Thursday, July 16, 2015

Students and real time blogging

In many schools, getting students to write daily is difficult or possibly important. But what if we make them the story-tellers of the school?

First we've got to get them to be observers, gathering lots and lots of details, sights, sounds and smells. A chemistry class where a lab is going on becomes a story:

VISUAL: A flash of blue and yellow fire lighted Mrs. Egbert's desk as she demonstrated how two chemicals put together created one that was combustible but that on their own were not.

SOUND: Students gasped at the brightly colored flash and SMELL noticed the harsh smell of the two chemicals. ACTION Senior Edward Stevens lined up at Egbert's desk to get the supplies he needed to replicate. He smiled over at junior Ellen Enders who waited beside him as part of his team. Two others waited at their lab table.

SOUND: (An audio quote) "I always like it when I get to play with fire. (Edward) (Laughter) "I just have to make sure to stand back. Remember the paper you caught on fire the last time," (Ellen)

While five teams prepared to perform the lab, Mrs. Egbert walked the room, moving items to safety and asking questions to make sure each table knew what was to happen.

Within minutes, each group had successfully ignited the chemicals and were laughing at the fun.

If we can get them to get the sights and sounds, writing a blog should be the next step.

Judy Babb
West Mesquite HS
Mesquite, Texas

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