Jackdaw, You Say?

Strictly speaking, a jackdaw is a crow, but this blog is not about my bird. I don't have a bird, or even a pet for that matter. At the very beginning of my teaching career, I attended a workshop about whole language approaches to reading instruction. Although I know I came away from that workshop with many wonderful ideas, there is really only one that I remember now; an activity the presenter called Jackdaws.

Crows, or jackdaws, it was explained, are known for collecting things and bringing them back to their nests. After reading their books, instead of the traditional book report, students were asked to gather a collection of objects that represented various aspects of the book and prepare presentations that explained their relevance and connections. The presenter called this a Book Jackdaw.

I realize that we (the now nameless presenter and I) have now applied the word jackdaw to the collection rather than the bird, but nonetheless, this was an activity that I went back to many times. It worked as a literature extension, but it was also a great way for students to introduce themselves to the rest of the class. Over the years, I can recall having students bring a small collection of objects the first week of school or gather a collection to display and tell visitors about at Open House.

If I still had my own classroom (sniff, sniff), today I would do jackdaws using computers or tablets and having students search for images that represent them or a piece of literature. At the beginning of the year it could be combined with instruction about how to search efficiently and appropriately or how to clip and edit images.








So I hope the technology connection above qualifies this post to be included for Leadership Day 11, which is the event that got me to finally start blogging. I plan to bring my ever-evolving collection, or jackdaw, of thoughts and ideas about technology use and leadership in schools to this venue. I love my iPad, and I have recently discovered that Twitter is not just for tracking the dubious whereabouts of celebrities, but is perhaps one of the richest sources for what Steven W. Anderson or @web20classroom calls "reflective professional development." Any time that I am thinking about my practice, there is a world of educators waiting to engage with me. I no longer have to wait until the next conference, but rather have on-going, daily opportunities to learn, grow and share. I look forward to sharing My Jackdaw with whomever might pause a moment to engage with me.

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