The Bloggatteer Experience is up and running. That's our classroom blog (separate from this website) where all students are expected to contribute to the community.
Ultimately, the Bloggatteer Experience provides a safe place for students to write about their thoughts and respond to the activities of their day - and now they are doing it in a forum that allows them to do so for a real audience.
In the short time we had at the of Friday, four students made it to the point of publishing. Obviously, some grasped the purpose a little better than others, but we'll continue to work on that. Right now, they are getting used to the process of logging in to their blog and using the iPads for this purpose.
We use the Seesaw app for this. This is an amazing portfolio program in which students can publish writings, photographs, videos, and drawings. Once a student begins a writing, whatever the subject, s/he has a choice to put it into one of three electronic folders I've set up for them. The first folder is for ideas and drafts. The second is for items receiving ongoing editing for publication. Items are held in these folders until a child is ready to publish them. Once ready, the student can put the item in the ready-for-publication folder and ultimately publish the item to the public blog. Once there, other students can like and comment on their work.
Ultimately, the Bloggatteer Experience provides a safe place for students to write about their thoughts and respond to the activities of their day - and now they are doing it in a forum that allows them to do so for a real audience.
In the short time we had at the of Friday, four students made it to the point of publishing. Obviously, some grasped the purpose a little better than others, but we'll continue to work on that. Right now, they are getting used to the process of logging in to their blog and using the iPads for this purpose.
We use the Seesaw app for this. This is an amazing portfolio program in which students can publish writings, photographs, videos, and drawings. Once a student begins a writing, whatever the subject, s/he has a choice to put it into one of three electronic folders I've set up for them. The first folder is for ideas and drafts. The second is for items receiving ongoing editing for publication. Items are held in these folders until a child is ready to publish them. Once ready, the student can put the item in the ready-for-publication folder and ultimately publish the item to the public blog. Once there, other students can like and comment on their work.
We have some guidelines for the blog. They are simple rules, but they are in place for student safety. With this in mind, I ask them not to publish their last names or any other personal information like phone numbers or addresses. Since I have to approve items before they are made public, this should not be a problem anyway, but I'd like for my students to get used to thinking about what they are making public. We also do not talk about plans for the weekend and the like. Finally, I allow students to use some emojis. Emojis are not my favorite thing in the world, but they can be fun, and they do express things that aren't more easily expressed in words. I limit the number of emojis to exactly one per post or comment. We might be able to loosen the ropes on this one a little bit in the future, but I do not want Hoggatteers to spend more time choosing just the right emoji when they should be concentrating on the quality and contents of their writings.
So there you have it. They're excited to get started. Check out the Bloggatteer Experience from time to time to get another glimpse into our classroom - this time from the fourth grader's point of view.
So there you have it. They're excited to get started. Check out the Bloggatteer Experience from time to time to get another glimpse into our classroom - this time from the fourth grader's point of view.
