A Guide to Involving Parents in Your Class Blog This is an update of some of the posts I’ve written in the past about getting parents involved in blogging. About parents and blogs One of the many benefits of having a class blog is the strengthening of home-school relationships. A class blog can provide a virtual window into the classroom. After having a class blog for many years, I have found that most families enjoy being able to keep up with classroom events and student learning. Unfortunately, I have seen a number of teachers almost give up on their class blog because of the lack of parent participation and comments. I often get asked how we get parents involved in our blogging community. Our parents are no different to those in other classes. I have certainly discovered that you cannot leave parent participation to chance. Educating parents At the start of each year when I introduce my class to blogging, there are always many students and parents who don’t know anything about blogs. Introduction to blogging handout Information on the blog
The ultimate guide to getting started with blogging! -Edublogs In case you missed it, we just wrapped up our first Teacher Challenge series – 30 days to kick start your blogging! Hundreds of educators from around the globe participated in 8 challenges over the course of four weeks. Together with mentors, bloggers of all experience levels had the opportunity to really step up their game. And if you missed out, it is never too late to work through the challenges at your own pace! Here are the beginner and advanced challenges in their entirety: Activity 1 – Getting StartedBeginner – Advanced – Discussion Question Activity 2 – Writing Effective PostsBeginner – Advanced – Discussion Question Activity 3 – Working With Pages Beginner – Advanced – Discussion Question Activity 4 – Avatars & Blogging Etiquette Beginner – Advanced – Discussion Question Activity 5 – Working With ImagesBeginner – Advanced – Discussion Question Activity 6 – Embedding Media Beginner – Advanced – Discussion Question Activity 7 – Widgets and SidebarsBeginner – Advanced – Discussion Question
The Research Center I have always had some form of form of research in my classroom but a few years ago a changed happened that made the center something special. The improvement can be blamed on our class Twitter account. Yes, tweeting is what makes the research center so powerful in my room. It was nothing I planned and really just evolved on its own. Here is how it works: We have twitter friends all around the world (see map below) and those classes tweet about what is happening in their room and about their learning. The Job: In the beginning of the year the kids look for their favorite pictures in the books and write the words on that page. Here are some ways to collaborate with other classes around the world – Global Collaboration in Kindergarten Here are a few other ways our global connections have led to learning in my class- Armadillo Experts, Making A Book About Texas Like this: Like Loading...
Why My Six-Year-Old Students Have Digital Portfolios - Getting Smart by Guest Author - edchat, edreform, EdTech By Kathy Cassidy From the first week of school, the six-year-olds in my classroom begin to create an online presence in the form of a blog and digital portfolio. We use a blogging platform to do this, and include artifacts that show their progress in writing, reading, math, social studies, and science. I am frequently asked why I do this. Portfolios and Blogs Present an Audience & Feedback For any writer or creator, it is all about the audience. Because a blog allows comments, the students’ thoughts and learning can be not only read, but responded to as well. A Blog Creates a Community With Ripples of Impact Having a blog creates a community around our classroom. The first ripple in our circle of community is the circle of parents. The next ripple is the circle of the child’s extended family, friends and our local community. The largest circle is—well—the entire world. That is a very large community. Blogging Creates a Digital Footprint Early On An online portfolio gives those choices.
Student-Led Parent Conferences: How They Work in My Primary Classroom “Tell us what you think you did well in your writing?” “I put spaces between the words…and I sounded them out. I spelled my right.” “What else did you do well?” “I put a capital letter at the beginning.” “What could you do to make your writing better?” “I could put a dot at the end. “Yes, you could use a period at the end. “Three.” “Exactly. Thus began one of the student-led parent conferences in my grade one classroom last term. The conferences always center around what has been posted on the student’s individual blog. The Students Choose In the past, I have allowed the students to choose three articles from their blog to share with their parents that they think reflect their best work . Representing is a strand of our language arts curriculum in which the students show what they know about something through a drawing, drama, clay, etc. Since the beginning of the school year, we have been talking about what good writers and good representers do. Time alone with parents
How To Choose The Right Platform For Your Class Blog Blogging and online content creation has changed a lot over the years. Going from nerdy venting to something that nearly every major company and institution does. Blogging is essential for the public face of any organization and that is no different for schools and classrooms. Blogs are a great way to share what is going on within your school and build a conversation that goes well beyond the classroom walls. It is also a good way to promote the school and invite publicity from all over the web. So, what do you need to consider before starting your class blog? Class Blog Decisions The first decision really is, does your class need a blog? A blog is a bit like a pet. The second question is, what kind of a blog do you want to build? Choosing The Platform With so many choices, here is our list of the most popular blogging platforms and a brief summary of each. WordPress Notable WordPress blogs - Time Magazine, Mashable, NFL Blogger and Posterous Tumblr Jux Social Networks
How To Integrate Blogging Into Math Classes I am so excited to incorporate writing in my math class during the new semester. My goal is to have students use blogging as an instructional tool to write and express their mathematical ideas. I hope to provide them with an opportunity to reflect on their understanding of mathematics. Blogging and technology are two tools that go hand-hand. I found Kid Blogs . Kids Blogs provided me with the opportunity to create one room and add each student to the room. Now that I had the site, I needed to decide how I would effectively use blogging in my class. Students will be required to write a blog entry on topics, questions, and problems assigned by me. Using blogging as a digital journal, students will be able to reflect on their overall progress in the understanding and communicating of mathematics.
How (And Why) Teachers Should Blog So how do I get techno-nervous teachers at my school to read my blog, write their own blogs and encourage their students to write one too? It seems that in order to ease them into this phenomena of blogs and their promise of expanding ones creativity, writing and collaboration skills, I might need to disguise it as journaling. Language Arts and Reading specialists will love that! Fortunately for teachers, blogs are surprisingly easy to use. As an educational tool, blogs may be integrated in a multi-faceted manner to accommodate all learners. If safety is a concern, try KidBlog . I think the best way to expose our teachers to the latest and greatest collaborative environment of blogging is to show them how blogs can benefit them personally with a hands-on professional development opportunity. Want to learn more?
A Short Guide to Terms Commonly Used in Blogging I'm currently in the process of developing new digital handouts for my blogging workshops. One of the items that I'm adding to my handouts is a list of terminology and definitions for terms that I frequently use while talking about building blogs. My preliminary list is posted below. Are there terms that you think should be added to the list? Theme: WordPress and many other blogging platforms use “themes” to describe the look of a blog. The theme can include the color scheme and the layout of elements on the blog. Template: Blogger and some other blogging platforms use the term “template” to describe the look of a blog. Tag: Tags are applied to WordPress (Kidblog, Edublogs) blog posts to identify the key ideas or purpose of a post. Label: Labels are applied to Blogger blog posts to identify the key ideas or purpose of a post. Categories: In WordPress-powered blogs you can use categories for broad descriptions of posts in addition to using tags.
6 positive effects of blogging in kindergarten SmartBlogs As a kindergarten teacher, I have a unique opportunity to educate, share, engage, enhance and model ways that a variety of technological tools can help my students, their families and others make connections globally in regards to learning. I have been blogging for four years now with 5- and 6-year-old children. I manage four blogs: a classroom blog, life science blog, summer blog and a WordPress blog where I reflect on my teaching. I am also in my third year of using Kidblog. This way my students are able to create and design their own blog posts in regards to what they are learning and exploring in kindergarten. Blogging has been both inspirational and rewarding. Relationships: My students have strong relationships with each other and their families. These are just some of the many reasons I blog, and blog with my 5- and 6-year-old students.
A Simple Yet Powerful Student Blogging Activity One of the questions that often comes up in my workshops about blogging is, "what should I have the students write about?" There are dozens, perhaps hundreds, of possible answers to this question. The suggestion that I often make is to start with a simple reflection activity. Set aside time in your Friday schedule to have your students sit down and write a short reflection on what they learned during the week. These reflections don’t have to be long, a few sentences will do in elementary school.
Four Good Ways to Use Media In Your Classroom Blog Watching videos and commenting on them or looking at a picture and commenting on it are the most common ways that teachers have students use media in blog posts. There is definitely value in those activities as they do get students to think, write, and share. These are some other ways to think about using media in your classroom blog. SoundCloud is a great tool for creating short audio recordings. Those recordings can be embedded into blog posts. ThingLink is a free tool for creating interactive images. VoiceThread and Narrable provide platforms for uploading images and hosting discussions around them. Your classroom blog doesn’t have to be serious all the time.
Mr. Salsich's Class - “Take Me Out to The Ballgame” – a guest post about baseball by Brendan Hi! My name is Brendan and I play Baseball. Baseball is an American sport involving lots of physical requirements like being able to run fast, swing heavy bats, and have good arm strength to be able to throw across the baseball field. The field you play on in baseball is called the baseball diamond and in the baseball diamond there’s an infield and an outfield. The outfield has three defensive positions called outfielders. The infield has six defensive positions. Here’s a diagram of a baseball diamond and the defensive positions I made using Skitch: layout of a baseball field, with the positions. The clothing you wear for baseball is baseball pants, team jersey, baseball hat, cleats, and baseball socks. When you play defense you also need a baseball glove: Fielding Equipment When you are hitting you need a baseball bat and a helmet: Batting Equipment There is also a dugout which is where the players sit during a game. Some people in my class play baseball. Boston Red Sox Do you play baseball?
Fix-It in Five When I first started student blogs, I assumed students would enjoy it. After all, we were using technology! It was, at the time, a cutting-edge tool! Unfortunately, I didn’t think ahead of time about the power of blogging as authentic, interactive form of expression. In short, they weren’t student blogs at all. Student autonomy. Looking for More? If you enjoyed this post, check out this free resource Student Blogging: Rubric, Self-Assessment, and Checklist If you want to see more posts about student blogging and digital writing, check out this page for other posts and resources.If you enjoy this blog, please subscribe via email and receive each post in your inbox, along with one free resource a week.If you're interested in workshops or sessions on digital writing and student blogging, I'm available to consult with schools, districts and organizations.