Although I have yet to try to them in my second grade classroom, I believe that blogs can serve as good instructional tools across the curriculum. After reading chapter two of "Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts and other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms" by Will Richardson, I have learned several ways in which blogs can be effectively used to enhance classroom instruction. Due to their collaborative nature, blogs demand interaction between students and other members of soceity. Although my students are only in second grade, they are undoubtedly going to need this type of collaborative literacy in order to be successful later in life. As Will Richardson suggests, "It is never too early to start thinking about bringing primary sources into the classroom through the blog so students can ask questions and reflect on the answers." In preparing my students to write real and complex blogs, I must first teach them the basics of simple blogging. My ultimate goal is to teach my students the power of human connection. I believe that I can achieve this through using blogs in my classroom for various reasons.
As a second grade teacher, I am responsible for teaching all content areas. I think that blogs could serve as powerful tools for all subjects and that they would be rather easy to incorporate. I know that creativity will be needed in order for the blogging experience to be engaging and meaningful. First, I would like to create a blog to use as a class portal. This could serve as a powerful course management tool for all who are involved. This includes me, my students, parents, administrators, and other staff members in my building. I believe that this will make the class expectations very transparent and will clarify any misconceptions that could potentially hinder the success of my students. I would also like for my students to create their own blogs in order to share their creative writing pieces. This will allow them to have conversations with their readers and to reflect on the writing process. The more often they are able to be reflective and analyze their own work, the sooner they will be able to participate in "real" blogging.
Reference:
Richarson, W (2009). Blogs, wikis, podcasts and other powerful web tools tools for classrooms. Thousand Oaks, Ca: Corwin Press.
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Brooke,
ReplyDeleteI love your idea about having your second grade make individual blogs to share their creative writing. It is a great to have them active in their own blog to answer any questions and to clarify their misconceptions.
When you have them start on blogs will you do this as a whole group lesson?
My thought is to present in the classroom whole group and then bring my first grade to the computer lab for a smaller group of instruction. 25 students can be a large group to teach. My students are not very familiar with the computer functions.
Brooke,
ReplyDeleteI teach 2nd grade also and I thought that blogs would be a great place to work on writing skills. This way they will be able to have people other than me respond to their work. You said that you wanted each child to create their own blog. Do you have access to a computer lab in order to have them all set these up together or do you think you would have them set them up in small groups? I was wondering how I would do this in my classroom. It would be great for each student to have their own blog, but you usually need an e-mail address to set that up. That would be a problem in my class because many students do not have access to a computer at home. I was thinking maybe having each student contribute to one class blog to start and see how it goes. Good luck with this next year and with 2nd grade!
Brooke,
ReplyDeleteYour blogging assignment sounds great for second grade! I am sure the students will really enjoy this. How much typing do you do with your students throughout the year? That would be my concern but I teach kindergarten and towards the end of the year they are doing okay at typing and learning the keys on the keyboard so I am sure that by second grade they are pretty proficient. Do you know if your school starts the students with keyboard awareness in kindergarten or what grade they start with? I was thinking about trying this in my room but my students would need to do it in small groups and with help from an adult or older student. Good luck with this activity!
Having your second graders create a blog to share their creative writng is a great idea. I know it will be a challenge, but setting high expetctations for your kids is great. I wish you good luck with this, and I will be checking back to see how it goes. Great idea.
ReplyDeleteKristin,
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of presenting the creative writing blog to the whole group prior to having the students create their own blogs. The students at my school begin attending technology class in first grade. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the majority of them will be familiar with the basic computer functions. I usually reserve the computer lab and take all of my students, although they may be working in small groups. It is definitely going to take a lot of planning and management to make things run smoothly!
Lindsay,
ReplyDeleteWe are very fortunate to have a computer lab at my school. I would like to have all of my students go together, but they would definitely work in small groups for this type of activity. I do see how needing an active email address may pose a problem for some students. Posting to a class blog would definitely be a great solution.
I am uncertain as to whether or not my school implements the keyboard awareness program. However, our students do begin attending technology as a special area in first grade. I often collaborate with the tech specialist at my school in preparation for a particular lesson. He is really good about working with my students and preparing them with the skills they will need in order to be successful. It definitely helps to have the assistance of another adult with this type of activity.
ReplyDeleteShonda,
ReplyDeleteI definitely forsee this activity as being a challenging one. However, by setting high expectations and by presenting my students with an authentic audience, they are sure to be highly motivated and engaged. I will definitely let you know how it turns out.
Brooke-
ReplyDeleteWhat made you think of using a blog as your class portal rather than a wiki? My teaching partner helped me set up a wiki at the end of this school year, and I'll be using it next year in my fourth grade classroom. I'll post homework, powerpoint presentations, note pages from my SMART board, and links to Math skills pratice sites.
How would you use your blog as a class portal?