Reflection: Classroom Blogging

The Teddy Bears Go Blogging project (Sherry, 2006) is a wonderful way to integrate technology into the classroom. I love how it connects American students to same-aged students in Australia with the goal of educating each other about their respective cultures. Other strengths of the project include engaging students in writing for a purpose; promoting the life skills of collaboration and communication; and involving the community by inviting parents and relatives to read and comment on the blog. 

Image by Kerry Granfield

I can definitely envision using blogging in my future classroom, which will hopefully be kindergarten, first grade, or second grade. The biggest consideration to take into account is securing the appropriate permissions from the school and my students' parents in order to protect student privacy and provide Internet safety. Additionally, I would like to partner with the technology teacher to teach keyboarding skills to the students, so they do not develop bad habits such as “hunting and pecking.” Finally, a blogging project would require a lot of upfront planning. I like the idea of blogging with a partner class as in the Teddy Bears Go Blogging project (Sherry, 2006). I would need to spend time finding a partner teacher and working with him/her to establish goals and a schedule. I would also need to set up the necessary teacher controls, such as a system for reviewing posts and comments before they are published. The most exciting part of the planning would be preparing the students for blogging. After conducting mini-lessons for the students about blogging, the project goals, and the technological aspects, we could work together as a class to create an “exemplar post” to serve as a guide to the students. Then I would split the students into small groups or pairs to create their own posts. 

A blogging project would have several learning outcomes, particularly in the content areas of English and digital learning integration.  Blogging would enable students in second grade, for example, to practice narrative and descriptive writing (English standard of learning 2.10) and edit their writing (English standard of learning 2.11) (Virginia Board of Education, 2017). Additionally, blogging would support the content strands of “Global Collaborator,” “Creative Communicator,” and “Digital Citizen” as described in the Digital Learning Integration Standards of Learning (Virginia Board of Education, 2020). For example, if the blogging project included sharing posts with a partner class in another state or country, then students would be exploring “appropriate techniques to safely connect with friends and people outside their neighborhood, city, and areas beyond” (Virginia Board of Education, 2020, p. 25). The learning outcomes of collaboration and communication also support the Virginia Board of Education’s “Profile of a Virginia Graduate” (Virginia Department of Education, n.d.). 

References

Sherry, B. (2006). Teddy bears go blogging. Learning and Leading with Technology, 34(4), 36-37.

Virginia Board of Education. (2020). Digital learning integration standards of learning for Virginia public schools. https://www.doe.virginia.gov/testing/sol/standards_docs/computer_technology/2020/dli-sol-final-allgrades.pdf 

Virginia Board of Education. (2017). English standards of learning for Virginia public schools. https://www.doe.virginia.gov/testing/sol/standards_docs/english/index.shtml 

Virginia Department of Education. (n.d.). Profile of a Virginia graduate. https://doe.virginia.gov/instruction/graduation/profile-grad/index.shtml