Forever in the Middle: Jamming with Kami

Jamming with Kami

Over the last few months I have been using Jamboard for quick collaboration with students in this digital environment. After a lesson on Jamboard etiquette with my students, they have come to use the feature fairly easily. It has been an excellent resource and the students prefer it over other sites we have tried.

Currently in eighth grade, we are working with a unit based on the topic of happiness. Last week we started reading Look Both Ways, by Jason Reynolds, and I had students use Jamboard to record beautiful quotes from the reading. The book allows students to explore the different ways the characters in the book find happiness within their own lives and Jason Reynolds is usually a winner for this age group. I am using the book as an extension for both my Intervention group and my Honors group so the way I use it within my classroom is very different. 

Both groups were instructed to find a quote that stood out to them as they read the selection for the week and to post it on the shared class Jamboard. For the intervention group, my goal is to spark an appreciation for how words are used in writing and to practice emulating those techniques in their own writing, and for the honors group, the goal is to analyze the techniques the author used in the text to appeal to the reader. 

Once the Jamboard was completed for the week, I created a PDF from it and posted it to Google Classroom for my honors students to then analyze using Kami. They were to choose three quotes posted by their peers and comment on the narrative techniques the author used and their effects on the reader. Below is an example of one student's response. 

Another great benefit of using Kami is that I can then go into the student's annotated document and push them to think deeper with probing questions. Below is an example of a student's response (black text box with white text) and my comment on the right to push him further in his thinking. He is then able to add more to his response on Kami. 

Tips for Jamming with Kami

1. Allow a window of time for students to interact with the Jamboard. You can close their access and make it "view only" once that time is up. This eliminates the possibility that students will accidentally erase others' ideas and also keeps the focus on the information and less on the fun features such as laser pointer, which can sometimes get out of hand.

2. Save the Jamboard as a PDF then post to Google Classroom so students can interact with it on Kami. Any PDF file works with Kami.

3. Don't forget to give students feedback on their responses. This can be overwhelming sometimes I know, but without feedback, the work isn't meaningful to students. Choose just one section to respond to so that your students are pushed deeper in their thinking and you can usually get to everyone in a class in under 45 minutes. 

Have you also combined the use of any tech tools? Tell me about it below! 

Keep the magic alive,

Kandyce Valverde

Wiltsey Middle School
Grade 7 and 8 ELA