OK, I get it---Take me to the tools to get started or continue one step at a time...
Find ways students can access the blog from school if they do not have Internet access from home
Survey to find out who has at-home access. If this is a problem for many students, you may want to make all blog entries during school time. Find out when/if students can access the blog from the library/IMC, after school, or in the computer lab during recess or lunch. You may have to communicate the fact that this is an assignment, not “play,” to the powers that be and those supervising study halls. Ask your administrator for suggestions, if appropriate. Maybe you want to offer after-school computer lab time once a week and rotate with other teachers to supervise it. If you have just one or two students with access difficulties, try to find a time when they can write in your classroom.
OK, I get it---Take me to the tools to get started or continue one step at a time...
Find ways students can access the blog from school if they do not have Internet access from home
Survey to find out who has at-home access. If this is a problem for many students, you may want to make all blog entries during school time. Find out when/if students can access the blog from the library/IMC, after school, or in the computer lab during recess or lunch. You may have to communicate the fact that this is an assignment, not "play," to the powers that be and those supervising study halls. Ask your administrator for suggestions, if appropriate. Maybe you want to offer after-school computer lab time once a week and rotate with other teachers to supervise it. If you have just one or two students with access difficulties, try to find a time when they can write in your classroom.
Operate the “gate house” in accordance with the rules
You are the “gatekeeper.” Think carefully about how often you want to approve postings, whether you wish to receive email notifications, and when visits to the blog will fit into your schedule. Some teachers set up RSS feeds to a Google Reader account to monitor all posts and comments in one location. Teachers with a study hall can check on blogs while monitoring a room, because it does not take 100% attention to skim for appropriateness of content.
You will settle into a routine after the initial flurry and come to know which students require the closest supervision, as in every class. Use the blog as a way to teach and reinforce ethical online behavior, such as commenting etiquette and anti-bullying. If school policy permits, allow students to “earn” higher levels of user access by demonstrating good judgment (see user levels in many blog tools). Many teachers decide to substitute blogging assignments for assignments done on paper (and you don’t have to lug papers home!). You have to decide where it fits into your day/week. TELL your students /parents what to expect. No one expects you to monitor the blog hourly.
Conduct periodic re-evaluation on whether any rules need to be updated, with input from the community
At the end of several blogging assignments or a couple of marking periods, invite blog members and parents to respond to a question (on the blog, of course) about things they like and do not like and to make suggestions for changes. Be sure you reflect on the successes and challenges yourself, and feel free to make changes. Have you seen any change in learning as a result of this teaching strategy? Are there barriers that make it a "pain" for you or for students? Are there more things you would like to try? Come back to TeachersFirst for more blogging ideas when you run dry. Remember, blogs are a work-in-progress, just as your students are!
Watch your community grow and thrive!
Congratulate yourself for making blogs another of your teaching tools. Now tell a friend and pass it on. Don't forget to share the success with your principal or supervisor and thank him/her for being a supporter. As soon as school policies permit, make connections with some other blogging classrooms across the country or the world so your students can collaborate and comment with peers they would never meet. Find other blogging classrooms through searches on Edublogs or Google and leave a comment for their teacher.
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