Thursday, January 28, 2016

Kidblog

Last week I began my Transliteracy course for grad school and one of the topics was social media and how it can be used in the classroom. Since I teach second grade I wasn't sure how much social media I could truly use with my students, but I wanted to try something. I stumbled across Kidblog and decided to give it a try using the 1-month free trial.

Well, this week I started using it with kids and they are SUPER excited about it. I decided to start by showing it to them in the class on the BrightLink and had an introductory post waiting for them. The next day we went into the computer lab and I let them explore and taught them how to leave comments. Next, I had them create "All About Me" blogs to start and get used to the website.

At this point, I'm not quite sure what my next steps are going to be and we go back to the computer lab tomorrow. All my kids are talking about are their blogs and I'm over here like "uhhhhh?" I have some ideas about having them post about books we read, but other than that I feel a little uncertain and lacking creativity. Ironically, my first issue of "The Reading Teacher" came in the mail this week and I decided to open it up after class tonight. I just joined the ILA and subscribed to this journal so this is the first one I've received and I wasn't 100% sure what to expect from it. While flipping through, I found an article titled "Formative Assessment in the Digital Age: Blogging with Third Graders" in the index. Of course I immediately flipped to the page it started on and began reading. I was so excited when the blog it recommended for teachers to get started with was---wait for it---KIDBLOG! (I didn't mention this earlier, but when I was researching blogging for second graders I came across several options. I narrowed my search to three different blogging sites I thought looked good for my students and somehow picked one (I'm super indecisive so a huge part of me wanted all three sites!) I'm so ecstatic that the one I ended up picking was the only one mentioned in the article! It's gotta be good if an article mentions it, right?!) The next thing that made me feel better about my new journey with Kidblog was that the article said to first demonstrate the website and then engage the students with an initial blogging activity like---wait for it---an "All About Me" post! I did both of those things! I must be headed in the right direction.

At this point though, I'm still stuck with what to have them post about next, but the article gave some websites to check out about blogging in the classroom. So while I go check out those websites, I'd love some feedback from you!

  • Do you use blogs with your elementary students?
  • What topics and ideas do they blog about?
  • Any tips to make this process as successful as possible?
  • Any other feedback welcome!

4 comments:

  1. I just had to comment on this because I love this idea! I think its great that you started this with your class and it makes me want to do it too. I think writing about books is great. Some other suggestions that I have for you would be writing what they did over breaks or even long weekends. You could also have them blog about certain holidays that we have off. For example I know its a little late but Martin Luther King day. You could ask them what their dream is. My last idea just because I know its going on in all schools is bullying. Ask them how they feel about it and what would they would do if they were being bullied or if a friend was being bullied. Just some suggestions :)

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    1. Thanks for sharing those suggestions! They are all great! So far we have done "All About Me" and predictions/wonder questions about the book we just started reading. After starting these, my first goal is to work on getting them to extend their thinking. For example, two common statements in our class right now are: 1. I liked that part, and 2. I agree. I'm trying to get them to tell why they liked parts or why they agree or disagree.

      I definitely recommend the site. We have only been using it for a week now, but the kids are always wanting to work on it in free time! I have even had several students logging on, commenting, and working on their posts at home! It has also been fun for me to get to comment on each of their posts and give them some individual attention. My last thought is that I get to hear more from my quiet students who don't like to share aloud in class.

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  2. Hi Megan. I have just started introducing my first graders to blogging and am looking for classes to trade comments with. Here's our new blog: https://kidblog.org/class/mrs-ivans-class/posts. So far I've tied in science and math. I love this woman's blog and am patterning a lot of what I plan to do after what I've learned from trolling her site. http://yollisclassblog.blogspot.com. Because my kiddos are so young, I plan to have them add content mostly through comments. I am still in the process of collecting parent permission, and then I will slowly have them learn to create constructive comments. I also plan to tie in literature and special event prompts (like Dr. Seuss Day and 100th day). Hope this helps.

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    1. Thanks for sharing her site. I am definitely going to check it out! I have not started trading comments with other classes yet because I haven't really explored that route on my end yet, but once I figure it out and work with my students more on making meaningful comments and feedback versus "I like that, too," I'd definitely like to set something up! We have made three blog posts at this point and have been discussing the use of tags. They are doing really well and still want to work on their blogs during any free time they get. Thanks again for sharing! I'd love to hear more about your experiences with Kidblog as you work with it more, too!

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