Primary Pad as a Vehicle for Collaborative Brainstorming: Part One

When mentoring our pre-service and in-service teachers we need to describe and model both research-based and clinically tested best practices, and demonstrate how these best practices can be applied in the real (i.e. physical) and virtual (online) classroom for both teaching and teacher training. Accordingly in this section of the blog we will describe how the internet can serve as a supplemental resource for instruction and the mentoring of pre-service and in-service Jewish educators. This is the first part of a two-part post demonstrating how the teacher/mentor can engage his/her or class students/mentees in collaborative brainstorming by using the web 2.0 tool Primary Pad.


Here is a tutorial on using Primary Pad: http://vimeo.com/8454210


Assumption: The teacher or mentor teacher has an interactive white board (i.e. SMART Board, Promethean, etc.), a Tablet PC (also called a Slate or Blade), a computer presenter or computer with internet access attached to an LCD projector in the classroom. It would be ideal if students or mentees had access to their own laptop computers as well.

Note: Although this lesson plan idea is designed for the Judaic Studies classroom, it can be also be used for training pre-service and in-service Jewish educators for professional or staff development. For example, the Primary Pad can be used to co-create a lesson plan, a unit, a professional development or staff development plan, or a curriculum project. It is our hope that Jewish educators around the globe will form an online community of practice, a CoP, a group of people who share an interest, a craft, and/or a profession, to enhance the delivery of instruction and training of Jewish educators.

Note: We will use the word teacher and student in this lesson plan idea. For purposes of staff development training replace the word (a) teacher with mentor teacher, staff developer, teacher trainer or college professor, (b) and student with mentee, client, pre-service or in-service teacher, undergraduate or graduate student.


Let’s first define the terms brainstorming and group brainstorming.


Brainstorming is both and individual and group procedure for the generation of ideas.


Here are the rules for engagement for group brainstorming

· You may say anything that comes to mind during the allotted time limit.
· You may repeat or modify the ideas previously presented.
· You may not discuss, praise, criticize, or reject the ideas presented.
· Select someone to record the ideas suggested.
· Evaluate ideas after brainstorming is completed.

In the next post we wish share the second part of this two-part post on how to train your students or mentees to use the web 2.0 collaborative writing tool, Primary Pad for individual and group brainstorming.

Primary Pad, A Collaborative Writing Tool for Round Robin Writing

When mentoring our pre-service and in-service teachers we need to describe and model both research-based and clinically tested best practices, and demonstrate how these best practices can be applied in the real (i.e. physical) and virtual (online) classroom for both teaching and teacher training. Accordingly in this section of the blog we will describe how the internet can serve as a supplemental resource for instruction and the mentoring of pre-service and in-service Jewish educators. In this post we will share how the teacher/mentor can engage his or class students/mentees in collaborative writing by using the cooperative procedure Round Robin Writing on the Primary Pad platform.

Here is a tutorial on using Primary Pad: http://vimeo.com/8454210

Assumption: The teacher or mentor teacher has an interactive white board (i.e. SMART Board, Promethean, etc.), a Tablet PC (also called a Slate or Blade), a computer presenter or computer with internet access attached to an LCD projector in the classroom. It would be ideal if students or mentees had access to their own laptop computers as well.

Note: Although this lesson plan idea is designed for the Judaic Studies classroom, it can be also be used for training pre-service and in-service Jewish educators for professional or staff development. For example, the Primary Pad can be used to co-create a lesson plan, a unit, a professional development or staff development plan, or a curriculum project.It is our hope that Jewish educators around the globe will form an online community of practice, a CoP, a group of people who share an interest, a craft, and/or a profession, to enhance the delivery of instruction and training of Jewish educators.

Note: We will use the word teacher and student in this lesson plan idea. For purposes of staff development training replace the word (a) teacher with mentor teacher, staff developer, teacher trainer or college professor, (b) and student with mentee, client, pre-service or in-service teacher, undergraduate or graduate student.

What is Round Robin Writing?

Round Robin writing involves a small group of students (i.e. from two to four students) composing a story in sequential order (i.e. either clockwise or counter-clockwise) in a round robin fashion. Let’s simulate a round robin writing scenario.

Assumption: The teacher places students into triads.

In this scenario the triad contains student #1, student #2, and student #3.

The teacher or student #1 begins the story. In this case, the teacher begins the story and writes this sentence on the interactive white board using the Primary Pad web tool: “It was not that long ago that... “

Then student #1 continues the story and, for example, writes the following sentences using the Primary Pad collaborative tool : “ the most amazing thing happened to me on the way to (Hebrew, day) school today. I found this book on a park bench and noticed that the cover contained Hebrew letters. I opened the book to see if there was any writing inside, and lo and behold there was a note that said...”

Then student # 3 continues the story and writes his or her sentences using the Primary Pad for collaborating writing.

When all the triads complete their story, they share them with their classmates or peers.

On the next post we will describe how students/mentees can brainstorm ideas online by using the web tool Primary Pad.

Additional Web 2.0 Basic Collaborative Writing Tools that are Similar to Type With Me

When mentoring our pre-service and in-service teachers we need to describe and model both research-based and clinically tested best practices, and demonstrate how these best practices can be applied in the real (i.e. physical) and virtual (online) classroom for both teaching and teacher training. Accordingly in this section of the blog we will describe how the internet can serve as a supplemental resource for instruction and the mentoring of pre-service and in-service Jewish educators. In this post we will share additional web 2.0 basic collaborative writing tools that operate like Type With Me.

Assumption: The teacher or mentor teacher has an interactive white board (i.e. SMART Board, Promethean, etc.), a Tablet PC (also called a Slate or Blade), a computer presenter or computer with internet access attached to an LCD projector in the classroom. It would be ideal if students or mentees had access to their own laptop computers as well.

Note: Type With Me can also be used for teachers to co-create a lesson plan, a unit, a professional development or staff development plan, or a curriculum project


Below you will find additional web 2.0 collaborative writing tools similar to Type With Me:

• http://primarypad.com/
• http://meetingwords.com/
• http://www.cynapse.com/syncin
• http://ietherpad.com/
• http://titanpad.com/
• http://piratepad.net/

• 
  

On the next post we show how the web writing tool, Primary Pad, can be used for round robin writing.

Class Story Writing Using Type With Me

When mentoring our pre-service and in-service teachers we need to describe and model both research-based and clinically tested best practices, and demonstrate how these best practices can be applied in the real (i.e. physical) and virtual (online) classroom for both teaching and teacher training. Accordingly in this section of the blog we will describe how the internet can serve as a supplemental resource for instruction and the mentoring of pre-service and in-service Jewish educators. In this post we will share how the teacher or mentor teacher can place students/mentees in writing pairs who create their own class story by using the web tool, Type With Me.

Assumption: The teacher or mentor teacher has an interactive white board (i.e. SMART Board, Promethean, etc.), a Tablet PC (also called a Slate or Blade), a computer presenter or computer with internet access attached to an LCD projector in the classroom. It would be ideal if students or mentees had access to their own laptop computers as well.

Note: Although this lesson plan idea is designed for the Judaic Studies classroom, it can be also be used for training pre-service and in-service Jewish educators for professional or staff development. For example, the Type With Me can be used to co-create a lesson plan, a unit, a professional development or staff development plan, or a curriculum project. It is our hope that Jewish educators around the globe will form an online community of practice, a CoP, a group of people who share an interest, a craft, and/or a profession, to enhance the delivery of instruction and training of Jewish educators.

Note: We will use the word teacher and student in this instructional activity. For purposes of staff development training replace the word (a) teacher with mentor teacher, staff developer, teacher trainer or college professor, (b) and student with mentee, client, pre-service or in-service teacher, undergraduate or graduate student.

Note: Type With Me can also be used for teachers to co-create a lesson plan, a unit, a professional development or staff development plan, or a curriculum project.

*Class Story Writing Using Type With Me

This activity involves the class writing a story together with everyone contributing in some way. In addition each student is given the opportunity to use the collaborative writing tool, Type With Me.

Step One: The teacher writes a title and a short introduction to a story from the Tanach onto an white interactive board, a classroom presenter or a computer with internet access attached to an LCD projector. “ For example, in a Judaic Studies classroom the teacher might type the following words: “Once upon a time in the land of Egypt a Jewish child was born and his name was Moses “. For a training session for mentees, the mentor teacher might write these words. “ One of the challenges we face in Jewish education is reaching students who are not highly motivated. With your learning partner, brainstorm a list of activities a teacher can implement to motivate students who come to class not particularly highly motivated to learn. ”

Note: The following steps apply to the Judaic Studies classroom only.

Step Two: At the beginning of the day, read the title and the introduction and explain that by the end of the day every child in class will write a portion of the story of Moses on his or her computer.

Step Three: Each student is given an opportunity to add to the story.

Step Four: At the end of the day, the teacher or an able student selected by the teacher writes the conclusion of the story.

Step Five: At the end of the day the teacher or selected students read the story which is then emailed to each child and his or her parents or guardians. The story can also be posted on the class's or school's website.

* This lesson idea is adapted from http://www.teachingideas.co.uk/ict/sharedwr.htm

On the next post we will introduce additional collaborative writing web tools that are similar to Type With Me.

Paired Story or Narrative Writing Using Type With Me: Part Two

When mentoring our pre-service and in-service teachers we need to describe and model both research-based and clinically tested best practices, and demonstrate how these best practices can be applied in the real (i.e. physical) and virtual (online) classroom for both teaching and teacher training. Accordingly in this section of the blog we will describe how the internet can serve as a supplemental resource for instruction and the mentoring of pre-service and in-service Jewish educators. In this post we will share how the teacher or mentor teacher can place students/mentees in writing pairs who create their own narratives by using the web tool, Type With Me.

This is the first part of a two-part blog post demonstrating how this basic collaborative writing web tool, Type With Me, can be used for paired story or narrative writing. The second part of this blog post follows.

Assumption: The teacher or mentor teacher has an interactive white board (i.e. SMART Board, Promethean, etc.), a Tablet PC (also called a Slate or Blade), a computer presenter or computer with internet access attached to an LCD projector in the classroom. It would be ideal if students or mentees had access to their own laptop computers as well.

Note: Although this lesson plan idea is designed for the Judaic Studies classroom, it can be also be used for training pre-service and in-service Jewish educators for professional or staff development. It is our hope that Jewish educators around the globe will form an online community of practice, a CoP, group of people who share an interest, a craft, and/or a profession, to enhance the delivery of instruction and training of Jewish educators.

Note: We will use the word teacher and student in this lesson plan idea. For purposes of staff development training replace the word (a) teacher with mentor teacher, staff developer, teacher trainer or college professor, (b) and student with mentee, client, pre-service or in-service teacher, undergraduate or graduate student.

Story or Narrative Writing Template for Pairs

Assumption: The teacher creates a template for collaborative writing. See below:

The title of this story/narrative is:

Introduction: It all began...

Then...

It seems to us

Conclusion: Therefore ...

Step Four: Using the interactive white board the teacher and a selected student create their own story or narrative. For example they might create a narrative on their exodus from Egypt, the meaning of a text in the Tanach, a midrash, the perfect Shabbat, their imaginary trip to Israel, etc.

Step Five: Students in dyads write their own stories either in the physical or virtual classroom.

Step Six: Each writing pair emails its story to the teacher.

Note: The teacher may want to read each pair’s narrative before it is emailed to other students.

Step Seven: Teacher conducts a classroom discussion on the process of creating a paired story or narrative by using the Type With Me web tool and may pose these kinds of questions:

· How would you describe the process of writing a story/narrative with another person?

· How would you describe the process of writing a story/narrative using the Type With me web tool?

· What was the most challenging part of this process?

· What was the easiest part of this process?

· What did you learn about yourself from this exercise?

· What did you learn about paired writing from this process?

· What would you do differently next time when you are engaged in paired writing?

On the next post we will describe how the members of a class or cadre of mentees can write a story by using the Type With Me web 2.0 collaborative writing tool.

Paired Story or Narrative Writing Using Type With Me: Part One

When mentoring our pre-service and in-service teachers we need to describe and model both research-based and clinically tested best practices, and demonstrate how these best practices can be applied in the real (i.e. physical) and virtual (online) classroom for both teaching and teacher training. Accordingly in this section of the blog we will describe how the internet can serve as a supplemental resource for instruction and the mentoring of pre-service and in-service Jewish educators. In this post we will share how the teacher or mentor teacher can place students/ mentees in writing pairs who create their own narratives by using the web tool, Type With Me.

This is the first part of a two-part blog post demonstrating how this basic collaborative writing web tool, Type With Me, can be used for paired story or narrative writing.

Assumption: The teacher or mentor teacher has an interactive white board (i.e. SMART Board, Promethean, etc.), a Tablet PC (also called a Slate or Blade), a computer presenter or computer with internet access attached to an LCD projector in the classroom. It would be ideal if students or mentees had access to their own laptop computers or Ipads as well.

Note: Although this lesson plan idea is designed for the Judaic Studies classroom, it can be also be used for training pre-service and in-service Jewish educators for professional or staff development. It is our hope that Jewish educators around the globe will form an online community of practice, a CoP, group of people who share an interest, a craft, and/or a profession, to enhance the delivery of instruction and training of Jewish educators.

Note: We will use the word teacher and student in this lesson plan idea. For purposes of staff development training replace the word (a) teacher with mentor teacher, staff developer, teacher trainer or college professor, (b) and student with mentee, client, pre-service or in-service teacher, undergraduate or graduate student.

Step One: Teacher places students into writing pairs or dyads.

Step Two: Teacher demonstrates how each pair can create its own unique Type With Me collaborative writing page or the teacher can assign each writing dyad its own specific url for this web 2.0 tool. See the note below.

Note: The teacher can create a Type with Me collaborative writing page for each writing pair, and assign each writing dyad a specific url on which to create their narrative. Knowing the specific url of each writing dyad allows the teacher to observe how each student is contributing to their narrative because (a) each student’s contribution can be written with a different font or color and (b) Type with me has a playback feature called the ‘time slider’ which replays the evolution of the document.

Step Three: With another student the teacher demonstrates how two people can create their own unique story or narrative by using this story creation template.

On the next post we will share the second part of a two-part post demonstrating how the web tool, Type With Me, can be used for paired story or narrative writing.

Application of Type With Me in the Judaic Physical or Virtual Classroom for Students, Teachers, Mentor Teachers and Staff Developers

When mentoring our pre-service and in-service teachers we need to describe and model both research-based and clinically tested best practices, and demonstrate how these best practices can be applied in the real (i.e. physical) and virtual (online) classroom for both teaching and teacher training. Accordingly in this section of the blog we will describe how the internet can serve as a supplemental resource for instruction and the mentoring of pre-service and in-service Jewish educators. In this post we will discuss the web 2.0 tool, Type With Me, for collaborative writing in the Judaic physical or virtual for students, teachers, mentor teachers and staff developers.

Assumption: The teacher or mentor teacher has an interactive white board (i.e. SMART Board, Promethean, etc.), a Tablet PC (also called a Slate or Blade), a computer presenter or computer with internet access attached to an LCD projector in the classroom. It would be ideal if students or mentees had access to their own laptop computers as well.

Here is a set of suggested steps for implementing a lesson demonstrating how to teach students or mentees (i.e. pre-service or in-service teachers) to use Type With Me for collaborative writing.

Step One: The teacher opens the application Type With Me and records a few sentence fragments on the white interactive board. For example the teacher might type these fragments:

1. My favorite Jewish holiday is...

2. ________________________ is my favorite Jewish holiday because...

3. My favorite memory of _________________________ was ....

Step Two: Individual students or mentees complete the first sentence at their desk on paper or preferably on their computer using the Type With Me web tool.

Step Three. The teacher/mentor teacher monitors how successfully his or her students/mentees are completing their first sentences. If desired, students/mentees can complete this exercise in small groups of two (dyads), three (triads) or four (quads).

Step Four: Students/mentees complete sentence fragments two and three at their desk on paper or on their computer.

Step Five: Students/mentees who complete the exercise are invited to record their sentence fragments on the classroom’s white interactive board.

Note: This is an elementary form of collaborative writing between the teacher/mentor teacher who records a sentence fragment, and students/mentees who are invited to complete each teacher generated sentence fragment.

On the next post we will describe how two students or two mentees can create their own story or narrative by applying the Type With Me web tool.