On the Trails

Steven Spielberg did not direct E.T. to keep to himself.  He did so in hopes that it would be a film that people would love.  In schools we tend to have students create products for a grade and usually only for the teacher.  That mentality just makes me sad…. ;-(

Well, to counteract the sadness I feel, I felt that I needed to post some ideas of how kids can share their work with the world.

Think of the world as your student’s audience and post their work to a place that will allow feedback. I think a blog, wiki or message board will work.  If you have access to a web server, you are GOLDEN!  Here are some things to think about:

1. Web Server space – in order for the world to see their products, you need to publish to the World Wide Web – which requires a web server. If you don’t have access to a web server, skip down to number 2.  If you do, you are very lucky and your life will be better – in regards to publishing student work anyway.
2. If kids are going to create a product focused on text and images, don’t have them make it in Microsoft Word and then upload the file, that is extra work.  Have them create the blog or wiki page.
3. Consider why you want kids to use PowerPoint – it makes things more complicated when publishing to the web
4. Podcasts can be hosted on iTunes

Once you have decided to publish your student’s work to the WWW, you will need to address the following:

1. Make sure the work is edited – especially for spelling – Inventive spelling is cute, but it is still wrong.  If the kids can’t spell, fix their spelling yourself
2. Students must understand that, in theory, their work is available to everyone on the web who can find their web page
3. Students need to make sure that their work is original and that they cited any work that is not their own.
4. They need to know that they are the copyright holders.
5. If you wish to have people (including non-students) provide feedback, use your classroom blog, allow anonymous posting and make sure that you moderate comments!
6. Make sure that the students have access to the feedback and that a lesson is planned that teaches kids how to use that feedback in positive ways.  Teachers should also teach students that just because someone provides feedback, that they do not have to follow it and that some feedback is not worth the trouble of thinking about its meaning.

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