Blogs are the wave of the future and the future is now. As Richardson (2009) notes, blogs are a collaborative space as readers become a part of the writing and learning process. It is a way to interact with others and make your ideas known. In the video, Shift Happens-Globalization; Information Age (2007), former Secretary of Education Riley is quoted as saying that we are training students for jobs that don't exist yet. We, as teachers, need to incorporate more technology into our classrooms. We need to encourage students to take it to the next level of interaction.
Blogs are a great way to start using technology in the classroom. It is a great way to respond to a prompt or to start a debate but how does it happen in second grade? At what grade can students participate in a blog? I am going to start with my second graders blogging in school to a journal prompt. I will have to divide the group up into four groups of five and then each day of the week, a group will get to use the computer to blog to a certain journal prompt. After each student posts his response, they can read over the blogs of the other students.
Eventually, I will have them responding to each other's posts too. I think it will have to be scaffolded for them. At first, this will be a showcase for their work but later on, I hope to have them think critically about what others are posting. Because this lesson is based on writing to a prompt, it will be a great forum for them to use. It will also give them an authentic purpose for their writing. I hope it will help them write purposefully and edit their work before posting.
I am very interested in what you have done in your classrooms. Does anyone else have any ideas on blogging in second grade?
I did read a post from another blog, teacher Patti Harju and would like to include it for your use. I think it is most helpful in that she is a second grade teacher who has already started blogging with her students. http://2teach.edublogs.org/2009/01/31/student-bloggers-the-update/
Richardson, W. (2009). Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms. Thousand Oaks, CA, USA: Corwin Press.
Fisch, K. (Producer) (2007, February 8) Did You Know? Shift Happens. United States, YouTube.com
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Hello,
ReplyDeleteI think that you will encounter more challenges implementing a classroom blog when teaching second graders. However, I don't think that it is impossible. I like the idea that you have of splitting your students up into four to five groups so that they can respond to the writing prompt within your class on designated days. I do not have the mind-set that you have teaching the younger students as I was teaching seventh grade last year and will be teaching eighth grade next year. So forgive me because you will probably have already thought of the answers to my questions. As the students are responding to the writing prompt, what will the other students be doing within your class? Do you think that it may benefit your students to see the writing prompt early and to be able to create a rough draft in writing before typing their responses?
Since you are having your students respond to a prompt on consecutive days, you could have your students create a story where they need to respond to and continue the thoughts and ideas of the students who responded the day before them. You have many wonderful ideas and I hope that you are successful with your blog this upcoming year.
Thank you,
Heather
Ms. Whitman,
ReplyDeleteAs I saw the title for your blog, I had one thought cross my mind; you could use your blog to set up a group story! Over a period of a week, a group of students could "build" a story in a blog, each student being responsible for three or four sentences each. It would kind of work like the telephone game, in that student "A" would have to complete their part of the story before student "B" added their addition. This way, all students could see all stories and decide which group did the best job creating the story! It would pressure the students into working hard on the story and allow students simple use of an educational/professional blog site.
Craig and Heather, I think it is funny that you both suggested story building. That's a great idea. Heather, you asked what the other students would be doing while blogging was going on. I have my Guided Reading groups working on different centers and this would be a center of a sort. All students would not go to the center every day. Also, I would have all students prepare a rough draft before hand. Thank you for you great comments and ideas.
ReplyDeleteKeke,
ReplyDeleteI read your idea about small groups working together to respond to a prompt, and I think that sounds like a wonderful way to encourage cooperative thinking, as well as the tech piece. In my classroom, I have a computer shortage (only my desktop and my laptop, no student computers), and I am going to have my third graders do their blogging in the computer lab (we visit twice during a 6-day cycle, and I'm thinking about incorporating more visits if my principal will let us!). I am looking now into getting them each their own page at least so they can post their work (portfolio-style). Is computer lab time feasible for your blogging interest?
Ashley,
ReplyDeleteWe have a computer lab that we go to twice in a 6 day cycle also. One time we must do our math program(Compass) but the other time, we can do something else. We could do our blogs then, which might be a good idea, since we would all be doing it at the same time. I think this will be a real trial and error kind of thing. I hope to ask my principal for some assistance too! Hopefully I am getting a Promethean Board in my room which will be great fun!
I understand the apprehension of blogging with second graders. My biggest concern would be keeping it safe for the students because they may not be able to understand the internet safety guidelines as well as older students. Another fun and motivational way to introduce blogging is to have the students write journal prompts in class, and you can select the top 3 entries based on content, reflection, and writing. Then, you can monitor those three students who will get to type their entries as posts on the class blog. I think second graders would get very excited to strive for being "published" and would be motivated to do their best work.
ReplyDelete