One of my goals in my reading class this year is to implement an online discussion forum for literature. For my tutorial I chose to focus on using online literature circle discussions! This gave me an opportunity to coach myself on how I need to go about establishing the forum in my classroom. Perhaps it may encourage you to do the same!
Lit circle tutorial
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I love the idea of online discussion groups at the student level. This allows students who might not be willing to speak up in class have a part in the discussion. Lit. seems like a perfect subject to have a discussion group on becasue it can be ongoing...
ReplyDeleteI think there are a lot of benefits to having online discussion boards. I do remember when we did this in college. Quite a few students just did the bare minimum or made everything half-hazard. A few that participated very seriously were the ones that spoke up in class. I know there were a few that felt more comfortable talking on the discussion board. I know I was like that during the first semester. It was also nice because we could make up names and the teacher was the only one who knew our 'code' names. That encouraged a lot more talking on the discussion board as well.
ReplyDeleteIt seems to be a toss up to me. I certainly lean more towards thinking it is beneficial to the students. For this reason, I would certainly try it with my students
Oh wow, Claudia! How cool! I LOVE this idea of creating online discussion boards and lit. blogs for students. An idea that got stressed early on in the coursework is how little instruction time teachers really have with students. No matter what reading we're discussing, we only have so much time to talk about the story or book before the bells rings. I think this is a great tool for students who are accustomed to writing online via blogs, Facebook posts, etc. Online discussions gives students a chance to really delve into the material and consider their initial impressions without the pressure of other students or time constraints. I'm bookmarking the sites you recommended in the slideshows! Very neat!
ReplyDeleteI have found that using the Internet to backchannel in the classroom has been beneficial. This is a great example of way to extend this outside the classroom. I am also very intrigued by Gaggle. Seems like a very good option for schools.
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