Lessons Learned

We had some problems with our first experience at KF. Once I read through some of the notes written by my Grade 8 students, I realized they were not following the rules I had laid out. They had difficulty differentiating between IM and KF. They were still using the letter U instead of the word YOU...and R instead of ARE. They also did not use PQP. I decided to have them sign a contract stating that they would use proper grammar and spelling as well as PQP. If they violated the contract they would be put on probation. If they violated the contract again they would not be allowed to participate in KF. Rather they would do an alternate assignment.


The interesting thing is this did not happen in the Grade 6 class who are also participating in this pilot project.

The only other issue that needed to be stressed was a quality versus quantity issue. Once they realized that they are required to read all notes, they are less inclined to write a great quantity of notes.


On our second attempt in the computer lab with a new question, my students were on task. I was monitoring them from a central computer and responded to their notes. This is very helpful because they know you are reading their notes as they are reading and keeps them more accountable.

We did experience some computer problems with kf on our second try and this is a set-back. Hopefully, the problems are rectified by the next time we use KF.

Introducing KF to my students

We met in the library computer lab for the introduction of KF today. Ms. Fong stepped
us through it. Handouts on how to log on were handed out prior to starting the introduction.

Here is how the 80 minutes went:
Students asked this question while registering - Should we use default or lite - UI Mode should be default.

Passwords are case-sensitive and students had to record their passwords on the handout. I need to keep a folder with all the passwords.

They jumped right into this learning environment very quickly. This made me think about the importance of teaching rich questioning techniques to my students.

Here were some of the students' responses: "This is cool" This seems somewhat disorganized because the view was very "busy"...lots of notes. Ms. Fong suggested that our class appoint someone from the class to monitor and "clean up" each view.

PQP - Praise, Question, Propose. eg. I agree with your thoughts on Louis Riel. Why do you think he was convicted? I don't believe he was guilty because he he was fighting for his people.