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My students are preparing for a field trip to Black Diamond Mines in Antioch, CA next week. We have been studying erosion, and how the earth changes over time as a result of water, wind, erosion, and natural disasters (specifically earthquakes in our area). At the mines, students will be able to see layers in rock formations and fossil evidence. They will also be learning about how humans impact the environment by using its natural resources. The Black Diamond Mines were a coal mine in the mid 1800s. Years later, in the early 1900s, it became a salt mine, and the minerals were used to create glass bottles and jars in Oakland.
Field trips are a fantastic way for students to see first hand what it is hard to see in the classroom, even with the help of videos.
This trip also supports our Social Studies curriculum because the site was originally used for ranching, which was a major industry in CA's early economy. The mine was staffed in the 1960s by men who had lost everything in the Gold Rush during the previous decade. Students can relate to the economic impact of ranching, mining and the Gold Ruch on the economy of CA.
Before this trip, and blog writing lesson, students will explore the park's website to get an idea of what they will be seeing and learning about. They will also be coming up with questions to ask our park ranger/tour guide.
In this lesson, students will be writing a reflective blog post to share what they learned on the field trip. Initially, they will participate in a group brainstorm using a Padlet, where they will contribute the details that they remember from the previous day's trip. Then they will write their reflection in Google Docs following a criteria checklist. Sentence frames are provided for ELLs and resource students who need more support in writing. I will be able to push out the different templates to the appropriate students thanks to the recent update in Google Classroom to share assignments with individual students.
Students will also create a Google drawing to go with their written reflection. Drawings and blog posts will be shared in Seesaw where students will be able to practice digital citizenship by commenting and providing feedback on each others' posts. Creating a blog post and drawing aligns with the constructivist theory of education.
Web 2.0 Tools Used in This Lesson
Web 2.0 Tools Used in This Lesson
Google Classroom, Docs, Drawing
Google Classroom allows me to push out required links and templates to the students for them to complete the required items. With Google Docs, I can provide live-time suggestions and feedback on student writing. Google Drawing is a creative tool that allows students to create a graphic to enhance their written blog post. All these tools promote critical thinking, creativity and communication.
Padlet is a digital bulletin board where participants can add comments, and reply to others' posts.
I look forward to using it in the classroom because it will allow the students to share out what they remembered simultaneously. They can build on each others' comments. I will share the link to the padlet in Google Classroom so the students can access it quickly and easily. The padlet is saved, and students can access it again. This is especially beneficial for students who are absent. It supports collaboration and communication for ALL students - not just the few hands a teacher would be able to call on in a class discussion. It also gives a voice to quieter and more introverted students. For students who struggle with coming up with ideas for their writing, they will have a whole padlet full of ideas that they can draw on.
I'm interested in finding more ways to use Padlet in the classroom. It could be a good place for student to share picture of their artwork so we could have a class art gallery, or a place for student to share links to site or videos when we are working on a research project.
Seesaw - The Digital Learning Journal
Students will share their Google Drawing as a link and paste their written paragraph in the caption. the posts will be shared on our Seesaw class blog where students will be able to comment and provide feedback for their classmates. Blogging helps students develop digital literacy and citizenship skills. Students will have to master basic computing skills such as copying and pasting, as well as changing the share settings on their Google drawing so that other people will be able to see their Google drawing. These are important digital literacy skills to practice.
Sharing their work with a broad audience encourages students to improve the quality of their writing. The feedback and commenting helps promote communication skills. Currently my students' parents are connected to our Seesaw blog, but the next step is finding other classes to share our blog with. Hopefully we can read and learn about other place in the country that other classes have visited on field trips. I am following @Seesaw and the hashtags #seesaw and #seesawblogs to find other classes for my students to connect with.
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