Last week I wrote about our Passion Projects. My students are continuing to work on these, but we’ve hit a few bumps along the road.
I am trying to tell myself that any worthwhile learning endeavor has road blocks. We just need to power through them.
On Monday, I had to have the serious talk about plagiarism. I showed Tobie how I could put the text of his writing into a Google search, and it would take me to the very site where he got the information. I explained that I was not interested in reading someone else’s work. “I want to hear your voice, your passion.”
Emily pouted and tore up her draft. She was distraught. To her, Mary Pope Osborn has a perfect voice. She lost confidence in her own passion. I gave her the you-are-a-writer speech, then I left her alone, and by Tuesday, she was writing again. And this time without even looking at the book.
Erin had decided to bullet-point facts for her project. This is a good craft move; however, as a class we had decided that the word count would be more than 300 words. She was in tears. I said, “You know everything you need to know about narwhals. Open your journal and just write what you know.” She eventually wrote two more paragraphs.
Before Erin’s road block, she spent a great deal of time making a color page. She has extended her project to be a service project. She wants to raise money to “adopt a narwhal.” She decided to use Paint to create her color page. I forget about this tool. It’s been around a long time. Sometimes the just-right tool has been there all along.
If you are writing about digital literacy, link up your post. Be sure to come back by to read more posts.
Margaret,
Thank you so much for hosting today.
“I am trying to tell myself that any worthwhile learning endeavor has road blocks. We just need to power through them.” This is so true. We’re working on some changes in our literacy blocks. Instead of working as three classrooms, we’re trying to make changes so we are one community in three spaces. Oh my! We have run up against many challenges, but honestly they are challenges we have in our classroom each day. We just have to power through them.
I’m glad your students were able to do the same. I’m wondering how the research process is different with the internet. I’m wondering if Padlet might make a good tool for collecting information and then sorting to write. Do you have ways students collect information digitally that you like? (I’m guessing you already have a post on this somewhere.)
Cathy
Cathy, I wish I had a magic formula for students to collect information. I don’t. But just as I write this I realize that my philosophy about digital tools is to use what works for you. Like Erin’s use of Paint. I had abandoned this app long ago because some kids found it frustrating to use. I am not a fan of Prezi, but for some presentations, it’s just right. Padlet is motivating to my students now because it’s new to them, so it may work well for collecting info. And let’s not abandon the good old notebook.
I had a similar talk about plagiarism in my class. I’ve come to the conclusion that this is really hard. They have to read, note take, synthesize and then put it into their own voice. Tough stuff when they have already seen a pretty good model in their research. I’m wondering how we can shift the emphasis toward the process. Perhaps that will pull them away from the need to replicate what was done before. Not sure if that makes sense…
Love the Narwhal.
I didn’t focus on process as much as I should have to set them up with this project. We talked about text features and created our own rubric. When we ran into the plagiarism issue, I focused on voice. How I wanted to hear theirs. What would this or any project look like that focused on process rather than product?
I’m not sure – I just feel like the process is what we want students to grow. I suppose the product is a reflection of where they are in their process. Some are in that ‘highly imitative’ place!
Margaret, I am always intrigued by what your students are creating under your guidance. I like that what you told Emily because it is so important to hear the children’s voice and not that of another.
I appreciate your honestly about the struggles you’ve had during this project. I, too, have tears in my classroom sometimes – I used to be so taken aback by that, but now I know it’s the process some of our gifted kids have to go through when they’re challenged, questioned, or pushed. They’re not always good at handling that. I love when they get past it, though, and accomplish what we know they can!