An online community is similar to a face-to-face community in that you get OUT what you put IN and that the more connections made, the better. To insure that everyone's time here is valuable, the expectations are listed below. Each assignment and chapter post expectation for YOUR blog will be posted on this HOME site ahead of time. This is just a basic overview of our expectations for this online community.
I realize not everyone is familiar with online community terms, I often have to refer to my techie nerd husband for clarification. I will dedicate a post that will serve as a glossary of terms and other tech help we might need along the way.
The online discussion will be focused around the book:
Writing For Understanding: Using Backward Design to Help All Students Write
Effectively and will include a variety of “assignment posts” related to the
book. The online sessions require interaction 4 times a month, once for chapter
posts, once for “assignment posts” and twice for commenting/responding to
other’s posts in the class. The assignment
posts may require but are not limited to: commenting, writing original
posts, including picture/video evidence of student work, sharing lesson plans,
or watching/viewing content elsewhere. The chapter
posts will showcase an understanding of the text in some capacity which
will be outlined before the posts. Many of these “responding to text” will
utilize thinking strategies from Making Thinking Visible. They will be simple in nature and NOT ask
participants to write summary type posts on each chapter, which can be
redundant. The posts WILL ask participants to engage and respond to the text in
such a way that it reflects on THEIR understanding of the content, how it might
change their professional practice, and where they might have questions or
push-backs around the content. The comments
should have a collaborative and
inquisitive intent. They should go deeper than telling someone “good job “ on
a post, but rather engage with the fellow educator by asking a question, or
connecting to their own experiences or other content.
This is a total of 30 interactions per person for our online community. I believe this sets up for us a great resource and opportunity for rich learning. Of course you are welcome to "interact" through more blog posts and comments than required. I will keep track of your interactions on this
google spreadsheet for you task oriented types. :)
Please remember it is most useful if folks don't post and comment all the same day (for example, the day they are due). If that happens, there will be dates set for each interaction, if not, this can be a more organic process.
TEST-POST: Introduce
self, comment on other posts, ALL posts need a comment.
A.
Forward, Preface, A Message to Teachers, and
Introduction: Fresh Ink post
1.
Assignment post
2.
Two comments
B.
Chapter 1 post
1.
Assignment post
2.
Two comments
C.
Chapter 2 post
1.
Assignment post
2.
Two comments
D.
Chapter 3 post
1.
Assignment post
2.
Two comments
E.
Chapter 4 post
1.
Assignment post
2.
Two comments
F.
Chapter 5 post
1.
Assignment post
2.
Two comments
G.
Chapter 6 post
1.
Assignment Post
2.
Two comments
H.
Final Reflection Post, comment
