Comments from Catherine Suen |
1. How the project went (from your perspective). From my perspective as project coordinator for Tools for Writing, this project went very well. We achieved the purpose of this project which is to build a community of writers. Here is why I think we built a community of writers: : • From the teacher comments (email and formal evaluation), all teachers related to me that they thought they benefited from the project. They also claimed that it helped their students become better writers by using technology as a tool. ICT outcomes were definitely achieved. • From the student comments, (student formal feed back and responses from the message board), they seemed to be excited about the project and claimed that the project helped them learn to become better writers. They also claimed that they think technology plays a big part in helping them learn and be excited about learning. • The message board was exceptionally popular with the students! There were close to one thousand visits (948 clicks) on the Message Board! • So far, as of February 18, 2004 there were 259 visits to the Tools4Writing site! • The samples of writing on the Tools4writng site testify concretely that kids did learn to become better writers. The responses on the message board also showed that teachers were giving students an excellent tool to enhance the learning of their students. • Students raved about how they liked hearing from their fellow students from other schools both on the message board and on their formal feedbacks. • All teachers and students indicated to me that this is a “fun” project. • Popular with students(948 clicks to message board and 259 clicks to the tools4writing site) • Message Board for communication and assessment and interaction (See Message Board responses posted on the site) • Teacher’s corner: a place where teachers get access to HTML editors; suggestions for teaching, etc. • Keyboarding lessons created by teachers for students learning to word process • Unique Participants: teachers and students Teachers (Eleven teachers participated) 5 Telus teacher leader 6 regular teachers (with beginning to medium technology skills- teaching regular class; mildly mentally disabled students; literacy students; Hebrew students) • Unique genres of writing Addresses two main branch of writing-narrative and functional writing Narrative-address different elements of writing a story (opening statement; middle of story (character, setting detail of events; problems or conflicts of the story); concluding statement; Writing Prompts for both students and teachers Imaginative stories; ghost stories Functional or Informational and Miscellaneous Writing Letters to Santa; Valentine letters to Parents; Poems; Expository writing; Science Writing; Social Studies Writing, Persuasive writing; sequence writing; descriptive writing; writing describing the five senses; jokes; responses to literature •Writing Assessment: student self assessment; writing rubrics •Evaluation of whole of Tools4Writing project on the website (i.e.) what the students learned about computer technology (i.e.) what the students learned about using the web through Tools For Writing The students in my component achieved the following ICT outcome of the Alberta curriculum: C6 Students will use technology to investigate and/or solve problems C7 Students will use electronic research techniques to construct personal knowledge and meaning. F1 Students will demonstrate an understanding of the nature of technology F2 Students will understand the role of technology as it applies to self, work and society. F3 Students will demonstrate a moral and ethical approach to the use of technology F4 Students will become a discerning consumer of mass media and electronic information F5 Students will practice the concepts of ergonomics and safety when using technology F6 Students will demonstrate a basic understanding of the operating skills required in a variety of technologies P1 Students will compose, revise and edit text. P4 Students will integrate various applications P5 Students will navigate and create hyperlinked resources P6 Students will use communication technology to interact with others Students learned to use the Internet to interact with other schools in the project. They learned 3. Describe what curriculum outcomes/expectations were achieved and/or not achieved and why. All the following curriculum outcomes and expectations were achieved through the use of the message board, the Internet, the Tools4writing website and classroom instructions from the teachers and from the students collaborating with each other. Curriculum Areas/Content Goals: Students will listen, speak, read, write, view and represent to explore thoughts, ideas, feelings and experiences. Students will listen, speak, read, write, view and represent to comprehend and respond personally and critically to oral, print and other media texts. Students will listen, speak, read, write, view and represent to manage ideas and information. Students will listen, speak, read, write, view and represent to enhance the clarity and artistry of communication. Students will listen, speak, read, write, view and represent to respect, support and collaborate with others. Student will use the computer and Internet to as media for saying something in a meaningful way. Children will be aware of the components that comprise a piece of writing by implementing the writing project plan. Children will become aware that adding detail and descriptions make a piece of writing better by implementing the writing project plan. Children will become aware that they can become better writers. Responses from the students will be indicators of the depth of this awareness. Children will view themselves as writers. Responses from the student will be indicators of the depth of this awareness. 4. What the students learned about writing… Children learned to be aware of the components that comprise a piece of writing by implementing the writing project plan. Children learned to be aware that adding detail and descriptions make a piece of writing better by implementing the writing project plan. Children learned to be aware that they can become better writers. Responses from the students were indicators of the depth of this awareness. Children learn to view themselves as writers. Responses from the student were indicators of the depth of this awareness. 5. In what ways did students work together both during the project and in creating the website? Students worked together by collaborating with each other on the message board via the Internet. They collaborated with each other and their teachers in creating their websites by using the HTML editor provided by Telus2Learn site. 6. Your contribution to the project. I contributed to the project as follows: A. I contributed to the project by running my own component of the Tools4Writing project. B. I also contributed as the coordinator of the project: • The project was conceived by me when I was doing a narrative writing project during 2002-2003. At the time, some eachers on that project expressed the desire to do a longer project on writing. • I started planning for this project in the spring of 2003. • This project was promoted by one principal at a principal’s district meeting in May. • From past experiences I knew that I had to gather all the teachers and walk them through the project during one day of inservice. • The inservice session for the teachers, which was to take place at Centre for Education, was booked in April, 2003. (the date for the inservice was October 3, 2003) • The shell of the website for this project was created in June and July of 2003. • Anrew Lummis kindly consented to provide us with the message board he obtained from Edmonton Public in October, 2003 • By October, 2003 ten teachers signed up for the project and three were on the waiting list. We had a total of 5 Telus Teacher Leaders (including myself)and six regular classroom teachers participating in the project. • The inservice session was held at centre for Education in Edmonton on October 3 and I walked through the whole project with the participating teachers. We talked about our individual component projects and the requirements for a successful block project. We also applied for funding from Telus together during this session and jokingly say that we jovially signed our life away by agreeing to commit ourselves to the project. Later, we discovered that it we did sign our life away, not just metaphorically speaking! • As a result of the inservice session on October 3, I was invited to give a half day presentation on the Tools4writing project to the whole staff of Talmud Torah during their PD day on November 10, 2003. • I kept in touch with all the teachers in the project almost daily and uploaded all the websites they sent me from their students during the whole project from October 2003 to February 2004. • I supported the teachers by giving them positive feedback and offered help in problems with technology. • I presented the concept of the tools4writing site to 12 Edmonton Public district teachers at an inservice held at Centre For Education on December 16, 2003. • I also agreed to present the Tools4Writing project to the ATA Computer Conference “Connect2004”to be held on April 16, 2004 at Banff Centre. • I was also asked to present the Tools4Writing project to the Best Practices Conference for Gifted children in May, 2004 at Centre For Education. |
[Evaluation of Tools4Writing Project]