C4T#4 Summary

Comment 1
This is the second time I have been assigned to Andrea Hernandez's blog. Her blog posts make for an interesting read. Her blog is titled Ed Tech Workshop. Her latest post is Learning is Messy... Cause Life is Messy. In the post Hernandez discusses the concept that it is okay for learning to be messy because life is messy. She claims that "Learning is messy because life is messy. And learning is life. And there's really no way around it." But she says accepting the mess does not necessarily mean liking it. She has been working with a librarian and fellow teacher to discuss research projects for second and third graders. She plans to post reflections giving tips and strategies. I told Andrea that I agree life and children are indeed messy! I also commented that I have been to several class functions with my boys’ and craft time turns into quite the mess. I am sure elementary education teachers will appreciate her research and tips on keeping elementary research projects messes to a minimum.

Comment 2
Hernandez has not posted since my last comment. I looked back through her blog and found an interesting post on blog commenting. In her post Writing Commenting Policies for Student Blogs, Hernandez explains how she encourages her students to recognize quality work, both by themselves and others. Each student makes up a rubric of guidelines and expectations for his or her own blog. She states that upon presenting the concept, her students engaged in a discussion about quality verses quantity. They discussed rather it is best to leave a bunch of "junky" comments or a few good ones. The students were provided with examples of rubrics, and then they created their own. Hernandez states that they "embraced the process." The students' products demonstrate their ability to communicate the idea of quality comments. Hernandez provides examples of her students' work in the post. I commented that I enjoyed viewing samples of her students' work. I think this is a wonderful way to help students improve their writing by examining their own writing and other students' writing. It's great that the assignment goes beyond simply evaluating but evaluating in accordance to a rubric created by the students themselves. I would like to use this concept in my classroom one day.