Collaborative Blogging, Sheep's Wool and Lots of Correcting

Ah, the reality of how I want to teach and how I am (sometimes) required to teach!  Two conflicting aspects of our teaching profession have both been quite evident today!

My students and I have decided to add another 'class' to our Kidblog site and use it to upload pieces they work on together.  They have lots of thing in mind: group book responses, our Beothuk projects, perhaps a 'newspaper' about our shared class experiences, Public Service Announcements, digital stories and so on. To walk around my room this morning and see the kids huddled at tables, on the floor and out in the hallway making plans is the kind of rewarding response I get in my classroom on a regular basis.  My kids are not expecting me to lead in all areas, to tell them what they want to learn about (all the time), nor do they think anymore I expect them to complete the same assignment on the same material.  And so I get things like this happening:

Getting Started with Kid Blogging

I chose to use Kidblog, a highly recommended site for elementary students.  It was quick (and easy) to set up and I used our school password system as their entry point.  You can create simple passwords for your students if there isn't something already in place. Once you’re in, the dashboard makes keeping track of who and what simple!

To link blogging to Reading Responses already being created by my students, I asked them (in a blog post naturally!) to blog about the books they were reading in our Independent Reading Program.   This then became a self-paced activity, although I asked everyone to post within the first week.  Students may compose and save their posts as drafts first if they choose; allowing them the opportunity to re-read and revise their work before setting it as ‘pending (my) review’.

One of the discussions we had about writing a blog was about its form.  The Book Responses I set as their first blog/task can be written in different styles –journal, informational reports, letters, lists, and poems - structures they had been introduced to and were comfortable with.  That made it a less daunting activity (though I don’t think children find much of anything related to technology daunting!)

 These blogs rule. It rules beacuse I can post and share my opinion about my books.

:):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):)

 As we moved into self-generated pieces “Hot Topics”, we discussed the tone- almost conversational -that would be more appropriate.

Bike helmets should be mandatory because if you didn't have a helmet on you could fall off and hurt yourself by cracking you skull and doing more damage.  But with a helmet on it could SAVE your life!!!  I had an accident one time I was flying jumps on paddle bike with no helmet and badly hurt myself:(

Understanding that the dialogue / comments they make on each other’s posts would also be made public generated a discussion about respect –on and offline.  We have worked throughout the first half of the year on the practice of “constructive criticism” but the students had to be made even more aware of their ‘cyber-manners’.  We talked about sharing our thoughts, ideas and opinions in a considerate way while being true to our purpose.

Great Post Emily!!
I was wondering if you would recommend this book for me. I saw you reading it so I didn’t want to distract you.I was also wondering what genre it is.
Keep Reading (:
Brianna


 As we move into blogs about our classroom activities, the notion of sharing events that are positive and respectful of all members of our classroom community will be revisited.

Kidblog allows you (the teacher) to view and edit all postings before they are ‘published’.  I asked my students what they thought of this feature.  They recognized and endorsed my role as ‘chief editor’ being important here, as their work would be shared with a much wider audience and it should look “polished”.  One of the things I like about using this platform is the easy access I have to pieces of work.   I can use this tool (from home) to leave quick comments and suggestions about editing, spelling strategies, word meanings and content like any other writing conference.   The students respond positively to seeing my feedback on their post (I often leave it in coloured font!) and they seem to be taking it in more readily than other mini-conferences I hold with them.

Hey there! I really liked the way you organized your thoughts about using bottled water in schools.  Remember the meeting we had about spelling there/their/they're?  You have two places where you could have used 'they are'; check that out and then we'll send this piece to the publisher!

It was made clear through discussion that the expectations for final draft quality would also apply to efforts in writing the blogs.  An ongoing concern of many (parents and teachers) relates to students’ use- or lack of- spelling strategies and using texting terms in their written responses.  Using Kidblog allows for a level of intervention that can be determined by the teacher.  You can leave it open; that depends on your comfort zone and the age of your students, I would think.  My intention is to use a model of gradual release as they develop that sense of ownership while learning/practicing effective revising/editing strategies (peer and independent).

Getting started is a little time-consuming but the results are definitely worth it! 

Why have our students blog?

Blogs have an incredible potential for learning, including the built-in opportunity to practice writing in an authentic way, the chance to reflect upon one’s thinking and that of others in an online community that can be wider than one can usually imagine!

Using a platforms like Kidblog allows a teacher to set up a forum that has many facets that support and enhance reading, writing, viewing, listening, creating, analyzing, responding...  It can be as simple as logging on and reacting to a post by the teacher, to completing open-ended responses and assignments.  As part of an in-class community, being able to interact with classmates about a variety of topics allows for respectful responses and constructive criticism. 

The blog can also be a journal of the class’ experiences together.  Sharing with parents, family, and the community at large provides a chance to highlight classroom activities while learning what to select as worthy of inclusion.  Taking into consideration the immediacy of the audience, the bloggers can be encouraged to write more descriptively; framing their writing with a ‘formal’ language appropriate to the situation.  Having that audience also provides a real reason for applying the conventions of written text-- what you communicate should be as clearly well-written as you can manage!

One of the other key reasons for blogging with our students lies with the nature of the technology involved in blogging.  Students today need to be introduced to the interactive, communicative reality of the Internet where they can create a wide variety of digital texts to share for a multitude of purposes. Blogging can, and should, move beyond the traditional print  level of response quickly as students learn to create, insert and embed audio, video and images from many sources. 

 The possibilities are endless, unique and intriguing!