Teacher+Interview+(Bartley)

Interview with Elizabeth Scott //Elizabeth (Liz) Scott is a middle school Language Arts teacher at Honey Creek Community School, a charter school in Ann Arbor, Michigan. She has a master’s degree from Eastern Michigan University. Honey Creek uses paired grading, so in all of her classes, Liz has students in 6th, 7th and 8th grade.// Liz: Sure. I use primarily Moodle in the classroom. Each student has their own page that they are required to post to about the independent reading that they do. They are, for the first semester at least, allowed to choose their own books. Every week, they also post a response to a question that I post.
 * I know from the middle schoolers that you use Moodle and blogging in your classroom. Can you tell me a little more about that and how it’s structured?**

L: I usually start broad and then adapt as the year goes on. For example, the first prompt might be “Tell me about the book you read.” I require them to give me something other than plot summary.
 * What kind of questions do you ask?**

L: At first, yes, especially with the 6th graders, but by the time they are 8th graders they get better at it.
 * Do you find it hard to get them to do this?**

L: Oh, I start asking them more analytical questions that ask more of them. I also start to ask that they respond to other students responses. Right now we’re beginning to start book groups, so in addition to posting on the Moodle, they talk in class about what they are reading.
 * How do you adapt the prompts as the year goes on?**

L: Yes. I’m not a real audience to them, because I’m a teacher. Actually, I’m not even a real person to them. (//laughs//) I do see an increase in their overall performance, though. There are some students who HATE the fact that their writing is public on the internet. They would prefer to write for just me.
 * Do you find that the online writing affects student writing at all? Do you see them perform better when writing for the wider audience that the internet provides?**

L: Oh, yeah. I mean, with the kids who don’t like posting to the internet, it’s just about building their confidence up. For most of them, they post once, see that people respond positively to them, and they’re fine for the rest of the time with me. Obviously, there are some exceptions, but generally kids get pretty comfortable with posting to the Moodle pretty fast.
 * Do you find that those students get more confident as time goes on?**

L: Oh, yes. I think that it makes them see things from different perspectives. I’ve had full blown arguments occur on the Moodle, but what is great is that they don’t resort to calling each other names. I was a little leery about this at first, but for the most part the kids have really proved themselves and their internet responsibility.
 * Do you think that it helps them to be able to see other students’ responses?**

L: That’s the great thing about the Moodle, is that I can just archive all old posts. So, when I have a student for all three years, I’m able to fully look at how they’ve changed throughout the year. It’s like an informal writing portfolio.
 * Do you save student work or do you get rid of it at the end of every school year?**