August Throwdown Thursday: Interacting with your Students

It is the first part of the month, and today I am linking up with Erin at I'm Lovin Lit to share ways that I interact with my students.

Last month, I shared using my interactive notebooks in math.  You can read that post {HERE} if you would like.  Today I'm going to share something I am going to try in the Fall.  I go back to school in September.  Over the summer, I learned about KidBlog from Brandee over at Creating Life Long Learners.  Kidblog.org is a place for you to create a student blogsite that is safe and secure for students to blog about classroom activities.  Students are given a code for access, so you do not need individual email addresses for your student.
Here is what my class blog will look like:


I've been checking out the blog since early July.  A great video that shows you how to set up a class is below.

Here is what I liked:  1)  IT is EASY to use.. I need this!  As many of my BBB's can attest, it takes me a little while to learn technology.  2) It is safe!  I can give my student's and their families a pass code for our Kidblog account, and I can create settings so I can approve all of the comments before they are published.  I can do this from my iPhone as well because there is an app that allows you access.  Plus, most of my students spend so much time on technology, I thought this would be a great way for them to interact with classmates not only in a safe environment, but as a way to learn digital citizenship.. which is OFTEN lacking in students and leads to cyber-bullying.

Use in my classroom:
All of my students are assigned a class number 1-30, for the usual stuff we use numbers for.  I am also going to use their number to make them Bloggers for the day.  So one student will be responsible for writing a blog post about our classroom or school activities every day during the school week.  Student number 10 is responsible for the blog post on September 10th etc.  Eventually, I'm hoping we can learn together to take interesting pictures, and video that we can add to our blog.  I am also going to have students be responsible for including our Agenda/HW information within the post.  If a student's number falls on the weekend, I will make them responsible for a day that is not covered later in the month (At least I am expecting at this point NOT to have 31 students..fingers crossed)  I am also going to have students responsible for making comments, and as our literature circles develop, the groups that the blogger of the day is working with will be responsible for posting comments as well.

These feel a little like BIG PLANS for me.  But I'm looking forward to the challenge.
Do you use KidBlog in your classroom?  Do you have any helpful tips for me?
If want to learn more ways of interacting with your students, head over and visit Erin at I'm Lovin Lit and check out her linky!

12 comments

  1. That sounds awesome! When I read Brandee's post about KidBlog, I immediately sent it to the ELA people at my school. We are always looking for authentic writing opportunities for our students, and what better way than that!?!?! The kids are going to love it!

    Erin

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  2. It sounds like you have wonderful plans! I haven't used kid-blog, but I am planning on introducing it later in the school year. I look forward to reading about how you use it

    Hunter's Tales from Teaching

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  3. Love using Kidblog and have used it for the past 3 years with my 4th graders! I love your idea of having a student make posts. I think I may try that too, but have someone make a weekly post on Friday. Did you know that you can add other class blogs on your blogroll. Then students can read other student's posts and make comments. Before, I allow students to post on Kidblog I do a paper blog activity. Where students write a blog post on paper first and then it is passed around and their peers use sticky notes to make comments.

    You will love Kidblog!
    Erica
    Shepherd's Shining Stars

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    1. Great idea on having them make a blogpost on paper first. I may use that as a model for how to write interesting content that will make students want to comment.
      Thanks for sharing it!
      Michele

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  4. That's a great idea. What a nice way to keep your families up to date also!

    Sarah
    MissKinBK

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  5. I have not used Kidblog (yet) and would love to hear more about how this works out for you this year. I like your idea of having a different student responsible for each day's post. I think my students would love this since last year we used Wonderopolis and they were so excited to check each day for a response to our comment - they loved the interaction and it was just one comment!!

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  6. I love the Kidblog idea! I've never heard of this, but I think this is a great way to incorporate meaningful writing for the kiddos! I feel like I'm attempting several big changes this year, so this might be a second semester thing for me. It would be ideal if the first semester went super smoothly and I could add it in before the break! Thanks for the inspiration!

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  7. I've set up my kidblog account for the fall also. I am planning to do paper blogging the first week of school as well as the good commenting activity with post-it notes. I am hoping to set aside time each Friday for all students to blog. I absolutely love your idea of students taking a day to blog about class based on their student number. I may be stealing that one! Thanks so much for sharing!

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  8. This sounds like a great idea! I have never tried blogging with my students but this is definitely the way the world is going. I have bookmarked the website. How exciting! :)
    -Lisa
    Grade 4 Buzz

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  9. Oh Michele! How have I not heard of this?! My wheels are turning. I really want to use this somehow to get my students to blog book reviews as part of my independent reading program. I think this might really work well.. need to think through the organization, but I *REALLY* want to do it! Thanks for linking up and sharing!
    :) Erin

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  10. Kidblog is GREAT! We get our kids to do their homework on it. I love that they are able to comment on each others blogs as well.
    Erin
    The E-Z Class

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  11. Thanks for blogging about this resource. I'll have to do a Try It Tuesdsy linky now. :-D

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