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Forums in the Classroom
The use of forums in Fayette County Schools has just
exploded! Thanks to the efforts of TRTs, Leanna Prater, Jamie Burch,
and Julie Gaskin, teachers all over the districting are getting
involved. Cardinal Valley teacher Mike Pickard is using the forum
with his Read 180 students. He posts a question and the students answer the question by starting a new
thread making it easier to keep track of who has responded and if they have responded to a classmate. Currently, Mrs. VanDyke at Clays Mill is using it to discuss topics in the classroom. Usually they are things the children want to talk about, but there is not enough time. She mentioned that she was going to try and use it for journaling and literature response.
Mrs. Ramsey and Mrs. Hoyt at Cardinal Valley are using it to discuss social studies topics like the revolutionary war (who was right, the British or the Colonists), reasons why people moved west and what items were most important and jobs in colonial America.
Leanna Prater has come up with a check sheet
to help teachers assess their students. It is kind of general so that it can be adapted to whatever the topic is about or what the teacher is looking for.
She included participation and appropriate response, because those are important in any forum discussion. Ideas for forums
- Post messages for your students to read.
- Use for small group discussions in literature.
- Discuss topics in the book you are reading.
- Discuss with other groups regarding themes, author
styles.
- Discuss vocabulary or have students use new
vocabulary.
- Discuss opinions about literature.
- Discuss topics in the news
- Discuss "big questions" in social studies (Do
you think that the south had a right to leave the union?)
- Discuss predictions for science experiments.
- Teacher could post a problem of the day for students to
answer.
- Use as a springboard for classroom meetings.
- Use as a way of communicating for group projects.
- Include a link to a website in the forum and some open
ended questions. Have the students read the information on the website,
then discuss the questions-or have them post their own!!
- Develop projects with other classrooms in the school,
county or anyplace else. Use the forum as a way to discuss. Examples
might be a joint book study, comparing cultures, learning about climates
in the US, or regions of KY. You could write a story with another class.
- Looking for a way to include special needs students,
have them participate in discussions while meeting with their special
needs teacher.
- Post questions that you are discussing in class, but
run out of time!
- Post questions that you are planning to discuss in
class and want your students to be thinking about prior to this.
- Use to include special area classes. Have the art,
music or PE teacher post questions in their forums and have students
answer them in regular classroom. You could tie it to something you are
studying.
http://tlt.its.psu.edu/suggestions/discuss/
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Submitted by Leanna
Prater
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Inspiring Students in Social Studies
Are you searching for ways to make American history more
fun? Students in Ms.
Hinkson-Lee’s 8th grade classes at Winburn (pictured above)
have been using the American History Inspirer program based on the Civil
War era. Students plan trips across
the country in pursuit of economic and political
characteristics. They use maps that
show how our country developed throughout the years leading up to the Civil
War, such as abolition of slavery in
the north and expansion to the western territories.
Students work in groups with maps to plan their route and then enter
their route into one computer in the classroom.
The computer keeps score for the competing teams.
Students come away with a new knowledge of the antislavery movement,
the Industrial Revolution, and westward expansion.
They also gain valuable experience in working together as a team.
 The Inspirer series of software also includes Africa
Inspirer. Mrs. Smiley’s 6th
grade social studies classes at Southern Middle School (pictured at the
right) recently worked with this program. Groups of students plan routes across the continent using the seven maps
in search of key natural resources. The
students in Mrs. Smiley’s class had worked with Asia Inspirer earlier in
the year and liked it so much they asked me to come back and do Africa when
the time came. It’s a great
program for motivating students while teaching geography and building group
problem-solving skills.
Other
Inspirer programs include National, International, Asia, and Europe
Inspirer. If you would like to see
these programs demonstrated or would like to use any of these with your
classes, contact your TRT or Kim Overstreet for assistance.
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Submitted by Kim
Overstreet
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