Photo of 4th Grade - I Am Poems from Jackie Gerstein

4th Grade - I Am Poems from Jackie Gerstein

By Jackie Gerstein

Description

The “I am” feedback project demonstrates a method for providing qualitative feedback to students’ poetry: students began with a hands-on activity: the magnetic poetry, and later put it into a VoiceThread. This provided additional media and an audience, and was a great positive reinforcer for student work.

Assignment

Students were asked to create “I am” poems using the format found at - http://ettcweb.lr.k12.nj.us/forms/iampoem.htm. Their poems were then “written” using magnetic poetry words and the magnetic boards. A photograph taken of each student and his/her magnetic board poem. Students typed out their poems with photographs also taken of these. The images were uploaded into a VoiceThread. I, as the teacher, then provided a verbal comment to the photos of the students, themselves, and a written comment to the typed version of the poem.

The goal of the project was to give the students feedback about their poetry in an engaging, personalized, and multi-media format.

Tools

No other electronic media was used.

Variations

Students could put their own language arts assignments into a VoiceThread and explain their process. To give it more validity and robustness, students would give feedback to one another. The VoiceThread can also be shared with family and friends to extend the dialog beyond the classroom.