Kidblog

http://kidblog.org/MsStLaurentsclass-4/wp-admin/post.php?post=4&action=edit

I decided to use kidblog to create a user friendly blog as another tool to have discourse discussions in our classroom. I chose this for a few reasons. First, I am not familiar at all with blogging and wanted to understand how a blog works and the ways it may be utilized in the classroom. I also know that many of my students are already actively connected to social websites and wanted to give them some guidelines and a structure where  they could practice writing their own opinion or respond to another students opinion on a number of different topics.

To begin working on our in class blog, I first had a discussion with my class about using social media websites as a form of communication. As a class we discussed guidelines students should use when writing an opinion on a topic or responding to someone else's idea and came up with a list of rules to follow. For my first post, I simply stated an opinion about a topic students would be interested in. The task for students was to write a response to the statement and give evidence or support to justify their opinion. Then they were to comment on at least two other student's blogs and give clear reasons why they agreed or disagreed with that student. As we become more competent bloggers, students will be asked to provide ideas for the class blog and we will also be adding a math blog to discuss different approaches to solving various math problems.

The goal of this assignment is for students to use their creative thinking skills to communicate their own ideas on a variety of topics. I want them to be able to support their own opinions and be able to effectively agree or disagree with another person. Also I would like all of us to become more proficient in using technology in the classroom. The skills of writing to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence and using technology to produce and publish writing as well as interact and collaborate with others are found in CCSS standards for grade 6; W1 and W6.