I have been thinking about how to incorporate my blog into my classroom. Because I have seven classes a day (3 different courses), I think it would be fitting to have a blog for each course. Then, each group of students could use the blog to showcase what they are working on and to share their information with other classes learning about the same topics.
Using a blog in the classroom is an great idea because it can fulfill my students' need to be social. This will enhance their learning because they will be able to gain information from each other, and share information with other students.
I agree that a blog for each class would be a great idea. My problem is that I have 22 different classes. I posted student winners from a community art contest this week. I plan to share the link in our newsletter this week.
ReplyDeleteWhoa, 22 classes! I would stick to one blog for all of that if I were you. I think posting your contest winners is an excellent idea. You could use your blog in lieu of your newsletter, once people become accustomed to using the blog.
DeleteLeslie, I think that showcasing your students’ work on a blog is a great idea! I believe that this idea would definitely motivate your students’ learning in a positive way. I see that you have seven classes. The only challenge that I can foresee is having to keep up with several different blogs. Would you establish a blog for each of the seven classes or would they all post to the same blog?
ReplyDeleteI haven't decided how to set up the blogs for my classes. I have thought about having a main page for each completely different course I teach, and linkikng them to a main page where I can post announcements to all classes.
DeleteLeslie,
ReplyDeleteI recently attended a technology in-service and they talked about shelfari.com. This is an online tool that is a social cataloging website for books. Students build virtual bookshelves and can rate, review and discuss their books. Teachers can also create groups that their students can join and you can create discussions about books. You can also send recommendations for new books to try. It is a great tool because it is also like 'spark notes' for teachers. If you have a book report where students can choose their own book to read, this website does a great job of outlining all of the main ideas and characters from the story. This way, if you haven't read the book they chose - you are still familiar with it. The program will also help recommend books for students based off of books they have enjoyed before. This is very similar to a blog. Even if you do not want their comments on the Shelfari website you could have them put their comments onto your classroom blog. Hopefully this is something you can use! I was fascinated with the presentation and wish it would be more useful in my science classroom. Good luck!
Brianne
I have never heard of that website before. I will check it out now! It seems like a great tool for me in my English classes. I will also share it with my school librarian. Thank you for the recommendation!
DeleteI think that this is a great idea for students and parents to see the work within the classroom. However I was wondering if you could do more with the whole blog idea. Are you an English teacher? If so you could create one blog for your classes to use all together and create maybe a story writing blog. Where you could start the story and another student would pick up from you and keep it going until all your students had participated at least one time with the writing. You could explain and teach them the proper ways to writing on a blog. This would allow them to create their own ideas for a 7 class project. You could choose to set a deadline and incorporate parts of the unit within the story and their writings. Each student could contribute a certain amount of writing, say a paragraph, and at the end of the unit the paper could be printed off and read to each class so they could see the work that all your students created together.
ReplyDeleteAlso sometime you possibly could incorporate another class to teach cross curriculum and write a story containing two classes and all these students.
Do you think that this idea would work for you and your students? If not could you change it in some form to create task for the students using a blog? What are your thoughts on the topic? I think that strict guidelines would have to be give at the begging so that the students get in the correct role of things and this could be successful.
Ashley
I like your idea of the round robin type writing using a blog! That would be a great way to get my students involved in the actual blog. Thanks for the idea!
DeleteLeslie,
ReplyDeleteI think you are off to a great start. Maybe instead of creating a blog for all seven classes you could create a blog for just your three courses. Another way you could eliminate more work is by creating a blog that can be universal for all of your classes. You can still incorporate all of your classes but add different links for each class.
Jacqueline,
DeleteI have been thinking about combining classes to have fewer blogs. I have thought about either just having one blog total, or one per grade level. Maybe I could set up one main website for all, then link in the blogs for each class so that they are easy to find, and my students can interact with my other classes. Thanks for the input!
Leslie I believe that your ideas about incorporating blogs in your classroom is great and I will personally give you thumbs up to your wonderful ideas that you have shared thus far.
DeletePlease consider myriad of opportunities of using blogs in your classroom.
. If you are going to share this with your school community, please include the following:
Explore the following blog services:
• Typepad (www.typepad.com): Typepad is a blogging service that requires a paid subscription, but it may be worth the investment because it comes with a broad range of technical support and file storage options that free blogging services don't always provide. I've chosen Typepad for my own blog, The Tempered Radical (http://teacherleaders.typepad.com/the_tempered_radical).
• Blogger (www.blogger.com): The main advantage of Blogger is that it's a free Google product. Google users need only one username and password to sign in for all of their Google services, which makes it as close as you can get to one-stop shopping for digital tools. For an example of Blogger in action, check out The Fischbowl at http://thefischbowl.blogspot.com.
• Edublogs (www.edublogs.org): Edublogs is one of the only free blogging services that is completely dedicated to educators. The advantage of creating your own digital home with Edublogs is that you'll be instantly connected to a community of like-minded writers who might just become your readers. For an example of Edublogs in action, check out In Practice at http://inpractice.edublogs.org.
George