Chat Rooms and 5th Graders

A chat room, a 5th Grade Classroom, and total silence...

Below is an expansion of my weekly posting covering Tech in an Elementary school (Technology is a Specials Rotation at Cherry Hills Village Elementary - students go to 5 specials).  The blog is an effort to be transparent to parents in our community about what kids are doing with Technology.  The 5th Grade chat room activity was so successful, I though I'd share it independently:

Big Picture: The overall project for 5th grade is to build a news-broadcast on the iPads covering the life and times of a Colonial.  First, using laptops and their GoogleDrive accounts, they needed to build a GooglePresentation.  Here is what we did:

 
First they answered 2 big-picture questions by creating their own thinking map in GoogleDrawing.  Here was the best part: Since everyone was connected to the same big-picture page, we opened up the chat box for all to access.  Scarry?  Sure, but not without a lesson on how chat boxes can be used as a RESOURCE.  If you walked into the room, kids were working on their diagrams.  If any of the 5th graders needed to know how to do something in GoogleDrawing (how to change the color of a box, etc.,) they posted their questions in the chat room.  So this means they had at least 2 windows going at the same time: The big-picture questions, and their own GoogleDrawing document.  They were directed to post questions in the chat room when they didn't know how to use the drawing tools (fyi - I had the students use Google Drawing at the beginning of the year...so this was not there first time creating a Google Drawing).  It was AMAZING how well they responded to that.  Kids are natural multitaskers.  

While they were working on their own diagram, they kept an eye on the chat room.  Whenever someone posted a question, several kids were right there to post answers.  The entire class was completely interdependent.  I, the teacher, was simply a facilitator.  I jumped in the chat room and clarified directions but did not respond to any "how do I" questions.  For 30 min. straight, you could hear a pin drop in the room.

THIS TOOK GROUNDWORK!  

In the beginning, we set some ground rules:
I told them they needed to monitor each other.  If someone posted something silly or goofy, a peer kindly was instructed to walk over to them and respectfully ask them to stop.  Initially, they couldn't see why they had to walk over to them..."can't I just post it in the chat room?"  We discussed how the chat box is reserved for positive posts only.  Telling someone not to do something is negative.  When kids start critiquing one another, the beginnings of cyber-bullying takes shape.  Anyway, If the silly/goofy comments persisted, even after peer-intervention, I took away their laptop for 2 min.  The time doubles for each additional infraction.  We discussed: 

Is there a time to be Goofy?  SURE!  But not in a place of learning.  Everyone has a right to learn without distraction.  If you are causing distraction by posting silly things, there are consequences for that.  If you want to be goofy, great!  Get with a buddy at home and knock yourselves out (this also led to a conversation on cyber-bullying and gossiping).  Not one kid lost their laptop for 2 min.  When they finished their responses (which they gathered from a BrainPop resource about Colonies), they "Shared" their diagram with me, I inserted Comments on their diagram letting them know if they received an A for their work, or guided them (through inserting comments) on their misperceptions.  When they finished, they moved onto the next task...
(view my tech-blog to learn about the rest of the project)

I shared the experience with the teacher in hopes that it might provide insight into a new way to instruct.  I also let the kids know they should encourage their teacher to use this tool in lessons where it might be appropriate.  It was a fantastic week and look forward to pursuing this with all 5 classes.

If you are interested in seeing what I've done with any or all grades, I post weekly here (I don't like the organization...but will live with it till I have time to attend to it)