Classroom Blogs at Durham Academy

Many of our teachers at DA are embracing blogging as a method of publishing student writing for an authentic audience.  Our teachers have created Edublog accounts with the help of our Digital Learning Coordinator, Karl Schaefer.  I have been so impressed with the very cool topics that students are writing about.

In 6th grade, Mrs. Donnelly's class is blogging about their grammar projects.  Students selected a grammar rule to present to their class, and then wrote a blog entry to explain what they learned from creating the presentation.  These projects are great mini-lessons that Mrs. Donnelly can refer back to all year.




In Mrs. Williams's 6th grade language arts class, students are reflecting about Durham Academy's new 1:1 iPad program.  Students are writing about how they use the iPads, what they like, and what has been challenging for them.  I love their honest reactions to the new program.  One student wrote, "Instead of getting my papers ruined or ripped in a binder, they are safe on the iPad. So far I think the iPads are really good learning tools."  Another student had mixed feeling about the initiative, "iPad is a helpful tool however, I like to use paper and pencils better, some things are too good to change!"

In fifth grade language arts, students review the books they are reading like The Strange Case of Origami Yoda and Artemis Fowl.  Finally, our French teacher has her students blog in French on various topics.  I have to use Google Translate to figure out what they have written!

Speed Booking

About every three weeks language arts classes come to the library to hear booktalks and check out books.  For each booktalk, I present six books that I think are excellent for the students' grade level.  While this program has been very successful and students report enjoying the booktalks, I felt I was barely exposing students to the abundance of great literature we have in our library.  Today we tried a new reading encouragement program with the sixth graders: speed booking.  The program, which is based on the principles of speed dating, is meant to introduce students to a wide array of books and get them excited about reading.

The set-up is so simple.  I pulled A LOT of books from our shelves that are appropriate for sixth grade.  I selected books that students might not notice, particularly non-fiction, and tried to focus on high interest titles.  I placed about 20 books in a pile on six tables.  Students in groups of four sat down at each table. They had two minutes to select a book from their pile and fill out a simple form.  I used Online Stopwatch to countdown the time; when the two minute timer went off, students had to get up, move to the next table clockwise, and start again. 

In just twelve minutes, every student had looked at over 100 books and given their opinions about six of them.  They then had the opportunity to discuss what they saw on the tables with their peers and check out anything that looked interesting.  The students really seemed to enjoy speed booking.  They were extremely well-behaved during the whole process and very interested in the books.  They loved having the opportunity to talk about what they saw with their friends after we were done.  Though no one was required to take a book, of the 21 students who came during the first class, 18 checked out a book from the tables before leaving the library.

The students have a file in their English class where they keep lists of books they might want to read.  They will place their speed reading forms there.

I will definitely continue using speed booking in addition to my regular booktalks.  It is a fun, easy method for energizing students around books and reading.  This program is very student-centered; my only involvement while they were here was to stop and start the stopwatch.  The only downside is that I will have to shelve a lot of books after the program is over, but I can live with that.