Let Me Grab My Boomstick!

Boomwriter:  Are there Army of Darkness fans out there?  I can’t stop thinking about Ash’s Boomstick! Ha!  

Take 1:  This tool is used for interactive writing assessments.  There are opportunities to create a chapter book, practice vocabulary, or develop nonfiction writing skills.  Everything is designed to have students writing to show understanding of elements of literature, language, and subject matter.  Teachers can assign tasks and monitor progress through the tasks by scoring on a 1-4 rubric or provide feedback to ensure students have the chance to show their understanding. This is probably the most PBE friendly site that I’ve seen so far; almost like they designed the site around the PBE concept.  

This is as far as I can evaluate right now because I’m waiting for the teacher responsible for registering my school to accept me as a teacher that is employed by the school.  Needless to say, the safety of the site is fantastic. It also promotes the ability to be used on multiple devices and many subject areas.  Odd, how it fits very well with our rubric; very odd, indeed.

Take 2: Sunday Morning waiting for the German Baby to finish baking and listening to my daughter sing “Here Comes Peter Cottontail,” I was able to explore Boomwriter more.  (Thanks Sally!)

The features are just as amazing as anticipated.  Teachers monitor writing projects (fiction and nonfiction) directly on the site and can use the vocabulary acquisition program with recommended words or words you chose.  This is very exciting for me because I’m a big advocate for vocabulary practice as a unit of study that stands by itself.  My students also are dying to get fiction writing but I constantly put off the project because we have a designated writing curriculum that is great, but structured for a reason. I can use Boomwriter to create a student directed writing project, slap a due date on it, monitor progress, and give feedback.  I’ve already got a student in mind for this.

It’s visually welcoming for all ages, and academic enough for the most serious of writing teachers.  

Communication Tool Rubric

	User Friendliness	Safety	Customization for Educators	Cross-Curricular Application	Cognitive Differentiation
EXCEEDS 4	Is more user friendly than traditional means/methods of teaching and/or completing standards, and/or can be used as an alternative method for students who struggle with the traditional methods of instruction/assessments.	Can be closely monitored by teachers/gatekeepers to ensure all participants (students, community members, etc,) abide digital citizenship standards with strict security measures and clearly stated privacy policies.	Can be customized to support collegial professional development AND classroom instruction, assessment, and/or reporting.	Can be used to develop units of study that tie in learning targets from multiple subject areas and connect to the world beyond school in order to increase relevance.	Can be used in all levels and a variety of processes of Marzano’s taxonomy.
MEETS 3	Can be used on a variety of devices and is easy to use for students and teachers.	Can be monitored by teachers/ gatekeepers and allows for opportunities to select/edit for instances of non-compliance of digital citizenship and with moderate security measures and a reasonable privacy policies.	Can be customized to meet the needs of individual educators according to grade level, subject area, class size, experience with technology, professional development needs, etc.	Can be applied to multiple learning targets across subject areas and/or can be used to help design or support cross-curricular units of study.	Can be used for a variety of processes and levels of Marzano’s taxonomy.
PARTIALLY MEETS 2	Can be used on a variety of devices or is easy to use for students and teachers.	Can be monitored by teacher/ gatekeepers with limited opportunities to be select/edit for instances of non-compliance of digital citizenship standards and minimal security measures.	Can be partially customized, but not enough to fully meet the needs of individual educators.	Can be applied to only one or two learning targets in one or two subject areas and would need modification in order to support the development of cross-curricular units of study.	Can be used for a variety of categories on one level of the taxonomy or a few processes on various levels of Marzano’s taxonomy.
DOES NOT MEET 1	Has several barriers which make it difficult for students and/or teachers to use.	Does not allow for monitoring by teacher/gatekeeper and permits disregard for digital citizenship standards.	Does not allow customization to meet the needs of individual educators,	Does not apply to learning targets in any more than one subject area.	Is limited to only a few categories of one process of Marzano’s taxonomy.
Additional notes