Students in Prairie South School Division’s three graduation support programs enrolled in a common course. Previously, students met curricular outcomes and fostered a sense of belonging by corresponding with postcards. The stories shared were private and the process was often cumbersome for teachers. Tracking was challenging and the flow untimely. By publishing online, barriers were removed for students sharing stories, thus changing the nature of their writing. Student voices became visible.
Student safety, autonomy, and a sense of belonging were at the forefront of the project. Students, who had no experience found unanticipated delight in using a shared site. WordPlace created a dialogue about writing. In the first two months, the site generated hundreds of student-to-student comments.
Contributing to WordPlace fosters different levels of resilience for its participants. As major curricular linked themes like the Resiliency Project emerged, WordPlace became a way for students to learn about themselves.
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Thanks for listening to our session. We have more in our blog posts
A Place For Resilience (Cori)
https://coyotechalk.com/a-place-for-resilience/
Under the Hood of WordPlace (Alan)
https://cogdogblog.com/2020/04/under-the-hood-of-wordplace/
Dear Cori and Alan,
Congratulations on your wonderful union and inspiration to us all!
My heart went out to y ou and your fellow educators who face the loss of our young students. Your work is important and helps everyone feel connected.
Alan has long regaled us with visions of the future from the perspective of Harry Mudd, and as a Trekkie, I cannot resist adding a blessing from one of my heroes.
Live long and prosper! *chuckles*
Cynthia