Blended Tools: Turn Up the H.E.A.T.
Blending Pedagogy, Digital Tools, ReadWriteThink, and Print
What does it mean to turn up the H.E.A.T.?
Link: The HEAT Framework
ELEMENTARY STRATEGIES
Station #1: Student Questions and Backchannel
Grade Levels: 2-5
The Digital Age Best Practice, Bolstering purposeful inquiry through student questions, is about flipping the traditional exchange of teacher questioning and students responding to students questioning and both students and teachers responding. One strategy that explores student-led questioning is called “Quescussions”. The Quescussions strategy has students begin their exploration of a new topic by asking only questions.
- Click on Backchannel
- Review the picture and the caption
- Add questions with your group members. If someone adds a statement instead of a question say statement!!!
Text Connection: Using the Jolly Postman to Make Connections
Grade Levels: K-5
The Jolly Postman is a book that follows a postman as he delivers letters from different characters from fairy tales (e.g., an apology letter from Goldilocks to the Three Bears). The best writing connection would be to have students pick a character from a story you have already read and have them write a letter to a character in the new story you are reading. You can use Quesscussions from Station 1 to have students brainstorm questions connecting the two texts.
K-2 Apps
Voice Recording in Google Docs
Book Cover Creator
Fact Fragment Frenzy
Station #2: Using Word Clouds to Increase Student Cognition
Grade Levels: 3-5
One way to scaffold students who are still developing their comprehension skills is to create a Word Cloud that shows the most frequent words in a passage. The more often the word is used in the passage, the bigger the word will be. Having students predict what the passage will be about based on the Word Cloud is a great way to increase the level of student cognition.
Experience It Yourself
Step 1: Choose a Word Cloud Tool
Step 2: Create a Word Cloud of a story or passage that you will be teaching this year
Step 3: Post the link to the Word Cloud you created to Word Cloud Form (See Responses and Samples)
Text Connection: It Looked Like Spilt Milk
Grade Levels: K-2
3-5 Apps
Read Works Article-A-Day
Link: Read Works Article-A-Day
Eye on Idioms
Hints about Print
Station #3: Networked Collaboration Through Writing Roulette
Grade Levels: 3-5
Link: Student Collaboration- Using Google Docs for Writing Roulette
Make sure you use the Share button to Share your story with leechelmoersch@gmail.com
LoTi Level- 3 (Could be higher if the prompt connects to the real world)
Station 4: Making Authentic Connections Through SQPL Questions
Grade Levels: 2-5
Experience It Yourself
- SQPL promotes purposeful reading and learning by prompting students to ask and answer their own questions about content.
- Based on the content, create a statement that will generate student curiosity. Sometimes the most OUTRAGEOUS statements create the most questions. The statement should also connect the content to a real-world problem.
- Present the statement to students. "Hansel and Gretel should be arrested for vandalizing the witch's house."
- Have students pair up and, based on the statement, generate two or three questions they would like answered.
- NOW it is your turn. Think of a content objective that you currently teach and transform it into a SQPL Statement by clicking on the SQPL Reflection Form below.
In your response, make sure that you describe:
- What is your content objective and corresponding SQPL Statement?
- How would the SQPL Strategy help facilitate student learning on your campus?
- What would you see as the opportunities and challenges of using the SQPL Strategy on your campus?
Post your responses to these questions in the SQPL Reflection Form.
H: 5-6
EdPuzzle: Assessing Students with Twitter-Style Exit Slips
Kid President Talks to Tom Hanks about Heroes!
Exploring the Achievement Series Reports
LeeChel Moersch
Email: leechelmoersch@gmail.com
Website: www.loticonnection.com
Location: Probably on a Plane!
Phone: 972-523-1053
Twitter: @leechel