11/13 Plan to use Blogging in the classroom
Hi, my name’s Ms.Jenkins and I teach ELA and Social Studies to 42 Amazing First graders within my Title 1 educational
setting I am a one teacher classroom where students do a half a day with each
teacher. Previously I have used tech in the classroom for running progress monitoring
programs, and teaching games, however blogging is something that is new to me
in the Elementary classroom. I think it is a great concept to introduce and because
I teach ELA may be a perfect tool to incorporate into our classroom this year,
I am however still considering how.
Teaching so many
young students and being responsible for their academic growth, social
emotional wellness and overall progression within our ever-changing world is a
challenge. It is my hope to use blogging by way of a class blog to keep
families and stakeholders updated on the awesome things that we are doing in
the classroom. I would like to teach students how to write about the things
that are important to them and communicate with them on a blog platform. I
would like them to collaborate on posts after they have completed activities
and reflect in writing on their experiences. In doing so I will be following ISTE
2.2 in allowing students to share their ideas through technology (ISTE,2016) as well as ISTE 1.6 as students share through
collaboration (ISTE,2016).
One idea that I found from a class resource is having
students write to other students in other countries through a virtual exchange
similar to old school pen pals. In an article entitled Inspiring Learning Outcomes
with Twitter in the classroom Kelly Walsh details a teacher who uses the
internet to allow students to gain knowledge of their counterparts in different
parts of the world. She does this through connecting with other class Instagrams
in Indonesia via Twitter (Walsh,2011). Though
that teacher solely uses twitter I think
a blog could provide a greater opportunity to practice conventions of language
and strengthen writing skills.
International
Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). (2016b). ISTE Standards for Educators.
https://www.iste.org/standards/iste-standards-for-teachers
I love the idea of a class blog, especially in the elementary school setting, as a way to keep families involved with the happenings of your classroom! It would be very challenging to implement the blogging in your situation, with the students being so young and likely unable to blog themselves. However, it could be an interesting idea to write a blog a week as a class on Fridays. You could have the students brainstorm what to write about, (highlights of the week, fun topics, etc.), then compose all of the ideas into a post and include pictures from class. This would go along with the ISTE student standard 1.6 the creative communicator (2022), by giving students the ability to think about the best way to share what they did during the week. Hope this helps!
ReplyDeleteReference:
International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). (2016a). ISTE standards for students. Retrieved from https://www.iste.org/standards/for-students