After a little more reading and discussion, I think that I am going to begin my focus with blogging with my 7th grade. They are fewer in number than my 8th grade class and I have worked with them throughout the past year on different assignments. Here are some more thoughts on working this out:
Maybe have them read an article of interest and then post what was or was not interesting to them. Then each other person would have to read the article and post their opinion.
Another idea would be to have sticks which have different subjects on them (Science, Math, S.S., Spanish, current events, weblogger's choice, etc) and re randomly draw to see what the topic will be for the week.
Another idea would be posting of math problems. I can see our math teacher posts a difficult problem that is based on what is being taught for that time and the students have to work it out collaboratively on the blog.
Perhaps a science experiment could be accomplished the same way. Different students could have different parts of the experiment and post what happened as they were going through their part.
I think that it will be important for me to get the parents involved in the process. Hopefully, I would be able to get some of them blogging as well. If a topic of interest is being discussed, or even one that their professional might give some insight to, perhaps they will join us.
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2 comments:
Hello Matthew, I just blogged about you over at Cool Cat Teacher. I would like to give you some thoughts:
1) I think that starting with a manageable group is a great idea.
2) I usually start with a walled garden at that age, either with classblogmeister which gives you a lot of control or something like elgg. What platform are you using?
3) I give a weekly question of the week that I ask and then allow students a free post or two of the week. Be clear on expectations and also methods of commenting (which many call peer review).
I know many that have used blogs for what they call Scribe posts -- to take notes with a different scribe on each day -- Darren Kuropatwa in Canada is doing this with Math.
I think you have great ideas and that you're starting very well. I hope you'll continue to share with others what you are doing and seeing. Good luck and let me know if I can help you!
Vicki
I think those are some great ideas you have about using blogs in your classroom. I visited one blog in which there was a rotating class journalist who would recap the day's events in the form of a daily classroom newspaper with articles and photographs. I thought it would be a great way to get parents on the blogs too!
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