What is a blog? What is the purpose of a blog and blogging?
A blog is a type of website or part of a website. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order (Thanks, Wikipedia!)
How can I use a blog in my classroom, and how will it impact on my students learning and engagement?
At the moment we are using our class blog as a site that the students go to first to access different web resources I have checked out first. This means that they are not just “surfing” the net – they make choices from the blog.
We are also using it to post what we learn about or experiences at school. Visiting the blog and reading a new post and commenting on a post have become part of our Literacy activities, and the students enjoy asking questions and making comments, and this is a great way of sharing and receiving peer feedback. Community feedback via comments means that our parents are involved and the students see that they have a wider audience.
A few things I have learnt along the way:
• Be clear about guidelines/rules to ensure safety of students and so they are aware of what kind of forum it is.
The following guidelines are on our blog, and we have discussed as a class what they are and why we need them:
Blogging guidelines
• Always read through your writing before you upload it – this includes comments as well.
• Always be respectful and never write anything that may offend.
• Make sure you check spelling, grammar and punctuation.
• Only use first names when writing.
• Never write any personal information eg. your address, phone number etc.
• Don’t be specific eg instead of saying ‘I play basketball for Mt Bryan Tigers’, say ‘I play basketball for a local team’
• Always ask permission before posting a photo.
• Tell me about anything that looks silly or is inappropriate on the blog.
• Remember our class blog represents us and shows the world how great we are – so be proud of what you post!
• Get parents and the community involved early on
I asked my class a few questions about blogging, and here are some of their responses:
Why do we have a blog?
• To help us learn about the Internet and what we can do on it
• So we can learn more about fun games
• If you miss out on a day at school, you can see what has been going on at school while you are away
• To share with the world what we have done
• So we can be safe
• To put stuff like photos and videos on there
• So we can learn how to use different websites
• So people can make comments on our work
• Helps us learn
Why is it important to you?
• Because it’s helpful
• A good thing to go on
• It helps you learn about other people
• We can learn and still have fun
• So we don’t get viruses
• It’s safe
• It’s fun learning things on the computer
• Because it will make us smarter
What are all the games/links for?
• Good for our learning
• To help us learn more stuff
• To encourage you to use educational games
• The teacher looked at the games and they are safe
• To play on
• So we can have fun while we’re learning
• For us to learn
What have we posted and shared already?
• Videos of speeches
• Cross country
• Written work
• Photos
• Comments for others
• Followers
• Our work
How interesting is it for you?
• Very engaging because we get to see all our photos and everyone gets to see what we have been doing
• People get to know us
• 10/10
• Very because it has cool games
• Very interesting because games like Wild Self help with certain topics
• Interesting because we can share our work
• The blog is very cool and I think it’s better than anything
• It’s better than all the other blogs in the world
• Very interesting because it helps us learn more maths
• It helps all of us do reading, writing and maths
What made us start a blog?
• To encourage others to come to Tokomaru School
• When Mrs Bismark went on some courses she learnt about blogging and thought it would be good for our learning
• We had all the resources to do it so why not?!
• We can share what we do with everyone
• Mrs Bismark said it would help us with our learning
• Because of the ICT contract
• To share our stuff with the world
• To have fun while we’re learning
• Our teachers wanted the world to see what we are up to and we wanted to show our work to the world too
