Our 3rd grade teacher wants her students to read over the summer and she knows that reading declines for students when they are not in school. We wondered if they blogged about what they are reading this summer, if that may be the "carrot" to get them to read more. We tested it out in class the other day to demonstrate how to blog, and she posted a question about what they thought about blogging for this reason. They went crazy! They did figure out in a hurry that they could post to someone else's post, but we discussed using the 3-B's applies with blogging also. I am afraid we may have created a monster. The kids were asking me how soon Mrs. Baker would be responding to their post...kids being able to communicate freely via the Internet was a first for the entire class! A quote taken from their blogging- "Mrs.Baker, I think this is going to be so much fun this summer even if we don’t see each other. But we will all have fun blogging."
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Lisa- What an awesome way to motivate your students:) I'm going to try that next year with my 4th graders. I'm the only one besides our principal familiar with blogging in our elementary school. Although this is new to me...I'm trying it:) My students love power points and are having some fun with them. Blogging would totally make them crazy!!! Thanks for motivating me:)
ReplyDeleteWhat a great "Ah-ha!" moment! I'm pretty sure I am going to incorporate blogging in my classes next year - this is great motivation for me!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations! Looking forward to hearing how things progress with your project this summer.
ReplyDeleteMe too! I thought about starting off with a classroom blog. We could leave it open on a computer throughout the day and when they get done with a book they could leave a blog post about it. Others who read the same book could comment and so on... Can't wait!
ReplyDeleteWonderful ideas! I know even my kindergartener would get a kick out of blogging about books. How do you do this? The teacher has the blogspot (or whatever) and students just add comments? Anyone having students create their own blogs?
ReplyDeleteYou are sharing some great ideas. Have you done any research to see what other teachers are doing with blogs?
ReplyDeleteHere are some examples of elementary blogs:
http://tinyurl.com/36uotn5
Some examples of secondary blogs:
http://tinyurl.com/ygplhug
Some examples of business training blogs:
http://tinyurl.com/2w7bs2
Do your research and share what you find.
Z
What an awesome idea!!! I am so excited for the possibilities with the students keeping in touch and sharing what they read.
ReplyDeleteThat's a great idea!!! Let us know how it turns out after the summer is over. I hope that the kids stick to it and don't forget.
ReplyDeleteMy Title I kids (Boxholm) blogged last year.
ReplyDeletehttp://mrsolthoff.blogspot.com/
Katie (Anderson) Olthoff
(PS, I'm teaching TAG next year!)