My class is currently involved in a wonderful global project called Our World, Our Numbers. We launched Our World, Our Numbers alongside our blogging buddies on Monday 25th February. In late 2011, many of us worked on a global project called Our World, Our Stories. This latest project is based on a similar format with a […]
Blogging
The Benefits of Educational Blogging
In August 2017 I wrote a comprehensive post on the benefits of educational blogging for The Edublogger. Find that updated post here! 2013 is the sixth year that I have maintained a classroom blog. When I first began I didn’t know much about blogging at all and I didn’t realise there could be educational benefits […]
A Guide to Involving Parents in Your Class Blog
This is an update of some of the posts I’ve written in the past about getting parents involved in blogging. About parents and blogs One of the many benefits of having a class blog is the strengthening of home-school relationships. A class blog can provide a virtual window into the classroom. After having a class blog for […]
10 Tips for Introducing Blogging into Your Classroom
With the new school year beginning in Australia, many teachers will be introducing blogging into their classrooms. Some teachers will be continuing an established blogging program with a new cohort of students, while others will be introducing blogging for the first time. If you’re totally new to blogging you may like to check out Five […]
Getting Started with Global2
Yesterday I ran a professional development day for teachers called Technify Your Teaching in 2013. While my colleagues Matt Limb and Simon Collier ran sessions on iDevices, Google Apps, Evernote and web 2.0 tools, I presented workshops on blogging with my team teaching partner, Kelly Jordan. One of our sessions was on setting up your […]
Edublog Awards – Please Vote!
The Edublog Awards have been running since 2004 and showcase some of the most popular blogs in education around the world. The purpose of the Edublog Awards is to promote and demonstrate the educational values of blogging. This is something I really believe in! Voting is now open for the 2012 awards and my students […]
Developing Blogging Skills: Simple Rubric
I’ve been toying with the idea of creating a blogging scope and sequence for a while. However, something about that idea makes me uncomfortable. I don’t like the thought of limiting blogging skills to certain age levels. For example, a number of my grade two students were sourcing and attributing Creative Commons materials for blog […]
Instructions for Using Creative Commons Images in Blog Posts
Many bloggers are not aware that you can’t just use any images off the internet in your blog posts. Not only is this ethically incorrect but you could leave yourself open to copyright infringement. I teach my student bloggers to “do the right thing” by using their own images or Creative Commons images in their […]
Five Steps to Starting a Class Blog
I have revised the posts I have written in the past to create a nine page, five step guide to beginning a class blog. Feel free to view, print or download the document to help you get started on your blogging journey. Five Steps to Starting a Class Blog If you’re having trouble with the […]
Tips and Topics for Student Bloggers
Recently, I wrote two posts about quality student blogs. You can find them here and here. I have also written a guide to setting up student blogs here. A new group of students in my class are almost ready to earn their own blogs. I wanted to compile the tips I offer my students in […]
Making Educational Blogging Work for You
Originally published as a guest post on Free Technology for Teachers. I was introduced to educational blogging in 2008. A twenty minute tutorial by a Department of Education staff member was enough to ignite my interest and, four years on, blogging is something that really works in my classroom. When I look back at how I […]
ISTE 2012 – What an Experience!
Six weeks ago, I was fortunate enough to win the Victorian Teachers Mutual Bank Outstanding Primary Teacher Award. This award has partially allowed me to attend the ISTE conference in San Diego, California and meet some of my international blogging buddies face to face. Meeting Mrs Yollis! When I arrived in the USA, my long term blogging […]
Quality Student Blogs Part Two – Post Topics
Last week I wrote about how students with their own blogs can be guided to create quality posts. After I published my post, I showed my class the less ideal post example I used about dogs. It was so interesting to get their opinions on the fictional post. Seeing their “shock” at the lack of […]
Quality Student Blogs Part One – Posts
As I have written about before, I have a system in my classroom where students can earn their own blog. Adapted from Linda Yollis’ idea, I have found the system to work well in both my grade two and grade four classes. Recently, six 4KM and 4KJ students were the first to earn their own […]
Student Centred Blogging
Student centred learning is an theory that seems to have gained popularity in education communities over the years. Wikipedia defines this type of learning as “putting students first … focused on the student’s needs, abilities, interests, and learning styles with the teacher as a facilitator of learning. Teacher-centred learning has the teacher at its centre […]