As a 4th grade teacher in a regular education classroom, I am always looking for ways to make my lessons more exciting and engaging for my students. The real question is, how can I begin to use a blog in my classroom? Initially, to help students develop a sense of pride and ownership of this new aspect of their classroom, I think that using it as a place to publish their work would be an excellent starting point. I believe that the students would feel a sense pride knowing that their work was being shared with peers in their school, their parents, and possibly students from other schools. What a unique alternative to solely posting work in classrooms and hallways!
Another option that I would like to try in my classroom is using our blog as a place for class discussions. After posting a question that relates to our current studies in math, language arts, or other content subjects, students would be asked to post feedback answering the discussion question and then would also have the opportunity to comment on each other's feedback. This would be an excellent tool that could be used to assess student learning in particular content areas as well as to encourage their writing skills.
These are just a few ideas of ways that I would like to initially begin to implement my blog into my classroom. What about you? I'd love to hear your thoughts, feedback, or suggestions for things that have worked for you!
A class discussion board would be a great idea for fourth grade. The students are old enough and can independantly access the blog. Questions related to what was taught that day would help reteach and provide an opportunity for family discussions. It would also help for those kids who were absent from school. Easy way to enrich and add extra material without a lot of paperwork.
ReplyDeleteGreat post! I think that all of your ideas are awesome and would be very effective in a classroom. The only thing I could suggest is how would you make sure that everyone gets a chance to put their work up? Would you put it up individually or all at the same time?
ReplyDeleteHi Marie,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comment and question. In thinking about how I would make sure that everyone gets a chance to put their work up, I would probably make time for this during our weekly scheduled computer time since we do not have student computers in our classroom. I would consider assigning this for homework and give students a week to do it but the only hitch may be that I might have some students who do not have internet access.
The background theme for your blog is great! I also like your idea of using the blog as a showplace for student work as well as a place for students to respond to discussions. One hurdle that may need to be overcome would be ensuring students had the resources and ability to complete the task. While we live in a technology saavy society, there are still children who do not have access to computers with internet connections. I think it is great that you will make it part of your scheduled classroom computer time, but it would also allow parents to keep track of classroom discussion as well as those students who might be absent.
ReplyDeleteBlogs are a great way to post student work in a technological way! On one hand, it's great because the parents who never have a chance to visit the classroom, will now have a chance to see their child and other children's' work. One cautious point is to leave off the names from the student work for protection and legal reasons since it is going on the world wide web :)
ReplyDeleteI also love your idea of making your blog site as a class discussion board. What a great way to give those students who usually do not like to participate in class discussions aloud, a chance to collaborate with their classmates. Thus, allowing you to see their level of understanding and readiness. Great job!
-Amy
I love your ideas, Heidi. Blogs can be a great way to provide an authentic audience for students--something that is very motivating for them.
ReplyDeleteAs for discussions--blogs give students the wait time to really think about what they want to say--which can make for richer, more in depth discussions and greater opportunities for perspective taking.
Thanks for posting.