Up until about a month ago, I was not all that sure of what a blog was. I definitely had no idea of how I could apply a blog into my fifth grade classroom where all of the core subjects are taught each day. This changed after visiting a third grade classroom, during a "technology" visit a model 21st century school.
On my agenda, was a session titled, "Blogging with Mrs. M.'s Class." Since I was not sure what blogging was (even though I would later learn that I blog more than I knew), this session sounded intriguing. It was!
Mrs. M.'s third graders each had jobs, similar to those found in most elementary classrooms. One of the jobs was to be a "Daily Blog Keeper," which replaced the previous job of "Daily Log Keeper." Two girls sat down at a mini laptop and began writing about the happenings in their classroom and school. Although most blogs are very interactive, this model was definitely much more basic, and intended to give the students a chance to use a web 2.0 tool. After the two girls were done, they shared with the onlooking teachers, who were simply amazed, other things that they could do from their blog; such as access favorite websites.
On December 16, 2009, I took this same idea into my classroom. I took five minutes to set-up a blog, on Blogger.com, and made the idea a reality in my class. I was apprehensive, mostly because of my lack of blogging knowledge. However, as with most tech and web 2.0 tools, I know the only way to learn how something works is to "Just do it!" So, we "Just did it!"
The B223 Blogger has been a steady, learning process. Each week, the new writers are getting better, and learning from previous bloggers' posts. The posts act as a daily updates to anyone who is willing to look and read. As a class, we have already began talking about what we could do to make our blog a more powerful tool. One thing we know is that we have to begin posing questions to our readers, to get them to interact with us more. This week's bloggers have asked several questions in regards to the book Hatchet, which we are currently reading.
In time, I would like to turn my student's blog into a platform for discussion and display of exceptional peer work. I know that I am only scrapping the blogging surface, with my classroom blog (and probably this blog too). However, the blog has given my students something be excited about. They know that piece of technology will be a part of our daily routine. Additionally, it is giving them the opportunity to speak, be hear, and communicate using language that is appropriate and easy for all eye's to read.
What do you think? Should blogs become a regular part of classrooms? How would you, or do you, use a blog differently in your classroom?
I believe that as a fifth grade teacher, there is limitless stuff that you can do with the blog because you have a long array of subjects to cover. It can take burden off your shoulders a bit. Just as you are teaching Hatchet using your blog, I was wondering how do you keep them directed, I mean when you cover a chapter that they read in the class do you pose questions as to what happened in that chapter or students to predict what are the possible next set of incidents that would take place etc. You can also use your blog as a Weekly News publisher where all the students can get a chance to write something as an editor for the Weekly News.
ReplyDeleteChris,
ReplyDeleteI think it is great what you are doing so far. You definitely have more "guts" that I do for just jumping in and just doing it!
I was thinking that maybe you can try having your students create blogs that teach the readers more about what they are learning in school rather than just stating was they do each day. Parents can potentially be more involved and in incorporated their thoughts, comments and opinions. The students blogs can become more of a discussion piece and may even generate debates/discussions within the classroom.