To blog or not to blog, that was the question. Fourth grade is known as "the writing year" in Texas because it is the first year that the state requires standardized testing in writing. It can be overwhelming to many students who have not yet become proficient, much less prolific writers. From the beginning of this EMDT graduate program, I have had a dream to incorporate blogging into my everyday classroom environment. Finally, after several failed attempts to find the right platform and a lot of help from a friend, I found the answer to my original question. 'Tis nobler in the mind...to blog! This is my relevant and innovative learning scenario.
Target Audience: A class of 21 4th grade students.
Materials: We will need access to:
• Computers
• Internet
• Teacher created classroom website
• Blogging Platform
Objectives: At the conclusion of the lesson, students will be able to:
• Investigate a topic of their choice (books, Web 2.0 applications, sports, video game, etc.)
• Compose a blog post describing their chosen topic
• Design a grading rubric for blog posts
• Evaluate and score fellow classmates blogposts
Procedure:
Prior to students beginning the blogging lesson an account on kidblog.com was created for classroom blogging. Instructor added each student and created a unique password for each user. The direct link to the kidblog classroom login page wascopied and added to the classroom webpage hosted by teacherweb.com.
1. Students will be asked to brainstorming ideas of interest and decide on one topic.
2. Students will present their topic to the teacher for approval.
3. Upon teacher approval students will be provided directions on how to access to their blog pages.
4. Students will be given access to kidblog.com through the classroom website created on teacherweb.com
5. Students will login to kidblog.com and locate his/her pre-created blog page.
6. Student will then create their first blog post.
7. After students have posted the teacher will be notified that there is a new blog post to review and approve.
8. Students will be provided directions and examples on how to create a rubric which will be used to evaluate fellow classmates blogs.
9. Students will create a rubric.
10. Students will be randomly assigned to read fellow classmates blogs.
11. Students will comment to assigned blogs.
12. Students will evaluate assigned blogs with student created rubric.
Web 2.0 Tool: A classroom website was created on teacherweb.com. Teacherweb allows teachers to quickly create classroom websites to share information with parents and students. The teacher website provides pertinent information about the classroom along with multiple student links. One of the links will redirect students to kidblog.com a site for designed especially for elementary classroom blogs. Kidblog is a site created by teachers that is safe and secure, allowing teachers to monitor and control all classroom blogs.
Social Learning/Collaboration: Learners will be asked to share ideas for blogging and help each other come up with topics that are interesting to them and their reader audience. Students will be required to post comments on fellow classmates blogs and engage in a discussion (via the web). Students will also be assigned specific topics to blog and comment on. Kidblogs enables the instructor and students to engage in discussion in a fun and interactive way. By allowing student to write blog posts and replies to the blogs, there will be sharing of ideas and feedback from peers.
Making Connections: Previous knowledge varies greatly among our target audience. The one thing they all have in common is text messaging. From mini messages to much bigger messages, blogging is an extension of that previous knowledge. Interacting with peers is extremely important to our audience. The fact that blogging allows for an exchange of thoughts and opinions makes blogging inherently relevant. As students blog, and comment on blogs they will be sharing with their classroom community as well as a guest blogger from another state to demonstrate the endless possibilities of a broader blogging audience.
1. Create/Produce – Students will create a personal blog post, compose comments, produce a rubric.
2. Assessment -
10 points for creation of initial blog post by deadline.
10 points for comments to assigned classmates’ blogs.
10 points for collaboration on student created rubric.
10 points for grading assigned classmates’ blogs using student created rubric.
10 points for using appropriate and respectful language.
Student created rubric:
3. Reflection
a. Students will evaluate their own blog posting and reflect on what they did well and what they would do better next time. Students will also evaluate and give constructive feedback to their classmates through the use of a student created rubric. After the students have completed the blogging assignment the teacher will engage the students in a discussion about their blogging experience and what they each learned from the assignment and the comments from their fellow classmates.
b. During the open discussion with students the teacher will ask students about their experience and likes/dislikes with blogging. Through monitoring of student work the educator will take notes on the ease of access to the blogging platform and the ease of directions. As a final reflection the educator will blog about the overall experience and any difficulties that were observed. The instructor will look back at the process of this scenario and evaluate what went well, what could be improved if the lesson were repeated, and think about what new components they might add to this scenario next time.
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