Patty Martire

Goal:  To create a blog/wiki for 9^th and 10^th grade students to share book reviews and discuss books read during class time.  

Tools: A wiki or blog that will get through Bess.  I would love to use PBWiki or blogger.  Blogmeister could me an alternative.  It is not blocked as of right now.

Steps:

1.     Meet with English teacher to plan wiki/blog and how books will be reviewed.

2.    Working with the English teacher, develop the skills needed to use the tool chosen and set up the tool for students.

3.    Instruct the students on the skills needed to develop good book reviews.

4.    Instruct the students on how to use the tool chosen.

Challenges:

The biggest challenge is finding a tool that can be used in our school that is not blocked by Bess.  I will need to speak with the superintendent about unblocking. It needs to be user friendly.  One of the choices is possibly going through fish4info.org as Chris mentioned at our last class.  Being able to use the tool with ease is also important.  Both the teacher and I need to have enough experience with the tool to work with the students.  Time is an issue.  Finding the time to collaborate with the teacher could be difficult as our schedules do not match at all. 

Success Examples:

I could use any number of library pages within the area to show how the tools can be used.  Livonia Media Centers have great sites as does Penfield High School.  Again, the difficulty could be accessing the sites through school. 

Follow Through:

This is something that could continue for a long period of time.  After writing this, the 7^th and 8^th grade English teacher came in.  We will be meeting to work with her students to add them to this project.