Love It

Parents will take pride in their child's work and enjoy a treasured classroom keepsake.

Classroom books make excellent gifts for grandparents, other family members, and friends!

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Fast & Easy Student Publishing - School Mate® Publishing

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School Mate® Publishing offers the perfect way to make writing and drawing fun for your students - turn them into published authors! With our fast and easy student publishing program, each student submits 2 pages of original writings and illustrations to publish one combined classroom book.

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Build your website, build your success

From tech hurdles big and small to business growth tips, help from our Customer Success team is just an email, chat, or phone call away. Begin with Weebly's free website builder and lean on us for help along the way.

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Weebly is the easiest way to create a website, store or blog

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From tech hurdles big and small to business growth tips, help from our Customer Success team is just an email, chat, or phone call away. Begin with Weebly's free website builder and lean on us for help along the way.

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Online Self-Publishing Book & Ebook Company | Lulu

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Whether you're a teacher, photographer or hobbyist, share your expertise. Create & self publish your book today!

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Easier Than It Seems

But publishing a book doesn't only bring the best out of our students. For more than two years, I had been carrying an idea for a book in my mind and in my heart. I had the text mostly written but needed an illustrator and a publisher. I finally opened my eyes and found the illustrator living right here with me -- my wife. Now, all I needed was a publisher.

This is when I remembered talking with people who had self-published their books online through a Web site called Lulu. Two of those folks, David Warlick and Doug Johnson, I highly respect for their thinking on the effective and innovative use of technology to support schools, students, teachers, and their communities.

So it was now time to get this thing done. I got serious about cleaning up the text, and my wife got serious about doing the illustrations. First, I created my account on Lulu. As a frugal Yankee, I appreciated the fact everything was free and that I would have to pay only if I ordered hard copies of my book. I read forums on the Web site about what works and installed NeoOffice on my MacBook.

When the text and images were ready, I put them together in a NeoOffice document and exported it as a PDF file. Of course, I had to spend a bit of time figuring out how the numbering of pages works, where to put the title page, and other things a real publisher would have done for me. But I was learning, and the sense of empowerment when I uploaded the finished document was palpable -- I had done it!

Next, I used the supplied templates to create a cover. I inserted a photo of my wife and me on the back and a picture of a California gray whale fluking off the coast of Oregon for the front, along with the title. With the cover uploaded, the project was complete.

Hard Copies, or Virtual?

I was tempted at this point to put a link on my Web site and order a bunch of the books to sell at conferences. But Lulu has obviously worked with many rookies, and the site warned me to begin by ordering only one hard copy to make sure it really was the book I had carried in my mind and heart for so long. I listened to the site's counsel, ordered one, and waited impatiently for a week or so.

When it came, I read it, achieved a new level of humility, and set about fixing the multiple mistakes I found. Trust me, I have a new respect for editing. Yeah, I've edited stuff before, but this was our book. I made the changes, uploaded the updated files, and ordered another hard copy. That came, and I found one last flaw. I then uploaded one more set of updates and called it finished. But I still worried, just like a student. When the audience is real, the quality matters so much more.

So, there you go. Our published book is called Computers Can, Computers Can't.

Students as Published Authors

Ever since I used the Lulu Web site to create our book, I have been actively encouraging teachers to publish their books. I'm interested to find out how many educators there are out there like David, Doug, my wife, and me. Have you used Lulu or any other self-publishing utility to put your kids' work into a book? Are you an elementary school teacher who took that ABC book to a new level or a social studies teacher who has made oral histories of local old-timers part of the community collection of text in the school and local libraries? What about doing Anytown Middle School: Our Writing, 2009 and including in it one piece from each student?

And, of course, when you publish online, you can make your book available to anyone, or you can restrict access. So, how about creating a book with your class and sharing it with a class across town, across the state, across the nation, or across the globe?

The bottom line is, you can do so much. The only limit will be your creativity.

Remember, if you've self-published with your students, please share. I'd love to know what folks are doing and, as always, what you think are the best technology tools out there.

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Publishing Student Writing -- and Your Own | Edutopia

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But publishing a book doesn't only bring the best out of our students. For more than two years, I had been carrying an idea for a book in my mind and in my heart. I had the text mostly written but needed an illustrator and a publisher.

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