My kiddos have quickly grown to love blogging! I've had a handful of students blogging outside of school and many who ask me everyday if they get to blog today. Yesterday, I made an announcement that we would be heading to the computer lab today to blog. Cheers erupted!
Today was full of excitement. One little guy, one of my more challenging kiddos, could barely contain himself. He asked me (seriously not exaggerating this one) every 15-30 minutes if it was time to blog yet. When we finished up the art project right before we were heading to the lab, he was the first person on the carpet and, for once, he was criss-cross with his hands in his lab and his lips zipped. It was quite the sight to see!
This was only our second time blogging as a class, so I reviewed the steps for logging in and posting a blog post before we went down. I knew things were going to move quickly this time, so I taught a little bit about how to comment on other blogs. We talked about how our comments shouldn't be random; they should relate to the topic of the blog. We also talked about how important it is for us to be kind people when we comment on blogs. It was our very first lesson in digital citizenship; I know many more of these lessons will be in store for my kiddos in the future. We simply scratched the surface.
Our actual blogging time was quite chaotic. My students still needed me for many things - how to log in, how to publish a post, how to comment, etc. I was torn in 19 different ways. It was loud and it was busy, but it was authentic. They were using their writing skills to accomplish real communication. My teacher heart grew three sizes!
As I was going through their comments, though, I realized, on a deeper level, our lessons on digital citizenship are not over. A few of my students simply left "Hi" at the bottom of each blog they visited. This is by no means a bad comment, but I want them to be smart with their comments. I want them to help the authors feel like they have written something useful; after all, that is the ultimate goal of blogging, right? I also had some comments that were not real words; the kiddos were simply playing on the keyboards...
We'll continue to work on our digital presence. We'll keep sharpening our typing and writing skills and work to be the great people we can be in every place we visit, whether in person or virtually. Hopefully, their excitement to share what they know and experience with the world continues to grow too!
Today was full of excitement. One little guy, one of my more challenging kiddos, could barely contain himself. He asked me (seriously not exaggerating this one) every 15-30 minutes if it was time to blog yet. When we finished up the art project right before we were heading to the lab, he was the first person on the carpet and, for once, he was criss-cross with his hands in his lab and his lips zipped. It was quite the sight to see!
This was only our second time blogging as a class, so I reviewed the steps for logging in and posting a blog post before we went down. I knew things were going to move quickly this time, so I taught a little bit about how to comment on other blogs. We talked about how our comments shouldn't be random; they should relate to the topic of the blog. We also talked about how important it is for us to be kind people when we comment on blogs. It was our very first lesson in digital citizenship; I know many more of these lessons will be in store for my kiddos in the future. We simply scratched the surface.
Our actual blogging time was quite chaotic. My students still needed me for many things - how to log in, how to publish a post, how to comment, etc. I was torn in 19 different ways. It was loud and it was busy, but it was authentic. They were using their writing skills to accomplish real communication. My teacher heart grew three sizes!
As I was going through their comments, though, I realized, on a deeper level, our lessons on digital citizenship are not over. A few of my students simply left "Hi" at the bottom of each blog they visited. This is by no means a bad comment, but I want them to be smart with their comments. I want them to help the authors feel like they have written something useful; after all, that is the ultimate goal of blogging, right? I also had some comments that were not real words; the kiddos were simply playing on the keyboards...
We'll continue to work on our digital presence. We'll keep sharpening our typing and writing skills and work to be the great people we can be in every place we visit, whether in person or virtually. Hopefully, their excitement to share what they know and experience with the world continues to grow too!