Blogging Checklist

These are the basics in my opinion. You can also go to somewhere like Google Feedburner to get an RSS feed onto your blog.

Class blogging adventure

french blog

I have been working with my year 12s on their laptops since they were in year 10 and we have built up some good skills. They are also students who are willing to take a risk and put themselves out there to learn. They are in the combined year 11 and 12 class I have for French and as I have blogged before I am trying to find ways of making good use of our time and ways to help them learn more effectively given I have two year levels and two different courses in one room. The blogs are off to a slow, but sure start for most students. I cannot teach all that I want to in class because some features are blocked by our web filter. It is not really a problem because I explain what I want them to do and then it’s a good exercise for them to go home and remember! Only one student has not taken up this opportunity for an online adventure and does not seems to like it. The others are very enthusiastic and are finding it a good challenge. We are doing cuisine for our major research so that is one feature of the blog. Then we are working on poetry so I have found that the students are happy to share what they have done in class on that . I have just spent my first session marking their efforts. Prior to that I spent a lesson looking at their blogs one by one to try to help them improve. It would go faster and better if I just had one year level but as it stands this slow approach is having some good results. They need to create their blog rolls, they need to get better at tagging and some of them need to get a better visual aspect. The other thing which currently needs to be done is the “About” page. I have set them some tasks which they have presented as homework which then go on their blog and then they have found things of their own or have creatively engaged with what we have done in class. At this stage we are only about 3 weeks in and each of the blogs has its style and flavour. I aim to address the learning gaps by the end of term so that next term we can look at drawing in some traffic.I am thinking also I need to create a checklist of what they need to do and what needs to be achieved. I have previously worked successfully with individual students on blogs but his is the first time I have tried a class approach. I have a dozen students. I don’t think I would want to be doing it with more.

Do classroom computers help learning?

According to this research done by Concordia University, the answer is yes. The other interesting information discussed in the article is that iPads can enhance digital students’ capacity to perform better in exams. The NCRL site also has a lot of information about how technology can improve learning and it is set out in a systematic way. The newest data is 2005 and we have come a long way since then so there is room to look at this information and discuss it in the light of our current practice. I really think we are at the stage where we can look more critically and systematically at what we are doing because we are past the teething and implementation of technology stages. So many schools and teachers now have a comfort zone with what they are now doing and so could look at things in deeper way to see how technology influences student achievement and effective learning.

SimpleK12 – Teacher Professional Development

The SimpleK12Team has a You Tube channel which has videos on a variety of topics which support teacher development and technology in the classroom. There are videos about just about everything of practical interest for improving the implementation of classroom technology. It is a site, however, which would be of benefit to others who are not teachers but who might want to find out about Google Tools or iLife software, for instance. The focus is on classroom technology and software but it might just be the software and ideas you want to implement for other reasons. A very informative and helpful site.

Kids are heroes

A father has helped his daughter, Mary Margaret O’Neill, to develop the Kids are Heroes site and concept. The videos on the link show you how to use the site and as the father talks you can see what a key role he has played in developing a child who knows she can make a difference. To get the message out the site is using social media links and has some good techniques for allowing participation in various ways and forms. Technology is being used to rally children and their parents to invite them to make a difference in our world. It is an empowering idea so that children and their parents can work together on their ideas and causes. It’s a nicely designed site which is very easy to navigate. Watch the videos. They quickly get you into it.