Adventures in Educational Blogging

Real Audiences for My Students

One of my fears is that my students will write their hearts and souls into their blogs, but no one will read them. It seems blogs present the potential of reaching a real audience, not the certainty of it.

I realize that my students will be audiences for each other’s blogs and that in itself will be motivating, as will the newness of the format. However, there is a different sort of delight from having someone you don’t know read and respond to your work. I want them to experience that., so I sent off a few emails.

I heard back from colleagues in Minnesota and they can see way during the busy month of May to have their students comment on my student’s blogs.

I may have also found another resource. In his blog, Jim November shares the following helpful information…

I’ve Got Mail: “An authentic audience has made a difference in my writing. You can make a difference with your students by helping them publish their writing. They too can share the joy of getting feedback. Help spread the joy by joining other educators who have volunteered to give feedback to K-12 students on their writing. I have about 50 educators who are willing to spend fifteen minutes a month giving feedback to students. All you have to do is when a teacher request feedback for her/his students is to go to their blog and write two or three sentences about one students writing. If your busy that week you don’t have to give feedback, wait until the next request. To volunteer to give feedback to students, send an e-mail to jim@misd.net and put feedback in the subject line. As part of the group you can also request feedback by sending an e-mail to the same address.”

The Excitement Builds… Students Visit Blogs

During our class session, Ms. Tammy’s class had a chance to explore student blogs. First their charge was to visit many sites to see what they all had in common, what made it a blog? They identified many of the key features such as a calendar, text and pictures, but I think the date was so obvious, they didn’t even see it.

Next they had a chance to respond to some of the J.H.H. Bloggers. They seemed to really enjoy that the blogs were written by other fifth graders, and they loved adding comments. The comments they wrote were a mix from the inane “+++++++hi dude++++++u r awsum” to well -thought out comments on the writing or even thanking the blog authors for their helpful writing tips.

I can now see that as a group we need to discuss what type of feedback they want, and then help them give that type of feedback to others when they comment on their blogs. I foresee the problem that some of them would be thrilled to get any message, regardless of its quality.

Next steps are to craft the permission forms, take a stab a the rubric, and keep picking Ms. Tammy’s and Mr. Jabiz’s brains for how to build in the quality while still letting the students write on topics of their choice.

How can children stay safe using blogs?

The Australian government offered these and other tips of how to keep safe when using blogs.

Once you Have Become a Member of a Blog Site

* Hide your Account Login Details – Once you have become a member of the blog website, hide your login details so that others cannot gain access to your membership information and user profile.

* Blog Topic – Select a topic for your blog that is sensible and you think other would enjoy reading about.

* Password Protect your Blog – Make sure nobody else can enter information into your blog.

* Email – Use an email that is not identifiable. Use your online name instead of your first name and surname.

* Use of Avatars and Photos – Select a picture of an avatar that suits your personality but doesn’t disclose your identity. Refrain from using your own photo on your blog.

* Hide Profile from Public View – If possible stop others from looking at your profile by password protecting it, or setting up any options that let only those people you choose to view it.

When you are Blogging

* Personal Information – Never enter in personal details or anything that can identify you. Remember, once something is entered on the Internet it is often very hard to remove.

* Correct Information – Make sure the information you place into your blog is grammatically correct and the spelling is accurate.

* Be Nice to People – Make sure you treat other people with respect and only write about people if you have their permission. Never disclose any personal information about your friends or family.

Other Things you can do

* Hide your Blog from Search Engines – You may wish to prevent your blog from ending up in the search engines. Most blog sites describe ways to do this.

* Look at your Blog Statistics – If your blog has statistics available, watch out to see if there are any patterns emerging about your popular entries.

What about those inappropriate comments?

One of my worries about letting our students blog on the web is the inappropriate comments they might receive. One of Anne Davis’ groups had just that experience, so they came up with the following guidelines. They will help me open that discussion with our student before the first inappropriate comment arrives.

The last time an inappropriate comment happened the student brought it to the attention of the Instructional Technology Specialist. Now that occurred because we had previously talked to the students about the possibility of receiving inappropriate comments. Together with the students we made a plan of action for how we would handle it. Basically we decided:

We would not respond to the irresponsible commenters. We would ignore them.

The student would report any inappropriate comments to the teacher.

The teachers would delete inappropriate comments, if they found them first but would discuss the matter with the owner of the blog and with the group, if appropriate.

We agreed that it was unfortunate that the commenter had not used common sense and we would try to set good examples on our blogs.

I had also talked with the students about their responsibilities as student webloggers. They like blogging and want to see it continue. It’s giving them ownership on how all this evolves. We need their input. They like that they can be a part of showing that students care and can be very responsible.
We have to believe in our students. Have high expectations.

Thanks for sharing these, Anne. The generosity of other Edu Bloggers is helping me take baby steps…

Free Hit Counter

I suspect the students will want to see how many hits their page is getting. Not every visitor will post a comment, so this is a way to let them know they are reaching their audience.

The site below gives out free site counter code and doesn’t require registration. Hopefully the ads won’t be too intrusive.

100% Free Counters: No E-Mail Or Registration Needed!

Adding Photos

Now I want to see how easy it is to add photos. I’m already liking the word processor-like toolbar at the top of the posting window. Kids will know how to use it because they know how to use MS Word and this is very similar– icons are almost the same. I’m also liking the Edit HTML tab– I’ll give that a try and if I’m successful, there will be a photo of the Himalayan mountains with this entry.

Wow! That was almost too easy. This program is a gem. I wonder where the lions are?