This is a guest blog from Kristin McFatridge, a 4th grade teacher at Central York School District. We would love to hear about your newest technology discoveries and how you apply them to your classroom.
Creating a blog doesn’t have to be a hair pulling experience. It’s supposed to be a fun way to engage students on the road to becoming lifelong 21st century learners. By following the 4 Easy E’s you, and your students, will become certified bloggers in no time. PS. If you’re reading this you, you’ve managed to find and identify what a blog looks like and you are already a step ahead!
1) Explore The teacher’s job is to explore and read all types of blogs (during all that free time we have ). Check out educational blogs, fun blogs, anything that may interest you! Pinterest.com has a lot of great starter ideas. One of the most popular, FREE blogging sites that I highly suggest is blogspot.com. Sign up and create your own classroom blog; navigate throughout the site and play around with all the buttons. Ask yourself questions, “What is that little icon for”? TRY IT OUT! You don’t have to publish anything yet. Trial and error is the key. Attempt to post at least one blog for the students to view when you introduce them to the concept of becoming 21st century Bloggers.
2) Engage “Attention all 4th grade Bloggers!” Don’t be scared by the blank stares, most of them will have no idea what you are talking about. Introduce them to the concept of blogging (if anything, they’ll get a kick out of the word “blog”). Show them how to access your classroom blog and read them your very first post. For 100% student engagement, include a picture of the class and throw some of their names into the first post. Kiddos love seeing themselves advertised on a computer screen and they won’t be able to keep their eyes off of the blog. Here comes the kicker, explain THEY will be taking over and be in complete control of the content of the classroom blog. They will become official Bloggers.
3) Experiment Give students time to play around; a little guided discovery never hurt anyone. The best way for students to learn how to blog is to have them teach themselves and learn from each other in “kid language”. Gather a small group of students and show them different aspects of blogspot.com (how to change the font, upload a picture, etc.) and those students will become the experts, the go-to students when a problem may arise. Give students time to post their own blogs and read and evaluate each other’s progress.
4) Enjoy Sit back and relax. Trust your students. Give them a rubric or check list as a guideline, but don’t take away their voice. You’ll be amazed how quickly your “net-generation” students grasp technology. Add the link somewhere easily accessible, like a classroom website, and advertise your blog to parents and other teachers. Become the facilitator, but leave the blogging for the students.
Join the discussion on facebook.com/myreadingsecrets.
I followed your lead and began a class blog with my third graders. They love it! However, because of acceptable use policies and the age of my students, I had to switch the website I use to blog from blogspot.com to kidblog.org. Same basic idea, but a little safer (i.e. less chance of advertisements, etc.), and the students can access it from the classroom student laptops (Blogger was blocked on theirs).
ReplyDeleteBlogging really opened their minds to the idea of writing for an audience beyond our classroom walls, which in a digital world, is a really important lesson.
Thanks for sharing your ideas!
Katie
I also started a classroom blog, but being in Kindergarten, I haven't allowed my students to take over anything! I'm thinking of letting them record their voices for me to put into the blog so it's still being run by them and they can take ownership and br proud. Who knows, maybe they'll even get their parents to check it out!
ReplyDeleteI'm happy you found an easy way for the blog to be managed by the kiddos. It seems to really be working for you. :)
Good luck!
Megan
I too started a blog for my art classroom after hearing about yours. What a great idea! Because I only see my classes once a cycle, I don't have the kids do the blogging, however, I am hearing from them that their parents are following it at home & that they are showing their children. The kids get SO excited when they see me pull out my phone to take pix for the blog! They know that they'll be on there in the near future & they want to see themselves! I show them the blog while they are in class with me- can't think of a better way to grab their interest which in turn will lead to them going home to tell mom & dad to get on there & check it out! Thanks for motivating me to do this!
ReplyDelete~Kelly
How AWESOME?! Kuddos to you for starting the blog trend, especially at such a young age. For us (as adults) there are so many things to learn, keep up with and you never know where to go next. However, by starting the students early you can get them hooked on a "thing" that they will be more likely to continue. Once blogging is second nature to them then they can focus their energy onto adding more and different social media to their lives.
ReplyDeleteThat was facebook for me. I know it, I get it, it's second nature to me. I can pick up and go with facebook at any time and I can spend extra time (when it's avaliable) figuring out other devices for different uses.
I wish I had blogging when I was in elementary school - maybe it would be something I could pick up and continue much more easily.
Katlyn
I love your "voice" in this blog. You really make blogging sound easy and motivating to students. Once you set the blog up, students have a real life reason for writing, reflecting, and reading. Thank you for taking a leap by allowing students to run it themselves. It's amazing what students can accomplish when we get out of their way!
ReplyDeleteI love your title!
ReplyDeleteIts so great to know that taking a day or two to introduce the kids to the concept has such great pay offs. Then having what you described as "go-to expert" students to help out the students who get stuck. I can completely picture a proud 4th grader explaining to his classmates how to complete their blog. It is a great way to keep the learning in your students hands and help them become the teachers.
I found a edublog website, that I am thinking about checking out for future use. Your idea of having the students run the blog sounds fantastic!
Joanna
This is such a cool thing to incorporate in the classroom! This could easily take the place of class newsletters, instead of the teacher creating it, the students can!!! Just give the students certain things you want included and let them create! I would love to start this in my own classroom, it may be tough for my first graders but could possibly be done!!! I think this really has the students engaged in what is happening in the classroom and makes them feel like they have a voice! Great Blog!!!
ReplyDeleteKristin D.
I can see that you are an expert at your field! I am launching a website soon, and your information will be very useful for me.. Thanks for all your help and wishing you all the success in your business. Student Laptops
ReplyDelete