Kolk, Melinda. earthdrawn.jpg. Oct-00. Pics4Learning. 11 Sep 2015 <http://pics.tech4learning.com>
Blogging in the
Elementary School
Fagnan, Deborah. img_00391.jpg. November 19, 2015. Pics4Learning. 27 Nov 2015 <http://pics.tech4learning.com>
As a teacher there is nothing more rewarding than
to see a student completely engaged in a project or activity. It is even more rewarding when class is over
and no one wants to leave. This is what actually took place when blogging was
introduced into my school. It did take
some time to set up, and like any learning curve, I still consider it a work in
progress.
Once you decide you want to blog, the work begins. First you need to determine which blog
platform to use. Edublogs and Kidsblogs are
examples of two educational blogging platforms.
These platforms target educator and student audiences. My first blog I created was through Edublog.
I was a newbie and needed all the help I could get. Edublog provided me with that assistance. They provide free professional development
workshops online. I found Blogging
with Students to be an excellent workshop and it helped me to
create a blog I use today for our school newspaper, The Eagle Press. The workshop was set up in eleven steps over
eleven weeks. However you can work at
your own pace. Once you completed a
unit, the next section opened up. Each
unit required specifics tasks to be completed.
At the conclusion you find yourself with a blog created with all the
bells and whistles. I learned about pages,
posts, widgets and plugins, and so much more.
If you don’t think this is enough, I also received professional
development hours for the work I did.
Once you have decided on a platform and you have a
clear understanding of the purpose of your blog, you will need to make sure
your students have a clear interpretation of the following concepts:
1. Students must demonstrate an understanding of safe, acceptable and sensible behavior online.
2. Students must follow the school’s guidelines and acceptable use policies from their school.
3. Students must demonstrate an understanding on how to post and comment on a blog. I also had an online worksheet and quiz students had to take before joining the staff or posting comments.
4. If working with younger children, students must have enough keyboarding skills to be able to successfully write and post entries on a blog.
Although I used the blog for a school wide program,
our school newspaper, blogs would be a great tool for the classroom teacher or a
collaboration between two or more teachers.
There are endless possibilities of projects and activities that can be
utilized with blogs in any subject and almost every grade level.
Linda Yollis discusses this topic in her interview
clip, The Power of
Blogging and Quality Comments. Ms. Yollis touches upon some of advantages to
blogging in the classroom such as:
1. Developing reading and writing skills;
2. Building literacy skills;
3. Developing digital literacy on topics such as online safety;
4. Building a positive digital footprint;
Privacy settings are an important feature to
evaluate with the different blog platforms.
Does the platform provide the necessary privacy settings your school or
district requires? On edublogs, the
teacher can restrict its audience or open it up to the World Wide Web. The blog
readers could be anyone such as only people you choose, or only the blog
authors.
Linda Yollis in her interview clip, The Power of
Blogging and Quality Comments shares with us one of her projects called the
365 Project.
Students and families from her class share photos, poems and stories with other
students and their families around the world.
This amazing project provides students with a unique way to interact and
work collaboratively with a large interactive community.
Bentley, Penny. Digital Footprint World Cloud. 28 Nov. 2013. Flickr.com Nov 2015 <https://www.flickr.com/photos/penbentley/>
As teachers we feel the pressure of developing a
curriculum that enhances student learning for the 21st century
learner. Blogging provides a tool that
allows the educator to teach content subjects such as reading, writing, science,
social studies, and information skills in a technological environment. Students have an opportunity to build a
positive digital footprint while learning Digital Literacy and
Citizenship. What do you think? Is this a win-win situation for your school?
