I just recently tried blogging with my 5th grade language students. I have set up an account through kidblog.org. It is a site that is very user-friendly as well as kid-friendly. It allows me to change the settings so that I can approve of all posts and comments before they are posted on the web. The only people that can see the blogs are the students in my class, they must login with a password.
My first attempt at using http://www.kidblog.org/ involved giving the students a prompt on my own blog and then asking them to respond or “comment”. My prompt asked them, “What is blogging and what rules should there be?" It was a great way to get an idea of what they already know about blogging as well as a way to help them get comfortable using the website. I learned right away that although most students had heard of blogging, they had no idea how to respond correctly, much like what the teacher in the video mentioned (Laureate DVD, 2008). Following this first attempt we engaged in many conversations while I modeled how to comment on a blog. On our second attempt, I had students post a favorite poem they had written. They were asked to read two other poems and leave appropriate feedback. Students were quick to catch on and looked forward to checking back to see what others had written.
Another idea I would like to try with my students would involve using their blog as a place to gather and post information about their favorite author. I would like to have them engage in posting their favorite author as well as information about them. This might include pictures, book lists, and links to sites that contain information they found useful. I would then like others to respond to the information by reading a book by the same author and giving feedback about what book they chose to read and why. I think it would be a great way to create a sort of reading circle that would not only inspire students to read, but would be a way generate enthusiasm about a new author while utilizing the conversation to help gain stronger comprehension skills.
DVD: Understanding the Impact of Technology on Education, Work, and Society. Laureate Education, Inc. 2008
This sounds like great implementation of blogs in a fifth grade classroom. I love that your first blogging experience was centered around allowing students to become familiar with the blogging practice, as well as giving them the reigns in terms of setting up their expectations and guidelines. I know that giving students an opportunity to lay down the ground rules is a wonderful way to encourage them in taking ownership of the situation.
ReplyDeleteI also thought your class poetry postings idea is a great second step in the blogging process. It becomes another form of publishing for the students. I think about how work is hung up in traditional classrooms for others to see. I realize that other students and passersby may see this work, but it all ends there. With publishing on blogs you have opened your students up to new opportunities. Not only do they get to put their work on display, but they also have the chance to see other quality work, receive constructive criticism, and even comment on the work of their peers. This is the beginning to an exciting online learning environment for your aspiring fifth graders!
Wonderful ideas! Thank you for sharing.
I almost forgot, I am supposed to point out what I may see as possible problems in your application of blogs in the classroom. In thinking about my own students I can imagine that some of my more savvy students would catch on much quicker, while some of my other students may take extra time and require added assistance to get the hang of the blogging. One thing that I have constantly found to be important in my teaching is to model skills. I would have to believe that it would do the students well to see their teacher literally show them how to interact with blogs and how to manage a blog of their own. The teacher could take the opportunity to show the proper way to leave comments. I also feel that modeling a skill often has to be done more than once. The more we model a skill, the better the chance that our students will catch on. In a nutshell, I think it is important to recognize that there will be some students that will need the teacher to help pull them along. Procedures need to be in place and time needs to be set aside to allow for those students to be successful in their bloggin adventures.
ReplyDeleteHi Carrie,
ReplyDeleteI think it's great that your students repsonded so well to your introduction of blogging. I teach sixth grade and I am a bit apprehensive about starting to blog with them. Did you have any trouble with them not responding appropriately...like using bc and idk. I really like your idea of using the blog to do an author study. Children love becoming "experts" on things/people. They will also have a real sense of ownership for creating their own weblog pages. My concern is that this type of project needs to be slowly introduced step by step. I think if you have a very clear outline of what you want their pages to look like and include it could be a huge success. As the teacher, you could have multiple books from the authors they choose in the classroom library This could be a year long project. Again, my only concern is the timing. I think it needs to be slowly introduced in the beginning of the year and each week or month they learn how to do a new thing with their blog. It could be a huge success!
I like the idea of introducing the blogging concept to such young students. I currently teach ninth graders, and I know that I have a difficult time getting them to understand how to properly use this kind of tech material. If you model your ideas thoroughly and provide the correct structure and template for your students to work within, I can see this being a very successful concept. Like Sarah mentioned in her comment, this could be the type of assignment or activity that runs throughout the year. My concern with young students is their ability to gasp what you expect from them on this blog. Can you devote enough time in class to make sure that each student understands the concept and how to manage their work on the blog? How will you pace and organize the assignments? With students so young, it will be essential to involve the parents into the class-blog world. What will your expectations be for the parents and their involvement? Again, I really like your ideas and I think they have the potential to further engage your students in their class reading.
ReplyDeleteHey Carrie,
ReplyDeleteThat sounds like a fun start. The kids have the abiliity to choose whatever author they like does it have to be from a specific unit you are working on? If it is any author they will probably get into it more (assuming they have one). One thought, if you discover that your students have a common love of some particular author or writing genre, would your curriculum allow you to bring those books into the classroom to help peak student curiousity or do you have really rigid standards for story selection?
When you get the student work up and running, could you post it so that we could see what sorts of things the kids generate? I teach Chemistry at the high school level, but sometimes it is good to show the big kids what the little kids are capable of. It gets them thinking from a different perspective about education and gives them a sense of ownership (at least that has been my observation). I get a lot of "I would do it like this" statements when I have shown my older students the work of my younger students and we can sometimes have a pretty good discussion.
Good day.
Carrie, you seem to have some excellent ideas for a fifth grade classroom. I really like the idea of a blogging book report of sorts with the students talking about what they read. This could be really powerful and a great way to promote books at that age.
ReplyDeleteHowever, in speaking about the age group, one challenge could be the parents. I could certainly see some concerns from parents about how it might be graded, viewed or accessed. If you have a parent who is not technologically savvy, they might be against the idea, due to fear of the unknown. Communication with them about the blog would be essential, especially early in the school year or before school starts. I think with the right communication you will have great ideas working with powerful tools.
Carrie, what would be your response to a student who isn't quite interested in any of the response you blog about? How would you get this student engaged in the learning process?
ReplyDeleteFor students that aren't just jumping right in and responding with the enthusiasm I would hope for, I would encourage them to come up with a topic they are interested in. From there they can come up with a question of their own to pose. Maybe the curiosity of what others might have to say about something they are interested in would get them motivated to respond!
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