Monthly Archives: May 2013

Wonder Blogging

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Last week I attended Dynamic Landscapes. I was asked to participate in a group session that morphed into the ending Keynote on Thursday afternoon. Each of 11 educators had 20 slides and 5 minutes to highlight a project happening in their district. My area colleagues shared everything from Google Hangout to Getting Global with Students to Robotics!  This was the largest crowd I had ever given a technology talk, and I was terrified! Just to add to the stress RETN was filming us, too! It turned out to be a wonderful experience, and I wanted you to benefit from my presentation even if you weren’t able to attend! 

I decided to highlight Wonder Blogging with my 20 slides. Wonder blogging was developed by Natalie LaRose (2nd grade PPS) and a teacher in Chicago, IL, Ashley Merced. Natalie and Ashley began their collaboration by doing a Mystery Skype. From there, it blossomed into a blogging project using the fantastic site, Wonderopolis. Below is my presentation. Click here if you’d like to see the whole presentation with all 11 educators. So, what is Wonder Blogging? I’ve outlined their process below:Prep:  Decide which wonder to use.  There is a new wonder every day, but you can search for topics that relate to your curriculum by category, too.  Your students will use this ONE wonder all week.

Monday:

  • Introduce Wonder  . . . Read wonder and a snippet of the answer to HOOK your students.  Tip: Post this on your blog for students to refer to as they think about their ideas.
  • Brainstorm possible answers with class.  Tip: post three examples for students to help them.  Rule: No copying answers from blog post, rather use to generate ideas.
  • Blog during Daily 5:  All students blog (min. 2 sentences for 2nd grade) for 15-20 minutes. (CCSS Writing Anchor Standard 2: Write Informational/explanatory texts; Writing Anchor Standard 6: Use technology to produce and publish writing)
Tuesday:
  • Blog during Daily 5: Students visit their buddy’s blog (in Chicago or Vermont) and writes a comment.  Students are encouraged to ask a question or add new information.
Wednesday:
  • Wonder Wednesday:  Whole class watches Wonder video (included in most wonders) and close read the text-based answer discussing concepts and ideas presented. (CCSS Reading Anchor Standard 1: Read closely to find out what the text says explicitly; Reading Anchor Standard 7: Integrate content presented in diverse media and formats; Language Anchor Standard 6: Acquire and use accurately a range of general academic and domain specific words)
  • Blog during Daily 5: Students return to their original blog post.  In a NEW color, they add new information based on the video/text-based answer on Wonderopolis. (CCSS: Writing Anchor Standard 2: Write Informational/explanatory texts; Writing Anchor Standard 6: Use technology to produce and publish writing; Writing Anchor Standard 8: Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources; Language Anchor Standard 6: Acquire and use accurately a range of general academic and domain specific words)
Please visit Ms. LaRose’s students’ blogs and check out their Wonderopolis work!

 

Wonder blogging is catching on in our district!  Please let me know if you would like support getting started Wonder Blogging, finding a buddy class (somewhere in the world), or exploring options for next year.  Request integration support!