This post is a collection of the idea discussed at the Classroom Websites and Blogs session I did with Helen Copeland (@mediatechcrew). Below is the video of the session broadcast live on Google Hangouts. My apologies for the not so great quality... but you can still hear the discussion! Thanks to @peoplegogy for making this idea happen and joining the Hangout! Blogging Tips & Ideas Giving students an authentic audience by having them blog about their writing is a powerful tool. Try some of these sites below as options to start inspiring your students to share their writing. Link up with your PLN to share your students' writing with other students. Use the hashtag #comments4kids and the example websites below to get connected with other teachers whose classes blog. Introduce students to blogging and commenting by using this fun Paper Blogging idea by @mcteach. Acclimate students to the blogging platform and posting by having their first post be a "Hello World" post. Here is the assignment I gave my students. And here is an example student Hello World blog post. You can see other assignments I've posted on our class blog - click on the "Assignments" tag. Provide your students blogging and commenting guidelines to help them learn the online etiquette and digital citizenship needed for blogging. I compiled this list of Blogging Guidelines from several sources last year. Feel free to borrow or pull from these! Weebly Teacher, student, or classroom websites or blogs Pros: Offers extensive options for classroom websites and professional looking blogs. User friendly and easy to navigate for both teachers and students. Student blog comments and posts can be monitored by teacher using edu accounts. Cons: Edu accounts limited to 40 students before having to pay for more. Kidblog Student blogs Pros: Safe site for students of any age to blog. No email addresses needed to sign up. Built in monitoring of posts and comments. All student blogs curated on one homepage automatically. Cons: Only has basic editing features and does not provide extensive choices for theme and personalization. Free account restricts single classes to 50 students and does not allow students to chose their own themes. Upgrade per class for $25/yr or for $2 per student. Pricing Details Edublogs Teacher or student blogs Pros: Intended for educational use already so offers safe environment for student bloggers. Offers Wordpress platform for editing, which allows for creativity and customization. Cons: Only the basic features are free. Blog monitoring and mobile features only available when linked to a Pro account ($40/yr). Pricing Details. Example of blog designed using Edublog by @jaimevanderg : Breaking down the Walls of the Classroom Blogger Teacher or student blogs; teacher, classroom, or student websites Pros: It's FREE!! Links directly to Google accounts. Easy blogging platform with basic editing tools. Teachers or students have freedom of website creation by creating multiple pages on their blogs. Cons: Each student has their own site that is not censored or managed by the teacher. One way to overcome this is adding a teacher/admin to each blog site as @mathletepearce suggests in this blog post. Edmodo Classroom websites for sharing materials with students. A free student information system that offers features similar to a social networking site within a protected environment. Offers grouping of classes and groups within classes, also offers options to give students quizzes, surveys, polls etc. WIX Teacher or classroom websites Pros: Free account offers user friendly editing features and multiple templates to choose from for classroom website options. Includes a blog feature as well. Cons: Not specific to education, so doesn't offer monitoring if you choose to use for student websites or blogs. Examples We are Remarkable (@carriegaffney84) - 2nd Grade classroom website and teacher portfolio. Scholars in Room 239 (@joykirr) - 7th grade classroom website and links to students blogs via blogger What's Going on in Mr. Solarz's Class? (@paulsolarz) - 5th grade classroom website, e-portfolios, and educator links Wolfpack English (@alcp) - 7th grade classroom website and link to Kidblog blog sites Globally Connected (@pneid) - 7th and 8th grade classroom website with links to student e-portfolios via blogger Barnes Class (@markbarnes19) - Author of Role Reversal. Middle school Language Arts classroom website with links to Kidblog blog sites
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This is an idea that a colleague of mine, Carter Fawcett, had this summer. She said she had seen it used at a professional development session. I have been waiting to try it and today was the day! Parking Lot for Questions: Have students write their questions for you on a sticky note and put them in the numbered spaces. The numbers function like a ticket at the deli counter in the grocery store - it gives them a place in line. When you finish working with one student, go to the next question in the Parking Lot. When to Use: When students are doing independent work and you need to be helping individual students. It also works well for when you are conferencing with students one-on-one and do not want to be interrupted. Our 5th grade teachers plan to use it this year during their small group reading instructional time when students should be working silently at their desks while the teacher meets with a group in the back of the room. How it helps: Most importantly for me it eliminates the frustrated student sitting for 10 minutes with his or her hand in the air just waiting for me to come around. It helps that student "ask" their question and then get back to work, not feeling like they have to wait for me to get to them before they can move on. I have also found that it helps students articulate their questions more clearly - sometimes I walk up to a student who has their hand raised, and they want to explain all the background before they get to the question. This helps them narrow their question to the scope of a sticky note, so they have to THINK about what they need help with. I ask them to be sure to write it in the form of a question. It also helps me realize when multiple students have the same question. Today, I had three students write a sticky note that said "Can you help me with my conclusion?" This led me to stop the class and quickly do a whole class explanation of how the conclusion of the essay should look. By addressing it whole-class, I was able to answer multiple questions at once, and probably lingering questions in some students minds who had not yet written a sticky note. Quick questions can be answered quickly. Today, I could read a sticky note, look over at the student and simply say "John, yes that is fine" and move on to the next student, streamlining my ability to answer questions faster. Try This Tomorrow:
This is a quick and easy classroom management tool. Try it! It takes one poster board or piece of chart paper, a marker, and some sticky notes to make it happen! I was surprised by how well it worked even on my first attempt. If this becomes routine, students will always know that I am working to meet their needs. Leave me a comment to let me know how you have used similar methods or how it goes if you try it! I am so interested to hear! ----- Allison Petersen @alcp |
About AllisonAllison is an K-12 Instructional Coach. Her goal is to empower educators to grow continually. Recent Posts#5Tips4LMS Series
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