Blogging Why should our classes blog at Holy Family? @ Holy Family.

Blogging

Why should our

classes blog at

Holy Family?

@H

oly

Fa

mily

The Blockbuster Tour

Reflect

What technology has changed in the last ten years?

ICON• It is an expectation that the spaces in

Ultranet will be used to create collaborative learning spaces.

• Global 2 (edublogs) Blogging is a tool that can simply drop straight into a collaborative learning space on Ultranet.

• The CEO are telling us to prepare staff for ICON by setting up blogs.

• Digital portfolios will be an expectation.

Why should we blog?

LiteracySkills

ICT Skills

Audience and

Purpose

Collaboration

Developing Inquiry

Feedback

Sharing Successes

Cybersafety

Making Learning

Visual

Engagement

Cybersafety

• Building a positive digital footprint

• Modelling appropriate online behaviours

• Effective digital citizenship

ICT Skills• Students and teachers learn ICT

skills through creating blog posts

• They use ICT tools involving images, videos, audio, presenting information, etc

• A lot of the ICT curriculum standards are covered through blogging

Sharing Successes

• When students succeed at something they can share it with a wider audience

• Parents, peers, school community, global community

Collaboration

• Students can collaborate with other students or classes on projects

• Parents can be involved in their child’s learning

• The global community can become part of the learning process

• Classes can be part of world wide projects

• (eg. World Read Aloud Day/Feb 29th)

Engagement

• Students are engaged as they have a clear purpose for their work and are sharing it with an audience

• Students are often engaged when working with ICT tools

• Students are creating

• Students receive feedback on their posts

Literacy Skills• Leaving comments teaches

students to think carefully about what they write and revise

• Students read their own blog as well as others

• Writing for a purpose motivates students to write better

• Publishing audio and video increases oral language skills

• Blogs give you authentic reasons to model many literacy skills

Feedback

• Peers

• Parents

• Teachers

• Classes from around Australia/world

• Experts

Audience and Purpose

• Everything is produced for a purpose with an audience in mind

• Having a clear purpose increases motivation and engagement

• Writing now has an audience. Work is not left in books it is published for the world to see!

Developing Inquiry

• Connecting with experts

• Taking action that matters

• Researching

• Sharing understandings

• Can be used as an inquiry wall

Making Learning Visible• A window into the classroom

• Parents can access the blog at anytime day or night and see what is happening in class

• Use past posts to draw conclusions and reflect on learning

• Use the blog as assessment of learning

• An archive of learning

Resources

- Kathleen Morris: Integrating Technology in the Classroom http://primarytech.global2.vic.edu.au

- Celia Coffa: Presentation at St Luke’s Blackburn South

- Jenny Luca: http://mindshift.kged.org/2011/08/six-reasons-why-kids-should-know-how-to-blog/

STAGES OF BLOGGING

Stage One

Read BlogsComment on

Blogs

Stage Two

Contribute to the Holy Family

practice blog

Build skills in a safe and supported

environment

Support each other as we

learn

Stage Three

Start your own class

blog

Class blog - teacher

controlled/ student centred

Class blog - students take more control

Grade 4 Girl’s First Ski Jump

Be not afraid of going slowly, be afraid only of

standing still.

Chinese Proverb

What to do next?

• Explore and comment on some of the blogs in the email

• Collect four ideas that can be used for practise blog posts next PLT

• These could include – photos, samples of students work (we can take the photos in the PLT), videos, topics

Something to think about…

•How are you making learning visible?

•How are you contributing to the learning of others outside your own classroom?