What the Web is For

I love the kids version of Small Piece Loosely Joined. It's something that turns into required reading in my class at one point or another almost every year. This year, when we read it, I wanted the kids in my class to work on several things.

 1.) Most basically I have to ensure that kids comprehend what they are reading. While often this means discussions and lit groups, it sometimes means questions. As the kids read, I asked them to take between 5 and 10 notes from each small chapter. What catches you? What is truly important in this piece? After reading, I asked them to answer these questions:

1.) What is the web for?

2.) How is the web different from a “real place?”

3.) What do you usually use the web for?

4.) What does this quote mean: “We are human because we are connected to other humans.”

5.) How does the web help us form networks of people?

 2.) Following this and the discussion which ensued, I asked the kids to do a quickwrite. If you're not familiar with this strategy, the idea is that kids simply write for a set period of time on a topic. In this instance the topic was "what does the web mean to me." They need to write. It doesn't have to be organized, it does not necessarily even need to make sense. If they get stuck, they need to write a single word or idea out over and over again until they break out from it. The idea is to develop fluency.

After writing for a full 5 minutes, I had the kids take a highlighter and choose up to 5 ideas they thought were valuable or significant and we did some sharing about that. Finally, I asked them for up to 5 words that were going to be there keywords. What does the web mean to me? Many kids wrote things like "connections" and "global." Others had a few more specific things like "games" and "music." Others looked at ideas of "knowledge" and "learning." It was quite a collection at the end.

One final step: a form of representation of some kind.

I told them I wanted them to stretch a bit and so they were not allowed to make something ON paper. I didn't want just drawings. They could USE paper and it should be something 3 - D. We talked about criteria such as neatness and originality. We talked about the fact that they had to produce a piece of writing at the end which explained their piece. Then, over five classes of 80 minutes, they worked. I had kids making podcasts and others making paper - maiche. Some kids made dioramas while others built. It was a busy time that was fairly noisy but also productive and interesting.

In the end, some interesting projects emerged that now sit on a table outside of my classroom in front of the bulletin board. (Remember the bulletin board?) A full set of photos on flickr and a few samples below.

 

Tags: smallpieces loosely joined, kids version, david weinberger, internet, classrooms

Comments

[Jan Smith]

Brilliant.

My students are 11 year-olds, and just on the cusp of realizing the world is connected. One Fall activity we do is brainstorming on the idea of connection: what connects and how. I have cut up large letters that spell CONNECT into puzzle pieces. Each student draws a symbol of connection on their piece and then we put the whole shebang together into a large poster that hangs at the front of the class.

Some ideas are literal: lego...train tracks...connect the dots. Others are more abstract: the elements (earth-water-fire-air), love, prayer. It's an interesting process. Although kids mentioned cell phones, they didn't mention the internet this year, which surprised me...I wonder if it is so ubiquitous that they no longer notice it as connection?

Next week I'll show them last year's poster as a comparison...always interesting to see what others have come up with.

Thanks for sharing this, Clarence. I hope your kids blog their thinking, too.

[David Weinberger]

This is so cool! You sound like one heck of a teacher.

I wouldn't want to intrude in what you're doing, but if there's any way I can ever help, please let me know.

Best,

David W.

[Laurie Schaller]

You have unblocked no only your students' thinking, but mine as well. I work with emotionally disturbed students. Their obstacles present in a variety of ways, but oddly they seek sameness. Predictability can be comforting for them.

Often they think they would rather just use the textbook and do the same old thing, but in the end they always learn more from an engaging and challenging experience, and I like catching them having a good time.

The questions that you provide to increase their comprehension would also lead to improved results during my students' free writing experience. The questions also encourage students to consider technology as a gateway to communicating with the world. Communication is a common problem for most of my students, and their recognizing the web as a tool for communication is a likely tool for their future professional and personal success.

[Wendy Bartlett]

What the Web is for?
The book is very interesting in explaining what the web is, in a language that would be understandable by students at the 7th grade level. I plan to use this book for some lessons in my Language Arts class. I would like to have the students read the book and answer some pre-established questions. When the students read the book I would hope that they would learn all about the uses of the web. The author states: “So, what is the Web for? You probably use it to do research for school papers. So that is one thing that it's for. In fact, the Web was invented by Tim Berners-Lee to make it easier for scientists to use the Internet to find research papers written by other scientists. So you're using the Web just the way its creator intended.” This is what I have used it for in the past and now I am using it for more things. I am also in the process of teaching my students the different things that it can be used for. The online book will help out with this aspect of my lesson.