Discussion Blog

Big Idea: Create a discussion blog to engage all students rather than the same five kids that volunteer every single day!

Format: The class read Our Town by Thornton Wilder. The last twenty minutes of each class were spent in the computer lab, answering discussion questions. Students not only responded to my questions, but also commented on the responses that other students had posted.

Bonus: Because the students knew that everyone could see their work, they took their time crafting intelligent and well-written responses rather than just scribbling something down. Even the lower-level, less confident students became comfortable with the assignments because they wait a minute to see other students postings for some verification that their ideas were on track.