A Slow Start

Well, following my previous post, “We’re Off”, I now have to amend that to “We’re NEARLY Off”! As teachers we frequently find our time is stolen away from us due to circumstances beyond our control and, for me, this week has been one big juggling act. Not to worry, onwards and upwards! Hopefully, all being well and normal, we will get another chance this week and finally get to create something to show to the world. Fingers crossed!

We’re Off!

Today the first students get their new blogs. From experience, I’ve found that the most efficient and effective way to introduce blogs into the classroom is in small groups. It’s easier for myself and also the first students can then act as buddies for the rest.
The first group will this week put their knowledge, gained from our lessons so far, into practice. We’ve looked at different themes used by other blogs, discussed copyright and creative commons and examined the importance of safety and security online. So, our first task will be to set our blogs up with all these aspects in mind.

Watch Out!

Nearly there! The first students who have been chosen for a blog are all signed up and are raring to go. First, however, we are looking into the rules we have to follow with our blogs (see previous post) and discussing how to stay safe online. Once we have covered these essential topics the student will be guided through the process of setting up and personalising their blogs – hopefully next week. Watch this space!

Copyright

Copyright is a big issue for bloggers. We have to make sure that the images and videos we use on our blogs are truly free and appropriate for use. This means we don’t just carry out a Google search for just any old image, but we look for ones that we are allowed to use. Any resource (text, images, video, music etc.) that we find online and we wish to use needs to include a creative commons license, similar to the one on this page below the Clustr Map. Two great options to make sure you are safe include Creative Commons Search and the Advanced search option on Google where you can select the right license type (look for the cog). A great place to find more information, and where some of this is taken from, is The Edublogger by Ronnie Burt. Have a read and scroll down to find Where To Find The Goods to find links and information on appropriate resources.

Paper Blogs

I know I’ve posted about this previously but I think it’s well worth a reminder. For anyone thinking of starting a blog with their class this has got to be a great start. Creating a paper blog can be a fabulous introduction to blogging, or it can be used as a stepping stone for younger students before they get to the higher years where they begin blogging on the internet. One of our year 5 classes did this last year with great success.This excellent post from Karen McMillan is well worth a read.

New Beginning :)

Well, it’s time to welcome another set of students and begin another exciting year of blogging. Last year was such a great success that I’m hoping the new students will take to blogging with the same enthusiasm. Of course, it will take a little time for us to get used to the set up and to get things organised, but hopefully over the next few weeks we’ll begin to see a whole new series of student names appear on this blog. Good luck to everyone and I look forward to another great year.