Sunday, October 16, 2016

1:30-2:30 pm EST
Blogging in the Classroom: Purpose, Planning and Perseverance 
Returning Featured Speaker: Beth Rogers, Clarkston Community Schools, MI
Moderator: Jillian Johnson, Oakland Schools ISD, MI
​RECORDING ​   SLIDES    RESOURCES

In this session, participants will think through the steps of beginning to blog with their students - setting purpose, choosing a platform, and creating interdisciplinary connections. We will consider the benefits and potential roadblocks with blogging through activities and ongoing discussion. Participants will learn how blogging can become an integral part of writing practice that extends beyond the classroom. We will approach this webinar using the Triple E Framework.

3:00-4:00 pm EST
​Scaffolding Argumentative Writing From Multiple Online Sources 
Special Invited Guest: Julie Coiro, University of Rhode Island
Moderator: Amber White, Saginaw Bay Writing Project
​RECORDING    SLIDES    RESOURCES

This session introduces a newly developed Digital Online Inquiry Tool designed to scaffold how students plan, locate, organize, evaluate, and integrate evidence for and against relevant claims around a controversial issue and ultimately craft an argumentative source-based essay. After describing some of the key challenges students face during digital reading and writing tasks across multiple and conflicting online sources, Julie will discuss the notion of social deliberation (in contrast to argumentation) and share specific strategies and task features that you can use to guide students toward a deeper engagement with online texts and more productive writing techniques to weigh conflicting evidence, synthesize their opinions, and evaluate the quality of claims they encounter in online sources.

4:30-5:30 pm EST
​Creating a Digital Writer
Returning Featured Speaker: Amy Quinn, West Bloomfield Schools, MI
Moderator: Jill Runstrom, Chippewa River Writing Project
​RECORDING    SLIDES    RESOURCES

This session will take a look at innovative ways you can incorporate digital writing into an elementary classroom with ease! K-2 student work will be shared that focuses on curriculum standards in ELA, along with tips on how to get young students typing and on their way to a life of digital expression. Learn how to take writing workshop lessons to a whole new level, ways to blog in Early Childhood classrooms and how to fine tune writing instruction!

6:00-7:00 pm EST
Flipped Learning in English Language Arts
Special Invited Guests: Clarice Moran, Kennesaw State University & Carl Young, North Carolina State University
​Moderator: ​Delia DeCourcy, Oakland Writing Project
​RECORDING    SLIDES    RESOURCES

Flipping – a current innovation embraced by many in educational community – is the focus of this session. In the flipped classroom model, the teacher typically makes an instructional video for students to watch outside of class and then designs activities for completion during class. Yet, some educators argue that this paradigm is just another form of the teacher delivering didactic lectures and students relying on her for information (Hamden, McKnight, McKnight, & Arfstrom, 2013). We see an opportunity for the flipped model to be repurposed to allow for more authentic student voices in the English language arts classroom by engaging students in a more autonomous and democratic environment. Our constructivist approach to flipped learning involves the creation of Student-Made Application of Researched Topic (SMART) Videos and Digital Video (DV) Sound Bites. Ultimately, we believe that student-made videos can help students take a more active role in the flipped classroom and help transform what is often still a teacher-centered focus. This cooperative learning approach may increase engagement and provide a dynamic environment for learners. This session will ideally help other teachers envision opportunities for their students to have a more authentic voice and experience a more constructivist-oriented classroom. We'll discuss our research and experiences with the flipped method, along with presenting some examples of ways to involve students in the flipped approach.

7:30-8:30 pm EST
"Creative Writing" with Informational Texts on the Web 
Special Invited Guest: Michael Deschryver, Central Michigan University
Moderator: Delia DeCourcy, Oakland Writing Project
​RECORDING    SLIDES    

Creativity in schools is often reserved for the arts, theater, music and ELA classrooms, while creative writing is typically bound by narrative and character development. However, as creative thinking is increasingly emphasized across academic disciplines and in the workforce, students need to develop a different form of creative writing – one based on using the information they find on the Web as a foundation for creative insight and communication. In this session, we will explore how some college students are learning to do just this, and how this model might be repurposed for K-12 settings.

9:00-10:00 pm EST
What's on the Menu? Blogging Three Ways
Featured Speaker: Amanda Cornwell, Lake Michigan Writing Project
​Moderator: Lisa Rivard, Macomb Intermediate School District, MI 
​RECORDING    SLIDES    RESOURCES

With a variety of sweet tech tools available for teachers and students, participants in this session will be served a hearty portion of a savory staple -- blogging three ways. In the first course, guests are invited to take small bites that can transform blogging into powerful professional development. Next, sit back for a serving of suggestions and examples for educators to model their writing lives. But be sure to save room for dessert where we’ll discuss the distinct flavors of inviting students into a shared blogging experience. While this session is prepared for those with a discerning palette for blogging, guests of all levels are encouraged to pull up a chair. Bon appetit!