Blogging in the Classroom, Why? 1st May 2013 - Digital Technology Conference for Jewish Primary Educators
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The document discusses using blogs in the classroom and provides guidance on starting a classroom blog. It recommends choosing a blogging platform like Blogger or WordPress that is free and has apps. The document instructs teachers to start small with simple blog posts, integrate blogging into lessons, and find a colleague to collaborate with. Blogging takes work but has rewards like celebrating achievements. Overall, the document provides tips on why, what, and how to start a successful classroom blog.
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Blogging in the Classroom, Why? 1st May 2013 - Digital Technology Conference for Jewish Primary Educators
- 1. Phone: +44 (0) 207 443 5101 Mobile: +44 (0) 795 680 6892 Address: JHub, Haskell House, 152 West End Lane, London NW6 1SD Blogging in the Classroom: Why should we? Digital Technology in Jewish Primary Schools Channah Goldblatt Wednesday 1st May 2013
- 2. Phone: +44 (0) 207 443 5101 Mobile: +44 (0) 795 680 6892 Address: JHub, Haskell House, 152 West End Lane, London NW6 1SD BloggingintheClassroom http://www.docstoc.com/docs/108443821/_quotIf-we-teach-today-as-we-taught-yesterday_-we-rob-our-children-of
- 3. Phone: +44 (0) 207 443 5101 Mobile: +44 (0) 795 680 6892 Address: JHub, Haskell House, 152 West End Lane, London NW6 1SD BloggingintheClassroom Why?
- 4. Phone: +44 (0) 207 443 5101 Mobile: +44 (0) 795 680 6892 Address: JHub, Haskell House, 152 West End Lane, London NW6 1SD BloggingintheClassroom Why?
- 5. Phone: +44 (0) 207 443 5101 Mobile: +44 (0) 795 680 6892 Address: JHub, Haskell House, 152 West End Lane, London NW6 1SD BloggingintheClassroom Why?
- 6. What? Phone: +44 (0) 207 443 5101 Mobile: +44 (0) 795 680 6892 Address: JHub, Haskell House, 152 West End Lane, London NW6 1SD What are you passionate about? What would be simple to integrate into lessons? What would you like to share? BloggingintheClassroom What do I write about?
- 7. What? Phone: +44 (0) 207 443 5101 Mobile: +44 (0) 795 680 6892 Address: JHub, Haskell House, 152 West End Lane, London NW6 1SD In discussion with a partner, come up with an idea for your blog and write a short blog post (3-4 paragraphs) on a topic of your choice that relates to your idea. Example ideas: • Sharing resources and plans • Sharing learning done in the classroom • Sharing ideas and news BloggingintheClassroom Task 1 – Choose a Topic
- 8. What? Phone: +44 (0) 207 443 5101 Mobile: +44 (0) 795 680 6892 Address: JHub, Haskell House, 152 West End Lane, London NW6 1SD Decide on some rules for your blog. Make sure that these rules are consistent with your school’s e-safety policy. • Example guidelines 1 • Example guidelines 2 BloggingintheClassroom Task 2 – Set some guidelines
- 9. Phone: +44 (0) 207 443 5101 Mobile: +44 (0) 795 680 6892 Address: JHub, Haskell House, 152 West End Lane, London NW6 1SD BloggingintheClassroom How?
- 10. Phone: +44 (0) 207 443 5101 Mobile: +44 (0) 795 680 6892 Address: JHub, Haskell House, 152 West End Lane, London NW6 1SD BloggingintheClassroom How? Blogging Terms Theme/Template Tags/Labels Categories Widget/Gadget Plugin The theme or template describes the look of your blog Tag or label your post to identify the key points or purpose. A plugin can add extra functions to your blog. A widget is a small application that can be added to your posts or pages. Assign posts and pages to categories to organise your blog.
- 11. Phone: +44 (0) 207 443 5101 Mobile: +44 (0) 795 680 6892 Address: JHub, Haskell House, 152 West End Lane, London NW6 1SD BloggingintheClassroom How? Blogging Terms Embed Post Page Permalink Code A page on blog is for static content e.g. a curriculum outline or term dates. Each post is assigned its own web address (URL) so people can access specific posts directly. Entries on a blog are referred to as posts. This is how you will add the majority of your content. Most blogs allow you to edit posts in a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) editor. This writes code for you. You can embed content from other sites on your blog. This shows the content via the other site.
- 12. Phone: +44 (0) 207 443 5101 Mobile: +44 (0) 795 680 6892 Address: JHub, Haskell House, 152 West End Lane, London NW6 1SD Blogger Free Apps: iOS & Android WordPress Free Apps: iOS, Android , Windows Phone, Blackberry, Nokia & webOS KidBlog Free (works via WordPress) Apps: iOS & Android BloggingintheClassroom How? What platform should I use?
- 13. Phone: +44 (0) 207 443 5101 Mobile: +44 (0) 795 680 6892 Address: JHub, Haskell House, 152 West End Lane, London NW6 1SD BloggingintheClassroom How? Task 3 – Choose a platform Discuss what platform would be best for your class. Have a look at the 3 platforms shown, make a decision and create an account with one. Add the blog post you worked on earlier.
- 14. Phone: +44 (0) 207 443 5101 Mobile: +44 (0) 795 680 6892 Address: JHub, Haskell House, 152 West End Lane, London NW6 1SD BloggingintheClassroom How? Commenting on blog posts Commenting on posts is a great way to feedback to your students or get them to do peer assessment.
- 15. Phone: +44 (0) 207 443 5101 Mobile: +44 (0) 795 680 6892 Address: JHub, Haskell House, 152 West End Lane, London NW6 1SD BloggingintheClassroom How? Task 4 – Comment Share your blogs with each other and comment on your colleagues posts.
- 16. Phone: +44 (0) 207 443 5101 Mobile: +44 (0) 795 680 6892 Address: JHub, Haskell House, 152 West End Lane, London NW6 1SD BloggingintheClassroom How? http://primarytech.global2.vic.edu.au/files/2012/11/Blogging-Rubric-November-2012-xn0oar.pdf
- 17. Phone: +44 (0) 207 443 5101 Mobile: +44 (0) 795 680 6892 Address: JHub, Haskell House, 152 West End Lane, London NW6 1SD Taken from http://j.mp/17ubm2a BloggingintheClassroom Final words Start Small Begin with simple posts that include text and images. Set yourself a goal to publish a new post regularly e.g. once a week or fortnightly. Don’t make blogging an add-on. Integrate your curriculum subjects into blog posts and comments. Make blogging part of your lessons or homework schedule. Find a buddy to learn with. You might even set up a joint blog with your year group or phase. Sharing the workload can make blogging easier and more enjoyable. While blogging is a lot of work, the rewards are plentiful. Celebrate your achievements and reflect on your success regularly! Integrate Collaborate Celebrate
- 18. Phone: +44 (0) 207 443 5101 Mobile: +44 (0) 795 680 6892 Address: JHub, Haskell House, 152 West End Lane, London NW6 1SD • http://jewishinteractive.net/category/blog/ • http://www.thelkgeek.com/ • http://yu20.org/profiles/blog/list • http://jtec.macam.ac.il/portal/SectionPage.aspx?id=3 • http://techrav.blogspot.co.uk/ • http://edtechmorah.blogspot.co.uk/ BloggingintheClassroom Great blogs to follow
- 19. Phone: +44 (0) 207 443 5101 Mobile: +44 (0) 795 680 6892 Address: JHub, Haskell House, 152 West End Lane, London NW6 1SD • http://www.scribd.com/doc/102424245/Five- Steps-to-Starting-a-Class-Blog • http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2013/03/a- short-guide-to-terms-commonly-used- in.html#.UX8FQLXvuSq • http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2012/07/maki ng-educational-blogging-work- for.html#.UX8RzrXvuSp • http://primarytech.global2.vic.edu.au/information -about-educational-blogging/ BloggingintheClassroom Great blogging resources (i.e. my sources for this presentation)
Editor's Notes
- Social Skills and Confidence:While some people may be quick to say that blogging and online social media can inhibit social skills, I see blogging as a terrific starting point. It can help certain individuals to practise their skills and transfer them into the “offline world”. I have previously written about how students with ASD and confidence issues can improve their skills here.Internet SafetyEveryone will agree that teaching students to be safe online is an important issue. You can’t just do one off lessons on cyber safety. Cyber safety is not a separate subject. Through being heavily involved in blogging, my class has opportunities almost daily to discuss cyber safety issues and appropriate online behaviours in an authentic setting. Blogging is an excellent way to learn about being a responsible member of an online community.LiteracyI wrote about the improvement in my students’ literacy skills in this post. Not only were skills improved, but engagement levels increased. Reluctant writers wanted to write for a purpose and students were using blogs to purposefully communicate and converse with others. Blogging is part of my literacy curriculum so I use blogging to explicitly teach English conventions.MathsWhile using blogging as an avenue for teaching and learning literacy may be more obvious, blogs can also be used for maths. Just two examples are our daily use of Clustrmaps and the Our World, Our Numbers blogging project we’re currently involved in.Home- School ConnectionMany parents and families have told me that they love using the class blog as a “window into our classroom”. Through commenting, families can be a part of what is happening in our classroom and have real time access to their child’s education. Encouraging parent participation in your blog is something I have written about recently. ICT SkillsBlogging assists students to become more ICT literate which is a crucial 21st century skill. Through blogging, we’re able to incidentally discuss many ICT skills such as keyboard shortcuts, Creative Commons, researching online and troubleshooting.Classroom CommunityCreating a class blog requires teamwork and collaboration. Students and teachers learn and share together. A real sense of classroom community can be developed through blogging and establishing a class identity. A class blog mascot can be a fun way to represent your classroom community. Authentic AudienceIn the traditional classroom, the only audience of student work was the teacher and sometimes classmates and parents. Blogs provide a much larger audience for student work and an avenue for feedback and self-improvement through commenting. I have found that students really take pride in the work that goes on the blog and want to do their best for their impending audience.Global ConnectionsI have found this to be one of the most exciting benefits of blogging. Blogging can help flatten the classroom walls and over the years we have got to know many classes across the world who we call our “blogging buddies”. The benefits of these connections are priceless. A sense of understanding and tolerance develops and students can learn a lot about the world in which they live. I’ve listed some tips for global collaboration in an earlier post.
- Transliteracy – new skills.
- Parashah of the week, Alef Bet, reading rule?
- e.g.Will you include photos of the students? Will you include students’ faces?Will names be matched to studentphotographs?Will you select the option (in Edublogs) to include you blog in public searches like Google?Will you ask parents to not use their surname when they comment so they don’t identify their child?Will you select the option to have all comments sent to your email for approval before appearing on theblog?Will you set up protocols with your class so they know not to reveal personal information on the blog and use courteous language online?Will you read all students’ blog posts before they are published?
- Blogger: This is Google’s free blogging service. It takes just a minute to start a blog through Blogger. Blogger offers a nice selection of colorful themes and templates to choose from. Customizing the layout of your blog is as easy as dragging and dropping elements into place. You can add additional authors to your blogs. There are mobile apps for Blogger and you can post to your blog via email. If you have a Gmail account you already have a Blogger account. Just sign into your Gmail account and in the top menu select Blogger from the “more” drop-down menu. Google Apps for Education users can have Blogger added to their domains too. The drawback to Blogger is that the only customer support that you’ll find for it comes in the form of Blogger product discussion boards and some YouTube videos.KidBlog: KidBlog is a free hosted blogging service designed for teachers to use with students. Teachers can create accounts for their students to use to write blog posts and to write comments on blog posts. Students do not have to have email addresses in order to use KidBlog. And a great feature for those times when students forget their passwords is teachers can reset their students’ passwords. KidBlog blogs are run using WordPress software, but it’s a limited version of WordPress so you won’t have the full customization options that you would have if you used the WordPress software on your own on your own paid hosting service. Edublogs: Edublogs has been around for quite a while and is well known in the educational technology community for offering good customer support. The free version of Edublogs is rather limited in that you cannot include videos, use custom HTML to embed items into posts, or manage your students’ accounts. You really need to purchase the “Pro” version of Edublogs for $39.95/year in order get the features that most teachers want. Self-hosting a blog with WordPress: WordPress is free blogging software that you can install on a server. You can get the software at WordPress.org. As mentioned in the “self-hosted” section above, you will have to purchase a domain and a hosting plan to create and maintain your blog. Once you have your blog set-up you can do whatever you like with it including creating and administering accounts for your students to use to write blog entries and comments on your blog. Just as a point of clarification, people sometimes confuse the WordPress software available to download at WordPress.org with WordPress.com. WordPress.com is a free hosted blogging service that uses the WordPress software, but like KidBlog and Edublogs it limits your customization options because you don’t actually control the software. WordPress.com will also insert advertising on your blog unless you upgrade to a paid account for $30 annually.
- Start Small:Don’t expect to know everything at once and don’t compare your blog to more established classroom blogs. Begin with simple posts that include text and images. Set yourself a goal to publish a new post every week or fortnight. As you build your skills and confidence, you can post more regularly and begin embedding web 2.0 tools.Integrate:Don’t make blogging an add-on. Integrate mathematics, literacy and other subjects into blog posts and comments. Make blogging part of your literacy block or homework schedule. Find more advice on integrating blogging into your classroom curriculum here. Collaborate:find a buddy to learn with, either someone at your school or another educator online. Don’t be afraid to learn with your students; you don’t have to be the expert. You might even set up a joint blog with your whole grade level, or with another class. Sharing the workload can make blogging easier and more enjoyable.Celebrate:While blogging is a lot of work, the rewards are plentiful. Celebrate your achievements and reflect onyour success regularly! Good luck and find more posts about educational blogging on my blog, Integrating Technology in the PrimaryClassroom.