Rip.Mix.Feed.
Rip. Mix. Feed.
Link: kidblog.org/mrs-sikkess-class
Created through “Kidblog” (http://kidblog.org/home/)
I created a username and password for the course group – hopefully it works for everyone!
Username: UBCMET (all capital letters)
Password: ETEC540 (use capital letters for course code)
While I had, of course, heard of blogs before, I had never before been involved in a blog. Being enrolled in ETEC 540, and through the course blogs, I have been thinking more and more about whether my students’ written responses might be improved if they were given the option of responding to a piece of text (I am planning to begin with short stories) and if they might connect more enthusiastically with their peers’ writing if they were able to submit their responses on an online platform. I have talked with the superintendent of the school district I am in about whether this would be an appropriate tool to use in my classroom and he responded positively to the idea. I was then pointed in the direction of a few colleagues who have used blogs and have received input from a principal in the district as well as a few different teachers who have tried classroom-related blogs. Two of the colleagues I spoke with had used a class blog with students and two had used a blog as a way to communicate with parents. The general response has been positive, although interestingly, I had feedback from one teacher who said that she had used a blog to communicate with parents and it had been a complete failure. This year, she created a Facebook page and has had a much more positive response. Because I would like the focus of my class blog to be on increasing literacy for my students, I will not be using the blog to communicate with parents, although they will be welcome to view their child’s responses. My question for myself is: will initiating a class blog increase students’ interest and subsequently, their ability to respond to literary texts (ie. short stories) and to the responses of their peers?
This will be the first time I have ever tried using a social media style format in my teaching. I believe it will appeal to my students because it is a social media-related way to communicate that I am fairly confident they have not tried before (as they are only in grades 4 and 5) and it is a technology based in the digital world they are comfortable and familiar with, and inquisitive of.
One recommendation that I was given was to allow students to begin blogging by writing on topics of their choice. One colleague I talked to said that he had his students (also a grade 4/5 class) use the class blog three times a week to write about anything they wanted to. They also responded to their peers’ thoughts. He found very quickly that students were accessing the blog from home and were beginning to share their thoughts and experiences through the blog on a frequent basis outside of class. I am just in the developmental process of this blog, so I am still trying to decide exactly how to approach the blog with my students. On one hand, I can see that students might respond more favourably if they were given the opportunity to write about anything they would like. On the other hand, I would personally like the blog to develop as a literary response tool. I enjoyed our “Introduction” activity when beginning this course, ETEC 540, and I would like to try a similar activity with my students to start off with. From there, I would begin by using short stories (in the form of children’s books with pictures) to elicit responses. I had thought that we could model responses orally as a class before going to the computers to try blogging responses. As students became more proficient, perhaps we could begin to slowly remove the oral modelling piece. If students would like to access the blog from home, I am happy for them to write about topics that interest them, unrelated to the texts we have discussed in class, but I think I will likely keep class time to discuss stories and other literary works.
The other thought I had for the class blog was to include educational activities that students could explore during a period of free time if they had finished all other assignments. Included in my blog are some educational links that correspond to topics we are currently dealing with in class, or that I felt would help with basic skill or knowledge development.
As far as drawbacks, I do have a couple of concerns. The first is the fact that while the teacher-librarian and I are working on developing students’ typing skills, the grade four students have not yet had much training in keyboarding skills. While some might argue that which fingers students use to type with, and so on, will really not be that important in the future, I do believe that it is very important for students to learn proper posture and finger position when they are learning. I have a friend who is a physiotherapist who has told me many times that the neck and back problems people are facing today are primarily due to the increased amount of time we spend hunched over at computers. He says that many people did not receive proper training in posture, distance from the screen, etc. and as a result we have an entire population of people with back and neck problems related directly to the technology we use. I would like to help my students avoid this problem by teaching them correct keyboarding skills, but I will struggle to combine that with delivery of the blog. I am also concerned that for students who do not enjoy technology as this could be a very difficult assignment for them. I am hoping that it does not result in decreased output for some students. I understand that technology can be frustrating and while I believe that most of my students are more comfortable with electronics generally than I am, I am not sure that they are as comfortable with a more ‘traditional’ computer, as the majority of them interact electronically through smartphones, tablets, or videogame consoles.
I decided to use the platform, “Kidsblog” because it came the most highly recommended by the colleagues that I spoke with. I have not entered students’ names as I would like to have them do that themselves when we begin using this blog after the winter break. This blog site is not a finished product. Between now and when I introduce this blog to my students about a month from now, I may delete some of the links I have included, and I will be adding more links as I am able to.
Image reference:
Kidblog [online image]. Retrieved 22 November, 2015, from: https://www.emaze.com/@AOCWOWZO/Writing-with-Technology-copy2
I really enjoyed your post this week. I use a website (weebly) to communicate with parents. I love it as I can add resources, post assignment criteria and instructional resources. I don’t open it up to blogging because we have had some trouble with parents posting inappropriate things on our website pages. Also these sites can become places where heated debate occurs.
Also, if educators use a blog or webpage, they have a responsibility to monitor it daily. A colleague of mine had a website for his class and had it hacked. Someone posted pornography on his website and a student found it and reported it to him. Luckily only one student viewed it before the site was disabled.
These can be valuable tools, but they are a lot of work and a lot of responsibility.
James,
Yikes! You have given me some important points to consider before I officially launch the blog site after winter break. I was talking to the technology principal for the district I’m in a couple of days ago and he mentioned that I might want to use the Moodle platform instead because our district supports this internally. I would assume that might at least lower my risk of hackers.
Thank you for the tips!
Hi Mary,
I have been using a class blog for years as a communication tool between students and parents. Not only do I post what we have done in class that day on the blog I also have separate pages for the subjects I teach. I upload assignments, links to games we play in class and links to the lessons I have taught for the day (I record my math lessons as I teach them every day and use my blog to link to my youtube channel). I have found this a great help for me for students who miss the day. There are numerous students who miss a day of school, return the next day and have completed all their work because it is on the blog. Others, who are struggling with their work benefit from having a video they can watch to review the lesson. It saves me from repeating the same lesson several times for students who have been home sick.
The big drawback for me is that the blog takes quite a bit of time to upkeep, however once you are in the habit of doing so it isn’t that onerous.
When I have taught L.Arts I have also used a student blog for writing. It is amazing to see students encouraging each other!
I found your post really interesting and the comments were really insightful as well. I think that the Kidsblogs option works really well for educational, classroom blogging because the teacher can vet and read posts before they are posted for the rest of the students can comment on. I believe that students really do carefully edit their work and carefully consider what they are writing if they know that there is a larger audience for their work. At the same time, students are accessing various points of view. Blogging also provides a voice for those students who don’t usually raise their hand and participate, in the traditional, face to face environment. However, having a requirement for participation can encourage students to jump in and raise issues.
Anita, your blog seems to be a great way to communicate classroom learning to parents. It also sounds like a fantastic resource for students to refer back to and to clarify topics covered in class. It sounds like a wonderful way to engender two way communication.
Hello Mary,
I am very inspired by your post about blogging with your grade 4/5 class. When I taught adult ESL students at a local college, I had them create class blogs to communicate and practice writing to each other, and do assignments etc. That was a few years ago now. I am presently teaching a grade 6/7 class, and a blog would be so suitable for them. I’ve had too much on my plate this term to even think of blogging with them. Your post sparked my memory of how good blogging can be for students. I am excited and will start a blog with them for the new year! Thank you so much. I also found your concerns and considerations very helpful too. As well as the other comments about your post. I am feeling happier now than I did before I read your post. Thank you, Mary! Pamela