Wiki for Student Book Reviews

Posted by Janice on April 15, 2009 in Internet Research, Language Arts, Teacher Voices

David Edelman, who teaches English at Ingraham High School, was looking for a project to celebrate and highlight student success in reading and writing. After the WASL is over, students see the end of the school year in sight and need something that engages their attention. David decided to use a wiki for an online culminating project. Each student writes a book review on the best book they have read all year, and publicly publishes the review to the wiki. The wiki becomes a repository for student book reviews year after year. This year’s class will be working on their projects in May, but there are great reviews there from past classes. David says: “Almost all students, in the end, thought it was fun. More importantly, they accomplished something they were proud of.”

When you go to David’s wiki to read these reviews keep these minimum student guidelines in mind. There must be:

  • a summary,
  • an explanation of why they are recommending this book,
  • a description of where this book can be found which includes links,
  • information about the author which includes links, and
  • one or two images.

If you would like to know David’s thoughts on this project and how he set it up, click on (more…)

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Digital Storytelling at SBOC

Posted by Janice on April 6, 2009 in Content Areas, English Language Learners, Photo Story 3, Social Studies, Teacher Voices

What makes the Secondary Bilingual Orientation Center unique is their student body. Students who come to the SBOC are newcomers to the United States often with little English and limited formal academic skills. They also have varying social and life skills, which makes it difficult to cope with their new home in Seattle. In order to support them, and help them adjust here, it is important to know what they feel about their country of origin.
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