Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Blogs in the Classroom
I teach all subject areas in third grade. I have experimented with blogs in my classroom for the last three years. I think I am still figuring out the best way to use them. One of the presentations at a conference I attended was all about technology tools in the classroom. One of the presenters used blogs in his room as a writing portfolio. He did not even go through and correct their spelling or require a certain length. It was interesting to see how much these students grew over the course of their blog. I do believe their blogs were over a few years which helps to show growth. I like how easy blogs make it to read other students' works and be able to comment and conversations among students. I did a literature circle with my top readers in my class. They are currently writing a summary and whether or not they would recommend that story for others to read. I want them to type these up on their blogs and be able to read each other's work. Writing is going to become a big focus for the third grade team this year. I would like for their blogs to be a type of writing portfolio because I know they would be proud of what they have created. I also know that they would be excited to know that all their classmates can read what they have written. The only downside to blogs is that it takes so much longer for students to write a blog post because they do not know how to type. It takes them three times as long to type a post as it would to write it on paper. I think that is the biggest sacrifice for me as a teacher. My students have already started to write their posts. I will have to revisit and let you know how it goes.
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It's nice to see children work on the internet though preferably with adult supervision. However, parents are always so skeptical about their children going on the internet in my country, that it becomes a major challenge when trying to make them work on blogs. Do you face such challenges?
ReplyDeleteIt is great to see children working with technology. Exposure to technology can only benifit them in the long run. I was wondering how you set up your student blogs. Do you use their real names or madeup names? The problem I am facing is that my school district needs a lot of parental permission before the students may post things or write things on the internet. I teach up the Adirondack Mountains and a lot of my parents do not have internet access at home so they are very skeptical about the internet, which a lot of time leads to them not signing the appropriate pages. What does your school district say when it comes to students using the internet and needing parental permission?
ReplyDeleteI am interested in the writing portfolio very much. When I start blogging in my class, I will take it one step at a time. My students will follow the writing process using a book, for four days of the week. On Friday, they would publish the revised/edited work. This would represent their best piece of work and a hard copy of their growth would be kept class as evidence of growth.
ReplyDeleteLikewise, Chad and I are concerned about the permissions that are necessary to participate fully in blogging. What measures have you taken to secure your children?
Damilola,
ReplyDeleteI think the parents that are skeptical about their students going on the Internet are parents that either do not have it at home and/or parents that have not ever really used the Internet. When students use the Internet to do activties, we talk about certain safety issues. I think one of the most important things about students using the Internet is for them to understand the risks and what students can do to protect themselves. Students in today's world will probably be dependent on the Internet at some point in their life. There will always be parents that are skeptical, we just need to make sure that students are taught the things they need to know to be successful and safe.
Wow you have a lot going on. My parents were pretty excited for it. I use a document camera in class to share students work and we all edit it. I never thought about having them put it on a blog. Thanks for your wonderful idea.
ReplyDeletecsitts4,
ReplyDeleteI responded to your blog. Refer to the website I posted to help you convince your parents to allow you to use blogging in your classroom. I like that you have an informative night for your parents to learn about the things that you would like to incorporate in your classroom.
Hi Melissa,
ReplyDeleteYou share so many great ideas for blogging. I find that students are typically very invested in the activity--the more authentic audience for blogging keeps them engaged and more sensitive to their writing (they tend to be more careful in proofreading and in taking perspective of reader.)
A nice, 21st century approach to sharing, to reflecting, and to incorporating technology seamlessly.
Thank you for sharing.