Donna Logan
Kathleen Carico
Online:
guest (web)
FSMS Students: Broad Run High School
VT Students: 3310 Torgerson
4:15-4:25 Log On
Directions for Logging On
1) Go to http://teacherbridge.cs.vt.edu/public/projects/Web+Pals/Home
2) On the menu, click on "MOO"
3) Under the house icon, click on "Web Pal MOO."
4) Java WebStart will begin loading. It may take a few seconds or longer, if lots of people try to get on at once. We'll try to stagger logons.
5) ID: Sign in with your first name and last initial (e.g. JoeS)
6) Password: Get the password from your teacher (It is case-sensitive, so make sure you use capitals when indicated.)
Note:If you are not prompted for ID/Password, look at the bottom of your screen. See if there is a box that says, "Login." Click on it and it should bring up the window.
7) If you want to make your chat area bigger, go up to the top of the screen, click on the arrow pointing left, and it will enlarge the screen, much like a window shade will. Once there, click on the arrow in the opposite direction to get all of the windows back.
4:25-4:35 Chat in any of the rooms. This is your free time to explore the rooms or to find your pals and talk for a while before the discussion begins.
4:35-4:50 Go to your Round One Room: Discussion of Excerpts from Martin Luther King Speeches You should come ready with a point that you would like the group to discuss.
4:50-5:00 Stretch
5:00-5:30 Go to your Round Two Room: Discuss Novels (See topics below.)
5:30-5:45 Collaborative Task. Here's how:
Step One: Look at the Map space. Just above it are two tabs. Click on the "Notes" tab.
Step Two : Each person type your name in the upper right or left corner. Then for the next steps you will take turns in the order your name appears.
Step Three : Each person writes a one line response to either a thematic issue or an image created in your mind while you read the book.
Step Four : After everyone has entered one line, take turns again, this time moving the text around to create a 'poetic prose' response to the group's reading of the novel. (In other words, you are creating a group poem based on your individual lines of response.)
Rmember, turns are taken by waiting your turn and following the list your typed.
5:45-5:50 Visit other rooms, clockwise, beginning in the room to the
right of your room. Read what the other rooms have written.
5:50-6:00 Reflection
6:00: Break
The following are some topics your hosts will raise with you during the moo.
1) Your responses to the book (surprises, characters, general opinions, etc.)
2) Issues in the book (Your group can list the ones they brought and then you can decide what to discuss.)
3) The relationship of these issues to current events in the world, your town, your school, or your life
4) The book itself
a) The author
-What do you like or dislike about the way this author writes?
-Have you read anything else by this author?
b) Are there any other books or poems you thought of as you read your book?
c) What passages would you like to discuss and why?
5) Others that you may think of.
A MOO discussion is very different from a discussion in a classroom setting. You will have a host in your room (one of the 8th grade teachers or MCPS/FSMS faculty/staff) who will help keep the conversation moving and who can help if you find that things move too fast. You'll also learn how to work together as a group to manage your conversation. Be ready for a unique experience, one that I look forward to sharing with you and your pals.