It was a great first week of school and we are ready to start thinking about publishing online. This summer, I thought through the pieces I wanted for my 4th grade writers. I am laughing now because it seemed much more doable in July! I know it is doable, I just need to take steps in the first six weeks of school and be thoughtful about how we get everything in place.
I want my students to be connected writers AND I also want them to be connected readers. This week, we'll start doing some online reading. As a shared experience, I want to spend time with students reading blogs and understanding the whole genre of blogging. I want them to see a variety of blogs, to see what is possible, to learn about commenting, etc. So, I put out a request on Twitter, asking for classroom blogs that my class might follow. I got a great list from teachers everywhere. I also found some great blogs by kids and/or for kids that I'll add to the collection. I am trying to keep a list for now as I know we'll find some we revisit more often. Many are just getting started as it is the beginning of the year. Others are older and haven't had new postings for a while. But all of the blogs on this list will help students begin to see the possibilities in blogging. This week will be about immersing ourselves in blogs and what they are about. It will be about seeing the possibilities open up as we learn from and with people all over the world.
This is the list of blogs I have so far. Thanks to everyone for sharing their blogs with me on Twitter. If you have a classroom blog or student blog you'd like to add, just leave it in the comments. I had a great time pulling this list together--so much to learn from each blog that I visited!
THE SHINY RED APPLE (4th Grade)
I want my students to be connected writers AND I also want them to be connected readers. This week, we'll start doing some online reading. As a shared experience, I want to spend time with students reading blogs and understanding the whole genre of blogging. I want them to see a variety of blogs, to see what is possible, to learn about commenting, etc. So, I put out a request on Twitter, asking for classroom blogs that my class might follow. I got a great list from teachers everywhere. I also found some great blogs by kids and/or for kids that I'll add to the collection. I am trying to keep a list for now as I know we'll find some we revisit more often. Many are just getting started as it is the beginning of the year. Others are older and haven't had new postings for a while. But all of the blogs on this list will help students begin to see the possibilities in blogging. This week will be about immersing ourselves in blogs and what they are about. It will be about seeing the possibilities open up as we learn from and with people all over the world.
This is the list of blogs I have so far. Thanks to everyone for sharing their blogs with me on Twitter. If you have a classroom blog or student blog you'd like to add, just leave it in the comments. I had a great time pulling this list together--so much to learn from each blog that I visited!
THE SHINY RED APPLE (4th Grade)
ANNA'S AMAZING LEARNERS (5 year olds in New Zealand)
ROOM 17 PINEHILL SCHOOL (New Zealand)
LAURA'S LIFE (7th Grader, Indiana)
GLOSONBLOG (Social Media, Blogging and Tech Tips from 14 yo in Malaysia)
HAGAN'S WORLD OF AWESOME (6 year old in Iowa)
MRS. DAUB'S DUDES AND DUDETTES(4th Grade Classroom Blog)
THE HOWLIN' GOOD TIMES OF ROOM 226 (4th Grade Classroom Blog)
CRAYONS AND PENCILS (6th Graders)
ABI'S BLOG (9 year old in Beijing)
AMELIE'S ANIMAL BLOG (5 year old in Australia)
AVA'S AWESOME BLOG (Australia)
CLASSROOM 2 KIDS (Grade 2, British Columbia, Canada)
LEARNING HUB 3 @ STONEFIELDS SCHOOL (5-8 year olds in New Zealand)
MRS. CASSIDY'S CLASSROOM BLOG (Grade 1)
THE SKINNY (5th Grade)
MISS ALANIZ'S CLASSROOM BLOG (4th Grade)
20 SOMETHING KIDS AND 1 KOOKY TEACHER (5th Grade, Missouri)
MRS. FREDERICKSON'S CLASS BLOG (Grade 6)
You may or may not recall that I started a classroom blog way back in 2006 and then individual student blogs (4th grade) later that same school year. That first year I too sought out other student blogs and we had some informative interactions.
ReplyDeleteI loved doing the blogs. I used the classroom blog as virtual chartpaper and so much more. The students did tons of work on their individual blogs --- often having wonderful exchanges with authors and others. They functioned as electronic portfolios, but much more too. (I've written about this over at my blog, educating alice, frequently over the years.) As things went on my 4th and 5th grade colleagues picked up the idea and by last year all of them had both classroom and individual student blogs.
Then last spring a new wrinkle, the school decided that all blogs were to go private, behind our log-in. The conversations around this were complicated, to say the least. Some of us were very Internet-saavy, but others were not. Because of those who were not I took the sword on their behalf, so to speak, and agreed to make the blogs private. However, since my whole idea of blogs is for my students to have a world-wide audience (and practice internet safety that way) I insisted on a new blog where we could still put work and projects out to the world. That blog is here: http://blogs.dalton.org/grade4projects/
The world is rapidly changing. In 2006 few of my colleagues, administrators, parents, and students were familiar with blogs. Now they are a recognizable part of our digital landscape. With that comes a lot of apprehension about digital footprints which I completely understand. I'm not sure I agree with my school going behind a digital wall, but I understand why they are doing it.
I too have been passionate about blogging with my students. And, like you Franki, want them to be connected readers and writers. Monica, my heart goes out to you. Your journey is tough and I too would be just as disheartened about the digital wall. I feel as if I try to find ways around that wall as much as possible so that I can show my kids the value in learning from bloggers around the world. I appreciate this list and want to add our weebly class blog that I plan to have the kids help me plan and post weekly. http://mrsdicesare2.weebly.com/class-news-blog.html
ReplyDeleteYou can also follow us on twitter: Mrs.DiCesare's Class @Tigers1D
We would love to have our fifth grade blog added to your list. We add a lot of our projects to our blog throughout the year, and our students really love to have people comment on our blogs. THANKS so much for helping to instill the importance of writing in our students! http://kidblog.org/5thGradeAwesomeness/
ReplyDelete@huebner1