Teaching in a Networked Environment

I’ve been thinking of how to integrate wikis and building web pages easily into my grade 6 classes. Primarily because they’re the oldest grade I teach. I also wanted to use a wiki as a project share with my Technology Triad team.

Here’s what happened. In grade 6 we’re working on formatting and working in a networked environment. Here’s the rubric for my plan.


Headline
Add your last name in a single centered headline in your header, size 36 if possible. Use a graphic style font as a top and bottom border in your headline. Add your full name on the Editor line and the date (including the day of the week). Click Insert, Date and Time. Click the box that reads, “update automatically” in order for your date to update each.

Double-space your newsletter drafts. Click Format, Paragraph, and Line Spacing-double before you begin any work. You can change your work into columns towards the end of this project.


Subheadings
Include the following topics as subheadings; Mathematics, Language Arts, Science, Social Studies, Favorite Project, Extra Curricular Activity/Event, and Most Wanted Teacher. Type Subheadings in size 18, bold and underlined. Make Subheadings the identical color to your Headline. Do not separate your subheadings from your articles if at all possible!

Bylines
Are used to credit the work of someone other than you. Bylines appear in the same font style as your subheadings, and are one size smaller.


Mathematics
By Linda Perryclear
Write 3-4 sentences about your math class here. Your article should contain information about what math covers during grade 6. Give two examples of specific math topics and one math project you already completed this year.



Language Arts
By Lu Dujour
Create 3-4 sentences about your Language Arts class here. Your article should contain the specifics about what is covered in Language Arts during grade 6. Give two examples of specific Language Arts topics and one L.A. project you completed this year.

Science
By Whitey Rabbit
Write 3-4 sentences about your Science class here. Your article should contain information about what Science covers during grade 6. Give two examples of specific Science topics and one Science project you already completed this year.


Social Studies
By Pam Thomas
Compose 3-4 sentences about your Social Studies class here. Your article should contain information about what Social Studies covers during grade 6. Give two examples of specific Social Studies topics and one Social Studies project you already completed this year.


Favorite Project
By Cathy Morris
Enter information about your favorite project under this subheading. Tell the reader the goal\objective o f the assignment, how you did or did to reach your expected outcome and why this project was your favorite.


Extra Curricular Activity or School Event
By Dan Sullivan
Tell your rears about a special school activity, team or school wide event you enjoyed during this year. Use at least 4 lines of text.


Most Wanted Teacher
By Eddie Arnold
Do you have a teacher you would like to spend more class time with? Use this section to tell your readers about this person. Add a fun fact or two about this person without revealing their name. Add a picture of this teacher if you can!


Contributors
Enter in all your contributors & web resources here in size 16. Use bullets if you want.
o Highlight your contributor’s names
o Click Format
o Click Bullets & Numbering
o Click your favorite bullet style


Final Formatting Instructions
Once your newsletter is typed, apply\check these steps to your document. Take your time because accuracy counts.
1. Insert a picture of yourself under the Editor text.
2. Click Insert, Picture from File. Click on the list of pictures. Use your arrow keys to scroll. Once you find one of yourself (remember, you’re the Editor), Click Insert.

Next, Check your spelling and grammar.
1. Click Tools, Spelling and Grammar.
2. Enter your word count in your footer (see this sheet for an example).


The last part includes changing the text to column format.
1. Click Format, Columns. Select three columns.

Compare your document to this one. Double-check your steps. Hint, this font is Times New Roman, size 12. Add similar lines around each graphic too.

Extra Credit (5 points): Add a labeled picture of your school in the bottom right corner of this document.

You can copy and paste it into a word document and then use 3 columns. It will look great. I’ve also included it for your use. I began class with letting the student’s keyboard on Typing Master online. It’s our standard start-up procedure and helps those that want to get started do so, and those who need a bit of time to get started.

I brought up Plymouth State University’s Technology and Learning in a Networked Environment class wiki.

The student’s understanding of sharing a networked site is good, as our upper elementary school uses Edline for a class web site. They can jump to web sites (like typing master, or my portaportal.com) from there easily, view their grades, and download documents to work on.

What they absolutely loved was the fact they could contribute to a site. We can’t do this in class because they don’t have e-mail accounts, however they could get the look and feel of it. We visited my professor’s school in Shanghai, China right off the link too. They noticed the American flag, and that everything was in English. We jumped to the K12onlineconference at and heard my professor’s podcast. They were amazed.

Here’s the tie-in. This ordinary formatting assignment that would create a newspaper for the incoming grade became global. They wanted to write as if 5th graders from around the world were going to be 6th graders at the Armand R. Dupont School (psst... I don't manage the site).

Truly Amazing!