K.+Bakie

=Ms. Bakie - 8th Grade Language Arts=

=**ACROSTIC SUMMARY POEM for "The Tell-Tale Heart"**= ====Last week, our class began studying about Edgar Allan Poe and reading one of his most famous works, "The Tell-Tale Heart." Now that we are wrapping up this unit, the students will be completing a culminating assignment. Their assignment is as follows:==== ====**__ Directions __**** : Write an ACROSTIC Poem for the “Tell-Tale Heart.” Your Poem should accurately SUMMARIZE “The Tell-Tale Heart.” Use the graphic organizer you filled out Monday/Friday to help you with the //SUMMARY// aspect of this assignment. **====


 * //REMEMBER//:**
 * An **Acrostic** **poem** uses the letters in a word to **//begin//** each line of the poem.
 * All lines of the poem **must relate to** or describe **the main topic word (Tell-Tale Heart)**.
 * Your poem must **SUMMARIZE** the story of **“The Tell-Tale Heart.”**

====Rather than have the students simply write out their Acrostic Summary poem on paper, they will instead be using technology to complete the task. The students will be creating an Acrostic Summary Poem and will be doing so using the [|ReadWriteThink] website. The ReadWriteThink website provides the students with a Web 2.0 tool that allows them to interactively create their poem.====
 * ====It first provides them with a definition, then gives them an example. Next, they fill in their personal information and "topic" word for their poem.====
 * ====The tool then gives them the opportunity to "brainstorm a list of words or phrases that remind [them] of the topic word."====
 * ====This brainstormed list then shows up off the the side of the poem so that the students can reference it as they work on their Acrostic Poem.====
 * ====Also, if they students wave the mouse pointer of the Letter in the Poem that they are working on, they will be provided with "hint words" to help them if needed.====
 * ====Finally, their finished product is made into a published document that they can print directly from the ReadWriteThink website.====

The students will begin by drafting their poems, and we will then go to the computer lab to publish their Final Draft. Once this happens, I will post an update on how this activity panned out.
[|Click on this LINK to see the Wiki I created for the Students to use for this assignment.]


 * UPDATE:** The students did very well with this activity. They accessed and utilized the Web 2.0 tool with ease and seemed to enjoy "publishing" their poems using this tool. I was impressed with how easily completed the final step of this assignment and the fact that no one struggled to use this Web 2.0 tool.

=Ms. Bakie - 8th Grade Language Arts=

=**12/3/10 (Friday) - THE OUTSIDERS - FINAL PROJECT USING GLOGSTER**= ====The students are now beginning their final project for The Outsiders in which they will use Glogster to complete a "poster" for their given project choice. Students have the option to either do 1) A Character Analysis, 2) Create a Newspaper circa 1967, or 3) Create a Memorial for Johnny. They will use GLOGSTER to complete their project.====

Today the students had the opportunity to go to the computer lab and log into their Glogster accounts for the first time. They got logged in much quicker than expected, given the confusing log in "names" and passwords (odd combinations of letters and numbers). We only ran into a few glitches during the day, one of which was overlapping accounts due to some issues within Glogster. To remedy this, I had to go back in and assign those students new accounts. I did my best to pair students up with someone who has had experience with Glogster this year in computer class. That way, they could "teach" their partner and show them the ropes.

Once on Glogster, the students did remarkably well. I was very impressed with how quickly they picked up on how to use the tool. Those who had never used it before learned quite easily, and those who had used it did a nice job of helping their peers. I was also VERY impressed with how engaged the students were with this activity. They were so tuned in and really stayed focused on the task at hand; I'm interested to see if they maintain this momentum for the duration of the project. As I circulated, a lot of students who were new to Glogster kept saying, "This is cool!", and it was fun to see how excited they were about getting to make their own creation. We will be back in the lab next week to continue with the project. I will update then.

=**__12/20/11 - SAMPLES OF STUDENTS' GLOGS__:**=

STUDENT GLOG - Jasmin & Sasha

STUDENT GLOG - Keeryon

[|GLOGSTER WEBSITE LINK]

=**__CLASS WIKI - Used for Various Projects__:**=