Using a class blog as a tool for learning

1. Our vision is for young people who are:
 Creative, energetic and enterprising
 Confident
 Connected
 Actively involved
 Lifelong learners

2. eLearning may
 Assist the making of connections
 Facilitate shared learning
 Assist in the creation and use of supportive
learning environments
 Enhance opportunities to learn
 Open up different ways of learning

3.  Personalised learning (the system is built around the
learner, rather than the learner being required to fit with the system)
 Diversity needs to be recognised as a strength and 21st century
citizens need to be educated for diversity
 Knowledge involves creating and using new knowledge to solve
problems and find solutions to challenges as they arise on a “just-in-
time” basis.
 Rethinking learners’ and teachers’ roles
 A culture of continuous learning for teachers
and educational leaders

5. What is the purpose of your
class blog?

6. Me and my class blog
How do you feel about it?
Plus Minus Interesting/ideas

8.  Worldwide audience
 Authentic audience
 Provides a purpose – a reason to
create
 Engagement & motivation

9.  Learn ICT skills
 Develops multi-literacies
 Collaboration & sharing
 Give & receive comments, ideas
and feedback
 Develops digital citizenship
 Provides a tool to facilitate learning

12. Learning Areas
Key Competencies
Requires a change in the way you teach
It’s about changing the way you teach the
curriculum
To get the most from your class blog

13. Skills and Strategies to be taught
Learning to Learn Thinking Tools Research Tools & Presenting
 Goal setting
 Organisation and
time management
 Tracking and
asking for
assistance
 Collaboration and
group work
 Self and peer
evaluation
 Reflective practice
 De Bono Hats
 PMI
 Thinkers Keys
 Bloom’s
Taxonomy
 Fogarty’s
Intellect
 Thinking Maps
 Habits of the
Mind
 Questioning skills
 Key words
(Identifying and
using)
 Internet searching
 Using contents &
index
 Using websites
 Skimming, scanning
& reading for detail
 Taking notes &
making notes
 Sorting, interpreting
& organising
• Use of ICTs
 Use of software
 Layout and
design
 Vocabulary
studies
 Listening
 Speaking
 Public speaking
 Discussion
 Performance

14. Blog platforms
 Edublogs
 Blogger (Blogspot)
 Wordpress

15. 1. A gallery, quality work and/or web 2.0
shrine compiled by the teacher (not always
willingly!) in their own time
2. A display space to share learning and class
events with families members and anyone
else who is interested
3. A display space and an engaging forum
actively used in the processes of learning
Blogging ‘stages’

16. Display
 Learning experiences are recorded and
displayed on the blog
 Photos and reporting about class and school
events
 Web 2.0 applications are used to display
photos
 Photos of the wall displays and worksheets
 Posts about the adventures of the class mascot

17. Learn
A world-wide audience is a very powerful
motivator
 The blog is used as a catalyst and a learning
tool
 Learning happens on the blog in real time
 Students collaborate in groups and
co-construct posts
 Global collaborative projects

18. http://snailandwhaleproject.edublogs.org/

21. Blogging may have solved one of the most
pressing problems that has perplexed the
education world for years: how to get boys to
write properly.

22. “An essential element in developing a thinking
culture will be the explicit teaching of thinking skills
to all students”
Michael Pohl

23.  Generating ideas
- Generating possibilities
- Creating metaphors
 Clarifying ideas
- Analysing ideas
- Analysing arguments
 Assessing the reasonableness of ideas
- Assessing basic information
- Inference
Dr Robert Swartz

25.  Knowledge
 Comprehension
 Application
 Analysis
 Synthesis
 Evaluation
Remembering
The ability to grasp the meaning
of material
The ability to use learned
material in new ways
An understanding of both the content
and the structural form of material
The ability to put parts together to
form something new
The ability to judge the value of
material for a given purpose

27.  Discussing
 Evaluating
Playing a sport
Plus Minus Interesting ideas

28. Making and using a homemade water slide
Plus Minus Interesting

29. Analyse and draw
conclusions
 What do you need to
consider when buying a
dog?
 What does a dog need
that a cat doesn’t?
 What are some practical
uses for owning a cat? A
dog?
 Which is the best pet for
someone who lives in a
high-rise apartment?
DogsCats

30. Whole class
Groups
Pairs

31.  Show me

32. Discuss and write
 White hat
 Yellow hat
 Red hat
 Black hat

37. Your mission is to:
 Use Kidpix to draw something important in
the story you’re reading.
 Use a digital camera to explain a maths
concept.
Blog time missions
Students working collaboratively

39. Your mission is to:
 Take a photo and retell a story
 Take a photo of some group work, upload
to Fotobabble and explain what you were
learning
 Take photos to illustrate a word (patterns,
people, lines, shoes etc)
 Investigate and share ‘which class has the
tidiest cloak bay?’
 Take photos which show learning in our
room today
More blog time missions

40.  Take photos showing ‘how to skip’,
‘how to shoot a goal’, how to do a
forward roll’ etc.
 Draw 3 things important to the main
character in the book you’re reading
 Use a flow chart to show a sequence
(reading or maths)
 Create a book trailer using PuppetPals
and iMovie apps
 Create some QR codes with clues for a
location for others to solve

41.  What?
 So what?
 Now what?

42. Co-create

43.  Personalised learning (the system is built around the
learner, rather than the learner being required to fit with the system)
 Diversity needs to be recognised as a strength and 21st century
citizens need to be educated for diversity
 Knowledge involves creating and using new knowledge to solve
problems and find solutions to challenges as they arise on a “just-in-
time” basis.
 Rethinking learners’ and teachers’ roles
 A culture of continuous learning for teachers
and educational leaders

44. Part of your classroom community 24/7
Used daily to motivate and enhance learning
 theinsandouts.co.nz
(year 3 & 4)
 http://room6halcombeschool2013.blogspot.co.nz/
Year 7 & 8
 http://www.easternhutt.school.nz/Website/Syndicates.
html (http://slaterg4.blogspot.co.nz/)