Blogs in the Primary grades-All it takes is asking 3

Well this is my thrid installment of the All it takes is asking post. My students have been blogging now for almost a month and let me tell you I am so impressed. Right away I saw their engagement level soar when I told them we were going to blog. Now given it is still new and they are really just posting to a topic that I am starting, but they are really getting into it.

I have really been impressed with it's impact on my ESL and struggling learners. Many of them hated when we did writing activities and it was like pulling teeth to get them to do them. Now all I need to do is say we are going to blog and I have everyone's attention. I have seen an increase in the way that take notice of information they are learning and to watch a student sit there and really critique their writting to make sure the facts he is posting are correct is just so amazing. Esspecially after that same student just a few weeks ago would argue with me about writing.

Now I am so glad that my class is having so much success, but I think the most interesting fact about me implementing this tool into my class, has been the impact on other teachers. When I told people I was going to blog with my 2nd grade students they looked at me like I was smoking something. However, now in the last two weeks I have had 4 teachers come to me and ask how I am doing it and how can they start. This is very refreshing and it will be interesting to see how my principal reacts when she has other teachers coming to her and asking to blog with their students.

One of the teachers who is on my 2nd grade team is going to be starting in the next couple weeks with her students and we are going to have our classes communicate back and forth with each other using the blog posts. This is amazing how one small idea has now blown up and become a huge idea with many teachers. I kind of feel bad for the 3rd grade teachers because they are going to have kids coming to them and wanting to communicate with each other about ideas next year. Guess they will have to just jump on the band wagon and keep the ball rolling.

All it takes is Asking 2

Ok well finally after two weeks they finally setup our school webpage for my students to go on and start posting their blogs. However, once my TRT told me that it was finally setup I had to go through and set up a new profile page for myself, then I was sent a spreadsheet that I had to put their login names and passwords into, which wasn't too bad because I made them all similar and just changed the number.

I don't know if this is how it is in other counties or school districts, but it just seems when you get a new idea and want to put it into play they make you jump through hoops in order to do it. If you aren't totally bought into the idea, or stubborn like me, you could really get discouraged and not want to do it anymore. So is this really how it is in other counties or just in Stafford County?

Wiki's/Twitter in a Primary Classroom

Now after reading Chapter's 4,6,9 in Will Richardson's Blog's, Wiki's, Podcasts and other Powerful Web Tools for Classroom I have many of the concerns that Richardson talked about in the book. My main concern is with the fact that in so many schools the focus is on privacy and with the younger students with the idea of keeping them away from online predators and information that is not appropriate for them.

Though I see many of the benefits that both these tools can bring I am not sure I see uses in the primary grade level. I see how using this tool allows them to collaborate with many different people across the globe to help define certain areas of interest. However, knowing the population that I work with at my school I can see many parents putting up a huge stink about their child posting things on the web. It was hard to convince even my principal about the idea of blogs due to this and she has told me that if parents complain or raise any concern she is taking the blogs down.

I would love to use these tools and the benefits I feel would be astronomical for my students in helping them develop more advanced, detailed writing I do not see anyway around the many issues that surround my principal and parents in my county. Does anyone have any suggestions of how I could get around this issue and/or convince the people in my county of the benefits of using these tools?

All it takes is Asking

I was trying to find a way to incorporate blogs into my classroom and get around the whole issue of my students not being able to set up email accounts. I decided to go to my TRT, or ESPIT at some schools, and ask him if there was a way. I found an ally in my TRT, Andy because he said there was a way, but he didn't think the county had gone on and gotten the addition to the school websites. We emailed the head technology guru in Stafford County and asked her. She responded that the program is there but that they only allowed access to the High Schools and Middle Schools. Well we emailed her back with rationale of why I wanted to use it and with Andy's help we finally got permission. Poor Andy though because now he has to go and create ID's for all of my students, but I learned that all it takes is a little thing called asking. I opened my mouth, found an ally, and things got done. So the next time you have a great idea and run into some road block, don't give up just find an ally and ask.

Blogs as Portfolios/ Filing cabnits

Wow, now in Chapter 2 of Richardson's book "Blogs,Wiki's, Podcasts" I never thought of using the weblogs to install student work. What a great idea esspecially in our current economy where the counties are cutting our budget for supplies. In my school this year we only get 2 boxes of copy paper for the whole year and when you need to individualize instruction for each child for every subject having only two boxes of paper isn't realistic. Well if I was able to put their work online and have them hand in their work online I could save it and have it right there at my finger tips. I was also thinking what a great way to keep all their work, so if you have a child who needs to go to Child Study you have all the documentation right there. This would solve the problem of not having enough paper and it would also allow the students to put their work up and get comments from parents, peers, and teachers. I liked it also because it would be easy to keep track of their work, so if a parent came and said well they handed that in or questioned their grade (like they would ever do that right?) you could pull their work up and show them. Communication, Communication, Communication.

What does every think of this idea? Does anyone already do this and any suggestions for implementation?

Blog Question

Wow, finally we are talking about a topic I wanted to know more about. I have used blogs on my own for years now and have been looking for ways to get them into my classroom. My own experience with blogs has been mostly to talk about sports, newspaper articles, and personal reflections on facebook and/or myspace. Mostly on these sites people are commenting on something or they are complaining about something. I was looking to bring blogs into my classroom to discuss a reading story we were working with, a math concept that they were learning, and with science and social studies concepts, as well as with homework issues that may arise. However in the Stafford County where I work they don't allow the students to setup email addresses, so using a blogging site like this is difficult because it requires them to have an email address.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can get around this issue?