BAWP News
News and Writings of the Project

Oakland goes to Iowa

Claire Stoermer's Blackboard Course is used to connect students in Iowa to students in California, allowing them to form their own online book clubs. In the discussion board section of the site, a student can invite other students to be in a club with her as well being able to read about clubs being formed in which she might participate. Claire and her Iowa teaching partner, Denise Lindstrom, will be writing a more detailed description of their collaboration soon.

The "refrigerator door" is the Discussion Board splash page, where the teachers have posted "forums" in a variety of topic areas, each prefaced by a brief writing prompt. The numbers in the left margin drop-down windows allow instructors to sort the topic forums' locations on the page. With a "higher" positioning, instructors can direct students more quickly to a particular forum for written response.

1234567	Movies!
	What is your favorite movie? Why would you reccomend it? Tell us all about the kind of movies you like to watch.	[ 64 Messages ] [ 63  ]
1234567	Music!
	What kind of music do you like? Have you heard any good CD's lately? Who is your favorite singer or group? Do you play any instruments?	[ 63 Messages ] [ All  ]
1234567	Friends!
	Do you have a best friend? What makes a good friend? Is it important to have friends?	[ 19 Messages ] [ All  ]
1234567	Sports!
	What is your favorite sport? Who is your favorite team? Who is your favorite player? Do you play sports?	[ 34 Messages ] [ All  ]
1234567	News!
	What's going on in the news? Heard or read anything strange, scarry or funny? What's going on in your city, state or country? Are you worried about anything you heard or read in the news?	[ 3 Messages ] [ All  ]
1234567	Books!!!
	Do you like to read? What's a good book you read lately? What is your all time favorite book? What kind of books do you read?	[ 13 Messages ] [ 11  ]
1234567	Web Pages
	I like your web pages! Ask questions or make comments after you read a persons' web page.	[ 2 Messages ] [ All  ]

If you click one of the 7 Forums above, you get to a Discussion Board which looks like this:

---

Books		v, drew		Wed Oct 2 2002 1:10 pm
my favorite book		P, Kelly		Wed Oct 9 2002 11:57 am
Re: my favorite book		a, zach		Wed Oct 16 2002 1:05 pm
Re: my favorite book		v, drew		Wed Oct 16 2002 1:07 pm
Re: my favorite book		c, monica		Wed Oct 16 2002 1:12 pm
Re: my favorite book		v, kylie		Wed Oct 16 2002 1:15 pm
Re: my favorite book		e, monica		Wed Oct 16 2002 1:16 pm
Re: my favorite book		h, megan		Fri Oct 25 2002 7:34 am
Best Book!!!!!		l, aly		Wed Oct 16 2002 1:07 pm
Best Book!!!!!		l, aly		Wed Oct 16 2002 1:07 pm

In addition to the Discussion Boards, students also have access to a Profile Page. Here's an anonymous sample, without the self-portrait photo usually included. Sample Student Profile Page: Intro Message Hello how are you doing. My name is __. I’m doing fine. I was born in Des Moines, IA at 8:30 A.M. I have two brothers and there names are _l and _. I like to play foot ball and i want a dirt bike. I have 3 pets, 2 cats and 1 dog. I live in the country. how is it in the city ?I wished I lived in the city. Personal Information I am reading The book Holes by Louis Sachar. In my book There is a boy named Stanley and a boy named zero. Stanley is teaching zero to read and right. Stanley wants the warden to see so she knows that he isn’ t that dumb. I got to go read!!!!!