Launching into blogging in 3TS

So our class blogs are up and running (there was a slight hiccup at the beginning of the year), so its time to ask the questions What is a blog? Why do we blog? and How do we write a comment? of my grade 3 class.

The week of learning about (or reconfirming) blogging and commenting began with me asking the class to fill in a few survey questions as they entered the room.

 

It was interesting to see the number of students who didn’t know or have a clear idea of:

• what a blog was, or a misconception about them
• didn’t understand the purpose of them
• hadn’t created one (co-constructed one) or commented on one as I only have 3 new students and a large number have been at the school for a few years. (this actually reconfirmed my plan to break it down and look at the topic closely was a good one)

I was also glad to see that across the class there was some ideas and thoughts connected with the concept of blogging and why we have them.

Following on from this data collecting over the next day or so I asked the students to fill a post-it note as an entry-in or exit-slip with a different question prompt.

It was also great to see those who did have some knowledge, understanding and skills about blogging and commenting. I found out one of my students had her own cooking blog she keeps, but sadly she thought it didn’t count because it was in Korean. She now knows better.

So after these few days gathering thinking and knowledge what next?

• We needed to come up with a clear definition we all understood a blog was, and our class purpose for one.
• Have a talk about ‘online’, digital footprints and safety. We had previously discussed password work safety when issuing our Raz-kids accounts (something they had all had but had not discussed  ‘password safety’ before), and our new typing passwords.
• Look at what makes a good piece of writing for a blog post- comparing this to our writing cycle
• What is a comment, why they are important and how do we write a good comment
• Design a class poster/ guidelines for blogging and commenting that will help us throughout the year.

We discussed our free-write journal books and what they are for and how they are shared. These are for ourselves and only those who we want to share it with. These are our thoughts, wonderings, fun stories and have-go-pages. We compared this with “…a kind of on-line diary’ (part of Daniel’s definition). We realised that anybody could read this diary/journal pieces so the writing and pictures need to be edited, finished, connected and personal information or silly words should be left out.

As a class blog, it needs to remain on topic of school. We can only talk about our side of school things if it is connected to our learning.

We then watched and made notes from How to write a quality comment by Linda Yollis. We combined these with what we know about the writing cycle and had learnt about digital footprints and online privacy to make out guidelines.  At first these were all in the negative so I took the opportunity to help change them to the positive. ‘Like our class aggreements’ as one student reminded us/ remembered.

Here are our full agreements that will be displayed and referred to in our class (and as suggested by a student, will be posted on our blog). Much of this has also been covered and worked on during the creation of our writing cycle poster, so while it looks like a lot much of it is not new to the students.

Blogging in 3TS

Blogs are pieces of writing, pictures or videos you share on the internet that everyone can see. We will be blogging about, sharing, reflecting and commenting on our learning, thinking and challenges in grade 3.

We all leave footprints where ever we have been, and this happens online (on the internet) too.

We are all responsible for writing and posting, commenting and replying. So how do we do this well?

To keep our digital footprints clean and not having a negative impact and to be safe we need to:

~ only use our or friends first name or nickname

~ keep our passwords to yourself

~ log-out of sites and apps

~ use and share nice words and pictures

Think about the way you sound or look (tone/ word choices/ picture choices):

~ use kind/ nice words

~ instead of !!!! use more words

~ all capital letters = SHOUTING

~ be respectful and polite

~ you can disagree with someone, but don’t say they are wrong, explain your opinion.

What does your work look like? (content):

~ always proofread and edit before publishing- spelling, capitals, punctuation

~ does it make sense? Not sure ask someone else to read it first.

How to write a good comment:

~ introduce your self

~ compliment the writer- say something you liked about their piece

~ tell them some more information or details if you know it

~ share a wondering or ask a question ( get the conversation happening)

~ stay on topic

~ remember to be safe online (privacy)

Ready to publish?

~ conference with Ms Tracy

~ press publish, submit, send or reply

~ Remeber to check back on your post/ comment and see if you have had a reply. If you have, reply using the same guidelines.

Our final lesson of the week was to learn how the students will be blogging for themselves. I told them that there is now an expectation that they will be blogging about their learning, interests, WOW and challenges. They will be using the conferencing stage of the writing cycle to work with me prior to posting so we put our best selves out there online. I will not be taking away student-voice but helping them make smart word, detail and picture choices.

I connected an Ipad to the display screen to demonstrate how to use Easy Blog Jr. I selected a student who a few moments ago had asked a great wondering question about the measurement lesson we had just completed and wrote a post about it as if I was him. After writing it I asked Jacob if I could post it under his name with an added sentence saying it was me who wrote this blog. He said yes and the class constructed this sentence: ‘Miss Tracy wrote this to show the class how to make a blog post. The wondering was really Jacobs.’ I then showed the class the next step to publishing it. If Jacob had said no that would have been ok. I would have shown the next 2 screens but not hit the final publish button.

So what next?

• As I did not have time to look at other types of bogs that are created and read this will be part of next weeks reading lessons.
• Have students begin to blog for the first time and to do this I will build a rotation into lessons to begin with. When they are confident they will be able to self-select blogging times/ opportunities (agency). Also to ensure all students get involved there will be reminders, time built into rotation choices and requests throughout the year (responsibility and learning opportunities).  
• Share our guidelines with the parents on the blog and encourage them to comment using it.
• Build in opportunities to not only blog when they feel the need to (agency), but to go back through and look at and respond to comments or find a post they enjoyed and write a comment on that.
• Later in the year the students will also move beyond our own class blog and look at other classes to read for ideas and to comment on.

3TS are ready to take on the challenge and online world with their knowledge and growing skills as bloggers!

The unset-up classroom: Students co-constructing and having a voice in their learning spaces.

This was something I first tried last year, a big step for an organisational freak, and I was hoping it wasn’t a one-off fluke success for both the students and myself.

So with fingers crossed, changes and lesson learnt from last year we began the start of Grade 3 and the tuning in of our first #PYP unit #STP with our rooms unset-up.

Day one was orientation day, in the morning new families and the afternoon the returning ones. Nothing was asked by any child or family as the dropped in for a visit and not because they were forewarned, but because they believed it would be ready for the next morning.

Day two and the students arrived and as we met them at the door they were faced with their first decision- which cubby they wanted for their bag. This resulted in many looks, unsure what to do next and checking with me that they could really select the one they wanted. This stage of the day became more remarkable as each student entered the ‘unset-up’ room and found one of the 3 activities I had put out and didn’t question the room at all. Call for pack up and ‘let’s meet together’ was the first instigator of wondering and questioning- ‘but where’ and ‘there is no mat’. A few students noticed a mat rolled up and asked if they could unroll it. My response confused them, “If you think we need it”. I got another should we question, I shrugged and a few started to tentatively unroll it continually looking back at me for reassurance. I was eventually asked for help as it was upside down a little heavy. Once the mat was down we introduced ourselves. Still very few comments about the room. I handed out letters written by previous 3TS students.

During this second activity, I was finally asked about the room and when I was going to do. It was made clear to me it wasn’t working and they didn’t know where to work.

When we came together again we started a discussion about the concerns and issues with the room. It was quickly decided to ‘fix it’ Some wanted to just move things, other wanted to draw plans. I shared my one requirement- I needed something to put my computer on near when the project cables are. This year I had also put every piece of furniture I the middle of the room and had removed the traditional teacher’s desk that I didn’t like having. Unlike last year no-one wanted to take inventory and the class broke up into groups. 3 groups of overs (not working together) 3 planners also working solo and a sign maker. As there there was lots of big, heavy pieces of furniture I had a safety talk about how to lift and carry furniture and how to ask for help when needed. before setting them of to co-construct their learning spaces and out over all class room.

After observing for some time I paused the work and highlighted what I noticed. 3 groups creating a library in 3 parts of the room. Each group moving each other’s furniture. And that the planners hadn’t shared their ideas to anyone. Some comments ‘ah that’s why we have to keep getting the shelf back’, ‘do we need to share the ideas’ and ‘should we work together?’. To all of these, I responded I was just sharing what I noticed. A few more minutes of working on the room and one of the designers sharing an idea brought the teams together to create 1 library area (without the bookshelf) and a relaxing area (with the bookshelf) in 2 parts of the room. We then broke for a canteen tour, as they now move upstairs with different routines and snack.

 

After snack, we bus stopped around stations to record what we thought a classroom should look like, sound like and feel like, what helps or hinders our learning and what good teachers and students are like to prompt discussions and ideas. A few more minutes were given to room arranging before we played a get-to-know-each-other bingo activity.

After lunch, I had again put out some social activities and took photos of the students to use throughout the year.  We then came together to discuss any concerns, ideas and problems- big and small. We recorded these on the board to use later. Then Grade 3 came together as a grade to brainstorm ways we wanted to get to know each other and go over the bus routines. These ideas for getting to know each other are being used in our Friday afternoon PSPE dedicated time for the next few weeks as we look at our #STP unit and setting a strong foundation for the year ahead.

While these activities along with self-assessments on reading, writing, math and inquiry were happening we were trying out different classroom arrangements. And due to concerns and experiencing what worked and what didn’t the students worked on several room arrangements over a few days.

I was impressed to see several students take a lead in ideas, those that compromised were needed and everyone got involved in setting up our physical and learning spaces. Yes all 4 teachers took slightly different approaches to how the rooms were designed and who had (some) final say for the room arrangements but all students had a voice and help decided the overall look and feel of their classroom for the year.

Next steps for 3TS are for the students to continue to have a voice in finalising our class agreements and making decisions about flexible seating guidelines.