Teaching+with+Gaggle

Ideas for Teaching with Gaggle from the JCS Website

**__ Instructional Ideas for Using Gaggle.net Student Email  __**
 * __ EMAIL  __**
 * Teachers can send everyday lessons/assignments via e-mail.
 * Students writing e-mails, blog entries, and message board posts every day support good writing skills.
 * A teacher can send different writing prompts to differently leveled groups of students to keep anonymity among lower and higher readers.
 * Completed writing assignments and journal entries can be turned in via e-mail, thus reducing paper waste.
 * Set up peer editing between ‘writing partners’ via e-mail. Those partners can be in the same class, same school or at some other school in the district.
 * Use the “Track Changes” tool in Microsoft Word for editing students’ writing and attach and send the writing via e-mails.
 * Writing projects and samples can be e-mailed to parents so that they can stay abreast of their child’s progress.
 * Some students are more motivated to do their homework if they have Gaggle tools to do it with.
 * Partners can write a story together via e-mail where one writes the first three sentences and sends it to the partner who continues with three more, and then back and forth until the project is finished.
 * Partner writing via Gaggle can teach cause and effect, sequencing and a focus on collaborative story writing.
 * Progressive story, writing where the last sentence is written first and shared back and forth between partners until the beginning is finally written and the story completed, teaches a high level of sequencing skills while using Gaggle.
 * Story problems can be delivered and collaboratively solved by students as they send step-by-step solutions back and forth to each other until the problem is solved.
 * __ DIGITAL LOCKERS   __**
 * Students can store assignments and works-in-progress in their digital lockers.
 * Students can access work stored in their digital lockers from home.
 * Students can collaborate with classmates by making certain files downloadable for a project partner.
 * __ BLOGS   __**
 * Students can use their blog as their writing journal.
 * Teachers can enter student blogs and delete or re-write students’ entries.
 * Students can use their blogs to write about current events.
 * Multiple subject area teachers can have their students use their blogs for each of their class assignments, as long as the entries are separated by project titles.
 * Students can use their blogs as a question and response venue for literature they are reading.
 * Web links to student-discovered resources can be inserted into a blog or message board for their teachers and classmates to access.
 * To stay informed about their student’s writing skills, parents can have “read only” or “write” access to their student’s blog or the class’ message board.
 * __ MESSAGE BOARDS   __**
 * Teachers can lead “Global Discussions” among just their classes, the whole school, or with any other classes around the district.
 * Teachers and students can use message boards to facilitate surveys of other students for research purposes.
 * Shy students are possibly more likely to participate in a discussion held on a message board than they are to raise their hand to participate in an oral discussion.
 * Posting on message boards gives students time to think about and digest the material presented earlier in class.
 * As student’s read each other’s posts they learn from each other and are more motivated to continue to share.
 * Teachers can use message boards to post assignments, year-book deadlines, etc.
 * Message boards can be used for homework help so students post questions, read each other’s questions, and the teacher can facilitate collaborative learning.
 * Teachers can make “student moderators” by asking more highly skilled students to answer other student’s questions on the message board.
 * Have a higher grade-level class moderate a message board for a lower grade level class.
 * Students can each have their own message board for a “first person” project and while in character as a historical figure, answer other students’ questions.
 * ELL students can have their own message board where they can have discussions at their language level perhaps discussing favorite colors, foods and activities.