Curriculum Integration
Curriculum Integration is a vital part of a successful e-mail implementation program. We understand that curriculum integration is important to any educator when they begin using a new service, and therefore we want to make your transition into using Gaggle in your classroom as smooth as possible.
Here are just a few of the learning opportunities available utilizing Gaggle’s features:
E-mail:
§ Keyboarding Skills: use e-mail as a means of allowing students to work on and improve their keyboarding skills.
§ Vocabulary and Letter Writing: e-mail can be used to help students improve their letter writing and grammar skills, and it can also help increase their vocabulary.
§ E-mail Grading: require your students to write at least 3 e-mails a week, and select one e-mail per student to grade for correct spelling, grammar, and punctuation as part of their Language Arts grade.
§ E-mail Congressmen: use this as part of your Social Studies class and have your students compose an e-mail to their congressmen about a political issue you have discussed in class.
§ Impersonations: interact with others who are in character. This is a fantastic way to learn about great people in history, different cultures, etc.
§ Daily Media: electronic newsletters delivered via e-mail. There are literally hundreds of these e-mail publications. Students can share what they learn from these with others in the class. Examples might include a daily: fact, word, historical event, poem, political quotation, and many others.
§ Key Pals: an experience to learn about another person one e-mail at a time. With over 12,000 schools in 20 countries on the Gaggle network, connecting with other schools is just a point and click away.
§ Question and Answer: includes everything from ask-a-reporter to ask-a-scientist. There are many companies and individuals willing to communicate with students who ask questions.
§ E-mail Mentors: several projects exist to match successful adults in various professions with students who can benefit from the interchange.
§ Adopt a Grandparent: have your students correspond with an elderly individual from a local nursing home. Most nursing homes now have access to the Internet, and for those people without families of their own, this can really help to lift their spirits. It also allows the students to learn what it was like growing up in a different time.
§ Student Mentors: educators can match up older students to be mentors for younger students from different schools. Student Mentors can be a valuable resource to younger students. They can do something as small as help them with their homework, or they can help make the transition to a new school smoother with the simple task of e-mailing back and forth.
Digital Lockers:
§ Storing and Retrieving Documents: allows students and teachers to quickly access documents on their home or school computer.
§ Homework Assignments: teachers can put homework assignments in their digital lockers for their students to access. Students can them retrieve the assignment and save a completed copy to their own locker. This helps teach students the use of technology for today’s paperless offices.
Message Boards and Chat Rooms:
§ Homework Centers: message boards and chat rooms on Gaggle are a great way for teachers to communicate with their students. They can be used as homework centers where teachers can post assignments and students can ask questions. When used as homework centers, the students can be allowed to collaborate and offer assistance to each other.
§ Test Review: teachers can have their students log into the message boards or chat rooms for an interactive test review in a question/answer format. The teacher can type in a question and the students compete to answer first. Or the teacher can simply allow the students to ask him/her questions about the test material.
§ Discussion Groups: message boards and chat rooms can be used as an online class discussion area. Students are often less intimidated about sharing their thoughts when they do not have to raise their hands and can take their time to formulate an idea. It is also fairly easy to grade the students’ participation using message boards.
§ Guest Speakers: guests can log into the message board and leave information on their topic. Students can ask questions and the guest speaker can respond for all of the students to see the answers and corresponding questions.
Gaggle.Net, Inc.
PO Box 1361, Bloomington, IL 61702
Tel: 800 288-7750 Fax: 309.663.5025