First Try

The first piece of new technology I'd like to try will be a wiki project. Each four-man group will have a poem to analyze. This will be a nice culminating activity for students to share their knowledge with the class and with parents and relatives near and far.
Each student will have had computer class by the spring and be aware of proper safety proceedures.
I'm really psyched to try something new with my ELA classes. If I can get this going by spring, I'll be able to work the kinks out and be ready for day one in the fall.

Podcasting Book Reports

What I heard on SMS Guys Read was a radio program produced by students that enjoyed doing book reports to a larger audience than just a teacher. They wanted feed back from people like themselves who loved to read and discuss books. The presentation was nicely done with a little rhythmic music intro and sign off.
I thought this is what the doctor ordered as a project for students who love to read but find using a pencil to dicuss what they've read too pedestrian.
I spoke with our middle school computer teacher and found that no one has ever done a podcast from our school. There are no mikes. I told her a mike would only cost around ten bucks, but she didn't think we could do one with our computers. Our district computer guy was in the building, so I approached him. He said the district has done no podcasting and that he didn't think we could do one on our computers. He did mention that the process uses a lot of room on the band. He said he would check with others to see if we could get something started.
I am able to listen to podcasts here. I was not able to get Mike R's "round Midnight"though.

Wikis and Treasure Island

We read Treasure Island early in the eighth grade year. I usually have students share some research on pirates and their lifestyle for background. I like the idea that on Wikis all the work is on one page for all the students to see. I can assign each of them a job in completing a page of pirate research. A running vocabulary could also be maintained by the class. They will have easy access to the page and everyone's work will be useful and there for everyone to see. Knowing there is a large audience for their contributions, I think, will be more motivating.

But, I don't want to wait until next year. We are working on poetry right now. Perhaps I could put a poem on the Wiki, with a list of literary terms that are employed by the author. The group could look for metaphors, similes, allusions, etc. I might want to try something simple soon.

Journey

Blogging is a journey. It's not a direct route for me yet. I'm learning the way, but I'm looking down the side streets, too. Suddenly I remember my destination and feel a touch of panic. I've been wandering. I'm looking for blogs I might want to read regularly. Nothing seems attractive, yet. I'm finding examples of other ELA classes I might want to monitor. My computer here at school does not let me use the XML button. It must be the filter. I'll try at home.

Work in Progress

I had started this bog last week and may change to edublogs. I know I will have more info on soon. Report cards were due this week, and ELA teachers usually have notebooks and projects to check. The kids will have this sight later. I'm going to require them to get a google ID so I can check up on their posts. I'm having a lot of trouble getting a picture on my template. When the image is accepted by the site, it comes out really small. This is something I'll just have to fool with.
I will be able to work at home now as we just got a new Apple to replace our old computer (Windows 98). What a new world of browsing opened to me. The idea of setting up the blog is really motivating me. At school I am moderator of the schools news show. This blog has the potential to spawn the same type of creativity.