As a part of my GAME plan I have discussed my desire to create a blog with my students and fellow teachers and have explored a few different options. I decided to go with a blogging site that I have used before that is “kid-friendly” and has lots of options for me to monitor its use. However, after gathering ideas from colleagues I have decided to go about using it in a different way than I had before. Last week I had my students try writing a response to a question that I posted. My goal at the moment is to get students familiar with blogging and the appropriate way to use it before I have them create one of their own. After I receive all of the responses from my students I will be able to reassess and decide on what step I will need to take next. I think it is important to be open to trying out such projects and then make necessary adjustments along the way. Of course, if anyone has any advice or experiences that might be insightful as to how they have used blogging, or sites that host blogs in the classroom it would be much appreciated!
I have also made great use of my favorite blog, Free Technology for Teachers, to search for useful sites that I can use with my students!
I think you have a great idea using Blogs. One suggestion I would make to you is to show your students the type of answers to your questions you want from them. Also, and I think this is very vital, it's important to show the students what kind of comments you want them to make on each other's blogs. My students seemed to think that commenting as they do on FaceBook is what they should do in class. I had to show them exactly what I expected from them. This helped 95% of my students complete the blogging and commenting assignments I had for them.
ReplyDeleteI agree! Comments have definitely been a challenge for the 5th grade students I am working with. It is difficult to get them to reply to posts with thoughtful opinions and ideas even with modeling what I am looking for. There has been progress, but it is slow!
ReplyDeleteI like your idea of not having the students blog at first but buidling them up to that level once they have more experience. What I always try to explain to my students that once something is online, the whole world can see it. So they should always try and do their best work so that they don't look uneducated :)
ReplyDeleteI tell them the same thing! It's very motivating for them to know that someone other than me will be reading their work!
ReplyDeleteHi Carrie,
ReplyDeleteIt is exciting to hear about your progress with your game plan. One possible way to use blogs is to create groups for blogs like we have--this way students have a manageable group of blogs to work with. The groups could be switched around for different projects.
Modeling the blogging process can help build confidence and even ignite some ideas and questions to share on the blog.
Susan
I love the idea of blogging. My fifth graders have been blogging since the beginning of the year. I had a problem in the beginning. I did a few lessons on how I expect the comments. Once it is out on the net, it is out on the net. Now that they know the expectations blogging is their favorite thing to do.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of blogging. It is a great idea to have students answer a few questions and not jump right in. I think it is a good idea to model for the students so they can see what they are supposed to do. I want to use a blog in my future classes so I am in a trial run trying to get one set up. I am writing all the ideas I see so I can try one with my students in the near future.
ReplyDelete