Technology tutorsUsing technology to transform the pre-writing experience.

OBJECTIVES: EXPOSE STUDENTS AND TUTORS TO NEW WAYS OF BRAINSTORMING BEFORE WRITING (IMINDMAP) CHANGE DYNAMIC OF STUDENT-TO-TEACHER AS THE ONLY WAY OF EVALUATING WRITING PRODUCTS (CREATE WEEBLY WEBSITE TO PUBLISH STUDENT WORK) CHANGE TUTOR-TO-TUTOR RELATIONSHIPS (USE GOOGLE PLUS CIRCLES TO ENHANCE COMMUNICATION) CHANGE TUTOR-TO-DIRECTOR RELATIONSHIPS (CREATE OPPORTUNITIES FOR TUTORS TO LEARN FROM EACH OTHER, RATHER THAN REACHING OUT TO ME) EXPAND STUDENT DESIRE TO WRITE AND IMPROVE QUALITY OF WORK BY PUBLISHING WRITING SAMPLES ONLINE AND HAVING OTHERS COMMENT ON THEIR WORK THROUGH BLOGS (WEEBLY BLOGGING)

WRITING PROCESS Pre-writing, Putting Ideas into Sentences andParagraphs, Editing, Sha

Pre-Writing Thinking of what to say (word retrieval) Organizing random ideas into sentences and paragraphs (syntax and organization of thoughts) Adding and deleting details as you move forward Thinking about the goals of the writing assignment Imindmapping helps with all of these steps

Changing Relationships:Tutors to Me/Tutors to Tutors

Oh my, the hardware issues!! Tutors became obsessed with the difficulty in getting their computers to cooperate. The PC people blamed the Apple people and vice- versa. We worked on adapting new programs to both formats. Eventually they calmed downbut it took weeks!

Tony Buzan on MindmappingClick here if you have trouble viewing this video!

Imindmaps fromwww.thinkbuzan.com

Finding out that the Kids Were Better At Imindmapping than the Teachers Very intimidating for the teachers Teachers were ready to drop it even though the kids liked it Eventually, they persisted, and now they want to use it with lots of kids and have recommended it to the other tutors.

Then Came Weebly.. The kids were so excited to post online The tutors werent..They felt that it was too complicated They did it anyway (I can be very convincing) Now they want to do the blogging on Weebly http://www.franspot.weebly.com

Weebly Homepage

Blog, blog, blog Comment on Bens mindmap 04/22/2012 2 Comments My Dream Vacation My Dream Vacation would be for four weeks during March so I can get out of school for those weeks. I choose Megan, my favorite babysitter, and my friend, Jonathan to go with me. We would leave from BWI and fly into L.A. where we will rent an Escalade. We will visit Disneyland, Universal Studios and relatives. For the last two weeks we will drive to San Francisco. I will visit more relatives there and visit the steepest, winding road there. I will have to think up more things to do because four weeks is a long time. I will plan more of the trip before we go. Comments alissa sheinbach 04/24/2012 10:06am Wow, there was so much information in that map! I really like how he used pictures on the map too. Great topic! Alissa Reply elaine gittlen 04/25/2012 7:16am Fantastic mindmap!! Id like to learn how you got the pictures on it. elaine Reply

Alissa, (One of our Tutors) on Blogging (Google + Comment) alissa sheinbach Apr 23, 2012 - Limited I think the blog idea is especially great for tutoring because in a classroom, students can at least share writing with classmates, but one-on-one there is no one else to get feedback from except the tutor. Now kids have to think about their audience in an authentic way. They also will have to think about proofreading and clarity knowing that someone not in room will read it, and they will not be able to explain anything. The writing will have to stand on its own.

A New Tutors Comment Zachary Ferentz 04/22/2012 1:34pm Im a tutor at the University of Maryland ASCDU, and I think its a fantastic idea for students to post their work online. It allows them to receive positive feedback from people all over the world, and it promotes and strengthens their creativity. I will definitely encourage my students to share their work online. Well done!

Ben makes an imindmap and writes a paragraph that gets posted on franspot.weebly.com

Parents and Friends Going Online to See Student Work Students are very excited to do next piece Students want feedback not only from teacher Changing the balance of power between tutor and student Tutors want to now create new websites for different purposes

PARADIGM SHIFT Students sharing with their parents Students sharing with their teachers Students sharing with their friends Students starting to blog on Weebly Students sharing with students

Our work with students is changing. To understand more about what we do at bowman educational services, inc., MultiFlex Tutoring, please feel free to visit our main website at: www.bowmaneducationalservices.com

NEXT STEPS 1. TRY OTHER BRAINSTORMING TOOLS FOR WRITING 2. EXPAND WEEBLY WEBSITE TO INCREASE AWARENESS OF STUDENT WORK 3. INVOLVE MORE TUTORS IN THIS PROJECT IN OUR 5 OFFICES SO THAT THEY CAN COMMUNICATE AND SHARE WITH EACH OTHER IN NEW GOOGLE PLUS CIRCLES. 4. TRY TO USE THESE TOOLS WITH PARENTS SO THEY CAN HELP THEIR KIDS MORE AT HOME 5. BUILD BLOGGING COMPONENT SO THAT STUDENTS (NOT JUST PARENTS AND TEACHERS) ARE COMMENTING ON EACH OTHERS WORK 6. CREATE AN EVALUATION TOOL TO MEASURE THE EFFECTIVENESS OF EACH PRE-WRITING PROGRAM.

WHAT STRUCTURES OF LEARNING CHANGED FROM THE TRADITIONAL MODE? WRITING BECAME A PUBLIC EVENT TO BE APPRECIATED BY A WIDER, INTERESTED AUDIENCE DYSGRAPHIC STUDENTS WERE EXCITED AND MOTIVATED TO DO THEIR MINDMAPS AND TO PRODUCE WRITTEN WORK TEACHERS FOUND IT EASIER TO INTRODUCE WRITING ACTIVITIES AND HAD A DIFFERENT LEVEL OF INVESTMENT IN THE PRODUCT BECAUSE THE WORK WAS PUBLICIZED

WHAT WOULD I DO DIFFERENTLY? RE-EVALUATED TIME-BASED ISSUES I WOULD HAVE MADE SURE THAT THE HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE WERE WORKING PROPERLY BEFORE INVOLVING THE TUTORS--- A GREAT DEAL OF TIME WAS WASTED ON UNIMPORTANT ISSUES I WOULD HAVE INCLUDED THE PARENTS EARLIER IN THE PROCESS---THEY WERE CATALYSTS AND REALLY WANTED THEIR KIDS TO IMPROVE THEIR CYBERSKILLS

We are still very green (not inthe environmental sense, butin the what are we doing?sense). Hope springs eternal.