In discussions with teachers at my school and when I am about in the district, the question seems to be, “What do I blog about?”
Some of us just aren’t into the idea of a journal-style blog. So, if you wish to make your blog more of a classroom hub where students and parents can communicate with you and check things like classroom news and homework, it seems a little static. It’s the weekly newsletter revised. For some teachers, that’s just as far as they feel comfortable going, and that is fine. It’s a great communication tool; however, I know that teachers (especially those in elementary school) are looking for ways to get students involved in the classroom blog.
A third grade teacher, Freda Neely, has come up with a great way to get her students involved with extra assignments and blogging. They are learning about classroom topics, working on their grammar and writing skills, and participating in an online classroom community. The results, she says, have been far beyond what she expected.
The notion is to create a weekly “mission” in which students have to participate in some activity online and answer questions. The biggest stipulation is that the answers must be in complete sentences. She waits until all students have submitted replies to her mission blog post and then she approves all the comments (an easy set-up in Edublogs). I’ll let her blog speak for itself!
November 11th, 2008 at 5:19 pm
Thanks for blogging about the “mission” approach; I too am often asked by teachers what on earth they should blog about
and it will be nice to point them to this post and to Ms Neely’s blog.
December 29th, 2008 at 8:43 pm
Laura:
Thank you for blogging about my missions! I’m currently surfing around for ideas. I think it’s great that so many teachers at your school are bloggng. Congrats!
Freda Neely